Spiritual Crisis
Spiritual Crisis are you having one, find out what it is, what are the signs and how can Spiritual Guidance help you rediscover your balance and peace of mind.
A Spiritual Crisis (according to wikipedia) is a form of identity crisis where an individual experiences drastic changes to their meaning system (i.e., their unique purposes, goals, values, attitude and beliefs, identity, and focus) typically because of a spontaneous spiritual experience. A spiritual crisis may cause significant disruption in psychological, social, and occupational functioning. Among the spiritual experiences thought to lead to episodes of spiritual crisis or spiritual emergency are psychiatric complications related to existential crisis, mystical experience, near-death experiences, Kundalini syndrome, paranormal experiences, religious ecstasy, or other spiritual practices.
Power of a Spiritual crisis
One thing is for sure a Spiritual Crisis is an extremely powerful phenomenon, even if you are well versed in Spirituality and Meditation and various other techniques.
A spiritual crisis can be like a Tsunami on your sense of self, your identity and your world.
It can wreak havoc on your everyday life, in some circumstances preventing “normal life” completely, when you lose all sense of self, all sense of identity, and your sense of life as you knew it can be changed drastically in an instant.
Signs of a Spiritual crisis
Let us have a look at some of the signs or symptoms that may be experienced during a spiritual crisis
You do not have to be experiencing all of these symptoms to be considered as having a Spiritual Crisis the severity of the crisis can depend on many factors not just on the nature of the symptoms, although they are closely related and intertwined.
Overall the state of awakening is a positive, meaningful and empowering experience that can lead to the overcoming of many troublesome aspects of our lives, restoring peace, harmony, balance and health to our lives. As is often the case where the rewards are great the challenge is great too, and this is the spiritual crisis.
A Spiritual crisis can lead you down the path to a lifetime of suffering, medication and mental health labels, or it can liberate and empower you and propel you into a life that is fulfilling and meaningful.
So what are the signs and symptoms of a person who is engulfed in a Spiritual Crisis?
They are many and varied but may include any of the following
· Visual hallucinations
· Auditory hallucinations
· Feelings of being watched
· Overwhelming feelings of sadness or despair
· Overwhelming feelings of anxiety
· Overwhelming panic
· Overwhelming emotions
· Feelings of unreality or losing your grip on life
· Sensitivity to light, noise, strong smells
· Difficulty sleeping
· Development of addictive behaviours
· A feeling of worthlessness
· Overwhelmed by traumatic experiences from the past
· Experiencing excessive body temperatures
· Body trembling
· Sudden dislike or intolerance to certain foods or drinks
· A loss of identity, feeling as if nothing makes sense anymore
Many of these symptoms may have been labelled by Doctors or Psychiatrists as Depersonalisation, Depression, General anxiety disorder, panic Attacks, Phobias, Psychosis etc the list goes on.
These symptoms frequently come as a result of a traumatic experience, a spiritual pursuit, or a sudden unexpected out of the blue spiritual experience.
They often happen to people who are naturally sensitive, caring, compassionate and empathetic, occasionally they will hit the hard, self-centred materialistic person too in an attempt to wake them up.
In some cultures such events are sought after and those who have them are worshiped and become shamans or wise men of the tribe or healers.
In the west though you are more likely to be labelled as suffering with your mental health and given drugs in a vain attempt to subdue or mask the symptoms in the hope that you can get back to some sense of normality. This is certainly a road that you can travel down, and may well be the one that you are currently on.
A Natural Process
Some of us however believe that this is a natural process, and that if approached in the correct way it can lead you to wonderful things.
Let us be clear here we are not suggesting that you stop any treatment or medication that you may currently be receiving from a mental health professional, or that you ignore any advice that they may have been given.
We are suggesting that it is very possible that you are undergoing a Spiritual crisis sometimes called a Spiritual Emergency, rather than a Mental or nervous breakdown or psychotic episode, we would merely ask you to look at this aspect of it and see if it resonates with you, if it does then perhaps you might like to go down this road whilst continuing with any support you are currently receiving from mental health professionals, preferably with their knowledge.
If this sounds like you, then please have a look at the therapies offered here that may help you, we offer a pay what you can afford scheme.
Spiritual Emergency article huffington post https://www.huffingtonpost.com/melanie-sievernich/spiritual-emergency-being_b_8389336.html