I haven't read this article in its entirety, but it looks really interesting. That is the worldwide "awakening" in progress and reclaiming the long lost spiritual element of ourselves we talk about in the "10 signs of spiritual awakening" thread; http://antidepressantwithdrawal.info...tual-awakening

The sheer number of answers under the article is the ultimate Vox Populi proof for our missing out on something of great importance in our lives.


https://www.madinamerica.com/2013/03...#comment-22275

I. Last Fall, I was able to begin facilitating a class on the topic of Spirituality and Recovery. It is remarkable to me to have the opportunity to discuss spirituality in the context of recovery education and the feedback from students has been very positive. Because the class did not have an established curriculum, I have had to do a fair amount of consideration and research on the role of spirituality in recovery and how the topic might be best approached within a state-funded, recovery education center.

As it turns out, it’s not so complicated as the traditional clinical taboos on the topic of spirituality in mental health care might make it out to be.

[...]

II.

What is “healthy” spirituality and what supports it? Is it our human right to question our spiritual orientations, to experience transcendence and dark nights of the soul? Is it not normal to go through strange and transforming processes in our becoming who we are? Is it not our right to have significant questions about God or to get bold ideas and big feelings about the world and our place in it?

These questions lead us to the spiritual rights of people who are considered to be psychotic, those who have most routinely been denied their spiritual rights in formal mental health settings. There is such a pervasive fear of mad spirituality that it is, in fact, included in the DSM criteria for schizophrenia, in the specific mention of delusions and hallucinations of a “religious” nature.

Beyond the range of normative Western expressions of spirituality is a rich array of tradition, myth, and self-world dynamo in the form of metaphysical inquiry, shamanism, and gnostic and mystic traditions. Due to the heightened availability of information and perspective that the internet affords us, many people are able to find ideas that resonate with them and their experiences. Without looking very hard, it is easy to see the similarities between what is considered to be madness and what are considered to be processes of spiritual exploration, transformation and intuitive resolution seeking.

Yet, it has been observed that, in formal settings, orientation to spiritually subcultural beliefs or engagement in practices that are thought to be atypical is often confused with “psychosis” or “delusions” and these manifestations of developing spirituality are dismissed as being “symptoms,” rather than being honored as deeply significant and meaningful spiritual realities.