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Post by Admin on Oct 28, 2020 22:57:35 GMT
A spiritual emergency can be wild. This is how to ride the wave psyche.co/amp/ideas/a-spiritual-emergency-can-be-wild-this-is-how-to-ride-the-waveIn 2017, I travelled to the Amazon jungle to take part in an ayahuasca retreat. I hadn’t done psychedelics for 20 years, and that last time I’d had a bad trip which had left me traumatised. Why would I ever want to try psychedelics again? Although I’d healed a lot from that youthful bad experience, I still felt I had healing to do at a deeper level. And I thought that psychedelic therapy, guided by trained facilitators in a safe space, might help me. I chose the retreat centre very carefully, and set off. The retreat was a positive, if sometimes scary experience. By the final day I felt my heart was deeply open and connected to the other participants. It was when I was back in Iquitos, this noisy, dirty city in Peru, that things started to go wrong. It felt as if my heart froze shut. I was suddenly profoundly disconnected from my surroundings and from other people, to the extent that they seemed unreal. Now all the trauma from my bad trip of 20 years before was flooding back – not on the retreat, as I expected, but after it. I hadn’t expected that at all. It was scary. How long would the disorientation last? Days? Weeks? Years? Forever? I set off the next day for the Galápagos Islands, where I’d planned to stay for a week. During the two-day journey there, I started to doubt if I was in normal reality. I began to suspect that I was either in a dream of my own construction or trapped in some kind of fake reality constructed by someone else. Could I be in a coma or some afterlife limbo state? These eery feelings intensified over the next couple of days. On the ferry to the Galápagos, I thought I was on Charon’s ferry, crossing the river Styx to the land of the dead. I checked in to a hotel in the Galápagos, and sat on the balcony. Below me, three seals lay on deckchairs, like overweight tourists, and bellowed sickeningly, while little black iguanas waddled grotesquely around them. This isn’t real, I thought. How do I wake up? When I got texts from loved ones, I thought my subconscious was constructing them. I felt profoundly alone in this fake reality. How do you know if you’re dreaming? It’s an old philosophical conundrum that goes back to René Descartes. He noted that we could be in a dream, or an imaginary universe constructed by an evil demon, and we’d have no way of proving otherwise. Like Descartes, all I knew for sure was that I was conscious.
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Post by Admin on Dec 11, 2020 10:34:39 GMT
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Post by Admin on Feb 27, 2021 18:37:10 GMT
Steve and Serge discuss the worldwide spiritual crisis, its origins and consequences. About this Event The human race is presently living through major crises. What is the source of these crises? What opportunity do they hold for our development? What do they mean in relation to the evolution of consciousness? Serge and Steve will discuss these issues in dialogue. Steve will also read poems. Both Serge and Steve are musicians, and may also play a song or two. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/breakdown-or-breakthrough-what-is-the-future-of-the-human-race-tickets-141400531797
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Post by Admin on Mar 1, 2021 12:29:01 GMT
Breakdown or Breakthrough? Understanding Experiences of Madness, Awakening and Altered States Beyond PathologyPanelists Michael Anderson 'Breakdown or Breakthrough? Beyond the Dichotomy' James Henry 'Psychosis and the Dawning of Truth' Vesper Moore 'Reclaim Madness: Abolishing Psychiatry & Decolonizing Our Society' Phoebe Sullivan 'Breakdown to Breakthrough: Exploring the archetypal resonances of mental illness, spiritual awakening and the psychedelic journey, and how altered states are viewed through the lens of pathology' Ron Unger 'Revolution Within the Mind: A Common Factor in Psychedelic Experience, Madness, and Spiritual Awakening' Audience questions and comments have been submitted. The panelists' responses and reflections to these will be uploaded by early March 2021 www.psychedelicsmadnessawakening.com/panel-2-breakdown-or-breakthrough.html
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Post by Admin on Mar 6, 2021 16:05:03 GMT
Dear Friend ~ It has been a while, but we are excited to share that we will be resuming our monthly online darshans with Igor! We initiate this return with a new series called "Global Awakening & Collective Psychosis: Navigating through Dark Waters of Psyche in the Age of Narcissus," which will address what it means to awaken in this unique time in history we find ourselves in. This is a time to listen to an inspiring discourse on a rarely addressed theme, sit in guided meditation, and explore specific questions related to the topic. The live broadcast of the first darshan of this series with Igor will be already next week, on Saturday, March 13th. Details on how to register and what will be unpacked during the darshan in the newsletter below. We look forward to delving into this edgy and profoundly relevant topic with you! In Love & Service, Team Flowing Wakefulness mailchi.mp/8c610b33b27d/qvt564x7se-4742706
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Post by Admin on Jan 6, 2022 14:34:20 GMT
'During the dark night there is no choice but to surrender control, give in to unknowing, and stop and listen to whatever signals of wisdom might come along. It’s a time of enforced retreat and perhaps unwilling withdrawal. The dark night is more than a learning experience; it’s a profound initiation into a realm that nothing in the culture, so preoccupied with external concerns and material success, prepares you for.' ~ Thomas Moore, Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way Through Life's Ordeals Love to all those who find themselves in this challenging place. 💜💜💜
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Post by Admin on Jan 29, 2022 10:58:02 GMT
What a Spiritual High Shares With a Mental Breakdown January 28, 2022 “We have all heard stories of sudden self-transformation, or what the US psychologists William Miller and Janet C’de Baca call ‘quantum change’, whether it’s the religious conversion of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus, the enlightenment of Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha, addicts at rock-bottom finding God, or near-death experiences that give people a new outlook on life. But not all sudden – or seemingly sudden – changes of outlook and personality are beneficial. The onset of psychosis in particular involves a strikingly similar transformation of reality, but one that precedes a frightening descent into ‘mental illness’ . . . What can account for the striking similarities in these sudden transformative experiences, some of which presage ‘mental illness,’ while others lay the foundation for spiritual renewal and a galvanised sense of purpose? Are these really two versions of the same underlying psychological process? . . . Here is a major clue to the parallels between sudden psychotic episodes and religious epiphanies – it’s the mythical idea, endlessly repeated and very hard to shake, that the same struggles that can lead to spiritual breakthrough or heroic deeds also risk destroying an individual or, in other words, triggering mental dysfunction. As [hospital chaplain Anton] Boisen put it: 'The conclusion follows that certain types of mental disorder and certain types of religious experience are alike attempts at reorganisation. The difference lies in the outcome. Where the attempt is successful and some degree of victory is won, it is commonly recognised as religious experience. Where it is unsuccessful or indeterminate, it is commonly spoken of as "insanity."' . . . To help make sense of what is going on in all these stories of sudden transformation, the British psychologist and neuroscientist Robin Carhart-Harris and I recently introduced the construct of ‘pivotal mental states’ (or PiMSs), which we see as an evolved human capability for sudden and radical psychic change. In our paper in the Journal of Psychopharmacology in 2020, we defined PiMSs as ‘hyper-plastic states aiding rapid and deep learning that can mediate psychological transformation’. We believe that the spiritual or incipient psychotic experiences that can lead to religious conversion or psychotic disorder, respectively, are both examples of PiMSs, as are the acute traumatic experiences that can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder, post-traumatic growth, or some combination thereof.” www.madinamerica.com/2022/01/spiritual-high-shares-mental-breakdown/Pivotal mental states Spiritual highs and mental breakdowns are both products of the same evolved brain system granting us the power to transform aeon.co/essays/what-a-spiritual-high-shares-with-a-mental-breakdown
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Post by Admin on Feb 9, 2022 19:22:13 GMT
For Humanity to evolve beyond all of it's differences & it's human created systems of money / politics / religions would be a very fine thing. However i think that we are hundreds more years off that.
In the UK there is a saying in the mental health recovery movement - the personal is political. i think it is very hard to separate the wider World / society / system from our lives & experiences - & for many people access to health / social security / social care is socioeconomic & political. Maybe we need an integral politics? Or a different system? i have personally found the spiritual crisis movement hard to engage with at times for 2 main reasons. The lack of any proper definition of spirituality & it's complete interconnection with World religions (Exoteric Christianity being the dominant World religion, along with the Abrahamic Faiths in general), & often the denial of mental illness / psychopathology & anti psychiatry / anti medication viewpoints. i have also tried to discuss the subject of demons on these pages & not been allowed to.
i think that there is a danger of the spiritual crisis movement becoming yet another fringe sub group within mental health areas, when really spirituality should be all inclusive. i do feel that there should be far more open debate & dialogue within the whole of humanity & within the spiritual crisis / mental health / psychiatry areas, on all the issues people are facing.
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Post by Admin on Feb 26, 2022 14:17:40 GMT
Spiritual Awakening: 23 Major Signs & Symptoms February 25, 2022 www.madinamerica.com/2022/02/spiritual-awakening-23-major-signs-symptoms/From Lonerwolf: “Going through a spiritual awakening is one of the most confusing, lonely, alienating, but also supremely beautiful experiences in life. . . . The unsettling and equally beautiful thing about spiritual awakenings is that they occur at the least expected times. There is no way you can plan for them. They lurch into your life and shake everything up like tornadoes. But the hidden gift buried deep within them is that they occur at the precise time that you need them the most. Spiritual awakenings are the soul’s cry for freedom. Listen to its call and your life will be transformed into something meaningful and significant. Refuse its call and your life will be like a graveyard. . . . When we undergo a spiritual awakening (also known as spiritual ascension), we literally ‘wake up’ to life. We begin to question our old beliefs, habits, and social conditioning, and see that there is much more to life than what we have been taught. It is common to ask questions such as, ‘Why am I here?’ ‘What is the purpose of my life?’ ‘What happens after death?’ ‘Why do good people suffer?’ and other questions that examine the fundamental nature of life during your awakening. Spiritual awakenings stir the deepest and most significant questions within us that we have been putting off asking or have been too scared to touch. . . . Spiritual awakenings happen as a natural product of your Soul evolving, expanding, and maturing. Just as everything in life grows, so too does our connection with our Souls. The more you connect to your Soul (whether accidentally or intentionally), the more you experience transformation. The more you come to embody your Soul, the more you taste true and lasting joy, peace, fulfillment, freedom, and love. While the spiritual awakening process can feel painful and disturbing at first, it ultimately helps you to live a more meaningful life. The sensation that your life doesn’t make sense anymore is the product of having all of your former beliefs, desires, and paradigms challenged and often disproven. This is traumatic, but a necessary part of your expansion.” lonerwolf.com/spiritual-awakening/
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Post by Admin on Jul 11, 2022 15:46:15 GMT
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Post by Admin on Jul 16, 2022 8:42:19 GMT
Finding the Phoenix: Seven Tools for Transformative Self-Discovery by Karel James Bouse PhD A journal of self-discovery, Finding the Phoenix, by author Dr. Karel James Bouse introduces seven tools for transformative self-discovery, including how to deconstruct one's lenses, consciousness and identity; use expressive arts to access hidden elements of the self; connect with nature from a mystical perspective; find the meaning of your dreams; use Neo-shamanic techniques for interdimensional self-exploration, demystify anomalous experiences and phenomena; and construct a personal mythology to discover your life purpose. Used synergistically, these tools facilitate a deep, personal investigation that bridges and integrates the conscious with the unconscious, and the mythic with the mundane. Bouse provides you with background information based in academic, scientific, and professional psychological research, and detailed exercises as you follow the fictional "Lucy" through a series of workshops designed to help you find the phoenix of your authentic self. Finding the Phoenix offers a combination of thoughtful instructions, rich personal narrative from the perspective of Lucy, and experiential exercises designed to evoke insight, creativity, and personal development. drkareljbouse.com/www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Karel-James-Bouse-2165669169
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Post by Admin on Jul 17, 2022 13:42:55 GMT
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