Concepts: Spiritual Emergencies 🚨

Sometimes I work with clients who have big spiritual awakenings that open them a little too much, too fast. This often comes from some sort of external stimulus like a drug (rather than internal meditation or prayer), and results in something that looks like mania—or includes mania, meaning these people are seen as sick. Then they often don’t get much community support integrating the real depth of insight they’re tapping into.

Christina and Stanislav Grof coined the term “spiritual emergency” for these sudden, intense world-view transformations as a way to honor both their growth potential and extreme destabilization. As Joseph Campbell famously said, “The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight”.

“Wait at least two weeks before major life changes…” 🍇

Some of the Rationalists I hang out with have a cultural norm that goes something like: “After a life-changing workshop, wait at least two weeks before you declare any name changes or new religious affiliations”. I’d apply it to any major life changes like quitting a job, moving across the country, getting married or ending a long-term relationship. Waiting is cheap. Undoing the changes is expensive.

Integrating the potency of sudden spiritual revelations isn’t always obvious. Sometimes their power is in deconstructing the very fabric of how we saw the world. So we’re prone to make mistakes that we’d easily notice after giving things a little time to settle—mistakes like confusing our ego with the divine. Let gentleness and prudence age your spirit like good wine, which ripens without our effort on its own time. You're much more likely to enjoy the benefits of your insight at a leisurely pace.

Read next: "Grounding"

With love, Jordan