Spirituality Studies 10-2 Fall 2024 39 Jeffrey Katzman, Ben Bernstein, Matthew Ponak At some point in life, most of us are faced with a challenge, a point of adversity that may open a particular channel of self-reflection and a quest to discover this authentic Self and a striving to become more “real”. This generally involves questions somewhere along the lines of “Who am I?” often leading to reflections about one’s beliefs and values, how they may be similar or different to those who raised us, and who we are becoming and desire to be in this lifetime. There is often a yearning to encounter deeper, hidden feelings and unfelt experiences. And there is a need for guidance through this process. Unfortunately, many such opportunities are dressed in the experience of crisis – we don’t recognize them as opportunities for growth. Additionally, the current mental health system is often directed toward crisis management and a reliance on medications, crisis stabilization, and coping skills. While these are all critical components of managing such situations, an individual is often guided away from the possible growth signaled by the anxiety they are experiencing – the opportunity to discover a bit more about one’s “Self”. And while the above-described management components have a critical place within a mental health system, it is unfortunate that due to financial circumstances and access, this has become the norm – the extent of the mental health system for many – leaving an individual without the help that might facilitate a discovery of a deeper authentic experience. This is characterized well by Wilkin (2006, 12): Once a person accepts any form of mainstream mental health care, she is faced with the paradox of disabling caring. Every time an emotionally distressed individual is professionally rescued, she forfeits a golden opportunity to discover and utilize her own healing potential. Yet within a mental health service that is heavily medicalized and investing more and more in time-limited therapies, can it ever be otherwise? While management of our distress is a necessity, a realization that there is potential for growth embedded in reflecting upon these experiences is paramount in the course of self-discovery. The process of knowing ourselves as real continually unfolds for all of us, through times of potential joy and ecstasy to inevitable challenge and adversity. This notion of the limitation of contemporary psychiatric treatment models and the consideration of spirituality as an addition to the mainstay of psychiatric diagnosis is underscored in Stanislav Grof’s The Stormy Search for the Self. In this seminal work, Stanislav Grof describes the progressively limited views of traditional psychiatric understandings to presentations of distress and the potential role of a compassionate human being, well versed in spiritual models, working with an individual through a period of crisis. Decades ago, Stanislav and Christina Grof (1990, 3) wrote: The spiritual elements inherent in personal transformation seem alien and threatening to those who are unfamiliar with them. In the last couple of decades, however, this situation has been changing rapidly. Spirituality has been reintroduced into the mainstream culture through renewed interest in sacred systems such as those found in Eastern religions, Western mystical literature, and Native American traditions. As spiritual traditions have augmented the mainstream mental health conversation about how we might develop through these experiences, it is our hope that the voices of the rebbes of the eighteenth-century Ukraine, the concepts of Kabbalah percolating from thirteen-century Spain, and concepts of spirituality embedded within Judaism dating back 2000 years can further augment this understanding. The notion of the Self is one of ancient curiosity and study, and to the degree to which ideas from spiritual paradigms can help in our quest to feel real and authentic, we believe there is greater healing available for all of us. This research brings together voices from distinct paradigms to deepen our picture of the Self. For those immersed in the literature of spirituality and mysticism, the delineation of the nature of the Self from psychological and biologic paradigms, including information from the field of psychedelics, augments ancient concepts. In particular, the developing concepts of the Self within psychodynamic thought, from mechanistic structures to a relational experience, connected through language, deepens the understanding of the Self for practitioners from all spiritual backgrounds. Similarly, expanding the notion of the Self for clinicians of psychological practice to include a relationship beyond the individual and connection to something potentially experienced as sacred and awe inspiring has the potential to deepen a client’s experience of grace and self-compassion. Finally, while it has become commonplace to consider ideas from Eastern spiritual practices into the vernacular of mental health practice, this manuscript provides an additional spiritual model of the Self from the world of Jewish mysticism. These ideas dates back centuries and have the potential to deepen the ideas of our very nature and purpose. While this is only a brief introduction to the ideas of Jewish mysticism, it is our belief that bringing these concepts into more mainstream thinking can deepen the wisdom of practitioners, both of other path-
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