Spiritual Psychology
Guidance for Mental Health Professionals and Anyone Exploring the Intersection of Spirituality and Psychology
Integrating Spirituality and Psychology *
Important Preface
There is no shame or guilt in opening to the possibility that some of the beliefs and assumptions we have inherited about mental health and treatment may have outlived their usefulness. There is only humility in remaining willing to look again.
For mental health professionals — and for anyone interested in the deeper dimensions of human experience — it may be essential to remain open to possibilities beyond conventional belief and conditioning. The work and ideas associated with figures such as Maslow, Jung, and Einstein have each, in very different ways, invited humanity to question the limits of ordinary perception and consider deeper dimensions of consciousness, meaning, interconnectedness, and love.
Opening to these possibilities within our own direct experience may help us meet others with greater depth, compassion, and understanding.
Opening to Deeper Dimensions of Healing, Feeling, and Awakening
In one of the most frequently referenced intersections of psychology, addiction recovery, and spirituality, Carl Jung expressed the view that a profound spiritual experience could sometimes accomplish what ordinary psychological efforts could not. In the well-known account involving Rowland Hazard, Jung reportedly suggested that Rowland’s best hope for recovery from alcoholism was a genuine spiritual or religious awakening. The story is often summarized this way:
Jung went on to say that Rowland’s only hope was a “spiritual awakening” or religious experience. Jung also told him that such transformative experiences were quite rare. Jung understood that alcoholism created a spiritual void… a spiritual experience seemed to fill that void and stem the alcoholic’s voracious appetite for the instrument of his or her own self-destruction.
The significance of this perspective is profound: even within the field of psychology, there has long been recognition that some forms of suffering may involve dimensions of human experience that cannot be fully understood through intellect, diagnosis, or behavior alone. Spiritual awakening, meaning, surrender, and a deeper sense of connection may also become essential parts of healing and recovery.
Psychology, Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and modern mental health treatment are relatively young sciences. Spirituality, however, has been present throughout recorded human history through enlightened beings, yogis, meditation, contemplation, the concept of God, and the direct exploration of existence itself. Figures such as Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, and many others have pointed toward dimensions of consciousness and reality that extend beyond ordinary belief and conceptual understanding.
Likewise, several pioneers of Psychology and Western thought have pointed toward the importance of integrating psychological understanding with deeper spiritual dimensions of human experience. Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow, and others explored questions of consciousness, meaning, transcendence, and Self-Realization. Albert Einstein expressed a similar insight into the human sense of separation when he stated:
A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
The Psychology of Awakening
John Welwood
Here are two articles by John Welwood which could be viewed as a bridge between Spirituality/Consciousness and Psychology – continuing the inevitable individual and collective awakening which Maslow and Jung were coming into awareness and clarity.
John Welwood – The Psychology of Awakening
Spiritual Bypassing the Psychology of Awakening by John Welwood
“In the 1980s John Welwood emerged as a major figure in the leading-edge fields of transpersonal psychology and East/West psychology. The former Director of the East/West psychology program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, he is currently Associate Editor of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. He trains psychotherapists in “psychotherapy in a spiritual framework” and “the healing power of unconditional presence” and leads workshops on psychospiritual work and conscious relationship throughout the world.
John Welwood has published more than fifty articles on relationship, psychotherapy, consciousness, and personal change, as well as eight books including Journey of the Heart, Love and Awakening, Toward a Psychology of Awakening and Ordinary Magic. His best-seller, Journey of the Heart was the first book to lay out the path of conscious relationship, is widely regarded as the most profound book on intimate relationship available, and remains a classic in the field to this day. Toward a Psychology of Awakening brings together John’s thirty years of work in East/West psychology, and has been widely praised as a most fresh, original, and eminently practical integration of the wisdom of East and West.” (Bio article from: http://www.johnwelwood.com/biography.htm)
A Pioneer of Spiritual Psychology - Ron Hulnick, PhD
“Ron Hulnick, Professor at University of Santa Monica, along with his wife Mary Hulnick, PhD are pioneers and worldwide leaders in the field of Spiritual Psychology, as well as Teachers and Facilitators of Awakening in Consciousness. They are renowned educators, authors, and the Founding Faculty and Co-Directors of the University of Santa Monica (USM), where they have designed, developed, and facilitated Educational Programs in Spiritual Psychology for the past 35 years. Both are licensed Marriage and Family Therapists, and Mary is also a licensed Clinical Psychologist.
They are the authors of Loyalty to Your Soul: The Heart of Spiritual Psychology, published by Hay House and available in 12 countries and 8 languages and recently released as an audiobook read by the authors on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. Their latest book, Remembering the Light Within: A Course in Soul-Centered Living, was published by Hay House in 2017 and is available through a variety of book retailers.” (bio article from: https://ronandmaryhulnick.com/)
What is Spiritual Psychology by Dr. Ron Hulnick, University of Santa Monica
Waking up to the Truth of Depression
For several decades mental health industries have been misdiagnosing and mislabeling mental illness or mental disease, simply because we didn’t know any better. However, we now have the opportunity to see beyond our filters of perception to something greater and more profound: suffering and pain as a portal to awakening. Let us remember that we must honor our path of discovery of the human mind, its components, and the practical aspects of waking up in human bodies.
Thank you Psychology for assisting humanity to the extent in which the mental health industry has. Of course, if we are lovingly honest with ourselves, there comes a time when any old paradigm is challenged due to the inevitability of change and transformation. We have reached a tipping point with respect to global awakening of consciousness, and more specifically, the fields of Psychology and Psychiatry that are deepening to this realization: That what we once thought were mental illness are actually catalysts to something profound and beyond our current beliefs, education, and training.
Lisa Miller, Clinical Psychologist on "Depression and Spiritual Awakening" as Two Sides of the Same Coin
Challenging the Paradigm and Old Beliefs of 'Mental Disease' by Phil Borges
Below is a video titled, “Psychosis or Spiritual Awakening” by Phill Borges, Author and Filmmaker.
When we honestly take a look out into the world and ask, “Is the traditional models of the mental health industry really working?” Especially, when all of the trends (like abuse, divorce, addiction, etc.) seem to be growing. If the old paradigms are no longer working then we must open our eyes to something new or something which has always been available but simply out of our awareness, spirituality. We see shifting trends from rigid traditional Psychology to inclusion of spiritual practices, such as Mindfulness Meditation. Meditation and Yoga are growing in popularity since they prove to have profound effects – effects which traditional mental health treatment could not produce. Allow us to remember that Yoga and Meditation are ancient spiritual practices originally designed to awaken consciousness, self realization, or self actualization. Allow yourself to become open to deeper truth and the innate wisdom you already know to be true.
Psychosis or Spiritual Awakening by Phil Borges
Opening to the Possibility of a Changing Paradigm
If something is not in someone’s awareness, then how would they know what that something is? That is a beautiful question because the same afflictions mental health professionals are trying to treat are seen through limiting perception filters – conditioned filters which use words like: affliction, disease, etc. What if the view that something is wrong with someone’s mind was seen as this: nothing is wrong and needs to be ‘fixed’ but embraced and nurtured? Is it possible that in the true nature of life depression, grief, mood swings, etc. are indicators or evidence and symptoms of awakening consciousness WHICH NEED NOT be suppressed, oppressed, and muted with false labeling and medication? BUT, nurtured so that the natural progression of spiritual awakening can run its course? The time has come to open to that which is more conducive for mental and spiritual healing. Open to this possibility and bring to light within your own unconsciousness the truth of awakening.
Documentary Film "Crazywise"
* Note: The individuals, organizations, and resources featured on this page are not affiliated with Peace President United. Inclusion is for educational and informational purposes only and does not imply endorsement of PPU.