Spiritual Emergency: What the Papers Don’t Tell You Catherine G Lucas  When ex-MI5 agent David Shayler declared himself to be the next Messiah, the media zoomed in on him. But missed the point. This kind of ego inflation is much maligned, yet little understood. It is one of the classic features of spiritual emergency. In this guest blog I’d like to share a way of understanding the phenomenon. First, let me explain the term ‘spiritual emergency’. It comes from a branch of psychology known as transpersonal. ‘Trans’ meaning ‘beyond’ the personal, transpersonal psychology encompasses the transcendent, the spiritual dimension. It brings together ancient mystical wisdomwith modern psychology, grounded in scientific research. Transpersonal psychology offers us a whole different perspective on mental health struggles. It sees crisis as the psyche’s process of renewal, its journey towards wholeness. Psychospiritual crisis or spiritual emergency is a process of profound inner transformation, of healing and growth, that becomes so intense we can no longer cope at an everyday level. It is usually terrifying; people often fear they are going mad or going to die. Many end up on psychiatric wards, because our society has so few places to offer the level of support needed. The difficulty then is that mainstream mental health services tend not to recognise the spiritual dimension of such crises. Not only that, but there is, in addition, a tendency to pathologise, to see as a symptom of illness some very important aspects of spiritual awakening. This brings me to the ego inflation that can occur during spiritual emergency and which unfortunately tends to be labelled ‘delusions of grandeur’ and seen as a symptom of ‘psychosis’. Ego inflation is possibly the single most misunderstood aspect of spiritual emergency. This was sadly illustrated by the media story that broke a few years ago about David Shayler. In 1997 Shayler had revealed to the newspapers that the secret services held files on Labour Government Ministers. He was then tried and imprisoned for breach of the Official Secrets Act. The more recent news story, in 2007, was of Shayler living in a squat and considering himself to be a reincarnation of Jesus. Transpersonal psychology, however, gives us a very different perspective on ego inflation. Here we can draw on the work of Roberto Assagioli, who founded Psychosynthesis, a spiritual approach to psychotherapy. Assagioli explains what happens in ego inflation; that there is confusion between the egoic, personal self and the higher, spiritual Self. The ego appropriates to itself the powerful spiritual energies that are coming through during spiritual emergency. As the personal self experiences the spiritual Self we have a sense of greatness, of expansion. It’s not that we are Jesus or the Buddha, for example, but that we are experiencing the energy of the Christ consciousness. So, whilst ... To bring this to the personal level, in 2003 I went through a major crisis. It only lasted a week but it was phenomenally intense, as spiritual emergency invariably is. I ended up in a wheelchair because I was so overwhelmed that my legs gave way and I couldn’t walk. Despite the challenges, aspects of the experience were incredibly beautiful. At one point I experienced the energy or the consciousness of the Virgin Mary in the way I’ve been describing. I had an overwhelming sense of peace, gentleness and the deepest compassion I’ve ever felt. My therapist at the time wisely encouraged me to explore what that connection with the Virgin Mary meant for me. He certainly didn’t dismiss it as ‘delusions of grandeur’. To do so would be to do the person a great disservice. When someone temporarily has such an experience, rather than dismissing it, we can know that something spiritually important is happening. These are precious experiences, as David Shayler himself no doubt knows.  Catherine G Lucas is the author of ‘In Case of Spiritual Emergency’ (Findhorn Press), launched on World Mental Health Day. You can follow the companion blog at www.in-case-of-spiritual-emergency.blogspot.com and watch a recording of the book launch and download FREE audio talks from the website www.AcademyWisdom.co.uk. She is also the Founder of the UK Spiritual Crisis Network, which gained charitable status in 2009. If you need information or support contact info@SpiritualCrisisNetwork.org.uk |
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