Part 2 of General Spiritual Awakenning
This is an excerpt from You’re Not Crazy, It’s Paranormal
In addition to all the mentioned signs and experiences from Part 1 of this post, the door to other dimensions may open wide. When I was in the haunted San Francisco apartment, the events that took place were pretty much isolated to that location. To me, that was an instance where I experienced something paranormal that was not directly related to my spiritual awakening. With some people, however, it can happen during the same time period. It depends on each person’s specific circumstances. Some of the features of paranormal events themselves can include:
- A move into a home, work or space and noticing the “vibe” not right.
- Unexplained noises
- Unexplained smells
- Unexplained heat or cold spots
- Unexplained mechanical/electrical malfunctions
- Residents or pets being affected in unusual ways
- Seeing things that are unusual apparitions, shadows, flickering lights, blurry spots.
- Feeling ill when being in certain spaces in the location
- Sudden experiences which are of the nature of being out-worldly/UFO/spiritual beings, e.g., a person may sense other energies and beings around them.
You can see how this can begin to become a crisis for a person.
The very important question is: How do you know you are not going crazy?
Clearly, there are differences between insanity and a spiritual awakening.
It’s usually the case that after someone has a spiritual awakening, they change in many ways. These changes if not understood, can lead to extreme distress. Like the signs, they show themselves in a person’s life. You may find some of these familiar too. With mental illness, and this would have to be confirmed with professionals, many of the signs listed below will not be related to a spiritual emergence in any way. They may have some other reason for appearing that is related to mental and physical illness.
With that said, in the midst of a person’s spiritual emergence, they may feel one or more of the following:
- A person may want to change career paths.
- A person may desire to be out of their regular routine and free of people who are depleting to them.
- A person may feel confusion about reality, their life and be in crisis.
- A person may suddenly have a need for solitude, contemplation and introspection and withdraw for some time from family and friends.
- A person’s perception of time may speed up or slow down.
- There also may be a feeling of expectancy. As if you are waiting for something impending to occur.
- Through their desire for change, a person may search for life meaning and purpose.
- Engaging in an increase amount of self-talk/self-thinking. This is you talking to your higher self, not regular chattering that usually happens. The talk is all about working things out and aligning yourself with yourself. This seems strange initially but you become more comfortable as you get to know yourself better. The talk is soothing, calming, streamlined and wise.
It is so important to understand that if these changes aren’t supported and understood, it can become a problem in your quality of life. If you have no context to understand what you are going through, your experience is usually treated as if it is dysfunctional and pathological. Also, you have to have the physical and mental capacity to incorporate your experiences. If you don’t, then this is when you can develop a spiritual crisis, or what some in the field call spiritual emergency.
There is literature that more specifically can help differentiate a physical and mental breakdown, versus a spiritual emergency. People who are in this emerging field, find that if you have at least two of the following criteria, the likelihood is high for a positive and healthy ongoing development:
- The person has healthy and good functioning before the trigger that led to the spiritual crisis. They have no previous history of similar episodes, has the ability to maintain a social network of friends, intimate relationships and some success in career or school.
- The person has a positive attitude toward the experience as meaningful, insightful and an opportunity for growth. So far, the research has found that a positive attitude toward the spiritual emergence process facilitates integration of the experience into the person’s life after their dark night and spiritual opening.
In my particular case, I had a very religious upbringing, but personally never had a spiritually significant experience. I never saw anything outside of the ordinary like spirits. I never heard anything or felt anything except fear because I didn’t understand some of the church’s goings on. So as an adult, I always migrated towards the logical, left-brain, provable philosophy to life. That’s why I chose the social sciences and also made sure I studied the hard sciences as well.
The good news is, we as a culture are experiencing a global awakening. This means there are answers available for you should you have any doubts about your experiences. Just ask for help and don’t give up.
