6: Spontaneous Spiritual Awakenings, Kundalini Awakenings, and Endogenous Altered States of Consciousness

In this episode we review a study published in Frontiers in Psychology about the phenomenon of Spontaneous Spiritual Awakenings and Spontaneous Kundalini Awakenings and hear about Gabe's experience of the latter. This is a cross-cultural phenomenon involving a period of spontaneous altered states of consciousness mirroring psychedelic experiences and those of religious mystics. As it is not easily explained by traditional scientific materialism, does not fit into traditional psychology, and is not prominently featured in Judeo-Christian religions (although the atonement experience and Mount of Transfiguration bear striking similarities to this phenomenon), there is very little awareness regarding this phenomenon in western culture.

Links:

Have You Had a Drug-Free "Psychedelic" Experience? - Psychology Today

Spontaneous Spiritual Awakenings: Phenomenology, Altered States, Individual Differences, and Well-Being - Frontiers in Psychology

Gnostic Mormonism - YouTube video describing breakoff groups often associated with a visionary experience

New to the podcast? Make sure you watch Episode 2 or read it in on the Substack for the integrative narrative of Mormon origins:

https://youtu.be/5YBeMrR1seM

https://open.substack.com/pub/mormonsmysticsandmuons/p/mormonism-psychedelics-quantum-physics

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Chapters

00:00 Introduction

02:00 Western Culture, Religion, and Psychology's Inability to Address Kundalini and Spiritual Awakenings

04:24 Current Shift in Understanding and Openness Towards Mystical Experiences

07:49 The Correlation between Trauma or Significant Shifts in Identity, and Spiritual Awakenings

11:05 The Study Investigator's Spiritual Awakening

11:56 Defining Spiritual and Kundalini Awakenings

14:48 What is Non-Duality?

17:25 Gabe's Kundalini Awakening

23:10 Gabe's Experience - Involuntary Kriyas

25:57 Gabe's Experience - Expansive Thoughts and Bliss States

29:28 Gabe's Experience - Synchronicities

30:26 Gabe's Experience - High Definition Visuals

32:57 Gabe's Experience - Finding The Lower Lights Wisdom Group

36:14 Ineffability of Mystical Experiences

40:07 The Relationship of Suffering and Pain with Spiritual Awakenings

43:04 Witness Perspective, Deja Vu, Synchronicities, and Causality

45:02 Gabe's Experience - Shifts in and out of Expanded States of Awareness

51:12 Kundalini Awakenings

53:40 Gabe's Experience - Reduced Need for Sleep

56:57 Differences between a Kundalini Awakening and a Spontaneous Spiritual Awakening

01:06:45 Triggers of Spontaneous Spiritual Awakenings

01:08:08 How Common are Spontaneous Spiritual Awakenings?

01:10:06 The Uniqueness of a Spontaneous Spiritual Awakening and Difficulty in Integration

01:13:34 The Impact of Religion on an Individual's Spiritual Awakening via our Brain's Filtering Mechanisms

01:17:09 Joseph Smith's Spiritual Awakening or Spiritual Emergency

01:20:10 Shifts Associated with Spiritual Awakenings

01:20:34 Healing and Transformation

01:27:33 Paradoxes of a Spiritual Awakening Contrasted to Mormonism

01:29:35 Challenges and Spiritual Emergencies or Crises

01:41:39 Spiritual Emergencies and Psychopathology

01:49:14 The Power of Perspective and Meaning-Making

01:58:03 Idealism

02:04:10 Neurology of Spiritual Awakenings and Predilections towards Spiritual Experiences

02:11:50 Comparing Spiritual Awakenings to Psychedelic-Induced Experiences

02:12:48 Different Modalities of Accessing Mystical States

02:22:19 Study Findings

02:34:09 Comparing Endogenous Spontaneous Spiritual Awakenings to Exogenous Psychedelic Experiences

02:37:23 Effects on Well-Being

02:41:28 The Spiritual Awakening that is Recontextualizing Mormonism

02:45:08 Conclusion