About
Psychospiritual Work
Psychospiritual work emphasizes the relationship between the psychological and spiritual, the latter embracing and honoring the former, but not limited by it. Psychospiritual work explores how one relates to not only oneself, but also to the Sacred. It challenges us to ask certain questions and to live the answers:
Who am I?
Where did I come from?
Why am I here?
What is my relationship to the Sacred? to God?
Walking a spiritual path challenges us to be authentic, to be in the here-and-now, to acknowledge the inner and the outer, good and evil, darkness and light, and to seek the unitive consciousness that is beyond these dualities and yet holds them. Inner tension dissolves as we take action in the world in authentic, embodied, and intentional ways. This journey can last as long as we inhabit these physical bodies. I call this journey the inner process, or just one's “process”.
Today, there seems to be a strong yearning - within both individuals and humanity as a whole - that many are in touch with, and that pulls us towards transformation, right relationship, truth, integrity and authenticity, and action. It calls us to acknowledge our wounds, our traumas - and especially our light. That this yearning is eternal in nature and now urgently presenting itself is of primary concern, I believe.
I believe this yearning is the yearning of the soul. Like a leviathan rising from deep waters, it now requires both acknowledgement and embrace, and has important things to teach us if we listen. What does this moment hold for us? Can we get beyond concepts, beyond splits and dualities, beyond our individual and collective shadows, to the Oneness beyond that holds everything? I believe this is our work right now.
The work of Integrating experiences of expanded consciousness requires interpreting those experiences through a developmental framework - our worldview - and living the insights in the world. Successful integration can result in transformation of some aspect of our self at the level of the personality. It can also transform us at our core, requiring us to shed some part of ourselves - an ego death - that no longer serves us, our community, or the world. Too, we might shed our entire sense of who we are - and arrive at our authentic core. Then we can fully live in the world.
The psychospiritual process can be simultaneously painful and off-balancing, gentle and nurturing, linear and non-linear. As we deal with our our trauma, our shadow, and our light, our interpretation of the experience may change. Incorporating these insights through intentional action into daily life is a core aspect of psychospiritual work. It is not enough to be an armchair traveler; we must walk the path.
Engaged and embodied psychospiritual work allows the opportunity to discover who we are and understand our place - and our work - in the world. Felt traumas can become sacred wounds from which draw strength and discover our light. During this process we can ultimately encounter absolutes both individual and cosmic, and in so doing find our heart. When this happens, we have come home.