Judy Tart
Charles T. Tart

(2000, unpublished.)

Author's Notes

Individuals are sometimes stressed and confused by unusual experiences of a psychic, mystical, or altered states nature. Sometimes they represent serious psychological disturbance that requires professional help from the mainstream helping professions, but sometimes a little knowledge of such experiences or a sympathetic listener is all that's required. Below is a description from a book of mine, written by my wife Judy several years ago of the Spiritual Emergence Network, with updated address, that may be of help to you if you have been thrown off balance by an unusual experience.

This article is a little out of date but gives the general idea. More up to date information can be gotten from SEN itself. Please pass this info along it may help someone who's stressed out by an unusual experience.

Following that is a note on a new organization, OPUS.

Article

Many travelers on the spiritual path have found the going rough, or have suddenly found themselves at a level of awareness and/or energy transformation they were not prepared to handle. Perhaps others around them have also had difficulty in dealing with the enormous new levels of knowledge, insight, and energy their friends are experiencing. Even worse, many persons who do not consider themselves seekers or spiritual wake up one morning to find their world suddenly changed hearing voices, seeing visions, knowing the thoughts and secret feelings of others around them. We know what usually happens to anyone in our society who not only has these experiences but is foolish enough to talk about them to others a 72hour hold in the nearest "spiritual correction" center and some massive doses of Thorazine to bring them back to "normal."

In order to avoid this situation, and to help those who are trying to figure out if they're becoming enlightened or going crazy, Stan and Christina Grof and Rita Rohan several years ago established the Spiritual Emergency Network (SEN). It was first based at Esalen Institute; then at the California Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (now know simply as the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology) in Menlo Park. Now (October, 2002), SEN has changed its name to the Center for Psychological and Spiritual Health, the address is:

What does SEN do? Anyone experiencing altered states of awareness, energy, insights, who needs some nurturing, reassurance, and help while going through this transformation, can call SEN and hopefully find someone nearby who has had similar experiences, or someone who is a therapist sensitive to and aware of spiritual dimensions of reality, whom they can contact for assistance. The network of individuals and organizations in SEN numbers more than 10,000 at present. By writing or phoning SEN you can receive information and referral for yourself or others. There is also an educational program, including articles, bibliographies, tapes, lectures, workshops and conferences on aspects of spiritual opening and crisis.

SEN's membership is open to anyone who is interested in the goals of spiritual awakening and what might be called spiritual midwifery. Having recently reread Bert Kaplan's "The Inner World of Mental Illness," I am very struck by the almost universal themes of spiritual awakening running through diverse firsthand accounts of people's experience with madness, along with the equally striking lack of recognition of the same by the socalled authorities. It is also frightening to realize that today, with our antipsychotic medications, people aren't even allowed to experience their mystical states in the privacy of their own minds. I see SEN as filling a pretty urgent need. If you want more information, please write or call SEN at the above address. They need support, volunteer networkers, and others to spread the word that they exist and are available to help out when needed.

Originally the Network's purpose was to deal with people having a crisis because of spiritual or psychic experiences happening to them. They have found, however, that while this is an important part of their functioning, a larger part is in networking people and providing information to facilitate a more general emergence of spiritual potentials. For many people, a little information to the effect that they are not alone, that there are some words that describe their experiences and books that can be read, is enough to help them on their spiritual journey.

Following is a notice of a new organization, received in 1994. I have no direct acquaintance with the activities of OPUS.

O.P.U.S.: Organization for Paranormal Understanding & Support

OPUS was formed as a response to a need for a "clearing house" organization to provide referral and research services for unusual personal experiences. Such experiences may include close encounters with nonhuman type entities and parapsychological phenomena. Our two basic goals are to assist persons who are seeking help in dealing with experiences outside the scope of mainstream health care, and to be a datagathering body to collect information which may further overall knowledge in these areas. This information would be made available to researchers, therapists and experiencers alike who share the common desire to make some sense of these anomalous experiences. Regardless of our interest personal, professional, academic, etc. we all want to get to the bottom of this mystery.

OPUS was formed to interact with and complement the activities of other organizations such as MUFON, The Intruders Foundation, TREAT, CUFOS and the American Psychical Research Society.

OPUS is presently regionallybased in the San Francisco Bay Area As a network, we hope to expand nationally for the mutual benefit of the many innovative groups around the country.

Experiencer Support: Referral Services

The sometimes disturbing nature of anomalous experiences might lead an individual to seek professional help, but he/she soon finds a confusing array of diagnoses ranging from NewAge belief systems to, more conventionally, psychopathology. Because these experiences fall outside the realm of what is considered consensus reality, there is a vacuum into which many practitioners have stepped, some with good intentions, others more for personal profit. OPUS has recognized the need for some sort of "triage," where an experiencer might receive assistance and guidance in choosing a professional therapist who is knowledgeable about the particular experiences in question. This professional would assist the experiencer with integrating the experiences. We would also offer referral to "support groups," where experiencers could share feelings and coping techniques without fear of ridicule or embarrassment.

Therapist Network:

Therapists working with OPUS would benefit in several ways. In addition to the client referrals, a therapist would have a network of peers with which to exchange information about these specific experiences.

One way to promote this would be to hold regular workshops, seminars, colloquia, etc., of therapists in the OPUS network, where specific topics could be discussed among one's colleagues. These could include such issues as coping and integration techniques, memory retrieval techniques, and therapy through artwork. This would also be a great forum for special topics such as working with children who are experiencers.

End Notes

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