Weathering Spiritual Crisis

This is a time when there is a major paradigm shift in our lives. It is a time when the old patterns driven by fear and shame must end and the new spirit and love-directed patterns must begin. This does not happen overnight, nor does it happen in a neat or pretty way. Sometimes old patterns die hard. Sometimes new patterns are very slow to emerge. It can feel awkward and look messy.
     For many of us, some kind of spiritual crisis accompanies the paradigm shift. The old is dying and the new is not yet born, so there can be a sense of disorientation and even hopelessness here. Old values and beliefs, friendships, family and social structures no longer support us. We are in a kind of strange limbo. Our spiritual practice of connecting to love helps us to prepare for the transformation we all have to make from the caterpillar stage to the butterfly stage of our lives. It enables us to trust the process of emotional healing and psychological growth that prepares us to make the quantum leap from a fear-driven life to a love-directed life.

     In order to transform, we go into a chrysalis state. We stop moving outward and begin to move inward. We stop looking for love and acceptance outside and begin to seek it within. This is the turning point in our lives.
     In the chrysalis state, we learn to bring love and acceptance to our own experience. That sends a message to our soul that we are ready to consciously participate in the process of our spiritual birth. When we consciously participate in this process, it does not have to be sudden, painful or disorienting.

     We cannot easily go through this spiritual rebirth experience without wrapping ourselves in the love of our Core Self and feeling the love of the Great Mother, whose only prayer is that we give birth to all that is true within us. If we don’t cultivate the practice of bringing love to ourselves, we will be too scared to let go of the False Self.
     It will seem like we are letting go into an abyss. This is a time when we need a lot of support. We need our true friends and members of our spiritual family or community to hold the space for us. We often need the help of a skilled therapist, guide or mentor who has made this journey and knows how to help us find our bearings.

     This time of transformation is often referred to in spiritual writings as the Dark Night of the Soul. It is dark because all that we used to depend on is stripped away from us. It is an intense crisis in which we have to find a new faith and a new meaning for our lives. Often, this happens as a kind of mid-age crisis when it is time for old roles and responsibilities to be questioned. Occasionally, it happens to people at a younger age.
     Of course, not everyone engages in emotional healing and spiritual practices to connect to the Core Self. Not everyone moves organically into a state of letting go of the old and unburdening. Not everyone has the support of a spiritual community or spiritual therapist. Some people call for change at a soul level, but they do not understand what they are asking for. They want their lives to get better but they do not know that for change to come the structure of denial must crumble. They resist growth and stay in jobs, relationships, and other roles/structures long beyond the point where they have outgrown them.
     In order to awaken, their soul creates some kind of a storm or healing crisis in their lives. Perhaps they get sick or have an accident. Someone close to them might die or they might have a near death experience. Their house might burn down; their marriage might fall apart; they might be fired or laid off from a job they have been doing for twenty years. They might check themselves into a drug/alcohol treatment facility. In one way or another, they hit bottom. They know that they have to change. There is simply no turning back.
     Yet, if we heed the warning signs, the death/rebirth process does not need to be sudden or dramatic. We can see our patterns of self-betrayal and begin to shift them. We can release ourselves from our boxes and prisons before they become unbearable. We can take Humpty Dumpty down from the wall before the ground begins to tremble. We can do this consciously and progressively because we have made the connection to our Core Self and we are ready to live out the creative blueprint we were born with.

     Before we take our leap of faith, we know there is land on the other side of the chasm. We know we are moving out of roles and responsibilities that we have outgrown. We are consciously shedding our old skin. Having laid down our burdens, we can open to a new vision of our lives.