<blockquote>Death and Rebirth in Psychospiritual Transformation

<center>Are you willing to be sponged out, erased, cancelled, made nothing?

Are you willing to be made nothing? Dipped into oblivion?

If not, you will never really change.

Phoenix -- D.H. Lawrence </center>

During a psychospiritual emergence process, one commonly encounters "death" in many forms. These can consist of the dying of old life strategies, mental and psychic structures, outdated views, notions and concepts, which also frequently involve the subsequent "dying" of such as previously held interests, pastimes and roles held in everyday life. In this context, death can also be described as change, or transformation. Yet, it is not uncommon for people undergoing psychospiritual emergence or emergency to experience these changes and transformations as dying in a most literal sense, especially if these processes occur in a rapid way.

Philosopher Ken Wilber describes the death/rebirth process in psychospiritual growth as primarily the transcendence of previously held identifications with a specific concept of self, to increasingly larger concepts of the same. According to Wilber and others, this process seems to have its goal in reuniting or realizing the self as Brahman-Atman, the Ultimate Source, or God, or realization of "I Am That". This goal has also been described as no-self, the final liberation, the final transcendence of all self-concepts.

The death-rebirth process, however it may manifest during a psychospiritual emergence or emergency, includes some specific phases, which must be successfully completed for the individual to be able to attain the next "level", a larger concept of self, which is commonly followed by a sense of increased freedom, increased ability to express ones creativity, a larger sense of unity with others and the world, in many cases profound psychospiritual and psychosomatic healing and other positive results. When the process or experience is successfully completed, one discovers that nothing actually "died". As Ken Wilber puts it, the previous, smaller concept of self is integrated into the larger one, and is afterwards still fully accessible to the individual. This applies to all the things one might experience as "dying" mentioned above, with the difference that one no longer sees oneself as identified with these structures, notions, roles etc. However, this is often no consolation to a person facing an experience of psychospiritual death and rebirth, although knowlede of how it might manifest can reduce fear and facilitate the process.

The first phase in the death/rebirth/transcendence process is the phase of letting go. This can be difficult and painful if the person is centered on control to a large extent, strongly identified with what is to be transcended at the time, or very afraid. When the individual overcomes the methaphysical fear which is commonly felt at this juncture, and ready to let go, the actual death/rebirth struggle begins. This phase can also be frightening and overwhelming. When it occurs in connection to the physical birth trauma, it can be followed by very intense physical sensations of pressures, pains, choking and powerful emotions of fear, anxiety, aggression and such, which seems to be the reliving of the individuals actual birth, and is a difficult and actually life-threatening experience for the child. When the experience occurs without such connection, the problems can consist of feelings of profound loneliness, aloofness, isolation and disconnection from all that used to be important and meaningful in the individuals life. There have been tragic cases where individuals facing such experiences have mistaken the inner urge for something inside of them to die as an impulse to actually physically kill themselves.

The death/rebirth experience can also encompass different mythological and symbolic visions of deities and demons, engulfment or dismemberment, imagery that seems to be connected to the individuals concepts of death. Furthermore, this phase can be experienced as total annihilation on all levels or hitting the cosmic bottom - as Stanislav Grof puts it "physical destruction, emotional disaster, intellectual and philosophical defeat, ultimate moral failure and even spiritual damnation." It is also important to note that physical breathing can actually cease for a short period of time during the death/rebirth experience.

After this phase, the person can experience an "inbetween" state of "nothingness", or "emptiness", which can also be difficult and frightening, and sometimes is experienced as being dead - being nothing and being nowhere - although still physically alive. This "inbetween" state can last for a few seconds, ranging up to a prolonged period of time. In some cases, the "dying" experience is immediately followed by visions of heavenly realms, feelings of redemption and release, and profound positive emotions. In other cases, this process takes more time and is a more gradual merging into the new "level" of functioning or larger self, which may include a "waiting" period which can also be experienced as difficult.

The crucial point in this process, whether it is deliberately evoked or occurs during the course of a spontaneous psychospiritual emergence process or crisis, is the ability to surrender, something our egos always fight, and sometimes fight fiercely. In most cases, it is not possible to stop such a process when evoked - which can lead to one "getting stuck" in some of the very unpleasant phases involved. In many ways, death and rebirth experiences in psychospiritual transformation actually resemble real death - the difference being that the physical body stays alive. The positive emotions and "levels" or "states" attained after successful completion of such experiences also resemble the states described by near-death experiencers, and going through such phases on the spiritual journey can strongly reduce fear of death. In a sufi saying it is said that "The man who dies before he dies does not die when he dies".

Source: <a href=http://home.swipnet.se/reality_center/spiremergenceinfo2.html>Death and Rebirth in Psychospiritual Transformation</a>

See also: Awakening by the Gate of Sorrow</blockquote>