kundalini-l-d Digest				Volume 96 : Issue 169 

Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 
From: GrandmmaATNOSPAMaol.com
Subject: Re: synchronicity

Jan,
My thoughts on this subject parallel yours.  My thoughts are as follows.  
The only constant is change.  As the Earth evolves so do we.  We are and
always have been  directly connected to all that is.  Early man and woman
were very aware of this connection. Through their direct awareness and
connection with nature their instincts were maintained.  As the evolution of
humankind progressed these basic survival instincts seemed to be covered up
by the ego and its constituents, power, control and greed.  We became walled
in by excessive boundaries.  As the basic instincts were participated in less
and less they began  to disappear from our awareness though they have always
remained with us.  Dowsing is but one example of this connection with the
Mother Earth.  (Animals have maintained their instinctual awareness.)  As our
boundaries reopen and our Ego's become deflated through the K experience our
instincts resurface in the form of intuition, synchronicity  etc.   The
connection has always been there.  Now  we  are once again open to see it.
 The more open we become the more synchronicity we will experience and the
more protection and guidance we will be aware of.   Unconditional love opens
boundaries between the physical and the spiritual.  Feelings help us identity
our truths within our boundaries.   Emotions maintain a flexible boundary
interaction, keeping us from getting walled in by boundary excess.  Negative
 emotions stretch boundaries, positive emotions pass through our boundaries
keeping them open for a positive return.   Our boundaries have been like a
semipermeable membrane before our awakening.  Now they are becoming a
permeable membrane.  The K  force tells us where our boundary blockages are
 located through the pain we experience.  We can then surrender our boundary
blockages and become more open.  Surrender to win.   The less we attempt to
validate and control our boundaries the more control we experience at a
higher level, a level where we see that we are empowered by our lack of
control.  Thus the paradox.   Our boundaries are the veil which is now being
lifted through this evolutionary process.  The Kundalini flow assists us in
the breaking down of this boundary veil.  What a wonderful gift.   Change
does not need to be painful but since we tend to resist it, it often is.
- This group with its unconditional love has been very helpful to me.  My
boundaries are opening more every day.  Thank you all.  Love and light
             Jean 

I hope this has been helpful to someone.  It has been helpful for me to be
able to express myself.  



Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 
From: "Rondi McBoyer" 
Subject: spirituality vs.psychosis



Spiritual Emergence or Psychosis?

by Selene Vega


Some of the signs and behavioral symptoms that the DSMIII-R (American
Psychiatric Association, 1987) classifies under schizophrenia appear in
individuals who may be experiencing a nonordinary state of consciousness
that is not indicative of mental disease. It is, rather, a potentially
transformative state that can, with proper treatment, lead the
individual through the crisis into a higher state of being. Christina
and Stanislav Grof (1986) maintain that "these experiences - spiritual
emergencies or transpersonal crises - can result in emotional and
psychosomatic healing, creative problem-solving, personality
transformation, and consciousness evolution."
-
Although these states have historical and multi-cultural precedents, our
society has no categories for these experiences and the people
undergoing them, and the similarities to the symptoms of psychosis lead
the authorities to treat what might be considered a mystical state as
pathology. The DSMIII-R does acknowledge the difficulty of
distinguishing the "beliefs or experiences of members of religious or
other cultural groups" from delusions and hallucinations and cautions us
not to consider them evidence of psychosis when shared and accepted by a
cultural group. This might cover mystical experiences that occur under
the auspices of a particular sect or within a cultural context, but it
does not address the variety of states that might be considered
spiritual emergiencies or mystical experiences.

The Grofs have grouped the spiritual crises they have seen personally
and reviewed in written accounts into six categories, which I will
summarize here.


1. Awakening of Kundalini (Serpent Power)
-
Kundalini is an energy described by Indian scholars as residing at the
base of the spine. When aroused, it can rise through the chakras
(psychic centers situated along the spine from the tailbone to the top
of the head), creating physical symptoms ranging from sensations of heat
and tremors to involuntary laughing or crying, talking in tongues,
nausea, diarrhea or constipation, rigidity or limpness, and animal-like
movements and sounds.

Kundalini does not rise only in those who know about it and actively
seek to arouse it. A variety of spiritual practices can bring it on, and
it has been known to occur in people who have done nothing consciously
to awaken it. A discussion of this spontaneous awakening can be found in
Sanella (1978).

Kundalini awakening can resemble many disorders, medical as well as
psychiatric. The physical nature of the symptoms can bring to mind
conversion disorder, and it might also lead to a misdiagnosis of
epilepsy, lower back problems, incipient multiple sclerosis, heart
attack or pelvic inflammatory syndrome. The emotional reaction to the
awakening of Kundalini can be confused with disorders involving anxiety,
depression, aggression, confusion and guilt.

Unlike those suffering from psychosis, individuals experiencing
Kundalini rising are "typically much more objective about their
condition, communicate and cooperate well, show interest in sharing
their experiences with open-minded people, and seldom act out" (Grof,
1986).


2. Shamanic Journey


Shamanism occurs in various forms in many cultures all around the globe,
and the preparation for the shaman usually involves an experience of a
nonordinary state of consciousness that provides an encounter with death
and rebirth. This can take the form of a dream or vision of descent into
the underworld where torture and annihilation take place, followed by
rebirth and return to the upper realms. Within the appropriate cultural
context, this journey is often a resolution for an illness that had been
diagnosed as a shamanic or initiatory illness, and the shaman returns
from the journey not only healed, but able to heal others.

The Grofs note that the psychiatric interpretation of the behavior of
the shaman relates it to hysteria, schizophrenia or epilepsy. In
actuality, shamanistic cultures "clearly differentiate between a shaman
and a person who is sick or insane" rather than attributing shamanism to
any bizarre experience or behavior they do not understand.


Nevertheless, certain characteristics of the shamanic experience
parallel those of the prepsychotic (Pelletier & Garfield, 1976).


" . . . hypersensitivity prior to the shamanistic experience, powerful
emotional reactions to personal traumas and/or impasses, feelings of
inadequacy, and difficulties in relating to others approximate, if not
duplicate, the symptoms of the prepsychotic."


Silverman (1967, cited in Pelletier & Garfield, 1976) claims that the
behavior and cognition of both the schizophrenic and the shaman are a
result of a particular ordering of psychological events. He sees the
essential difference between the two states as a matter of the
psychosocial environments that exist around them. The emotional supports
and mode of working with the shamanic illness found in a shamanic
culture are generally unavailable to the schizophrenic in our culture,
and this leads to an entirely different outcome. The cognitive
reorganization that takes place in each is patterned by the expectations
of the culture, so that although the original state is similar, the end
state is not.


3. Psychological Renewal Through Activation of the Central Archetype

This category is based on the ideas of J. W. Perry (1974, 1986), a
psychiatrist who has worked with psychotic patients in ways that support
a transformation involving "emotional healing, psychological renewal,
and deep transformation of the patients' personalities" (Grof 1986,
p.11). When this transformative process was not suppressed with the
standard anti-psychotic drugs, Perry found patterns that express what he
calls the central archetype. This involves a theme not unlike the
shamanistic death and rebirth, but on a larger scale. Here the cycle is
a world cycle, and the individual often experiences him/herself as
holding a central position in a global or cosmic conflict. For women,
this can take the form of giving birth to a savior, while for men the
experience is more likely to be their own birth as messiah or other
world leader.

The spiritual crisis here resembles ritual dramas of renewal that have
existed in one form or another for five thousand years (Perry, 1986, p.
35) From this standpoint, the prepsychotic condition of the individual
is considered the psychopathology, while the psychotic episode is a
process of healing and transformation.



4. Psychic Opening


-
The DSMIII-R regards belief in parapsychological phenomena as part of
the criteria for schizophrenia, but there has been enough scientific
research yielding positive results (Targ & Harary, 1984) to warrant at
least an open mind. Psychic opening is a state in which an individual
experiences a large number of occurrences that can be considered
paranormal. These might include clairvoyance (visions of past, future or
remote events) out-of-the-body experiences, telepathy, or poltergiest
phenomena. Synchronistic events are often a feature of this type of
transpersonal crisis, occurring in a way that defies statistical
probabilities.


5. Emergence of Karmic Pattern

This crisis is marked by the experience of reliving events that appear
to take place in another time period and usually in another place. The
individual experiences these sequences as memories from a previous
incarnation, and often sees various emotional, psychosomatic and
interpersonal problems in his or her present life in a new perspective.
Biological birthing is often relived in combination with the past life
experience and a curious pattern has emerged linking the two. For
example, strangulation by the umbilical cord is often associated with
memories involving hanging or strangling in a past life. Scenes of
suffering in dungeons, torture chambers and concentration camps
correspond to experiencing the first stage of labor, involving
contractions within the uterus.



Many individuals caught up in the experience of a past life scenario see
this as bizarre and insane, as our culture does not present any concept
that might explain it. These visions can continue for months or years,
causing distortions in interpersonal relations as well as a variety of
emotions and physical sensations. These experiences can be dramatically
therapeutic when integrated, alleviating emotional, psychosomatic and
interpersonal problems of long standing. Regardless of the origin or
true cause of these sequences, they can be utilized by an individual to
understand his or her own current life more fully.

-

As for understanding the true basis for this phenomenon, there are no
definitive answers. Certainly the belief in reincarnation is widespread
in other cultures. In addition, interesting corroborative information
has been obtained by following up on the few experiences that have
provided enough specific clues to allow for that. There are other
possible explanations for this, so we have no proof of reincarnation,
even if we can find proof that an individual's past life experience
provides historically correct information that they could not have known
otherwise.



6. Possession States

The Grofs describe this crisis as the emergence of an archetype of evil
that is identified as demonic by the possessed individual. They say that
this type of possession state "can underlie serious psychopathology such
as suicidal depression, murderous aggression, impulses for antisocial
behavior, or craving for excessive doses of alcohol and drugs. They
imply that there might be some relationship to multiple personalities as
well.

The Grofs describe therapy hours that resemble medieval exorcisms when
the archetype appears during the session. Often there is choking,
projectile vomiting, or frantic motor behavior with temporary loss of
control. To resolve the problem, the archetypal pattern must be allowed
to emerge and exteriorize, leading to a liberating and therapeutic
experience. The Grofs do not go into detail about what type of support
is required from the therapist in this situation beyond the need to be
"not afraid of the uncanny nature of the experiences involved."

In addition to the demonic sort of possession state that the Grofs
describe, I would imagine that more benevolent possession states would
also fit in this category. There are many cultures where the deliberate
induction of possession states is part of a valued religious experience.
This includes Haitian voodoo ceremonies where specific deities are
invited to ATNOSPAMride' the bodies of the worshippers during specific
ceremonies (Metraux, 1959, p. 121), as well as the dancers of Bali who
become the entity they are portraying in ritual drama. Even in our
country there exist religious groups who consider it desirable to be
possessed by the Holy Spirit, with physical manifestations that include
shaking and speaking in tongues (Sargant, 1975). P. Buckley (1981) cites
E. Bourguignon as concluding that possession trance is an ability that
is part of the human potential, as his worldwide studies show that it is
utilized in a large percentage of societies.


Not covered in these six categories is the classical mystical experience
that is understood as a union with the divine. Much of the historical
written literature describing mystical experiences falls into this
category and comparisons have been made of these accounts with those of
psychotics. Buckley gives an example comparing St. Augustine's mystical
experience with the description John Custance wrote of his psychotic
experience (Buckley, 1981). These descriptions demonstrate beautifully
the similarity (at least in the retrospective description) between the
two experiential states. It would be difficult to distinguish between
them on the basis of the 200-300 words of description that Buckley
excerpted.
-
Buckley delineates several specific concepts often found in descriptions
of both mystical and psychotic experiences.


1. Feeling of being transported beyond the self to a new realm
2. Feeling of communion with the ATNOSPAMdivine'
3. Sense of ecstasy and exultation
4. Heightened state of awareness
5. Loss of self-object boundaries
6. Powerful sense of noesis
7. Distortion of time-sense, particularly time-distortion
8. Perceptual changes
A. Synesthesia
B. Dampening or heightening
9. Hallucinations


The hallucinations found in mystical experiences are more often of the
visual than the auditory type. A frequently described vision for both
states is "the sensation of seeing and being enveloped in ATNOSPAMlight'"
(Buckley, 1981).

The heightened state of awareness can also be understood as a "lowering
of perceptual thresholds that allows greater awareness of alternate
states or of inner life" (Zinberg, 1977, cited in Oxman, Stanley,
Rosenberg, Schnurr, Tucker, and Gala, 1988). Buckley refers also to a
breakdown in the ATNOSPAMstimulus barrier.' This characteristic, as well as
many of the others mentioned by Buckley, is shared by hallucinogenic
drug states. In all three states there is also an increase in primary
process thinking.

Oxman, et al conducted a computerized content analysis of written
passages describing schizophrenia, hallucinogenic drug experiences and
mystical experiences with autobiographical accounts as controls.
According to their findings, "schizophrenic subjects emphasize
illness/deviance themes; hallucinogenic accounts emphasize altered
sensory experience; mystical accounts focus on religious/spiritual
issues; and normal control subjects emphasize adaptive and interpersonal
themes."
-
Although this study produced data showing that individuals experiencing
these distinct states use certain categories of words more frequently, I
am not convinced that the authors' conclusions follow. They say, for
instance, that the schizophrenics associated their experience with "a
sense of impairment, inner badness, and illness" based on the fact that
words from the Deviation and Medical categories appeared with higher
frequency. The examples that they used to illustrate this seem to point
more to the way those around the schizophrenics responded to and labeled
the experience than to an intrinsic sense within the individual. The
authors feel that their findings imply a clear dissimilarity among
altered states, but what I understand from the information they offered
is that the retrospective descriptions of altered states reflect the
attitudes prevalent in the cultures that surround the individuals
experiencing them.

There are differences between schizophrenic and mystical experiences
other than those put forth by Oxman, et al. One major difference is that
disruption of thought is not seen in most mystical states. Disturbances
in language and speech and flatness of affect are also not
characteristic of this state. Apart from possession states,
self-destructive acts and aggressive and sexual outbursts are not seen
in mystical experiences either. In addition, the mystical state is
self-limited and generally brief.

Rama, Ballentine and Ajaya (1976, p. 198) contend that what
distinguishes the seemingly similar euphoric psychotic states and what
they refer to as the experience of higher consciousness is the
fragmented nature of the psychotic experience. The euphoria may abruptly
reverse itself and become a horrific vision of the psychotic as a sinner
in hell. The mystic is able to integrate the sometimes contradictory
inner world from an expanded consciousness, unlike the psychotic, who is
at the mercy of his/her disordered thinking processes.

Wilber (1980, p. 156) views the schizophrenic break at its best as a
regression in the service of the ego that can leave the individual with
a healthier ego, despite the fact that the experience was not sought
after and happens against his or her will. The mystic, on the other
hand, while exploring the same realms as the schizophrenic, is mastering
those realms rather than being overwhelmed by them.
-

"The mystic seeks progressive evolution. He trains for it. It takes most
of a lifetime - with luck - to reach permanent, mature, transcendent and
unity structures. At the same time, he maintains potential access to
ego, logic, membership, syntax, etc. He follows a carefully mapped out
path under close supervision. He is not contacting past and infantile
experiences, but present and prior depths of reality."


As this quote suggests, there is a difference between the individual who
consciously embarks on a journey of what Wilber refers to as a
progressive evolution and the schizophrenic who experiences a break
without prior preparation. This difference does not totally account for
some of the varieties of mystical experience that the Grofs describe
(spontaneous Kundalini awakening, for example), nor does it deal with
the fact that for some the schizophrenic experience can be a
transformative healing process while for others it is not.

One study (Rappaport, Hopkins, Hall, Belleza & Silverman, 1978) found
that for some patients anti-psychotic medication is not the treatment of
choice if the goal of treatment is long-term clinical improvement rather
than immediate symptom reduction. The authors argue that "the stormy
phase of schizophrenia can be looked upon as an attempt at
reorientation, at solving problems of living." Anti-psychotic
medications that reduce neurological sensitivity may interfere with the
individual's reintegrative responses, decreasing problem-solving
ability, sensory and psychological sensitivity, and ability to learn. It
also makes it physiologically nearly impossible for a psychotic to
maintain whatever stimulus attenuation maneuvers he/she has developed to
provide a ATNOSPAMsafe space' in which to problem-solve.

The need for ATNOSPAMretreat' or ATNOSPAMsafe asylum' is emphasized by Perry, as well
(1986). He points out that in the high state of arousal of the
individual experiencing a psychotic break, the mundane world's
activities can feel painful and confusing. The individual needs to have
the freedom to experience the mythic world he/she is dwelling in. This
can be facilitated by an environment of supportive people willing to be
with an individual exhibiting bizarre behavior. Perry has set up a
facility staffed by people who know "the difference between a meaningful
inner process and pathology, not through hearsay or because of a liberal
intellectual view, but as a result of actual experience" (Perry, 1986).
Rather than medicating the symptoms, a therapeutic environment is
created to offer support to the renewal process that is unfolding in the
individual in crisis.

The question becomes one of deciding who is appropriate for the type of
treatment that is being suggested here. Rappaport, et al found that
young males at the onset of a first or second acute schizophrenic
episode with good rather than poor premorbid histories and with
time-limited paranoid characteristics at the onset of their break were
the most likely to benefit from non-medication treatment. The study did
not include females and chronic or other subgroups of schizophrenics, so
no comments could be made about these groups in this paper.

I am making an assumption here that the schizophrenics in the Rappaport,
et al study are of the same type as those that Perry works with and that
Buckley was quoting from in his examples of psychotic experiences that
bear some resemblance to mystical states. Certainly the treatment
procedures employed by Rappaport, et al and Perry are similar. Both
advocate a treatment milieu with a supportive staff able to tolerate
bizarre behavior and to understand the acute schizophrenic episode as "a
period in which there is an opportunity to reintegrate and to return to
a better personal and interpersonal level of functioning" (Rappaport, et
al).

It seems that the issue for the therapist faced with a client who
appears to be experiencing a psychotic break is more involved than
whether or not this could be a mystical experience that is being
interpreted as ATNOSPAMcraziness' due to our lack of cultural acceptance for
nonordinary states of consciousness. Even if it appears to be a
psychotic break there is the question of whether this individual could
grow and evolve from this experience into a healthier and more
integrated person with the appropriate treatment. Unfortunately, there
are few facilities that approach schizophrenia with this attitude, and
mistreated, this individual might miss the chance for a transformative
experience and find him/herself stuck.

Wilber (1984a,b) has created a system for understanding the cause and
treatment of mental disorders, ranging from those we are most familiar
with (psychoses,narcissistic-borderline disorders, psychoneuroses) to
disorders that occur further along the spectrum of consciousness
development. He agrees that at the psychotic level physiological or
pharmacological intervention is the appropriate treatment. However, he
points out that further up the evolutionary pathway of consciousness,
psychic pathology can resemble psychosis. At this point of development,
the recommended treatment is Jungian therapy involving some structure
building.

Wilber sees psychopathological possibilities at every level of psychic
development, and suggests appropriate treatment for each. The Grofs,
while acknowledging the logic behind Wilber's classification system,
contend that the clinical realities are not so pure and clear-cut. They
recommend a basic trusting relationship with the client as a foundation
for mediating a new understanding of the process the client is
undergoing. If the therapist can convey respect for the healing and
transforming nature of the crisis and support the process, its positive
potential can be utilized.

The Grofs have developed a therapeutic technique involving
hyperventilation, music and sound technology and body work that they use
to assist individuals in transpersonal crises. They suggest the use of
artistic and expressive therapy techniques such as drawing, psychodrama,
dance, and sandplay. Of course, when the crisis is so intense as to
prevent the individual's functioning in the world, there is the
difficulty of finding a facility that is willing to work with
alternatives to the medical model. There are actually three 24-hour
facilities in the U.S., two of which are in California, that are
knowledgeable about and willing to work with spiritual emergencies, and
hopefully this number will grow in years to come.
-
There is a growing amount of information available about transpersonal
crises, what they are and how to treat them. There is also a growing
number of therapists with the expertise and experience to treat them.
The Spiritual Emergency Network, an information and referral network for
transpersonal crises, has been in existence in Menlo Park for several
years now. It is my hope that these are indications of a growing
sophistication in the field of psychology that will allow for a deeper
understanding of nonordinary states of consciousness than the DSMIII-R's
categories allow for. We have, as human beings, barely scratched the
surface of our capabilities and potentials, and as we explore further we
will surely find much that does not fit our current understanding of the
mind and body and how they work. If we can maintain open minds, there is
much we can learn.


References


American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and statistical
manual of mental disorders (3rd ed., revised). Washington, DC: Author.


Buckley, P. (1981). Mystical experience and schizophrenia. Schizophrenia
Bulletin, 7, 516-521.


Grof, C. & S. (1986). Spiritual emergency: The understanding and
treatment of transpersonal crises. ReVision, 8 (2), 7-20.

Metraux, A. (1959). Voodoo. London: Sphere.

Oxman, T. E., Rosenberg, S. D., Schnurr, P. P., Tucker, G. J., & Gala,
G. (1988). The language of altered states. The Journal of Nervous and
Mental Disease, 176, 401-408.

Pelletier, K. R., & Garfield, C. (1976). Consciousness east and west.
NY: Harper & Row.

Perry, J. W. (1974). The far side of madness. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.

Perry, J. W. (1986). Spiritual emergence and renewal. ReVision, 8 (2),
33-38.

Rama, S., Ballentine, R., Ajaya, S. (1976). Yoga and psychotherapy: The
evolution of consciousness. Honesdale, Pennsylvania: Himalayan
International Institute of Yoga Science & Philosophy.

Rappaport, M., Hopkins, H.K., Hall, K., Belleza, T., & Silverman, J.
(1978) Are there schizophrenics for whom drugs may be unnecessary or
contraindicated? Int. Pharmacopsychiat., 13, 100-111.

Sanella, L. (1978). Kundalini: Psychosis or transcendence. San
Francisco: H. R. Dakin.

Sargant, W. (1975) The mind possessed. Baltimore: Penguin Books.

Targ, R. & Harary, K. (1984). The mind race. NY: Villard Books.

Wilber, K. (1980). The atman project. Wheaton: Ill.: Theosophical Pub.
House.

Wilber, K. (1984a). The developmental spectrum and psychopathology, part
1: Stages and types of pathology. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology,
16, 75-118.

Wilber, K. (1984b). The developmental spectrum and psychopathology, part
2, Treatment modalities. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 16,
137-166.
-

Last updated: 26 November 95
Copyright 1989, Selene Vega
All rights reserved
This page maintained by seleneATNOSPAMwell.com




-

Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 
From: traveler 
Subject: Re: Sexual post

Dear Mark, 

Get the facts straight. I had already once asked you in private not to ask
me any more questions. You had not honored this request. And then you wrote
an accusatory letter with what seemed to me, angry undertones. Maybe I am
oversensitive, but when you are dealing with k people, you must realize that
you may be dealing with oversensitive persons. I suspect you are
oversensitve, too.

People use any name they want on email. One reason is to protect themselves
from potential and actual harassment.

I am glad you are staying on the list *and* choosing to honor my request.
Thank you.
-
And I apologize to the list, for having to do this in public.

But I think something important was learned here. In having a way to ask the
list for help, such that my (2nd) request appears as if it will be honored,
there is a form of safety. Maybe I will feel safer in opening up, knowing this.

Love to all, 

Patti