Spiritual Emergency

In the news this morning is a report of the Vatican training a new crop of priests to perform exorcisms. The report makes the point that it is essential to distinguish between demonic possession and psychological problems. That, of course, got my attention.

I'm not sure I believe in demons as entities external to oneself that can possess the human mindbodyspirit. And the mind is a powerful creator of our experience. What we believe is real or true, we can experience. Several hundred years of research into hypnosis proves this. If we believe in demons, we are likely to interpret distressing or anomalous experiences as possession, thus relieving ourselves of personal responsibility for getting appropriate psychospiritual help.

The concept of spiritual emergency fits into my personal and professional belief system. Those of you who have read the Grofs book Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis will be familiar with the psychospiritual explanations for various experiences that the Vatican is likely to consider demon possession.

But isn't a larger issue at play here (isn't there always a larger issue to consider)? What is it in the human soul that is so uncomfortable with difference, ambiguity and uncertainty that it needs to demonize what is unfamiliar to or divergent from the commonplace? And haven't we --- in our sociopathic efforts to narrow ideas such as the good and the sacred into extremely small, limited, and fuzzy reflections of the Great Mysterious whole of the universe --- already been living in a slow-boil spiritual emergency for centuries?

Question to ponder today: How are you limiting your reflections of the sacred? How can you expand your view of what is spiritual? What do you need to transform spiritual emergency into spiritual emergence?

Dr Deah's Musings
Copyright 2005-2006 by Liminal Realities
a personal growth education venture
Deah Curry PhD, publisher
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