Saturday, September 30, 2006
"Cloud of Unknowing" is Diagnosed by his Therapist
Many psychologists, when confronted with the traditional "symptoms" of sudden kundalini awakening, decide the client is suffering from some sort of mental disturbance, and some even prescribe mind altering drugs to "settle them down." Some clients have even been institutionalized as being schizophrenic or psychotic. One such misdiagnosed patient was in fact hospitalized because of his unusual pattern of behavior, but when he got out, he himself became a transpersonal psychologist, dedicated to helping others avoid the painful experience he had been put through. Lee Sanella's early book, "Kundalini: Transcendence or Psychosis?" deals effectively with this problem, and explains the difference between spiritual awakening and mental breakdown.
Today, there is ample writing on the difference between spiritual awakening and actual psychosis. The kundalini process is more widely known, but there are still many, many traditional psychologists unfamiliar with spiritual emergence, and these can inflict untold damage on misdiagnosed patients. Drugs are especially dangerous, because they can abort the natural process, and create even more serious problems as the channels become blocked.
The awakening kundalini brings a vastly increased flow of energies throughout the body. This phenomenon has been compared to sending a huge volume of electricity through wiring which is only prepared to receive a fraction of that amount. Naturally, there are problems in the system. Another metaphor which has been suggested is that it is like sending a tremendous surge of water through a narrow hose. Naturally, the hose will flail about until the flow is controlled.
Two good books on the subject are:"The Stormy Search for Self" by Christina Grof and "A Sourcebook for Helping People with Spiritual Problems" by Emma Bragdon. Both help us to understand the difference between "spiritual emergence" and "spiritual emergency."
Further, many of "Cloud's" new perceptions (all is one, God is in everything, love is the basis of all being) are the traditional states reported by the saints for centuries past. They are key indicators of a consciousness being raised to a higher level of awareness.
Here is "Cloud of Unknowing's" next journal entry. See earlier posts for the beginning sections.
September 14, 2006
3:58 PM
Today my psychologist told me that I was going through a manic phase with psychotic tendencies. I can understand why she would think this. I think she's wrong, of course, for whatever is happening seems to have changed me for the better. Quantum physics says I am right, not her. She had no explanation for my physiological symptoms (radiant heat, 5-minute orgasms, etc.) other than she didn't think they were relevant. But I will get a second opinion, hopefully from a psychiatrist who does not equate spiritual feelings with insanity. There is a transpersonal psychiatrist in town that I'm trying to set up an appointment with.
Tell me this, though. She thinks I'm nuts because I see the Universe in everything, realize all is One, see Goddess within me and God everywhere, and want to devote my life to love and bliss. Why is this considered to be detached from reality? Why does she think I'm the crazy one? Isn't it more insane to say that we are NOT all one?
You raise the blade
You make the change
You rearrange me till I'm sane
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me
Roger Waters
The thing is, I feel more like me than I've ever felt before. It's as if much false consciousness has been stripped away and I am free to live life the way I was originally meant to. Is this really insanity?
My blessed wife is willing to go through this with me and get a second opinion before we start pumping me full of mood-stabilizing drugs. She is a psychologist by training but is taking the spiritual side of this very seriously since she has seen the physical manifestations herself. She loves me and trusts me, and I her. I may have a Goddess in my head, but my wife is Goddess in the flesh, even if she doesn't realize this herself yet.
Today, there is ample writing on the difference between spiritual awakening and actual psychosis. The kundalini process is more widely known, but there are still many, many traditional psychologists unfamiliar with spiritual emergence, and these can inflict untold damage on misdiagnosed patients. Drugs are especially dangerous, because they can abort the natural process, and create even more serious problems as the channels become blocked.
The awakening kundalini brings a vastly increased flow of energies throughout the body. This phenomenon has been compared to sending a huge volume of electricity through wiring which is only prepared to receive a fraction of that amount. Naturally, there are problems in the system. Another metaphor which has been suggested is that it is like sending a tremendous surge of water through a narrow hose. Naturally, the hose will flail about until the flow is controlled.
Two good books on the subject are:"The Stormy Search for Self" by Christina Grof and "A Sourcebook for Helping People with Spiritual Problems" by Emma Bragdon. Both help us to understand the difference between "spiritual emergence" and "spiritual emergency."
Further, many of "Cloud's" new perceptions (all is one, God is in everything, love is the basis of all being) are the traditional states reported by the saints for centuries past. They are key indicators of a consciousness being raised to a higher level of awareness.
Here is "Cloud of Unknowing's" next journal entry. See earlier posts for the beginning sections.
September 14, 2006
3:58 PM
Today my psychologist told me that I was going through a manic phase with psychotic tendencies. I can understand why she would think this. I think she's wrong, of course, for whatever is happening seems to have changed me for the better. Quantum physics says I am right, not her. She had no explanation for my physiological symptoms (radiant heat, 5-minute orgasms, etc.) other than she didn't think they were relevant. But I will get a second opinion, hopefully from a psychiatrist who does not equate spiritual feelings with insanity. There is a transpersonal psychiatrist in town that I'm trying to set up an appointment with.
Tell me this, though. She thinks I'm nuts because I see the Universe in everything, realize all is One, see Goddess within me and God everywhere, and want to devote my life to love and bliss. Why is this considered to be detached from reality? Why does she think I'm the crazy one? Isn't it more insane to say that we are NOT all one?
You raise the blade
You make the change
You rearrange me till I'm sane
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me
Roger Waters
The thing is, I feel more like me than I've ever felt before. It's as if much false consciousness has been stripped away and I am free to live life the way I was originally meant to. Is this really insanity?
My blessed wife is willing to go through this with me and get a second opinion before we start pumping me full of mood-stabilizing drugs. She is a psychologist by training but is taking the spiritual side of this very seriously since she has seen the physical manifestations herself. She loves me and trusts me, and I her. I may have a Goddess in my head, but my wife is Goddess in the flesh, even if she doesn't realize this herself yet.
