Quote:Finally, there is "sudden wakefulness," which involves an instantaneous and dramatic identity shift, and occurs most frequently in response to intense psychological turmoil, such as bereavement, loss, failure, or severe stress.

Quote:In my research, I have found that sudden awakening in response to turmoil (or ‘transformation through turmoil’ as I sometimes call it) is far from uncommon. Unfortunately, however, it is often undetected or misinterpreted. This is because sometimes sudden awakening occurs in an intensely energetic and explosive form, and causes some psychological disturbances.

Quote:As a result, "sudden energetic awakening" (as I call it) is frequently misdiagnosed as a form of psychosis. For example, in my Ph.D. research, there were five clear cases of "sudden energetic awakening," four of whom were seen by psychiatrists, given medication and/or confined to psychiatric hospitals.

(Yesterday, 02:31 PM)Maxmars Wrote: I might be misunderstanding, but are we referring to the exposure to intense psychological turmoil to facilitate or prompt a spiritual experience?

Ritualization is, in my opinion, only a facet of practice... many people appear to have achieved spiritual 'awakening' via stress and even pain.  The methods vary with the means...

I first saw this in "primitive" shamanistic practices, especially those that lead communities.  Whatever rationale or narrative evoked, it always seems to culminate in something that could easily be described as psychological turmoil... from dancing until exhaustion, to walking on coals, to painful piercing or burning, extended strenuous effort to the point of collapse... even sleep deprivation (hello Lunatics,) dangerous fasting, etc... all the way to get to the point of 'perceptual explosion.'

But inherently, there is some discrepancy in the idea of risking injury to achieve the state desired.  The damage to oneself can be irreversible.