Spiritual Crisis

[ThirstyTraveler]

Has anybody gone through a major spiritual crisis? You know the kind where a person falls completely apart and is unable to function in society for a prolonged period of time.

 

I am hoping that the Taoist methods of embodiment with a strong earth center make the growth process smoother. I guess that every spiritual practice is inherently dangerous.

 

I don't know why I worry about such things (given the goal thread that was recently posted I may be unconsciously asking for this sort of thing to happen to me).

 

Sometimes when things get really cooking it can get a little scary. Nevertheless, I wonder what other people think about this?

[thelerner]

The HT alchemical taoist path has some safe guards, ie, the Inner Smile to keep the mind/energy smooth and relaxed, away from contraction and paranoia. Likewise, circling the energy can keep it us from being congested head cases w/ kundalini problems.

 

Still, this site and others have seen people crash and burn. A live teacher isn't a must, but its highly recommended. Trying to do these when you lack mental balance is a recipe for trouble. Overdoing them can cause problems. Straying into thoughts of paranoia or mesiahship, depression or too much elation, are signs to slow the practice down.

 

Personally, I'm not that energetically sensitive, I just muddle along, slowly. Enjoy the practice and what comes w/ it.

 

Michael

[karen]

Has anybody gone through a major spiritual crisis? You know the kind where a person falls completely apart and is unable to function in society for a prolonged period of time.

 

Yes. Years, and then months, weeks, seconds.

 

Then you find that every day is really a kind of falling apart and re-creation, then every second a falling apart and re-creation. And then you find that a new and more skillful relationship with life is forming.

 

It took me many years of serious illness to work through this. Adversity does tend to be an effective teacher, but I recommend finding other ways if you can .

 

There's a saying: Trust in God but tie your camel to the post. (or trust in Allah, whatever the cultural reference was). In other words, life is a risk. Be prudent anyway.

 

Richard Thompson's song about the amusement park ride of life goes:

 

Let me ride on the Wall of Death one more time

Let me ride on the Wall of Death one more time

You can waste your time on the other rides

This is the nearest to being alive

Oh let me take my chances on the Wall Of Death

 

Karen

Edited May 1, 2006 by karen

[neimad]

yep.

 

and what was rebuilt out of the ashes was far greater than i could have ever imagined

 

[ThirstyTraveler]

The only reason I am sensitive to this is one of my teachers went through a major crisis in which he had to have people constantly watching him so he wouldn't harm himself. He described it like the infinite was jealous of the finite because it was the one thing it couldn't be (the infinite can't be finite). Those forces were expecting him to be the bridge and he wasn't grounded enough to handle it.

 

Michael Winn helped him out. Michael told him that he doesn't teach individually but he would make an exception for him because he had a dream about him.

 

The Waking Down guys helped him out with their transmissions and he had his Second Birth (a waking down term to describe when you know beyond a doubt that you are consciousness yourself). They talk about being embodied and rotting into your emotions. I think that was the point when he got his trust back.

 

 

As for me...I love the Healing Tao stuff. I took the fundamentals 1-4 course last year and I am going for 3 weeks this year. The earth's energy is so nurturing and it has helped me to feel my emotions deeply and feel stronger. I am highly kinesthetic so feeling the different flavors of energy is not difficult at all.

 

I tried a few phone calls with a waking down guy named Krishna Gauci last year and I have never vibrated at a rate like that in my life...all from gazing at a picture I emailed him. For 2 weeks the energy wouldn't stop churning up emotions...occasionally I would feel something shift but there was no break. In the end it kind of freaked me out so I stopped.

 

Now I am much more grounded but I find the Fusion methods to be a lot more gentle. I guess that is the reason I am cautious with spirituality.

[sean]

I like to believe that the universe doesn't give us more than we can handle. Sometimes I do look around and wonder if that is really true though. I used to be very scared of spiritual crisis. I'm already very sensitive and prone to bouts of depression, anxiety and anger. I thought, I am already on the verge of cracking some days how could I handle some of this crazy shit like Kundalini syndrome and dark nights of the soul? Maybe my fear was useful because it helped me approach my path with temperance. And so far so good. I have really bad days and even weeks that I attribute to overdoing my practices, but in general I feel much healthier and happier every month. I think we are probably always bound to have dark nights though. They break open our egos, reveal our true strengths and nurture genuine compassion.

 

Interesting your experiences with Waking Down ... I've been curious about that work. I like the concept a lot. Saniel seems to have done something very positive and very unique with his years with Adi Da.

 

 

Sean

[neimad]

what you truthfully seek is what you get.....

 

kundalini syndrome and all that other stuff happens to people who actively seek it..... and seek it hard. we create our realities, we create the bizarre phenomena we seek out. we want to experience something so we provide that experience for ourselves.

 

the universe never gives us anything because we are a part of it. we are it. we are that whole part of the hologram.

we give it to ourselves.

 

for myself i had never realised that it was all so simple.

 

it's so unbelievably simple it's ridiculous. sometimes i laugh for a long time at just how simple it is.

and yet most of the time it's just out of reach, hovering there..... i can see it now. i couldn't see it before, but it's always there for all of us.

 

and like eckart tolle speaks about, and the zen monks speak about, and the buddhists speak about, and the taoists speak about.... all in their own unique ways.

it's presence, pure and simple.

 

it's the moment. this moment.

 

seize it.

Edited May 2, 2006 by neimad

[Cameron]

 

 

it's the moment. this moment.

 

seize it.

 

 

Allow it IMO.

 

But awesome post nonetheless.

[neimad]

allow it.

sieze it.

be it.

 

[Cameron]

find it, feel it, trust it, do it, refine it...

 

[sean]

pet it, stroke it, lick it, fuck it.

[Cameron]

Are we still talking about blenders?

[cloud recluse]

Personally,I do think Ive bitten off more than I can chew at times,but I dont know that it was 'meant to be' as a learning experience Im now just very wary of any uncomfortable movements in body energy,but apart from becoming VERY cautious (perhaps to the point of error),I dont know if Ive really learnt anything there.Most of my spiritual crises have happened in relation to other people,with the spiritual value & delicacy of the interpersonal being hammered into me via repeated screwups

 

Interesting your experiences with Waking Down ... I've been curious about that work. I like the concept a lot. Saniel seems to have done something very positive and very unique with his years with Adi Da.

Sean

 

"Waking Down",what/who is it? A decade or so ago I was quite interested in Frank (I prefer this to Adi-whatever),but then concluded hed gone off the rails in a major way.But Ive always been interested in anyone who stepped out of his shadow to see if theyve succesfully carried on from Franks initially promising beginnings.

[ThirstyTraveler]

Maybe my fear was useful because it helped me approach my path with temperance. And so far so good. I have really bad days and even weeks that I attribute to overdoing my practices, but in general I feel much healthier and happier every month. I think we are probably always bound to have dark nights though. They break open our egos, reveal our true strengths and nurture genuine compassion.

 

This is my mentality with these processes. It seems that some people are more motivated by exploration whereas I am motivated more by the pain I feel in my solar plexus, chest, and heart. I have had a tremendous year of growth and I don't mind dark nights...that is a part of the process of integration and growth.

 

I was just curious what others think about the potential of the big one where your mind has to let go of its supposed control.

[sean]

This is my mentality with these processes. It seems that some people are more motivated by exploration whereas I am motivated more by the pain I feel in my solar plexus, chest, and heart. I have had a tremendous year of growth and I don't mind dark nights...that is a part of the process of integration and growth.

 

I was just curious what others think about the potential of the big one where your mind has to let go of its supposed control.

MMMmm... the "big one". Yeah, that can be a scary thought. I think most of us layfolk struggle to structure a more gradual path so that the "big one" isn't so much like a big vice cranking our teeth straight, but more like a good pair of braces, gradually tighening them into place. But sometimes I wonder if this is really possible ... a leap across an abyss is always a leap across an abyss, right?

 

Perhaps this is where committment comes in. I posted this a ways back, maybe you find it relevant.

 

cloud recluse, check it out ... Waking Down and also, since you are a fellow reader of the Wilbersaurus, check out this interview and part two where Saniel and Ken talk a bit about Saniel's experiences with Frank-en-Da-Da and how that all led up to Waking Down. (You'll have to get a membership, but it's only 10 lousy dollars a month and so worth it. Come on! Someone needs to be my Integral Naked buddy on here! )

 

Sean

[Cameron]

HAHAHAHA!

 

ahh man you cant do this to me... I'm damaging my organs laughing about this!

 

Because you think your blender is the best?

[Leo]

By far the best thing I've ever read to help with those kinds of things is "The lazy man's guide to enlightenment". It is plentiful and cheap (Amazon has many, many copies), and you can likely find it in your library, although I suggest buying a copy. You can read it in a sitting, although if you read it once you will probably read it over and over. I like to read it from time to time. I'm not sure that I agree with everything that's in it anymore, but I'm not sure that I disagree with anything in it either. It was written during a time when people were using heavy drugs to open up as quickly as they could, and needed a guide to help them - especially during some of the rough times that come with trying to use substances in those ways. Don't get me wrong, drugs are not required (nor necessarily recommended) by the book, but if it will work for your heavy-duty drug induced frenzied hippie freakout, it'll work just fine for your run of the mill spiritual crisis!

[cloud recluse]

 

cloud recluse, check it out ... Waking Down and also, since you are a fellow reader of the Wilbersaurus, check out this interview and part two where Saniel and Ken talk a bit about Saniel's experiences with Frank-en-Da-Da and how that all led up to Waking Down. (You'll have to get a membership, but it's only 10 lousy dollars a month and so worth it. Come on! Someone needs to be my Integral Naked buddy on here! )

 

Sean

So you want,if I read you correctly,an "intergral naked buddy".Hmm.Never heard it called that before