A FIERY WOMB: EMERGING FROM SPIRITUAL EMERGENCIES

When the night pulled back the bedcovers
And I sat knees-up ashaking
Seeking a sign sublime
My mind looking for the time
My body athrob with an Eternal rhyme
The windows, the windows did bulge with something unborn
Something I couldn’t name
Something I could not contain

Spiritual opening is not necessarily a benign process. Being in the crucible of Awakening’s alchemy is not necessarily comfortable — the fire gives light, yes, but it also burns, generating enough heat to vaporize our illusions, lies, and trappings.

Such fire destroys, but only in order to create. And heal. In its flames, our authenticity emerges, minus the case of mistaken identity with which we have burdened it.

Until the fire is but light, we will have to endure burning. Spiritual stamina. Whatever lies unresolved or unforgiven in us, whatever in us lies ostracized or condemned in some corner of our psyche, whatever in us has been kept in the dark — all will surface as we open spiritually. And so on.

Sometimes this is easy, flowing, even blissful, and sometimes it’s hard work — sooner or later we’re going to have to spend some quality time in spiritual bootcamp.

Spiritual openness may allow or even invite seemingly crazy or nonordinary phenomena to surface. If this gets out of control, as in what is termed a “spiritual emergency” (or in spirit-possession situations, as epitomized by Haitian and Balinese cathartic trances), it is not necessarily a problem, but may actually be an entirely fitting process. Unfortunately, the more disruptive, disturbing, or painful difficulties associated with spiritual opening are often misconstrued as psychological disorders by health professionals (see the essay on Spirituality and Madness).

Being out of control may be needed at a certain point, to break down unseen or unacknowledged repressive or dysfunctional structures that are not about to surface otherwise. Being out of control may propel one into the obviously spiritual, and also may shatter the subtle ossification that can occur when spirituality gets too “spiritual” for its own good.

At the same time, however, it is essential that one be able to back off or put the brakes on when things get too crazy or scary.

In my work with those are in the throes of a spiritual emergency, I help them (1) to get grounded: (2) to make sense of and integrate their experience; (3) to effectively deal with conditions, both outer and inner, that may have set the stage for their spiritual crisis; and (4) to find and use practices that root and integrate their spirituality into everyday life. Most of the time, I find that essential psychological issues have been overlooked or only superficially addressed; facing and working through these issues usually does much to turn a spiritual emergency into a psychologically healing emergence that’s naturally spiritual.

I work with those having a spiritual emergency not only in person, but also — when necessary — via phone sessions and email.

O Surrounded by womb was I
The walls all aquiver
My mind no longer looking for the time
My body athrob with an Eternal rhyme
New growth running wild and velvet through my room
The windows, the windows a shattering of light
And my whole being did shiver and quake
Until my frame of mind did break
And I was in body what I was in spirit
The great night shining wild
The great night forever full of child