Spiritual crisis and late-stage capitalism: 4 lessons from the edge of sanity.

What wisdom can we gather from transformative crises in individuals to assist humanity’s urgent transition out of late-stage capitalism?

“The capitalist system has imposed on us a logic of competition, progress and limitless growth. This regime of production and consumption seeks profit without limits, separating human beings from nature and imposing a logic of domination upon nature, transforming everything into commodities... Humanity confronts a great dilemma: to continue on the path of capitalism, depredation, and death, or to choose the path of harmony with nature and respect for life.”

- People’s Agreement of Cochabamba

Imagining post-capitalist realities, ways of living and being that don’t reduce the earth and human life to what can be extracted from them is an essential step in moving towards a sustainable future. I believe this requires us to accept the breakdown of our current systems and seek a way of collectively alchemizing this time of collapse, into a ‘breakthrough’. Enacting a ‘breakdown to breakthrough’ transition for planet Earth will need to be informed by inner transformation, which then translates to wise, innovative outer action and social change.  This is not a unique idea; the United Nation’s ‘Inner Development Goals’ harnesses the application of inner development and transformational skills to global challenges faced by humanity.

Going through my own transformative crisis, and having worked with countless individuals with similar journeys, it is my firm belief that there is valuable wisdom to be harnessed from those emerging from their own personal ‘breakdown to breakthrough’ experience. This is not to say that people with this experience have healed everything- there is always a shadow, a wound, a behaviour that needs attention, in all of us, forever. The reason I think that individuals who have had significant breakdowns leading to a palpable transformation in their everyday lives are worth learning from though, is because they hold an embodied knowing, a felt sense in their bones, of what the collective is moving through right now.

Slow, steady transformation over time in individuals is incredibly needed too, and no less profoud, in fact let's admit it- it’s a lot less messy, inconvenient and challenging too. However, despite the obvious difficulties of going through an acute crisis, there is something unique about the experience of emerging from a full blown crisis feeling more whole, more connected, more clear- especially when properly integrated with consistent spiritual practice and psychological therapy if needed.  These are the ones who will have faced the void, their own death, their own delusions and their own divinity. They will have grappled with how to hold all of that, and what it means to be a human here at this time. They will have been humbled and brought to their knees a hundred times and found the strength to emerge from the rubble of their former lives, more loving and more aware.

“Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place” Paul Coelho.

This is what humanity needs to do on a collective level, but instead of valuing these people, society tends to shame them because they have embodied what we are all too afraid to admit- they have embodied madness and delusion; destructive and often inappropriate behaviour. They have played the role in this cosmic drama that no one wants to play- a crystal-clear mirror to the human collective of its own deep insanity. In Western society, we consciously and unconsciously suppress the symptoms of crisis to avoid the discomfort and inconvenience of looking in this mirror. We do this to individuals through medication and incarceration, as well as on a societal level, through consuming, overworking, self-medicating and addiction to our devices.

Key Learnings from the edge of sanity

1)   Acceptance of one’s own delusions, madness, and self-destructive behaviour

A prerequisite for returning from the edge of sanity is the acceptance that we did indeed, for a time, lose our mind. The facing square on of one’s delusions and the inappropriate or destructive behaviour that may have arisen from them is what is required for long-lasting transformation to take place after a breakdown. I would assert without hesitation that humanity is in the grip of madness. In today’s world, where we continue to actively destroy the ecosystem upon which the physical sustainability of all life, including our own species, depends, only the most determined (and financially powerful) stay in complete denial of this. Capitalism relies on and thrives on the denial of our collective insanity and self destructive behaviour. It takes huge courage to admit you have been mad; it goes against every survival instinct in our bones, to risk exile from ‘the tribe’. Yet it is this neo-liberal tribalism permeating western society, that we must have the courage to exile ourselves from.

2)   Facing death/mortality

Many people who have experienced a spiritual crisis will have had an encounter with death or their own mortality. This is sometimes by mistakenly believing they have died, which impacts the body/mind profoundly despite not being true. In Dark Night of the Soul experiences, there is a deep descent into the death realms. Other times it might be through the physical risk of crisis bringing the experiencer close to actual death, including through suicide attempts. What good, if any, do these encounters with mortality and death do for the human being in today’s world?

An ongoing relationship with death is essential for embedding the human experience within the appropriate context of the earth’s ecosystem. The death process is essential in the cycles of regeneration and renewal that are inherent to life on this planet as well as to the mysterious alchemy of transformation (Ladha & Murphey, 2022) so urgently needed now. Reciprocity is central to these currents of life, death and transformation- knowing when and how to receive, and when and how to let go, in balance with the greater whole, requires deep acceptance of death. In today’s death-phobic, growth-centric society, contemplating dying and as such, leaving everything behind that capitalism needs us to grasp at, is a radical act of liberation desperately needed by humanity.

3)   Mythic images

When a spiritual crisis includes manic states, there are certain images and ideas that arise which seem to be universal to those experiencing these non-ordinary states. John Weir Perry, a psychiatrist and student of Jung studied these patterns and drew remarkable parallels between the influx of images experienced in manic states, with the myths and rituals of antiquity at times of civilizational change. Common themes include stories of creation and destruction, cosmic combat, powers of light and dark, chaos and order, and a vision of oneness expressed in messianic ideation. Through extensive research, he began to see the arising of these rich mythic images as the natural effort of the psyche to move towards a greater state of wholeness, as well as articulate a vision for a more harmonious society. Films like ‘Crazywise’ point to the valued role non-ordinary states of consciousness and those prone to them, play in traditional societies.

The fact that these visionary states are now pathologized, medicated and dismissed as useless and invalid by western medicine could correspond with the ‘crisis of meaning’ that being lost in the depths of late-stage capitalism has created. Thought leaders exploring the complexity of the current meta-crises facing humanity recognise the timeless role of myth in ushering in civilisational change. Two of these thought leaders, Ladha and Murphey (2022) put it like this: “As we expand the mytho-poetic landscape and the corresponding creation of embodied knowledge and cultures, we may avail ourselves to the direct wisdom of the Gaian entelechy and the quiet whispers of that which is beyond our perception” p.202.

 4)   Increased sense of interconnectedness and connection to the divine within.

A consequence of going through a spiritual crisis can be that during as well as after the non-ordinary states occur, there is an increased sense of interconnectedness with the rest of life, including Source, Oneness etc. In normal consciousness, without spiritual practices, psychedelics or spontaneous awakenings and crises, we usually feel most connected to our own body, mind and emotions, as well as the people, activities and issues that affect our daily lives. There might be an abstract belief that we are more than this, such as a soul, but this is quite different to having a tangible felt sense and unmistakable knowing of the interconnectedness of all life and the divinity within every Being. Spiritual emergencies often include these elevated states, where the former boundary of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ becomes expanded to include the mountains, the birds, the river, the person walking their dog- everything. This can lead to a number of behaviours (not all of them wise or helpful) but most of the time there is an overwhelming sense of compassion for all of life and an urgent sincere calling to usher in a more evolved, peaceful and enlightened consciousness on planet earth. Even when the interconnectedness is experienced as paranoia, there can be profound learnings as distilled by Ricky Derisz in this illuminating piece.

The lessons we can take from the subjectively positive states of interconnectedness that tend to go hand in hand with mania and spiritual crises, is not to encourage ‘ego death’, losing our identity or our personal boundaries. The most useful learning is around how we can feel ourselves to be both ‘the ocean and the wave’- connected to All that is, to the Divine, to the more-than-human world, to our communities and to people we formally saw as ‘Other’.  And at the same time, honour ourselves as the wave, having a valid experience of individuality, and all the complexity and forgetfulness that comes with that. The emotionally numbed state of denial in which capitalism holds the majority of Western society requires a rigid and limited sense of self- an anxious, deeply paranoid wave, fearful and envious of the ocean it doesn’t know it is a part of. Fear is an exceedingly useful emotion to capitalism; it underlies much of humanity’s most destructive behaviour, including our grasping for 'more’ which then over time becomes a perceived entitlement for more.

Final Thoughts

This piece is an exploration of how crisis in individuals relates to the meta-crisis of our times, driven predominantly by late stage capitalism. It takes an unfinished look at the way personal, inner experiences of breakdown might inform a collective breakthrough into postcapitalist realities. Through working with people emerging from spiritual crises, the themes i’ve addressed above have an archetypal nature to them, ocurring again and again in the journeys of individuals. What does this mean? And how can these archetypes serve our journey as a species towards sanity and healing? These are the questions myself and many others are contemplating at this time.

A final point I need to address is the attempt in transpersonal psychology to differentiate a ‘spiritual’ crisis from plain old madness, which in my view is missing the point- for it is not in how a crisis manifests, but in how it transforms the person over time, that makes it a spiritually regenerative experience. Of course, the capacity to transform through crisis is dependent on a variety of socio-economic factors, exacerbated by late-stage capitalism, inequality and trauma.

This is why it is important to highlight the way the capitalist system stunts the psychic process of renewal in individuals through actively increasing inequality and poverty which research has shown make incarceration and over-medication of a spiritual crisis more likely.

It seems all the more poignant then, that the wisdom gathered through the very states of consciousness that capitalism most vigorously seeks to oppress, point to its remedy and demise.

Support

If you or somebody you know is emerging from non-ordinary states of consciousness and needing a spiriutally aware, psychologically safe container to integrate the experience, feel free to reach out for a 1:1 session with me.

I’m going through a spiritual crisis. How can astrology help me?

If you have recently experienced some kind of spiritual crisis and are looking for help understanding and integrating it, this article is for you. I will take you through how working with a trauma informed astrologer can honour the spiritual wisdom of your experience, while situating it within the bigger picture of your life, and your destiny. This can offer reassurance, grounding as well as inspiration.

My work is all about supporting people to navigate life after big, powerful experiences- experiences that we could call transpersonal -because they connect us to something beyond ourselves. It could be anything from a blissful awakening experience to a manic episode to a dark night of the soul- or all three.

So what might be the role of astrology in this process of integration and transformation?

As a practitioner and eternal student of astrology, specifically ancient western astrology, I have found it to be a powerful ally in my own process, and in the lives of friends, peers and people I support.

Here’s a little background on what I mean by ‘ancient, western astrology’ and why it can be such a profound healing tool:

In the ancient world, natal astrology (where the life of an individual is studied) emerged around 500 BCE. It was born from a time in history where a diverse variety of Mediterranean religions, Mystery Schools and philosophical ideas were blossoming, along with advances in mathematics and astronomy.

Ideas about the nature of reality, the soul, divinity and the heavens were shared by Platonic, Pythagorean, Orphic and Hermetic wisdom traditions which included astrology and the zodiac. I share this to highlight something that is perhaps obvious- practiced correctly, astrology was deeply spiritual and was discovered as a way to embody the insights of some of the ancient world’s most well-known and profound thinkers.

For the sages who practiced it, it served as a reminder of their eternal nature amidst the diverse rollercoaster of earthly experiences. My teacher, Adam Elenbaas puts it beautifully:

“Astrology trains our minds to see eternity within the fluctuations of our material lives, especially the ups and downs of our destiny path”.

With this ancient form of divination as an ally, we are able to see the diversity of experiences (including the hard ones) as part of something bigger. This perspective is probably not new to you, but what astrology offers is to see, literally written in the heavens, the archetypal signature of whatever you are grappling with: Troubles with a partner, issues with a child or a parent, a change in financial situation, or, mental, emotional or spiritual sorts of crises and transformations. Trying to remember that whatever each moment brings is part of a larger, divine picture becomes easier with astrology because it offers more detail about that picture, infusing life with meaning, depth and soulfulness in a grounded and pragmatic way.

With spiritual crisis, there can be a sense of being shaken to the core. If you’re reading this, then you know: This is not just the furniture of your life being moved around, like a new place to live, a new job or spouse.

It is like realising the life you thought you had, with all that nice furniture, doesn’t even exist in the way you thought it did.

There’s no going back from this kind of experience and your life will change. This can be both liberating and destabilising; exciting and paralysing; joyful and terrifying.

Without the right support, this is the point where some people go mad- too much has changed too quickly within the psyche. 

Reality is not what I thought. So what the hell is this? Who am I? Am I everything? Am I nothing?

Cue existential crisis and/or psychotic breakdown. This is what happened to me, and I am very thankful to have come back from those extreme edges of experience. But I am also so happy I went, because going to those edges has given me certain perspectives that I couldn’t have gained from any other place.

With the right support, spiritual crisis doesn’t have to go to those extremes, and for some people it just never does. Either way,

the role of astrology in these times of existential upheaval is to validate this turning point as meaningful, important and a part of your destiny path. In other words: there’s nothing wrong.

Spiritual crisis can feel very isolating, like we are the only ones in the world going through it. With astrology, the nature of those isolating experiences is expressed through planetary combinations that speak not just to an individual’s pain and challenge, but to an archetypal domain of reality. This honours the individual’s strife by weaving it into a larger tapestry of valid human experience, reminding us we are not alone. As Adam says,

“To have your pain validated and reflected by the heavens is dignifying”.

 The archetypal, collective nature of planetary signatures also grounds the individual by locating them within something much bigger than just our own personal experience. This can be useful because sometimes spiritual crisis can involve grandiosity and a feeling of Oneness that eclipses the rest of life and the needs of people around us. By reminding ourselves we are just a drop in the vast ocean, as well as the ocean itself, we can rest easy in our humble human life, without squashing the seed of awakening that is emerging through our crisis.

Modern astrology tends to emphasise manifestation and self-empowerment more than the ancients did. This is fine, but what’s valuable about traditional astrology is the recognition of larger forces beyond our control, and the stoic practice of acceptance when difficulty comes our way. There is a humility in this approach that can be a real remedy for the feeling of being ‘all-powerful’ manifesting machines that new age spirituality and/or spiritual crisis can incur. This way of thinking can bring a lovely high and a feeling that ‘we are doing it right’ when things go our way. However it can easily swing the other way into confusion or self-blame when life brings us disappointment, inconvenience, pain or grief.

Another way that astrology can help integrate spiritual crisis is because it describes cycles of time. Every cycle (or transit, as they are known in astrology) has a beginning and an end.

To know where we are at in a difficult cycle can be incredibly reassuring and give us the strength to just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

When the experience of spiritual crisis involves deep depression, suicidality or intrusive/ psychotic thoughts, the knowledge that we are in a particularly challenging area of astrological weather can be life saving.

A word of caution though; The use of transits and cycles in astrology, when used incorrectly can do more harm than good. We can even start to blame the planets and wish they’d just leave us alone. This is to misunderstand astrology and to misunderstand life. Life will not leave us alone, however much we wish it would sometimes. Sure, in three months time, that tricky transit will have moved on, but challenging experiences are going to keep coming in some area of life, along with joyful, confusing, intriguing and shocking ones. Our job is to be present to it all as much as we can, moment by moment by moment.

If peak experiences are part of our journey, as beautiful and pleasant as they are, they aren’t meant to be a final refuge. We are not meant to hide out in perfection. The world needs us too much for that.

There can be a sense of failure or disappointment when peak experiences come and then fade away. We might go through a cycle of yearning for a certain experience, attain it, experience it passing away and then feel in a kind of void, seeking another hit as soon as we can. This is the cyclical nature of experience that can grab us whether its money power and success we want, or final enlightenment. The ancient greek word for planet translates to ‘grabber’ which points to our tendency to be ‘grabbed’ by the material world, or whatever transit we are going through.

Again, astrology aims to remind us that all earthly experience- the highs, the lows and everything inbetween is like water rushing through a river bank. If we try to cling, the water stagnates. We all do it, but what’s wonderful about astrology is that as transits come to us again and again we can notice, with curiosity and self compassion, the ways in which we are ‘grabbed’ by material circumstance. Awe and wonder can arise as we remember that this moment, difficult as it mght be, was written in the stars,  helping us to be with life, however it is right now. 

Spiritual crisis contains a seed of potential that can transform our lives from being led by self-centred agendas and demands to expanding beyond self-concern. This shift from the personal to the transpersonal is not about pursuing ideals but about being in service to the whole of life, through the remembrance of who we are. 

A final word if spiritual crisis is bringing you to astrology - it’s very important to choose a trauma informed astrologer with some therapeutic skill and spiritual wisdom. What you’re going through is profound- and deserving of someone who can honour the transformative potential of what to some people might look scary or crazy. Go with who resonates and trust your gut, remember that you are the authority on your own experience and astrology is just a map offering a different perspective.