When the Impossible Happens

by Grof, Stanislav

  An equally exciting aspect of the new understanding of the human psyche is the discovery of its inner healing intelligence. The goal in traditional psychotherapies is to reach an intellectual understanding as to how the psyche functions, why symptoms develop, and what they mean. This understanding then becomes the basis for developing various techniques that therapists can use to treat their patients. A serious problem with this strategy is the striking lack of agreement among psychologists and psychiatrists concerning the most fundamental theoretical issues and the resulting astonishing number of competing schools of psychotherapy. The work with holotropic states shows us a surprising radical alternative—mobilization of deep inner intelligence of the clients that guides the process of healing and transformation.

  The most surprising and exciting feature of the new worldview is that—in contrast with academic science—it recognizes the ontological reality of the ordinarily hidden spiritual dimensions of existence and does not put psychopathological labels on those who experience them. Consequently, it sees serious spiritual quest as a very significant and fully legitimate activity. However, it is important to emphasize that this statement applies to genuine spirituality based on personal experience and not to dogmatic ideologies of organized religions.

  The new worldview that I have briefly outlined above is not an arbitrary construct or result of speculation. It is a philosophical perspective that emerges spontaneously in individuals who have been able to free themselves from the imprints imposed on them by the trauma of their birth and their early life and who have had profound transpersonal experiences. Deep experiential work of this kind has profound implications for the way we conduct our lives. It is not difficult to understand that an important prerequisite for successful existence is general intelligence—the ability to learn and re-call, think and reason, and adequately respond to our material environment. More recent research emphasized the importance of “emotional intelligence,” the capacity to adequately respond to our human environment and skillfully handle our interpersonal relationships (Goleman 1996). Observations from the study of holotropic states confirm the basic tenet of perennial philosophy that the quality of our life ultimately depends on what can be called “spiritual intelligence.”

  Spiritual intelligence is the capacity to conduct our life in such a way that it reflects deep philosophical and metaphysical understanding of reality and of ourselves discovered through personal experiences during systematic spiritual pursuit. Buddhist scriptures refer to this kind of spiritual wisdom as prajña paramita (transcendental wisdom). Unlike the dogmas of organized church, spiritual intelligence acquired in the process of experiential self-exploration has the power to override the scientistic worldview of materialistic science. At the same time, it is equally effective as a remedy against the fundamentalist misunderstanding and distortion of the spiritual message. The concept of “intelligent design” represents an addition to what science has discovered about the evolution of the cosmos and life, not a primitive and simple-minded alternative to it.

  Systematic and responsible self-exploration using holotropic states is conducive to emotional and psychosomatic healing and positive personality transformation. Over the years, I have had the privilege to observe this process in many people who were involved in serious spiritual pursuit of this kind. Some of them were meditators and had regular spiritual practice, others had supervised psychedelic sessions or participated in various forms of experiential psychotherapy; a few had chosen the shamanic path. I have also witnessed profound positive changes in many people who received adequate support during their spontaneous episodes of psychospiritual crises (spiritual emergencies).

  Episodes of psychospiritual death and rebirth and experiential connection with positive postnatal or prenatal memories tend to reduce irrational drives and ambitions. They lead to significant decrease of aggression, to inner peace, self-acceptance, and tolerance of others. This is typically associated with a shift of focus from the past and future to the present moment and with increased zest for life—the ability to enjoy and draw satisfaction from simple aspects of life, such as everyday activities, food, lovemaking, nature, and music. Another important result of this process is emergence of spirituality of a universal and mystical nature that is nondenominational and all-encompassing.

  The process of spiritual opening and transformation typically deepens further as a result of transpersonal experiences, such as identification with other people, entire human groups, animals, and plants. Additional transpersonal experiences provide conscious access to events occurring in other countries, cultures, and historical periods and even to the mythological realms and archetypal beings of the collective unconscious. Experiences of cosmic unity and one’s own divinity result in increasing identification with all of creation and bring the sense of wonder, love, compassion, and inner peace. What begins as psychological probing of the unconscious psyche conducted for therapeutic purposes automatically becomes a philosophical quest for the meaning of life and a journey of spiritual discovery.

  One of the most striking consequences of various forms of transpersonal experiences is spontaneous emergence and development of deep humanitarian and ecological concerns and the need to get involved in service for some common purpose. This is based on an almost cellular awareness that the boundaries in the universe are arbitrary and that each of us is identical with the entire web of existence. It becomes clear that we cannot do anything to nature without simultaneously doing it to ourselves. Differences among people appear to be interesting and enriching rather than threatening, whether they are related to sex, race, color, language, political conviction, or religious belief.

  Individuals who have undergone this transformation develop a deep sense of being planetary citizens rather than citizens of a particular country or members of a particular racial, social, ideological, political, or religious group. It is obvious that a transformation of this kind would increase our chances for survival if it could occur on a sufficiently large scale. We seem to be involved in a dramatic race for time that has no precedent in the entire history of humanity. What is at stake is nothing less than the future of life on this planet. If we continue the old strategies, which in their consequences are extremely self-destructive, it is unlikely that humankind will survive. However, if a sufficient number of people undergo the process of deep inner transformation outlined above, it would enhance our chances to meet the formidable challenges we are facing and use the enormous creative potential inherent in our species to create a better future.

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  ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

  For information on Holotropic Breathwork workshops and facilitator training, please contact:

  Grof Transpersonal Training

  38 Miller Ave, PMB 516

  Mill Valley, CA 94941

  Web site: www.holotropic.com

  E-mail address: gtt@holotropic.com

  Phone: 415-383-8779

  Fax: 415-383-0965

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine), is a psychiatrist with over fifty years experience of research into non-ordinary states of consciousness and one of the founders and chief theoreticians of transpersonal psychology. He was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he also received his scientific training—an M.D. degree from the Charles University School of Medicine and a Ph.D. from the Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences.

  Dr. Grof’s early research in the clinical uses of psychedelic substances was conducted at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, where he was principal investigator of a program systematically exploring the heuristic and therapeutic potential of LSD and other psychedelic substances. In 1967, he was invited as Clinical and Research Fellow to the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.

  After completion of this two-year fellowship, he stayed in the United States and continued his research as chief of psychiatric research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center and as assistant professor of psychiatry at the Henry Phipps Clinic of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Doctor of Medicine. In 1973, Dr. Grof was invited to the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, where he lived until 1987 as Scholar-in-Residence writing, giving seminars, lecturing, and developing Holotropic Breathwork with his wife, Christina Grof. He also served on the board of trustees of the Esalen Institute.

  He is the founder of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA) and is its past and current president. In this role, he, along with Christina, has organized large international conferences in the United States, the former Czechoslovakia, India, Australia, and Brazil. At present, he lives in Mill Valley, California, conducts training seminars for professionals in Holotropic Breath work, transpersonal psychology, and writing books. He is also professor of psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco and at the Pacifica Graduate School in Santa Barbara and gives lectures and seminars worldwide.

  In 1993, he received an Honorary Award from the Association for Transpersonal Psychology (ATP) for major contributions to and development of the field of transpersonal psychology given at the occasion of the 25th Anniversary Convocation held at Asilomar, California.

  He has published over 140 articles in professional journals, as well as numerous books, which have been translated into sixteen languages.

  ABOUT SOUNDS TRUE

  Sounds True was founded in 1985 with a clear vision: to disseminate spiritual wisdom. Located in Boulder, Colorado, Sounds True publishes teaching programs that are designed to educate, uplift, and inspire. With more than six hundred titles available, we work with many of the leading spiritual teachers, thinkers, healers, and visionary artists of our time.

  To receive a free catalog of wisdom teachings for the inner life, please visit www.soundstrue.com, call toll-free 800-333-9185, or write: The Sounds True Catalog, P.O. Box 8010, Boulder, CO 80306.

  BACK COVER MATERIAL

  “This book is extremely intriguing in that it shows how a strong scientific mind confronts things which science cannot explain.”

  —RAM DASS, author of Be Here Now

  “I love Stan Grof’s wild and true stories. An amazing scientist, he offers a vast, mysterious perspective that opens our minds like a huge starry sky.”

  —JACK KORNFIELD, PH.D., Buddhist teacher and author of A Path with Heart

  “A fascinating account of extraordinary experiences in the life of a world famous pioneer in consciousness studies. Filled with personal stories, this book reveals Grof as and intrepid explorer on the frontiers of human possibilities.”

  —FRANCES VAUGHAN, PH.D., author of Shadows of the Sacred.

  “Reading Stanislav Grof’s latest book is to enter an enchanted universe. At first surprising then as the ‘A-ha experience’ repeats, ever-more enlightening and natural, this is a book that everyone needs, and will be able, to read ease and with pleasure.”

/>   —ERVIN LASZLO, PH.D., philosopher and author of Science and the Akashic Field

  “Freud illuminated a few rooms of consciousness, as did Jung; Grof tours the entire house.”

  —JAMES FADIMAN, PH.D., Institute for Transpersonal Psychology

  Feelings of oneness with others, nature, and the universe. Encounters with extraterrestrials, deities, and demons. Out-of-body experiences and past-life memories. Science casts a skeptical eye. But Dr. Stanislav Grof—the psychiatric researcher who co-founded transpersonal psychology—believes otherwise. When the Impossible Happens presents Dr. Grof’s mesmerizing firsthand account of his fifty-year inquiry into waters uncharted by conventional psychology, an odyssey that will leave you questioning the very fabric of your existence.