Politics and the numinous: evolution, spiritual emergency, and the re-emergence of transpersonal consciousness

Abstract

Philosopher Herbert Marcuse observed in 1964 that modern people's materialistic and consumer‐based lifestyles have resulted in societies becoming more one dimensional, which has contributed to a growing attitude of ‘uncritical conformity’. Marcuse advocated that in order to transcend a one‐dimensional existence people will have to engage and actualize their human potential. The increasing environmental and ecological crisis that is confronting the world today identifies a pressing need for change and adaptation at all levels of society including governments, businesses, individual and collective consciousness. The transformation of a one‐dimensional consumer‐based society will require people and societies to engage different dimensions of conscious experience in order to bring about change. This article discusses how developments within human consciousness have evolved in conjunction with spiritual capacities and how collective ritual encounters with the numinous have contributed to developments in the human brain, mind and culture. I propose that the modern phenomenon of spiritual emergencies can be evaluated from an evolutionary perspective, which may be revealing transformational patterns within consciousness that go beyond a one‐dimensional materialistic existence. Spiritual emergency reinforces the need for spiritual awareness to challenge the one‐sided materialistic consciousness prevalent within modern consumer based societies. The process of psycho‐spiritual transformation could lead to a resacralized socio‐political vision and validation of a re‐emergent transpersonal consciousness. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Spirituality across Disciplines: Research and Practice:

“…It has been proposed that human beings have a fractured relationship to the containing eco-system that sustains all life, which further suggests that the global crisis is also a spiritual crisis (Collins 2008c(Collins , 2014Laszlo 2006). In order to tackle the global crisis, Ervin Laszlo (2006Laszlo ( , 2008 has called for greater development of our collective transpersonal awareness to bring about radical change (Laszlo et al 2003) and catalyse a transformational shift in human consciousness and behaviours (Collins et al 2010).…”

The politics of transformation in the global crisis: are spiritual emergencies reflecting an enantiodromia in modern consciousness?

“…The antecedents for these types of spiritual emergencies are varied and can include surgery, sexual relations, childbirth, near-death, transitional stages of life and spiritual practices (Guiley, 1991, 567). However, it is possible that the current global crisis could be acting as a trigger for increasing numbers of people to experience spiritual emergencies (Collins, 2008b).…”

“…The need for political resacralization is contingent on the observation that people's experiences refl ect contact with numinous and irrational forces (Samuels, 1993a), and this is certainly evident in the case of spiritual emergencies (Collins, 2008a(Collins, , 2008b). If we subscribe to the view that the personal is also political (Samuels, 1998) we cannot ignore the collective implications for how the transformative narratives of people who have transited the growth experiences of spiritual emergencies, are totally relevant to the process of resacralizing and transforming the political visions that inform our collective actions and interactions.…”

Entre psychopathologie et religion/spiritualité

“…(1998). Ces travaux participent de la psychologie transpersonnelle, intéressée au développement de la conscience, qui prend comme prémisse la nature profondément spirituelle de l'humain et la capacité de transcender les limites du corps-ego pour une appréhension plus vaste de la réalité 4 (Collins 2008). Ce développement passe parfois par des crises, des changements brutaux et chaotiques que Grof et Grof (1989) ont nommés « spiritual emergency », jouant sur la double signification de « emergency » comme « émergence » et « urgence » (Grof 2002).…”

“…Ces émergences spirituelles sont connues de diverses traditions : expériences mystiques, éveil de la kundalini 5 dans les traditions orientales, initiations chamaniques, états de possession, expériences paranormales, ouverture psychique, spiritisme, expériences paroxystiques (Grof et Grof 1989 ;Grof 2002). Elles se caractérisent par de nombreux phénomènes tels que des visions, la sensation de présence énergétique, le fait d'entendre des voix, la perte de contact avec le monde matériel et la fusion avec l'univers, la connexion avec le monde animal et végétal, les mémoires passées, les sorties de corps, et la capacité soudaine de parler plusieurs langues (Collins 2008). En outre, les personnes peuvent ne plus fonctionner socialement durant ces crises spirituelles, ce qui aggrave les risques de diagnostic de troubles mentaux.…”