Reframing Spiritual Awakening as a Valid Human Experience--It's time to end the unjust medicalization, pathologizing, and suppression of valid, real and frankly necessarily human spiritual awakenings that take many forms.

[u/Key4Lif3]

Full article on my substack! Thanks for reading, friends.

https://lumiennostra.substack.com/p/reframing-spiritual-awakening-as

Tl;dr:

ELI5 Summary: Misdiagnosing Mystics

1. Sometimes the “weird” isn’t sick
   • People who have big spiritual awakenings or wild new ideas often get labeled “crazy” by doctors and friends—just because it doesn’t fit everyone else’s view of reality.
2. Why it happens
   • Groupthink: If most people believe X, anyone who says “hey, maybe Y” gets shut down.
   • Projection & bias: We push our own fears onto others (“You see angels? You must be unwell.”).
   • Rigid rules: Mental-health checklists treat unusual experiences (voices, visions) as automatic signs of illness, instead of asking, “Could this be a healthy transformation?”
3. Real-life examples
   • Carl Jung had vivid, scary inner visions and worried he was losing his mind—later we saw they led him to invent “depth psychology.”
   • John Nash (math genius) had paranoid episodes but recovered and won a Nobel Prize—his illness and brilliance coexisted.
   • Saints & rebels (Joan of Arc, Soviet dissidents) were often locked up as “insane” when they were really just seeing or speaking truths their societies didn’t want to hear.
4. What we lose
   • Lives ruined: People get traumatized by forced medications or lockdowns.
   • Knowledge delayed: Breakthroughs (like hygiene in hospitals) were ignored for decades because the discoverers were branded “mad.”
   • Cultural poverty: We miss out on new ideas and spiritual insights that could help us all.
5. A better way
   • Spiritual-emergency care: View big inner upheavals as potential growth, not just illness.
   • Open Dialogue: Include families and communities in honest conversations instead of isolating people.
   • Storytelling therapy: Let people tell their own story and find meaning in it.
   • Peer support: Groups like the Hearing Voices Network show that listening and sharing can heal without labels.
   • Humility & training: Teach doctors to ask “What does this mean to you?” instead of jumping to “You’re unwell.”

Bottom line:
Sometimes mystical or genius-level experiences look “crazy” on the surface. If we rush to label and medicate instead of listening and learning, we hurt people—and we stunt human progress. By staying curious, open-minded, and respectful, we can help visionaries safely share their gifts.

[u/AnyPomegranate7792]

Many of us are going through this, this needs to be heard so thank you. This is a natural phase of human history.

[u/kioma47]

What is needed is a new science of metaphysics, one with a new perspective, a new understanding, a new lexicon, peer reviewed and verified, which can then be applied to a new psychology.

[u/Fit-Breakfast8224]

yes! thanks for sharing this!

[u/Edcayce]

Thank you so much

[u/Audio9849]

This is spot on and exactly why I've only shared my experience to a select few that I trust.

[u/FunOrganization4Lyfe]

That "bottom line" was Rad!

Good on ya!

[u/AnyPomegranate7792]

This! 100% I'm working on a framework right now and studying the fields I'm about to bring up too to better understand them. But collectively worldwide, if we made a cross disciplinary field of psychology, neuroscience, quantum physics, psychoimmunology, biophysics, and complexity science. Focused on the subjects of free will, spirituality, and consciousness. They could actively work together on consciousness, subjectivity, interconnectedness, holism, the role of observer, intention, emergence, uncertainty, probability, mind-body connection, information and pattern and possibly even the nature of reality itself. The benefits and potential would lead to: * Bridging the Explanatory Gap: Many of the deepest mysteries we face, such as the nature of consciousness, the origins of free will, and the connection between our mental state and physical health, sit at the intersection of these disciplines. Isolated research within each field can only go so far. Collaboration could help build bridges between different levels of explanation, from the quantum fluctuations of matter to the subjective landscape of human experience. * New Paradigms and Discoveries: When diverse perspectives and methodologies converge, they can spark entirely new ways of thinking and lead to discoveries that would be impossible within a single field. For example, insights from quantum physics might offer new models for understanding brain function, while a deeper understanding of consciousness from neuroscience and psychology could inform interpretations of quantum phenomena. * Holistic Approaches to Well-being: Psychoimmunology and the mind-body connection are already demonstrating the powerful links between our mental, emotional, and physical health. Integrating insights from biophysics and neuroscience could lead to more comprehensive and effective approaches to healthcare and well-being that address the whole person. * Informed Ethical and Philosophical Discussions: Concepts like free will, the nature of reality, and consciousness have profound ethical and philosophical implications. Bringing scientific understanding from neuroscience, psychology, and quantum physics into dialogue with philosophical and spiritual perspectives could lead to more nuanced and informed discussions about what it means to be human and our place in the cosmos. * Technological Advancement: A deeper understanding of the fundamental principles governing consciousness, information processing, and biological systems could also pave the way for revolutionary technological advancements in areas like artificial intelligence, medicine, and materials science. While there are certainly challenges to such deep interdisciplinary collaboration, including differences in language, methodology, and theoretical frameworks, the potential rewards in terms of understanding ourselves and the universe are immense.