Psychic And Spiritual Emergence
I am going to ramble on here a bit, because I believe that this piece of information (which I gathered from the spiritual emergence site) is important, up to the point they begin to put their interpretation on the aspect of emergence: so let me share this piece:
"When a person experiences a Spiritual Emergence episode the psyche opens up to a greater awareness of its potential, the Cosmos and the interconnectedness of all things. During a spiritual awakening unfamiliar psychic abilities can activate, such as, esp, out-of-body experiences, telepathy, channelling, precognition, sensing auras, awareness of spirit entities, clairvoyance, psychkinesis, remembrance of past lives, awareness of syncronisities, hands-on healing or strong instinctive intuition. Because these experiences are unfamiliar or powerfully intense, they can be so alarming or frightening that they send the person into a Spiritual Emergency or transpersonal crisis.
Considering the range of psychic abilities one can experience it is difficult to discuss all the symptoms here and now. Generally speaking, if you are experiencing a Psychic Opening, the nature of it will become obvious to you in time, once you can set aside your preconceptions of what is and is not possible. Psychic experiences that conflict with one's belief system can throw a person into profound conceptual confusion and cause them to doubt their sanity.
It certainly helps to have someone around who is clear-sighted enough to see or understand what is happening, to explain it to you or verify the validity of the experience. If this is not the case, sometimes a spirit guide or your own intuition will explain it to you. The initial experience can be very frightening, confusing and disorienting, so try not to panic. It may not be a common experience but it is quite natural." (http://www.spiritualemergence.org.au/pages/forms-psychic.html)
It is from here, I need to take a left turn: not everyone experiences a sense of panic, nor do they experience this "condition" as a something that is referring to making them 'crazy'. It all depends how the person has been raised, how they approach these abilities that become part of their norm. Nor do they need to believe that they are going crazy. However, if the person does not have good spiritual grounding (background) to deal with these experiences, they can certainly believe that something is definitely wrong, they are going insane, and or create even further fears about what is around them, how to deal with it, etc.
Considering the range of psychic abilities one can experience it is difficult to discuss all the symptoms here and now. Generally speaking, if you are experiencing a Psychic Opening, the nature of it will become obvious to you in time, once you can set aside your preconceptions of what is and is not possible. Psychic experiences that conflict with one's belief system can throw a person into profound conceptual confusion and cause them to doubt their sanity.
It certainly helps to have someone around who is clear-sighted enough to see or understand what is happening, to explain it to you or verify the validity of the experience. If this is not the case, sometimes a spirit guide or your own intuition will explain it to you. The initial experience can be very frightening, confusing and disorienting, so try not to panic. It may not be a common experience but it is quite natural." (http://www.spiritualemergence.org.au/pages/forms-psychic.html)
It is from here, I need to take a left turn: not everyone experiences a sense of panic, nor do they experience this "condition" as a something that is referring to making them 'crazy'. It all depends how the person has been raised, how they approach these abilities that become part of their norm. Nor do they need to believe that they are going crazy. However, if the person does not have good spiritual grounding (background) to deal with these experiences, they can certainly believe that something is definitely wrong, they are going insane, and or create even further fears about what is around them, how to deal with it, etc.
If a psychic emergence does happen it is then up to the person having this to find someone to help sort this out for themselves. It is pretty crucial that they have someone with these particular skills, with training and with understanding to help them deal with what they are experiencing, help them work with what they are experiencing (develop it properly), and how to work with it.
The folks at spiritual emergence has this correct. I wanted to repost this in hopes that folks can understand that these experiences are NORMAL, and are to be expected as one grows spiritually (psychic is a part of this).
Where the train in my opinion, derails, is that the emergence folks perceive psychic experience is some how the 'boogie man'; that they imply as "psychic dangers". It seems that the biggest danger of all is to put this ability as some kind of "other force" negative in nature, that's going to drag folks into lulling them to sleep in some kind of narcotic high...To be honest, it appears that the rest of this quote is very much grounding into "pushing away" any insight a person has into their lives, into abilities that can assist themselves and others, in a sort of negative energy thing:
If it is negative, then how is it possible that this is a natural progression towards opening up either spiritually or as part of the Kundalini process? It wouldn't happen! If it is so "inherently wrong" as part of the unfolding process of enlightenment, why would it exist?
It seems to me to be culturally determined how to look at these manifestations. If you go to various other countries around the world, these manifestations are not considered "evil". It is only when certain religions become introduced, that they are wrong, because it reflects an energy or understanding that the 'church/mosque or temple' fails to recognize, therefore demonize. This even includes folks in the enlightenment tents, who want to view any extraordinary experience as "well part of the process, but don't focus on it", which is pushing your process backwards, what you don't embrace, you set apart from yourself.
What can you do?
Ego is not the devil. It's your personality that functions in this lifetime. Each lifetime has differing personalities! When the ego is unchecked (big headed), karma has it's own way of taking care of this: "pride cometh before a fall" (sound familiar?) This is a gentle reminder to not put yourself (the person, the personality) as better than anyone else. What happens when you begin to open psychically, the ego wants to attach to that experience (what a good boy am I!), tries to capture the experience (which cannot be done: you can re-create it, you can tell folks about it, but don't identify).
What is happening is a God/dess thing (it is part of the divine however you want to see it; male or female or neither). It is something that you are opening to that which is already larger than you are, that is allowing you to see something greater:
This affect is not something you can "own" as something "you" do, but something that you've opened up into--learning how to use it like any other skill is not "ego" or "failing to go on with spirituality" (as read concern in the emergence blog), but part of the process of opening to all the mass energy that is God/dess around you!
Have a teacher who can help alleviate your fears is important, having folks to guide you through this process, in understanding that it is not part of mental health ditto. Learning to realize that you can relax about this, is paramount, because fear is far worse than spending time trying to understand or learn from this experience.
Can you get derailed into falling into "just being psychic" or "being overly dazzled by what you are seeing?" I don't believe it. Why?
Because if you truly are follow a path of "Thine not mine" or following a path of reaching for 'greater mind', (they are not apposed, just which way your personality is taking this life time), that stopping your development here will begin to feel stifling, and stale...We are absolutely geared to keep going!
I think that the important part is to learn why you are here in this lifetime, focus your attention on being the best person you can be, have good ethics about where you stand (what you do, who you are--stand in that), and please relax about whether or not you are on the right path: because the path is where you are!
For those of you experiencing strange things about you, find a good teacher that will assist you in a true responsible way to deal with it. As with anything, there are always those who will try to take advantage. This can be felt as well as understood; those who try to take advantage, hurt. They can insult you (claiming it's for your own good), Or even just be constantly 'down', as in giving rejection, etc. The previous post on "Dying for Enlightenment"
Is the advice they are giving you, uplifting you? Do they practice humility? Do they give advice they themselves don't take for themselves? Can they honestly put you on a path to understanding what you are looking for? Do you feel better when you leave the person, then when you came? And can you put what they suggest into action that results in change in your life?
Alright.
Take a deep breath, what you are experiencing is natural. Normal. Please stop the anxiety of what is happening to you, but find a competent guide to help you through your experience, and know, you are inside of God/ddess.
