There are times when all of us have met the "dark night of the soul" it can happen over and over again. I'm not sure if everyone is familiar with this concept or not so I thought I'd post this.
Chapter 2: Dark Night of the Soul
With spiritual emergency, negative, gloomy states of consciousness usually precede those of understanding and hope. Depression, mood swings, confusion (initially, in separating inner/outer events), and feelings of powerlessness are common. Some experience free floating fear, feelings of insanity, excruciating loneliness, or preoccupation with death, sometimes reinforced by apparent past life memories and/ or unwanted fantasies of dismemberment. There may be unaccountable emotional outbursts and dramatic physical symptoms such as the feeling of a huge, overpowering force moving through the body, tremors, electrical charges, rapid heartbeat, rapid changes in temperature, etc. (Many are common to symptoms of Kundalini awakening).
The experience of all engulfing, existential loneliness is made worse by the fact that the SE person is encountering states of consciousness often unknown to family and friends. One feels painfully, utterly cut off from God and self, and further trapped by the insight that death itself offers no escape. People undergoing an SE may not fit in with others. Their strange talk of strange experiences will likely cause others to withdraw, which magnifies the sense of alienation.
A change of appearance may ensue
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Intuition, inspiration, and imagination may reign over logic; mental re-arrangement may be experienced as chaos and insanity. At best, this is the behavior of the cosmic fool or clown, the "divine madness" mentioned by Plato, Sufism and some of the Native American cultures. There are encounters with death in many forms, including death of one?s old self (death of the ego) accompanied by profound grief; death of old roles and relationships, death of old thoughts and beliefs. Some may picture ego death as vivid dreams of nuclear explosion of the planet, etc. Because there is no replacement yet for these dying things, there is no reference point for safety or sanity. Through these spiritual trials, detachment is slowly forced upon the sojourner.
Chapter 11: The Homecoming
Transformation is short-circuited if the seeker cannot successfully return to ordinary life as a changed and reintegrated being, like the shaman or initiate. Reintegration can happen over a period of time, or rather suddenly. The seeker has probably had a sift in values, a resolution of personal problems, and a broader grasp of spirituality. These new qualities may not find understanding or be especially welcomed, and the seeker may find the "real world" pointless and boring. However, the mundane is also an instrument of transformation. In some cases, a new life may have to be formed if the old one proves to be too incompatible.
Here are some problems you or a friend may face during reintegration. Your new strange self will emerge automatically if you allow it space and time, so don?t get wrapped up in guilt, sense of duty or the self serving expectations of other people. Nurture yourself through diet, exercise, plenty of sleep, time alone, etc. Avoid over-stimulating or unpleasant groups of people or activities. Understand that your intensity and emotional vulnerability at this time can lead to unwise choices in partners or sexual relationships, so tread lightly. You may find yourself vulnerable to manipulation, or you may swing the opposite way and become demanding. Understand that waves of emotion and emergence flashbacks may occur. Do not project these emotions or feelings onto others (for example, leftover anger), or blame others for your circumstances.
Your new insights (if verbalized) will threaten some people and cause them to react negatively toward you. Many will not understand or be interested in your insights (having had no such transformative episodes themselves) so be prepared to face a certain amount of hostility or loneliness. Employers will likely not understand, or be receptive. To eliminate needless suffering be careful how much you tell, and to whom. Seek out others who have also undergone (or who are asking questions about) transformation.
If you suspect that you did or said embarrassing things while in the grips of spiritual emergency, accept that you were under the sway of the unruly unconscious mind, and try not to dwell on guilt or alarm. Strive for self acceptance and do research into spiritual emergence. Others have gone before you. You will learn that you have not "arrived," however. The transformative process continues to new levels as you age and grow. You will probably find yourself more grounded in the present, with less desire to prove yourself to the world, or to be recognized or appreciated. You may find new appreciation of other human beings, and a realization that you cannot hurt another without hurting yourself. You will probably have an intimate or different relationship with the divine. Many at this stage stop struggling against the universe and become more trusting of what happens. Seeking the Spirit may become a way of life in the midst of the mundane where, as the Zen master said, even after enlightenment, it behooves one to still chop wood and carries water.
http://www.creativespirit.net/learners/counseling/docu35.htm
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