Transpersonal Psychology includes all the other psychologies and is the best method for understanding Spiritual Experiences (SE), as it explores multiple states of consciousness including waking, dreaming and various contemplative states. It also encompasses experiences both within and outside religious traditions.
Some have described a Spiritual Experience as a spiritual force that seems to lift you out of yourself. My favorite definition is “A transcendent relationship between a person and a Higher Being that sometimes goes beyond a specific religious affiliation.” Examples could be: Seeing ghost, spirits of deceased loved ones, mental telepathy, mediumship, recognizing past lives, Out-of-Body and Near-Death Experiences, synchronistic events, etc.
Some characteristics of these spiritual experiences include:
- A state of ecstasy, bliss, love and joy.
- A sense of ultimate freedom and belonging.
- A transcending of space and time.
- A loss of ego functioning.
- A sense of lacking control over the event.
Therapists can use these characteristics with clients to help determine their reality while they are in the throes of a spiritual experience to make them feel calmer while removing their fear of mental illness. 30 to 50% of the populations in the United States and Great Britain are experiencing these now. This is a rise from the 30 to 40% statistic of the populations in 1994.
Raymond Moody Jr., who authored the book Life After Life describing the term Near-Death-Experience says that the purpose of the paranormal or SEs comes from Pretergression. He says that the paranormal becomes a new sense of knowledge that comes from old knowledge that is held in the client’s memory.
One of my clients described a meditation she had, after Christmas, in which she “saw” The Three Kings and they bowed to her during her meditation. She stated it was a phenomenal feeling having The Three Kings appear during her meditative state. She was filled with so much energy that she felt “they” had come to tell her that she was worthy of esteem, and they were bowing to the divine inside of her.
Her family-of-origin issue had been one of depression because, for one reason, she had been born with the statement from her family that “Wednesday’s child is full of woe.” The Three Kings image replacement that pretergressed from her memory of her Christian education increased her self-esteem and made her feel worthy. This process helps to explain Jung’s belief that archetype of an original model aids in lifting symptoms of mental illness. This process or breakthrough in therapy can also be described as one type of an SE.
Spiritual experiences can also be triggered with clients who lose their employment, relationship, marriage, deaths of important people in their lives, etc. These sometimes bring into consciousness the contents of the unconscious that have the strongest emotional charge and that are the most psychologically relevant at that time for the client.
Sometimes travel can activate a spiritual experience. This happened to me while on tour of Egypt with Edgar Cayce’s organization, the Association for Research & Enlightenment (ARE). I had already had my Holy Spirit experience. I knew there was a God. However, I wasn’t that sure about Jesus Christ and how much of his story I wanted to believe.
One day during the tour we were told we had the afternoon off, and what would we like to do? I had a vague memory of a Catholic Church in Cairo where a vision of the Virgin Mary had been seen. I told our guide that my partner and I would like to visit there.
The ride out was ridiculously hot. When we jumped out of our cab in front of this old church, I was disappointed. This was not the cathedral in my memory. No one inside spoke English but one of our group members spoke Italian and learned that the Virgin Mary had not been seen here.
Outside the church, I saw what looked like subway stairs. As I looked down the stairs ahead of me, I saw a circular banner showing the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. We walked down the stairs and arrived at an extremely old church appearing on our right that was being held up with long pieces of wood. We went down another set of stairs and entered the church.
I walked up to the front of the church being curious mostly about the banners outside. There was a cloth hanging down to the left of the altar covering a doorway. I peeked inside a gap in the cloth and a very lovely lady’s voice said, “You can go in there.” I said, “You speak English?” and she nodded “Yes.”. I said, “What’s in there?” She said, “The apartment where the Holy Family lived when they fled from Herod.” It was extremely hot. I had to ask her “Which Holy Family?” And, the lady said very slowly, “Jesus, Mary and Joseph.” “Oh,” I said, “That Holy Family.” Who knows what she must have thought of me? But I was too hot to care.
I went inside to a small room where there were postcards and some written materials. To my right was another stairway that led down to where I could see water splashing. The lady followed me in and told me that that was where the Holy Family had lived. It was now always wet as people had diverted the Nile.
Because I had not given up, we saw St. Sargius Church, a Coptic church founded by early Christians. It is the oldest church in Egypt. I bought some of the postcards. They lady told me that they use the money to help keep the church standing. I was incredibly grateful that through the problem of translation, my guide had sent the taxi driver to this oldest Coptic church. I now knew Jesus was an historical person. I was in awe. And, as Carl Jung said, “Chance rules!”
Spiritual experiences are activated by the Soul of the person coming from the unconscious, which has an intelligence of its own. Watching clients and myself experience spiritual experiences has shown me that the following benefits come from their activations of the unconscious whenever the Soul knows we are ready, even if we don’t feel ready.
New perspectives that are developed after having a spiritual experience are:
- A belief that a higher intelligence or power in the universe is watching over you.
- Showing you that your Soul has a purpose, and that it is your job to discover what this purpose is.
- Eventually giving one an increase in their intuition and creativity, which connects their personality with their Soul and increases their life energy.
- The fear of dying is lost knowing it is just a transition to another place, which now makes life more meaningful.
In watching the process of spiritual experiences, I have also learned that entertainment and consumption in our material, sensory world does not create meaning. That most people want something more in their life that is meaningful.
How does one start to be more spiritual? Number one would be to lower your mental level in your life – Stop Thinking. Spend more time in meditation, gardening, walking the dog, being in nature. Relax and KNOW there is something higher waiting for you once you stop to listen and see.
