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The
Remarkable Changes Observed
in
the Lives of EHEers Through
The
Spiritual Emergence Network
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Originally brought to wide public attention through the highly
influential classic, Spiritual Emergency: When Personal
Transformation Becomes a Crisis, by Stanislav
and Christina Grof.
Their sustained and revolutionary healing work and understanding
[along with that of their now many-thousands-strong, worldwide
professional association, the Spiritual Emergence Network / SEN]
has been a major piece of an experientially informed movement
that has had an incalculable impact on the world of psychiatry
and psychotherapies, and on the lives of the countless
Experiencers whom they have been privileged to assist.
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In Spiritual Emergency, the Grofs remark on the
frightfully dismaying global crisis as they saw it circa 1989, for
which we certainly have more than a few new smelly additions to
add, since! But they also express much hope in lieu of the
"renaissance of interest in ancient spiritual traditions" as
well as more contemporary spiritual lifestyles and
disciplines. Say the Grofs, "People who have had
powerful transformative experiences and have succeeded in applying
them to their everyday lives show very distinct changes in their
values. This development holds great promise for the future of
the world, since it represents a movement away from destructive and
self-destructive personality characteristics and an emergence of those
that foster individual and collective survival.
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People
who are involved in the process of spiritual emergence tend to
develop a new appreciation and reverence for all forms of life.
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and
a new understanding of the unity of all things, which often
results in strong ecological concerns and greater tolerance
toward other human beings.
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Consideration
of all humanity, compassion for all of life, and thinking in
terms of the entire planet take priority over the narrow
interests of individuals, families, political parties, classes,
nations, and creeds.
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That
which connects us all and that which we have in common become
more important than our differences, which are seen as enhancing
rather than threatening.
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In
the attitudes characteristic of spiritual emergence, we can see
the counterpoint to the intolerance, irreverence toward life,
and moral bankruptcy that are the root causes of the global
crisis.
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Thus
we hope that the growing interest in spirituality and the
high incidence of spontaneous mystical experiences herald a
shift in the consciousness of humanity that will help to
reverse our current self-destructive course.
We have seen repeatedly that people experiencing spiritual
emergencies benefit greatly from approaches that support the
transformative potential of these states. The new
strategies can also have very beneficial effects on their
immediate human environment -- family, friends, and
acquaintances. It is exciting to consider that such
activity might, in addition, have relevance for human
society as a whole, in helping to alleviate the crisis faced
by all of us.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Culture, context, and origin of EHEs can play a powerful role in how we may be enabled [or
sometimes less-abled] toward understanding, accepting, integrating,
valuing, and utilizing such Gifts as EEs/EHEs. Compare
these several different experiential points of view, which
basically all point to the same characteristics of shifted
consciousness, which PMH Atwater describes as "Brain Shift
/ Spirit Shift":
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1. |
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An
overview of the five-stage EHE Process:
Drs. Rhea White and Suzanne Brown, as a result of
their research and an exhaustive review of the pertinent
literature in the early 1990s, identify five stages within
the EHE process itself. Two other short articles delineate the whole 5-stage EHE Process. One by
R.
A. White offers an objective view, and S. V. Brown
counterbalances with a
subjective view.
Another even more direct trait-related article by White is this
one: Brief
Overview of Exceptional Human Experiences.
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2. |
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Near-Death
Experiences model [Kenneth
Ring ; Evelyn
Elsaesser-Valarino]
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3. |
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Cultural Creatives' Values
[Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth
Anderson]
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4. |
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Shamanic
Vocation [Holger
Kalweit]
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5. |
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Translucent
Experiences [Arjuna
Ardagh]
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6. |
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Mystical Experiences [Louann
Stahl]
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7. |
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The long-studied observations of
the Spiritual
Emergence Network [Stanislav
and Christina Grof]
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8. |
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Presencing
/ Presence [Peter
M. Senge, C.
Otto Scharmer, Joseph
Jaworski, Betty
Sue Flowers, and also Eleanor Rosch, whose work
extensively supports this perspective.]
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9. |
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Theory
U [C. Otto
Scharmer; this and Presence (#7) are closely
related.]
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10. |
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Brain
Shift / Spirit Shift [PMH
Atwater's NDE-based model describes these
aftereffects in the context of an explicitly unique
consciousness.]
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11. |
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The
collaborative, life-long lived inquiry and experiences of
Sri Aurobindo Ghose and Mirra Alfasa [aka, The Mother]
[see Satprem,
essential biographer for both]
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The
surprisingly universal focus, by the time one has made a clear
commitment suggestive of the values and meaning-filled lives shared with such emphasis,
regardless of whichever "lens" one might look through, is about a lifepath of service to
others, to the good of the whole, and to the Earth as a sacred
being. What particularly stands out is
the reverence for all life that lives in Experiencers [EHEers,
no matter which model you use], as well as in EHE Empaths, and their
passionate and compassionate altruistic instrumentality within community and for
the world, which could be deemed an active expression of
"moral consciousness." The more profoundly
Shifting the experience, the more fully the Experiencer
recognizes the sacredness of all life as a Living Whole.
Such EHEers live and speak and act within the perceived context of
[our] ONENESS, as if there is a
Singular Consciousness that pervades and is recognizable,
accessible, and communicative from within all beings and being, even
the most seemingly inanimate.
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