You’ve gone through a tremendous spiritual awakening. Your life and perspective have changed drastically. You’re no longer the same person you once were a few years ago.
But something has gone horribly wrong.
While others on the spiritual path are reveling in their deep insights, you feel suffocated under the weight of an existential crisis.
Spiritual Wanderer Course:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐ "I started the Spiritual Wanderers Course a short while ago and for the first time in twelve years I have started to experience love, acceptance and compassion for myself and within myself. Thank you so much." – Vivienne S.
While others are busy reconnecting with their meaning of life, you can barely function in a job or even get out of bed to shower.
While others feel a deeper sense of peace and alignment, you feel like you’re on the verge of going crazy or being sucked into the black hole forever.
What on earth has happened?
Is it something you did wrong? Is it because you’re not worthy? Is it because you’re not strong enough?
The answer is NO, you’re not crazy. You didn’t do anything wrong. What you’re experiencing has nothing to do with your strengths or capabilities.
What you’re experiencing is something called a spiritual emergency. And as we’ll see throughout the rest of this article it’s a normal process that many people experience while on their spiritual paths.
Table of contents
- What is a Spiritual Emergency?
- 15 Signs You’re Experiencing a Spiritual Emergency
- Why Do Spiritual Emergencies Happen?
- Are You Experiencing a Spiritual Emergency or Mental Illness?
- Types of Spiritual Emergency
- How to Cope With the Spiritual Emergency
- Helpful Organizations
- The Spiritual Emergency is a Sacred Process
What is a Spiritual Emergency?
A spiritual emergency is a severe crisis that anyone may experience after going through a spiritual awakening.
Shadow & Light Membership:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐ "Straight from the very first weekly email, this has been mind-blowingly powerful, the synchronicity and the on-vibe contents resonate uncannily with my soul’s current challenges." – Marie
Essentially, a spiritual emergency occurs when the spiritual awakening process speeds up so much that it becomes terrifying and destabilizing to the body and mind.
“Spiritual emergency” as a term was first coined by Czech psychiatrists Stanislav and Christina Grof and was expanded in their 1989 book Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis.
Since then, this term has increased in popularity, although it is still relatively unheard of within mainstream spiritual communities. (I want to change that.)
Spiritual emergencies can happen to anyone at any point in life. Those who are not particularly ‘spiritual’ can experience them just as often as those who are actively engaged on the spiritual path. The common uniting factor is usually that a person undergoes a shock (in the form of illness, family death, major life change, etc.) that triggers the spiritual crisis.
The spiritual emergency can last anywhere from a few days to a number of years. The process is very much dependent on what kind of environment you live in and how supportive vs. unsupportive it is.
Get Your Spiritual Emergency Worksheets
Explore your relationship with the spiritual emergency.
15 Signs You’re Experiencing a Spiritual Emergency
Cosmic love is absolutely ruthless and highly indifferent; it teaches its lessons whether you like/dislike them or not.
– John Lilly
If you’re going through a spiritual emergency, you have my love and support.
This is probably one of the most painful, disorienting, and scary experiences you will ever go through – but please know that it does end, and it is worth going through. (I’ll explore why later.)
Below, you’ll find fifteen signs commonly experienced during spiritual emergencies:
- You find it impossible to cope with everyday tasks (like going shopping, showering, cooking, keeping up with the bills, etc.)
- You can’t hold down a job due to your intense sensitivity
- It feels like your whole world is crumbling around you
- You struggle to sleep properly and may experience night terrors
- Your inner and outer worlds blur confusingly
- You experience a rollercoaster of emotions
- You may experience strange hallucinations (e.g., images, sounds, physical impressions)
- Your grasp on the real and logical is weak (resulting in psychotic-like symptoms)
- You may believe, at some point, that you’re the reincarnation of enlightened figures like Jesus, Buddha, Mary, etc. (this is called ego-inflation and is a result of Universal Consciousness overlapping with your own personal consciousness)
- You may experience vivid past-life flashbacks
- You feel strange sensations in your body (e.g., vibrations, shivers, heat, burning)
- You’ve developed a medically unexplainable illness
- You experience more synchronicity or meaningful coincidences
- You feel like you’re being sucked into a different dimension or black hole
- You feel like you’re going crazy
Of course, this list is not exhaustive. I’m sure there are many other symptoms out there I’ve forgotten to include, so please share below if you think I’ve missed any.
Also, those who work in the mental health field may have a thing or two to say about the above list of symptoms.
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this article to you, so you can come back to it later!
Your information will never be shared.
Yes, it’s true that many of the above symptoms overlap with ‘bipolar disorder,’ ‘manic-depression,’ ‘schizophrenia,’ etc. We’ll explore this important overlap a little later – and what it means for you.
Why Do Spiritual Emergencies Happen?
Honestly, there is no single known reason why spiritual emergencies happen. The cause, I suspect, is unique for everyone.
But here are some explanations:
- It’s your destiny – by experiencing an accelerated spiritual awakening process, you’re about to learn some profound lessons, work through a tremendous amount of karma, and transform into the most illuminated version of yourself possible in this lifetime.
- Your conditioning was particularly strong – conditioning meaning the beliefs, ideas, habits, and patterns adopted from your parents and society. To break through these forms of conditioning and dissolve them (so you can experience a conscious ‘upgrade’), you had to undergo a particularly intense spiritual awakening.
- You’re a gifted shaman, priestess, healer, or “walker between worlds” – part of your spiritual awakening process involves connecting you with the forces of the unconscious mind or “spirit realm,” which you have not yet learned to navigate (hence why you’re experiencing a spiritual emergency).
- You’re dealing with past karma – in some belief systems, it’s believed that we deal with unresolved trauma from our past lives in this lifetime – and this may take the shape of a spiritual emergency to help you purge ancient patterns and develop a ‘clean slate.’
- You’re more sensitive – we all have various levels of sensitivity, and those who undergo a spiritual emergency may be more sensitive and empathic than others. This may explain why the would-be spiritual awakening turns into a spiritual emergency; it’s simply too overwhelming for those already sensitive to life. Again, there is no way of proving this, but it is one theory that you might like to ruminate on.
So which theory are you more inclined to believe? Perhaps you’d like to combine a few of these explanations and discard the rest.
Regardless of what you choose, it’s vital here to stress that it’s essential to give your spiritual emergency a purpose. As Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
Are You Experiencing a Spiritual Emergency or Mental Illness?
Breakdowns precede breakthroughs.
– Lee Lozowick
You might be curious to know whether the spiritual emergency is actually just a fancy name for a psychotic break, manic-depressive episode, or other severe mental illness.
This is a tough question to answer as there’s no black or white “yes” or “no.”
Those who undergo spiritual emergencies are often committed to mental health wards – either forcibly or voluntarily. As author Catherine G. Lucas, founder of the UK Spiritual Crisis Network writes:
There are literally thousands of people who have been through the mental health system who have not had the spiritual aspect of their experience honoured. The spiritual dimension has been completely overshadowed by the interpretation given to their experience by the medical model.
These unfortunate individuals have been forcibly injected with high doses of medication, held against their will, shunned by their families, rejected by society, and labeled by the system as pathologically mentally ill.
Although it can be argued that the mental health system (which is a fundamentally flawed institution) is only doing what it knows best, a psychiatric unit isn’t the safest place for a person who is undergoing a spiritual emergency.
Those who don’t end up committed usually buy into the pathologizing perspective of the mental health system – there simply aren’t many other alternatives.
They may be diagnosed with a mental illness, instructed to take medication every day to keep their symptoms under check, and shooed away like a herd animal until their prescription expires – and the cycle continues.
While I’m not trying to imply that it’s a good idea to get off your medication if you suspect you’ve undergone a spiritual emergency, it is a wise idea to be educated and have more options.
Sometimes, a small amount of medication is necessary to help prevent complete system shutdown – and that is a blessing the medical world offers us. But it’s not the only solution.
Being ‘Diagnosed’ or Hospitalized During the Spiritual Emergency
As Lucas writes in her book, the process of being tossed through the medical system can be severely traumatizing and actually prevent us from fulfilling the natural cycle of the spiritual emergency – and reaping its rewards:
Illumination Books Bundle:
Explore the deeper dimensions of your inner self with our collection of illuminating e-books. Dive into topics including sensitivity, solitude, shadow work, spiritual awakening, and beyond!
Overall, perhaps the greatest danger of ending up in a hospital, and certainly the saddest aspect, is that the opportunity for healing and growth, for living a fuller, richer, more awakened life, can be irretrievably lost. The natural process of renewal, as the psychiatrist John Weir Perry called it, can be totally thwarted. Both the trauma of hospitalisation and the over-use of medication can have this effect. And once the process has been stopped in its tracks it can be difficult, if not impossible, to retrieve.
Furthermore, having our mystical experiences dismissed as being purely ‘psychotic,’ ‘borderline,’ or ‘schizophrenic’ not only denies the spiritual validity of what we’re going through but also adds an unnecessary element of fear and terror to the experience. This fear and terror can be profoundly crippling and can make the whole experience much more difficult than it really needs to be.
Thankfully, there are some in the medical field (typically Jungian and transpersonal therapists who focus on spiritual psychology) who understand the spiritual significance of symptoms that would otherwise be dismissed as “ramblings of a crazy mind.”
I encourage you to seek these sorts of professionals out and ask them if they are familiar with the spiritual emergency. You can also visit the spiritual emergence network if you need to find someone close to you.
Roger Walsh, an Australian professor of psychiatry, philosophy, and anthropology, is one such figure in the medical field who validates the spiritual emergency. He calls it the “developmental crisis”:
Developmental crises are periods of psychological stress that accompany turning points in our lives. They may be marked by considerable psychological turmoil, sometimes even of life-threatening proportions. These transitions can occur spontaneously, as in adolescent and midlife crises, or can be induced by growth accelerating techniques such as psychotherapy and meditation. These crises occur because psychological growth rarely proceeds smoothly. Rather, growth is usually marked by periods of confusion and questioning or, in extreme cases, disorganization and despair.
So is it a spiritual emergency or a psychosis?
We need to understand that sometimes experiences can be both/and not either/or. In this situation, you may be experiencing both a spiritual emergency and some form of psychosis – but they shouldn’t be seen as two distinct things.
As Lucas writes, “… I am not interested in trying to distinguish between so-called psychosis and spiritual emergency. I take the view that it is all the psyche’s attempt to heal and move towards wholeness, that each experience is potentially spiritually transformative.”
What you’re going through is valid, and you need to seek out those who can help you see your spiritual emergency through a positive lens, not a negative one.
Types of Spiritual Emergency
There are two main types of spiritual emergencies. They can be classified as:
- Mystical Psychosis (hallucinations, mania, etc.)
- The Dark Night of the Soul (depression)
Historically, we can see Mystical Psychosis play out in figures such as St. Teresa of Avila, Vincent Van Gogh, Nietzsche, and Carl Jung. The Dark Night of the Soul, on the other hand, can be seen in figures such as St. John of the Cross, Eckhart Tolle, and Mother Teresa.
The main difference between these two types of spiritual emergencies seems to be the direction in which energy flows.
With Mystical Psychosis, the energy seems to flow upward and beyond into higher realms of Spirit or Consciousness.
On the other hand, with the Dark Night of the Soul, the energy seems to flow downwards and in – or into the realms of the Collective Unconscious and Soul.
It is possible to have a little bit of Mystical Psychosis paired with the Dark Night of the Soul (and vice versa). It’s even possible to have both equally. However, most people tend to experience only one type of spiritual emergency.
How to Cope With the Spiritual Emergency
There is a crack, a crack in everything that’s how the light gets in.
– Leonard Cohen
I write “cope” instead of “cure” because the spiritual emergency has a mind of its own. What we’re dealing with here is a force of nature, a Divine movement of energy that cannot be tampered with without adverse effects (such as those stuck in the mental health system carousel).
There is no six-steps-to-happiness process here. I wish there were. I would so love to provide that for you. But that would be disingenuous and disrespectful to the process you’re going through.
Perhaps what is most important to take away from this article is that your suffering has a purpose, and your experiences are spiritually valid. If there’s anything you remember from this article, I hope it’s this.
While there is no formula for healing, as every journey is different, there are some practices you can try that have helped those on a similar path before you.
Please take these forms of advice very slowly and stop at any time if you feel worse:
1. Stop meditation, practice mindfulness instead
Many people who undergo spiritual emergencies simply cannot tolerate meditation. Why? Meditation can be very dissociating if you’re not grounded strongly in your body. (And those undergoing Mystical Psychosis or the Dark Night struggle to keep their grip on this plane of existence!)
Meditation can also open up doorways within the mind and encourage the influx of unconscious material. For a person already being bombarded with images and visions from the deep mind, this can be profoundly destabilizing.
During this difficult time, it’s better to practice mindfulness exercises. Mindfulness means consciously paying attention to the present moment. When we are mindful, we are fully engaged with our body and senses. Tuning into your sense of taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing can help to bring you back down to earth and your body.
Try to practice mindfulness a little bit every day. Wash the dishes mindfully and feel the cold water against your hands. Hang up the clothes mindfully, and listen to the birds chirping outside. Eat mindfully and notice the different textures and flavors filling your mouth. You get the picture!
2. Seek out earth energy
Try to bring the energy of the earth into your daily life. As you may already know, the earth’s energy is deeply grounding and nourishing.
If you need help anchoring yourself into this realm, go outside and dig in the soil. Get your arms elbow-deep in the dirt. Plant some seedlings in your backyard. Take care of a pot plant indoors. Sit underneath a tree and feel the ground underneath your feet.
If need be, bring a heavy stone to bed so you can literally become grounded. Ecotherapy is a good avenue to explore.
3. Temporarily stop your spiritual practice
To some, this may sound drastic, but the spiritual emergency isn’t something to be trifled with. It’s important to understand that some types of spiritual practice can intensify Mystical Psychosis and the Dark Night of the Soul. In the interest of your sanity, it might be best to put your practices aside for a while and focus on mundane tasks.
If you absolutely cannot do without some form of spiritual nourishment, try earth-centered approaches to spirituality, like spending time in nature. Ultimately, whether you follow this advice or not is up to you and your situation. But definitely consider the possibility that your spiritual practice might be detrimental to your well-being right now.
4. Eat hearty food
During the spiritual emergency, it’s tempting to ignore what we eat (simply because we’re too preoccupied or have no energy). But please, try your utmost to eat at least one hearty meal a day. When I say hearty, I mean the food needs to be grounded.
Focus on root vegetables like sweet potatoes and beetroots, as well as organic free-range meat. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, you might consider temporarily changing your diet to include meat – desperate times call for desperate measures! However, if you cannot bring yourself to do this, focus on carbs and heavy plant-based foods, and ensure that your iron and other vitamin levels are balanced.
5. Find the purpose in your suffering
Examine again the five potential reasons why spiritual emergencies happen (see the beginning of the article). Why do you think you’re experiencing a spiritual emergency? Listen to your heart and let the answer emerge.
$3You’ll know you’ve found the truth when you feel full-body shivers, a sense of peace and clarity, or a sudden “aha!” lightbulb moment.
If you can’t find any satisfactory explanations mentioned in this article, you may experiment by praying to the universe, God, or whatever else to help you find the meaning. This prayer doesn’t have to be religious, it can be spiritual or secular. Simply communicate your intention, and notice any signs that arise in the next week.
6. Exercise (even just for a few minutes)
Depending on your situation, you may like a full-body catharsis (like high-interval training) or a gentle activity like walking.
Pay attention to your needs. Exercise is vital for mental health and general physical wellbeing. It also connects you with your body and the surrounding world, which is important during the spiritual emergency.
7. Avoid stressful situations and reduce your responsibilities
Stress exacerbates any form of spiritual emergency – this is pretty obvious, so try your best to focus on crafting a peaceful environment in your daily life.
Furthermore, holding onto many responsibilities tends to produce stress. For instance, if you have lots of projects or people needing your energy, it might be best to drop the vast majority of them ASAP.
The spiritual emergency demands your energy and attention, and getting lost in workaholism is a recipe for disaster. So try to simplify what you can and give yourself some much-needed breathing space.
8. Seek support
Yes, in the midst of psychosis, it might be necessary to be medicated and hospitalized (low doses of medication are generally better than high doses during spiritual emergencies – but I am not a medical professional, so please listen to your own common sense).
But generally, if your experience doesn’t require 24/7 observation, it’s best to seek out a therapist or spiritual counselor who is familiar with the notion of spiritual emergencies.
Above, I recommended transpersonal and Jungian therapists (but please do your research and ask them if they know about spiritual emergencies). This is a great option, and you can visit the Spiritual Emergence Network to see if any are near you or just do a general internet search and include the name of your city, e.g., “spiritual emergency therapists near me.”
If worse comes to worst and you can’t find any within a reasonable distance, you can always try a religious chaplain, community mental health center, or online Skype sessions. You can also check out our Dark Night of the Soul Journal for gentle guidance.
Why am I not recommending the support of friends or family members? The reason why is that usually, those close to us have no understanding of the spiritual emergency and tend to be negatively conditioned by medical institutions.
In other words, it’s much more likely that they’ll get spooked by your experience (as they’re comparing it to the “old” you) and actually invalidate the experience rather than validate it. This is not a hard and fast rule, and some friends or family members are mature and may have gone through similar experiences. So try to use your gut instinct when making a decision, and above all, put your well-being first.
Most importantly, do not let anyone try to convince you that what you’re going through is purely a product of mental illness or that your visions/insights are “irrelevant.”
Denying the spiritual element of what you’re going through is monumentally short-sighted and detrimental to your well-being. You have the right to honor your experience and find meaning in it, as, indeed, it is meaningful.
Helpful Organizations
For further guidance, please check out the following resources:
These people and organizations are trained to help you get through the scary and overwhelming experience that is the spiritual emergency.
I also recommend our powerful Dark Night of the Soul Journal for further help and support.
If you’re looking for a way to ground and anchor yourself during this process, I also encourage you to take our immersive Spiritual Wanderer Course.
The Spiritual Emergency is a Sacred Process
When all is said and done, this spiritual emergency may be terrifyingly life-altering, but it is a sacred process of clearing out the old and welcoming in the new.
While the medical world may pathologize you and the mundane world may reject you, you are not crazy. You are not alone. And your experiences do have profound spiritual meaning.
Take care of yourself, dear soul. You are doing the best that you can, and you are so courageous for walking this path. Thank you for your profound bravery.
If you need more help, we offer 3 powerful ways to guide you on your inner journey:
1. The Spiritual Wanderer Course: Feeling lost or uncertain about your path and purpose in life? Gain clarity and focus by learning about the five archetypes of awakening within you. Discover your deeper path and purpose using our in-depth psychospiritual map. Includes 3+ hours of audio-visual content, workbooks, meditations, and a premium test.
2. Shadow & Light Membership: Seeking ongoing support for your spiritual journey? Receive weekly intuitive guidance and learn to embrace your whole self, including your shadow side. Deepen your self-love and receive personal support from us.
3. Spiritual Awakening Bundle: Ready to soul search and dive deep? Access our complete "essentials" collection of beloved journals and eBooks. Includes five enlightening eBooks and seven guided journals, plus two special bonuses to further illuminate your path.
Other things that happen during a spiritual emergency include you can you lose or hold on to your loved ones, break through the cocoons and illusions of the world, and sometimes, if we are clever enough to communicate with the universe around us, nature responds to our emotions. Like the elements sometimes respond and destruction or creation occurs. Sometimes we develop unuseful habits during spiritual emergencies, including anger problems or deep emotional blockages because of interactions or conflicts with others. That’s what I’m working on anyway.
Ultimately the buddhist heart sutra and diamond sutra help me balance across my internal rabbit holes and voids a lot, and I’ve been toying with using my aura as a useful energy source. I think I’m strong enough to handle it though. It helps me to see the reflection of myself in my husband’s eyes and my daughter’s eyes.
Good luck to anyone else in their personal soul growth journey! Careful out there, it’s a wild world!
I am here now.
I was hospitalized after a psychosis episode and it was a terrifying experience, I couldn’t explain everything to the doctors, and I was rambling. I also had a trauma happen as well. I believe I was undergoing a spiritual awakening and to be honest- I fell in almost every spiritual traps. I didn’t know what was what. And then this trauma happened, it nearly destroyed me and I could feel my soul being fragmented. They diagnosed me with psychosis and put me on a schizophrenic medication. For months now I had been so silent and a lot of the times my family did not understand. But then I came upon this, now I know for sure I was not crazy, I had an explicit spiritual emergency. I really needed this.
this may be the closest to what I’ve been trying to explain. I ended up in the hospital, for “psychosis” but I was there for less than a week….
in my head , two years had past. a journey. things I’ve never seen and can’t explain, yet have seen here or there others searching for answers to, or announcements with diagrams of things not yet built.
all I know is, I asked twice ” that whatever the amount of time I was in the hospital, 5 days I think, was about 2 years to me….”
They asked me if I was sleeping enough. nothing else. I’ve kept quiet from then.
someday I hope to paint what I saw….
Did you paint it yet?
I used to paint vibrant and colorful murals all over my house. I covered the walls and floors and ceilings and furniture with vibrant colors. I sold that fancy painted box a year ago and now I just live in a swamp under the northern lights in a Mongolian yurt instead. So I can live the magic every day and I never have to do what ‘they’ say.
Don’t limit yourself to canvas, water colors or acrylics. Pick up the paintbrush of your life and create the world around you as you see it in your dreams.
Hi there,
I stumbled across your page and was really drawn to your writings and expressions around the dark knight of the soul, soul emergency.
I am currently 5 weeks in on experiencing what I believe to be some kind of spiritual soul emergency. I had a plant medicine experience in December last year, 5 weeks ago I was triggered into a PTSD episode from the experience that I had in December and haven’t felt the same since. I feel like I am looking out at life through a different lens and even friends/ family notice in me that “I’m here, but not ‘here'”
My connections from spirit guides seem to have been taken away from me and I feel like I am looking around at the world like I am in a different space, a place where time doesn’t exist. It is the most odd experience I have ever had and it reminds me of being in a state of being high but then not being able to ground back into my body.
Theres moments of emotions, theres moments of numbness, theres moments of depression and theres moments of me literally not knowing if I am going to get back into a space where I feel like I have the sparkle in my eye again back.
Just wondering if you have any advice, tips around this sort of situation? Or if you too have experienced anything similar and the approaches you took.
Thank you
Hey Tara,
I’m sorry to hear you’re going through that. Plant medicine can be amazing in healing but it can also created issues in some people when it isn’t performed in a trauma-informed way.
It sounds like you’re experiencing some on going trauma response, dissociation and dysregulation. I suggest you find a professional who is trauma-sensitive and can help you process and integrate your experience.
In the meantime, finding ways of grounding yourself through root foods, physical exercise and exertion, and orienting yourself to find places that feel solid in sensations within your body (it may be your feet, breath etc) while also avoiding any activities that bring back flashbacks that feel uncomfortable (closed eyed meditation for some people for example.)
I wish you all the best.
Thank you so much !
Well, I am not an expert, but I have been experimenting a bit with plant based experiences over the past couple years as well.
I started out basically opening my own consciousness to better and bigger things in the world. I studied herbal medicines and mushroom medicines from across the globe, and I tried some myself. Many work. I have also done a lot of personal soul development using the buddhist and hundu chakra systems and acupuncture and explored/discovered my own independence and wild nature.
However, I also believe that there is a divine trinity between the flora, fauna and fungal world for each species. I believe that THC and psilocybin correlate strongly with the human mind somehow, and those chemicals help our brains shift our internal lens and external lens slightly.
I have had many experiences floating off… my husband often has to pull me back. It helps to have your favorite person put their thumbs on the center of the souls of your feet, and just, bring you back to your body when you need help remembering youre a human… if that makes sense. Hot mineral baths with herbs, salts and oils and candles are great. Acupuncture is great.
Finding a literal stone, rock or crystal to focus on can also help. Orbs store energy. Obelisks and points direct energy. Carry one in your pocket or on a chain, and tether your soul to it a bit, so you can always find your way back without floating away. It helps me anyway, during soul projection and really vivid dreams.
It’s okay to believe in yourself. It’s okay to be strong enough to find light in your own soul instead of in spirit guides. Great job.
I had a dark night of the soul in December and a bit later a kundalini awakening in January and I felt my soul fragmented.
I feel mentally incapable to some extent. I wish I can come into contact with my heart and know what It wants.
I hope I get better and I Really wish I have a vibrant soul and don’t stay like this negative feeling forever..
What are your words of advice for me who gone through so much uncontrollably. And that I’m part of a family who loves me so much and I want a career that is best for me.
Is it possible I can heal without a shaman because my family will think I’m crazy or insane regarding this im predicting.
Hey Josh,
I’m sorry to hear you’re struggling. It’s important to remember those feelings of fragmentation don’t last forever, they are often the necessary pain that motives us to do some inner exploration.
And there’s no need for a shaman, there’s many approaches to healing and integrating ourselves. You can read our Inner Work article which explores how to get started with some of them.
Karma and the collective unconscious?
Say, for instance, a group of people come to anothers home and destroy families… Could the modern “dysfunctional family” be paying for the karmic retribution? Do homes and lands continue to suffer until the realization? And once realized, what can we do about our dysfunctional neighbors (who have communal impact)?
It’s difficult to type sometimes. I wish I could talk in-person. I live in a strange place. It’s like I’m part of a nightmare.
I plea to the supreme authority, higher than us all.
We O all.
Come to Colorado. Witness the massacre of the sacred.
Is it my own emergency, or am I witnessing an emergency unraveling in the community?
What can I do? I’ve got the symptoms of soul loss. I’ve seen such beauty massacred… Sacred space violated.
I am the minority. The lone wolf. Sole Sol soul.
My parents are disabled. My mom medicated when she was 15. My dad a PTSD Vietnam veteran. And they had me at an older age. So I’m one of a kind.
I’ve spent my life working to unravel the mystery. And… It’s sad how others take advantage of others… Mislead others. Type great things, but aren’t actually there. And then give themselves away by discriminating sociopaths and narcissists (from the toxic relationship article you wrote).
I’m looking for people who are here and now. Present. The gift.
Though I already gave away my anti-social nature.
It’s all good. We learn together.
You should move to Colorado and be present friends. Wishful thinking… From one Sol and Luna(tic) to another.
It’s the natural cycle of death, destruction and rebirth. It’s painful to witness and experience, especially because so much beautiful, sacred, and wild world is being consumed by the carelessness of our species. I lost much faith in humanity. I know what they have done since always.
But I believe in nature. I believe that the world woke up again and is going to be okay somehow. I just think it’s up to each of us to grow our souls and lives big enough to adapt. Sink or swim. What can each of us do to make the world authentically better for the next generation? Which seeds should we plant? Which stories should we tell? Do we want to rely on a failing society and social norm or do we want to create our own realities? Do we want to be someone proud of themselves or someone that is eternally a victim?
Everyone has their soul bashed and slaughtered and split and desecrated. Everyone experiences great loss. Suffering is our choice. We have to rely on and guide our own souls to grow back before we can be strong enough to be around or really help others, I think.
Hi dear Lonerwolf writers and readers,
You have been my favourite website since many years, guiding me through life. I owe you many thanks for I have been struggling with mental health since my teens.
This article firstly made me cry. I haven’t found an article that so accurately describes the state I’m in; a spiritual emergency. It feels like I’m being shattered on the inside, and so much emotion and memories are resurfacing and physically processed.
Thank you for writing all that you and Matteo do; your website is so profound.
Also in this article I feel the need to address what is written and my difficulties with it.
The paragraph: “They may be diagnosed with a mental illness, instructed to take medication every day to keep their symptoms under check, and shooed away like a herd animal until their prescription expires – and the cycle continues” – This is NOT my experience nor many of people I know from battling 20 years in mental health institutions.
I live in western Europe and the health care has given me many chances to help myself in dire straits, been there when my world was shattering. Yes, different doctors different experiences, there are (like within any field) unfortunately very shitty experiences too.
But their medical profession gives them a huge window of knowledge on the matter, how anxiety, shame, rage maps its way in different individuals.
They can provide a place of safety and help stabilise. This is needed for many so they will refrain from hurting themselves or others;
F.I. One person I met was suffering from Schizoaffective disorder, Narcissistic personality disorder and antisocial disorder; thanks to his medication he is able to be out of prison and live a very humble life. Without it would be utterly dangerous. Someone else who has become a dear friend deals with Bipolar disorder (and psychosis when pressure rises), general anxiety disorder, sex and alcohol and drug addiction, and continues to run like a roller coaster, despite all the love inside her. Medication is helping her being able to function a bit better. I have seen many who are hugely scarred by their upbringing and life’s experiences. They will not be able to climb that ladder from hell.
Therefore to me it was a shock to read about having to in a sense ‘keep ridin’ out the dark night of the soul’; Some folks experience their day and night wrapped in darkness. Some people are more limited than others. And some are more capable than others.
For you to suggest that ‘it may be best to not seek support from family and friends’ I find this written bit too bold; For some yes, their f&f will demotivate them and respond toxically, or be simply unsupportive. For others they will be the ones who grab their hand and help pull them back up.
In a time when mental health is challenged by living in a modern world (loss of tribes, spirituality) and waiting lists for proper help are getting longer and longer, we must be careful with views on mental health.
I have been lucky. Mental Health care in my country has always sought out the bigger picture of me as I wanted this too. They gave me a place where I could share everything, also spiritually. They were realistic and empathetic in their treatments, encouraging me to go out in nature, to let out the inner turmoil, applying mindfulness, practice tolerance of inner pain and somatic pain, acceptance, to find my boundaries, take care of myself.
To finish, I would like to advise anyone to feel instinctively if the help they are getting (in whatever shape or form) is truly beneficial for them. Wherever you are, whomever the help is from.
Be careful for anyone who crosses your boundaries.
Seek help and protection if this is what you deep down feel you need.
All the best, *wolf howl 💛
All of the articles are incredible and very well written and informative and really make one think ..
Another excellent summary, Aletheia!
I have definitely been through many years of The Dark Night. Now that my Mom has died, I find that the meaning of my life is gone – I had previously identified with living for my Mom and my family.
I prayed recently that “God would take me; allow the Python to crush me to death.” The result seemed like I was granted that, however, the meaning was not literal death of my body but instead an introduction to a spiritual emergency and something of an awakening.
I am still working through my process and I am thankful for your guidance and clarification through your articles. FYI I live in Canada.