A Framework for the Collective Evolution of Consciousness

The following is a paper I wrote for a course I took a couple of years ago. I finally feel that it is ok to share it. It is not perfect, and perhaps by now there is greater research that helps bring more clarity to the process that I had come to understand through my own constant spontaneous transpersonal and mystic states, especially over the past 7 years. But it does give a good idea of the process at hand that so many of us are experiencing. I have not gone here into depth into the role that geomagnetic and solar activity play, but I will include a colleagues literature review that helps shed deeper light on how spiritual awakening, as well as collective healing is facilitated by electro and geomagnetic fields.

A Framework for the Collective Evolution of Consciousness

Duve Dagher

Sofia University

GPHD7804: The Psychology of Cognition, Affect, and Consciousness

Dr. Patty Hlava

December 2022

Introduction

In the past years, I have been seeking an understanding of the underlying mechanisms behind a collectively experienced spiritual awakening that is contributing to an intense and rapid transformative process that I often describe as forced healing. In addition to myself, I have noticed this phenomenon being experienced amongst individual clients I have worked with in a clinical setting, and in conversations with the personal experiences of other counsellors and therapists, youth, friends, and relatives. This has led me to conclude that humanity is currently experiencing an external process guiding a collective evolution of consciousness. This process consists of an intense spontaneous healing of trauma extending across several levels of consciousness as outlined in Wilbur’s (1993) Spectrum of Consciousness.

A better indication of the far reaches of this phenomenon can be witnessed in the numerous online social media support groups that have formed in recent years, where thousands of members have amalgamated to make sense out of shared experiences that mainstream medicine has been unable to identify. These groups are relatively unorganized, with members sharing symptoms and spiritual experiences they popularly identify as ascension symptoms. There seems to be an almost global grass roots quality to these groups. While many of experiences might be labelled as a form of functional psychosis, they include physical symptoms and transpersonal experiences that are consistent with spiritual emergency as described by Stanislav Grof and Christina Grof (1989).

It has become common knowledge within these spiritual awakening communities that external forces are influencing this collectively transformative process, leading to increased layers of healing and ego integration, as well as expanded levels of consciousness. Among these external forces include solar weather, shifts in geomagnetic frequencies, and archetypal forces often associated with astrology and planetary transits.

Several key concepts are presented in this paper that form the framework for a collective mechanism guiding this evolution of human consciousness: (a) Humanity is currently undergoing a rapid period of an evolution of consciousness in conjunction with a collective existential crisis fueled by moral conflict at a global level; (b) The evolution of the collective consciousness is multidimension, at the personal level presenting itself through individual spiritual awakenings, often in the form of spiritual emergencies which are misdiagnosed as psychoses. As the dominant mode of treatment for psychosis within Western medicine are psychotropic medications, and medications are known to suppress the resolution of spiritual emergency and subsequent positive transformations, our current model of psychiatry is impeding the collective evolution of consciousness; (c) Stanislav Grof’s (1998) model on holotropic states and systems of corresponding experience provide a sound psychological and somatic model for understanding and healing spiritual emergencies that lead to higher, more enduring orders of consciousness; (d) Archetypal astrology, as presented by Richard Tarnas (2007), in conjunction with Stanislav Grof, provides a plausible mechanism governing the psychological processes involved in both individual and collective transformation; (e) Ongoing research in heliobiology, and the effects of geomagnetism and the solar cycles on human consciousness can shed light on the physiological mechanisms involved. The aim of this paper to establish a plausible framework for the rapid evolution of human consciousness.

Healing Humanity’s Fragmented Psyche

We are living at a crucial point in time on this planet. We are experiencing ongoing global conflicts, a global pandemic, challenging economic times, and extreme fears around climate change and environmental catastrophe in the form of eco-anxiety as described by the American Psychological Association (Clayton et al., 2017). These conflicts are in addition to over a century of intergenerational trauma experienced by an endless barrage of cultural, racial, economical, and gender-based abuses, including two world wars. Almost every region in the world has experienced an unprecedented amount of fear and anxiety over the past few years, if not decades. This has set the stage for an existential and spiritual need for transformation within the human psyche. According to Flier (1995), it is moral conflict that acts as the engine that drives new evolving orders of consciousness. If there currently is a collective shift in consciousness happening, as members of various spiritual awakening communities believe, fueled by moral conflict and a culmination of intergenerational and collective trauma, what mechanisms are at play that give us insight into what this process looks like on a grand scale? An evolving order of consciousness would include features that expand beyond the monophasic realms of everyday ordinary states of waking consciousness. The transformative process consistent with spiritual emergence and emergencies seem to reflect the types of experiences members of spiritual awakening communities are having.

Spiritual Emergence and Spiritual Emergency

Spiritual emergence is a term often used synonymously with spiritual awakening and describes a normal and healthy transformative process of psychospiritual development where meaning and connection are sought beyond one’s personal identity (Esser, 2017). A spiritual emergency is “a crisis of the evolution of consciousness” (Grof & Grof, 1989, p. 2) that includes transpersonal states of consciousness seen in mystics but oftentimes sharing similarities with psychosis. Spiritual emergencies are often considered an adverse form of spiritual emergence, existing along a continuum of the same process (Harris et al., 2019).

While spiritual emergencies are all unique to the individual, they typically incorporate features falling into a range of categories including shamanic crisis, kundalini awakening, dark night of the soul, psychic opening, UFO encounters, unitive and peak experiences, and the renewal process as outline by Jungian analyst John Wier Perry (Grof & Grof, 1989; Grof, 1998). As spiritual emergencies often resemble psychosis to clinicians that aren’t trained or aware of them, many individuals seeking aid from western psychiatry are mislabeled with disorders associated with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI).

A lack of understanding towards spiritual emergencies amongst mainstream mental health professionals has led to a greater attempt for transpersonal researchers to develop tools that will aid in differentiating symptoms of clinical psychosis from those of a spiritual emergency (Harris et al., 2015; Kaselionyte & Gumly, 2019). Two major diagnostic errors can be made that have drastic implications on the treatment provided to clients. These include a reductionistic error, in which failure to recognize a spiritual emergency reduces client experiences to purely pathological, and an elevationistic error whereby a pathological process such as schizophrenia is overlooked in favor of a spiritual explanation. (Lukoff, 1985; Walsh, 2009). The importance in a differential diagnosis for spiritual emergencies and clinical psychosis lies in identifying the best course of treatment for the client. A client experiencing a spiritual emergency but treated with anti-psychotic medications and hospitalization, as is conventional for mental disorders such as schizophrenia, may have the natural developmental process that accompanies spiritual emergencies undermined (Bragdon, 2013). This may result in a failure to integrate the spiritual dimensions of their experience, preventing positive transformations, and causing unnecessary harm to the client.

If spiritual emergencies are happening at an increased rate as part of a natural collective evolutive process of human consciousness, the current medical model within western psychiatry that emphasizes the use of psychotropic medications may be interfering and suppressing the transformation of the collective consciousness towards a more harmonious state. As the well-known proverb goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Holotropic States and The Psyche: Innate Attempts Towards Wholeness

Over the years Stanislav Grof has developed a robust model (1998), which seems to describe the transformative process of individuals who ascribe to experiencing ascension symptoms as a result of a current collective spiritual awakening. This is especially true for those experiencing adverse non-ordinary states of consciousness resembling psychosis. To differentiate from the more generally used term of altered or non-ordinary states of consciousness, Grof (1998) coined the term holotropic states to denote a range of personal, perinatal, and transpersonal states that are healing and transformative in nature. Holotropic “literally means ‘oriented toward wholeness’” (p. 2). Consciousness is drastically changed in holotropic states and may include intense and overwhelming experiences characteristic of spiritual emergency.

Unlike traditional psychiatry, Grof (1998) differentiates between organic psychoses and functional psychoses. Organic psychoses are ones that have a clear organic basis, such as cerebral traumas, infections, or degenerative diseases that affect brain function (Grof, 1998). Functional psychoses are those where no clear etiology can be deduced and suggests that the roots of such disorders stem in perinatal and transpersonal memories of physical and psychological trauma. (Grof, 1998). If Grof’s model is accurate, it would indicate that many disorders resembling functional psychosis reflect an attempt of the human psyche to heal and transform trauma by inducing holotropic states. What function might this have for the psyche?

While experiencing a holotropic state the “mobilization of a deep, inner intelligence that guides the process of healing and transformation” (Grof, 1998, p. 5) takes over. It is this inner intelligence that helps the client access the specific biographical, perinatal, and transpersonal memories that carry the energy of psychosomatic trauma stored within the body and psyche. In other words, by spontaneously inducing holotropic states, the psyche gains access to the key material and suppressed energies needing integration. When holotropic states are allowed to emerge without suppression and with conscious intention towards healing in a supportive therapeutic environment, clients can heal the deepest layers of the fragmented parts of their psyche. Doing so allows them to go “deep enough into the experience, surrendered to its depths and intensity, to get the ego control out of the way, so that the body and psyche can spontaneously flush forth with what has been suppressed” (Olivetti, 2015, p. 102) resulting in a radical liberation of symptoms. Should these layers of trauma be prevented from being processed, they continue to manifest until they can be fully resolved and assimilated (Olivetti, 2015). Different approaches can be used to induce holotropic trance states within a therapeutic environment including psychedelics and holotropic breathwork as developed by Grof (1998).

Systems of Condensed Experience (COEX)

An interesting observation within Grof’s theory relates to systems of condensed experience (COEX). Grof (1998) describes a COEX system as a constellation of emotionally charged memories or experiences from different periods of a person’s life that share a basic recurring theme. These experiences relate archetypally to memories experienced in various holotropic states, including the perinatal and transpersonal layers of consciousness (Grof, 1998). Each constellation of memories carries a central theme that differs from other COEX systems that an individual may carry. Examples of these themes might include abandonment in relationships, claustrophobia, guilt, or even painful death.

A profound observation surrounding COEX systems is that they seem to be anchored to traumas experienced in various perinatal stages of birth (Grof, 1998). As an example, the second basic perinatal matrix (BPM II) stage of birth represents “the fully developed first stage of biological birth, when the uterus is contracting but the cervix is not yet open” (Grof, 1998, p. 14). In this stage a baby can “feel caught in a monstrous claustrophobic nightmare, suffer agonizing emotional and physical pain, and experience utter helplessness and hopelessness” (Grof, 1998, p. 14). A COEX constellation linked to this stage may carry themes of constriction and oppression that manifest in one’s biographical life as inhibited depression (Grof, 1998). BPM III reflects the birth stage where a baby is moved through the birth canal after the cervix opens, towards the vaginal opening. This phase is quite active and may carry themes of blood, sexuality, violence, and torture (Grof, 1998). In contrast to BPM II, BPM III may manifest in an agitated depression or states associated with bipolar disorder (Grof, 1998). The entire birth process also carries archetypal themes surrounding death and rebirth to newer orders of consciousness.

A Case of COEX

I am an identical twin, born second. While my brother and I were both premature, he was delivered without any noticeable trauma. I was born breech and blue, due to lack of oxygen. My mother was not given a C-section as is common in twin births. My brother has lived a very abundant life without any recurring physical or mental health concerns. This has been quite contrary to my experience. To better illustrate how a COEX system may be expressed, I will use an example from my own life with a COEX themes related to trauma by suffocation. When I was 19, I was placed in a weeklong induced coma. Unaware that I was in a coma, I experienced a blending of internal archetypal imagery that incorporated elements of the real world, with themes that I now realize reflected aspects of my birth.

I experienced myself bedridden and paralyzed. At one point I was transferred to an underground facility within the hospital as an altercation took place between my father and emergency doctor. While in the underground facility (the cervix), the walls began caving in (birth contractions) as a vehicle (my brother) that was too large for the underground passageway (the birth canal) damaged the infrastructure. As I was bedridden and paralyzed, everyone evacuated the room including my father (abandonment), except for my mother. For what seemed like months, I was trapped with my mother in this underground facility. Initially my mother had a compassionate, loving, and nurturing presence, but quickly turned frantic, violent, and at one point even sexual. I remember the physical disgust of being trapped in my own sweat and urine.

Eventually we were found and rescued from the buried facility (moving through vaginal opening), and I remember experiencing the shame as paparazzi and onlookers watched (nurses and doctors during my delivery—the shame may be a transferred emotion through maternal bonding). I remained bedridden and placed in a room on a high floor within the hospital (the incubator), where I continued to experience bizarre themes around trying to survive as my mother repeatedly attempted to subtly murder me (memories now integrated into the COEX). These negative experiences of my mother were completely uncharacteristic of the person I knew in real life. I was not aware that I was in a coma when I awoke. Upon seeing my mother in the hospital, I was terrified of her and asked my brother why she wasn’t in prison. They had no idea what I was talking about and thought I was joking.

Interestingly, the cause for my near death was septicemia from the pneumonia that developed as a result of a compromised immune system. My immune system was compromised as the result of an adverse reaction to medication side effects. The medications were prescribed to manage what would now be recognized as a spiritual emergency. As I could not breathe on my own, oxygen was manually pumped via incisions into my lungs. This represents a theme around suffocating in past lives (transpersonal level), its connection to being born breech (perinatal level), and the manifestation of a situation that led to pneumonia and near death (biographical level). The multidimensionality of this experience is far more complex than described here, but hopefully this provides a clearer real-world example of a COEX system in effect.

I documented my experiences soon after my recovery sensing it carried meaning that, at the time, I could not understand. Grof’s (1998) work has provided a much better understanding of that experience and what my body and psyche were being asked to heal. Grof’s exploration of the range of traumas that can be experienced during birth and how they relate to recurring situations and experiences throughout a person’s life is profound, especially for those who can relate. The importance of COEX systems and the archetypal themes that emerge in relation to those undergoing a spiritual emergency at collective levels may have a relationship to astrological systems, as demonstrated by Tarnas and Grof (Olivietti, 2015).

Archetypal Astrology

Richard Tarnas (2007) describes astrology as, “a conception of the cosmos as a coherent embodiment of creative intelligence, purpose, and meaning expressed through a constant complex correspondence between astronomical patterns and human experience” (p. 74). Astrology has taken many forms across various traditions throughout history, with planets possessing attributes that reflect universal principles. These principles are understood as interconnecting events taking place in celestial realms and those on Earth (Tarnas, 2007). As planets move along their cycle, they form geometrical alignments with other planets relative to the Earth. Depending on the relationship of the planets to one another and the type of alignment formed, specific patterns of human experience have been observed (Tarnas, 2007). Tarnas compares the concept of archetypes in Platonic philosophical traditions to psychological archetypes as developed in Jungian traditions. He ascribes the early differences between the two as related to the disconnect in how Western society perceives its relationship to the external world (Tarnas, 2007). Early psychological perspectives perceived archetypes as largely rooted in the subjective psyche, with the objective world as neutral and unaffected or involved with archetypal forces. Contemporary astrology, such as archetypal astrology as developed by Junigan analyst James Hillman, suggests that archetypes are both objective and subjective to human experience (Tarnas, 2007). In other words, they are embedded within cosmic fields outside of the human body, that interact with personal and collective human experience. This perspective has helped inform Grof’s holotropic model.

The Relationship between COEX Systems and Archetypal Astrology

According to Grof (1998), “when a COEX system is established, it has a self-replicating propensity and can unconsciously drive the individual in recreating situations of a similar kind – adding new layers to the constellation” (p. 26). In other words, these themes seem to repeat themselves through different periods of a person’s life, recreating new traumatic memories. While this statement seems to indicate purely psychological forces driving these recurrences, might there be a mechanism in place, external to the individual, that influences or predicts the themes associated with a specific COEX systems at any given period in a person’s life? In conjunction with Richard Tarnas (Olivietti, 2015), Grof has explored this possibility, making the connection to planetary transits within astrological systems. Grof (2015) states that observations are “repeatedly seen that the experiences of the individuals who enter holotropic states of consciousness, seem to be attuned to and informed by the archetypal fields of the planets forming at the time of significant transits to their natal charts” (p. 116). Grof concludes that this, “selectively activates the COEX system whose content has the corresponding archetypal qualities; this COEX then governs the inner experiences, as well as the perception of the external environment” (p. 116). In a discussion between Tarnas, Grof, and Olivietti (2015), Tarnas clarifies that it might be difficult for a person not familiar with archetypes to recognize the relationship between transits and an individual’s experience as the themes “would not be concretely predictive, but rather archetypally predictive” (p. 111). This refers to the multidimensional and multivalenced quality of archetypes, whereby they are imbued with multiple themes and taking on a range of possible expressions (Tarnas, 2007).

Archetypal Astrology and Collective Spiritual Awakenings

Related to collective shifts in consciousness and spiritual awakenings throughout history, Tarnas (2007) has developed a case that sees the planetary transit between Uranus and Neptune as facilitator. Uranus is associated with themes around rapid change, liberation, revolution and reform, and the unexpected breakdown of structures (Tarnas, 2007). Neptune is associated with themes that govern the transcendent dimensions of life. This includes imagination and spirituality, illusion and delusion, non-ordinary states of consciousness, as well as dreams and visions (Tarnas, 2007). Neptune share’s themes with Uranus of dissolving boundaries and structures, but tends towards a more unified conclusion (Tarnas, 2007). In examining historical periods when Uranus and Neptune were in various alignments, Tarnas observed deep transformation within a culture’s perception, including “widespread spiritual awakenings, the birth of new religious movements…rapid collective changes in psychological understanding and interior sensibility,” and, “new utopian social visions and movements” (Tarnas, 2007, p. 356).

An increase in the presence of these themes during certain transits between Uranus and Neptune would indicate that there is an astrological mechanism that facilitates the evolution of consciousness in humans. Tarnas proposes that spiritual awakenings and the birth of new religions tend to occur when Uranus and Neptune are in opposition, referencing the period historians consider Jesus to have lived (Tarnas, 2007). If this is the case, this theory may contradict a possible current rise in spiritual emergencies believed to be occurring within spiritual awakening communities as Uranus and Neptune won’t be in opposition until 2078. However, there may be other layers and factors involved that we have yet to discover.

Nevertheless, individuals belonging to spiritual awakening communities ascribe greater meaning to their experiences of strong synchronicity, radical changes in temperament, and altered states of consciousness. Members of these communities perceive astrological transits as a source of confirmation that people are indeed contributing to the collective shift in human consciousness while providing unique opportunities for healing certain traumatic themes. If planetary transits are not the only external influence experienced as contributing to the shift in collective consciousness, what other factors may be involved? Many of the individuals experiencing a spiritual emergency, as well as those with various hypersensitivities seem to be particularly affected by solar weather and shifts in the geomagnetic resonance of the planet.

Geomagnetism, Solar Cycles, and Holotropic States

We have largely considered a psychosomatic framework that may underlie a collective transformation of human consciousness. If changes in collective human consciousness can occur at a rapid pace, as this paper suggests, what neurophysiological changes might we notice in those experiencing spiritual emergency? How might forces external to human beings contribute to the changes in the neurophysiology of the wider species? One area of research that may help shed light on these influences is heliobiology, a branch of science that studies the effects of solar and geomagnetic activity on living organisms.

For a more thorough analysis on solar and geomagnetic influences on human consciousness, Annani Kelley (2022a) provides a captivating literary review on the effects of geomagnetic activity on human consciousness. Citing research by Al Abdulgader (2021), Kelley reinforces a field view of reality whereby all biological systems are subject to external and internal magnetic fields and frequencies that are in constant flux. She provides examples of research looking at how strong geomagnetic activity interferes with executive functioning of the brain, heart, and autonomic nervous system, as well as how various magnetic fields induce mystical states, dreams, and sleep in human subjects (Kelley, 2022a). This literature builds on Kelley’s (2022b) master’s integration paper, whereby she provides a compelling argument for a new paradigm within psychology “from one that is earth anchored to one that is heliocentric” (p. 20) recognizing humanity’s interconnectedness with the sun and space.

The Role of Heart Coherence in Shifting Collective Consciousness

Kelley (2022a) considers the importance behind higher levels of heart coherence among humans in creating harmonious rhythms aligned with nature and how continued research into these dynamics could aid in the evolution of consciousness. This perspective aligns with research conducted by the HeartMath Institute on heart coherence, as part of The Global Coherence Initiative (McCraty & Al Abdulgadar, 2021). They have suggested a hypothesis that “large numbers of people creating heart-centered states of care, love and compassion will generate a more coherent field environment that can benefit others and help offset the current planetary wide discord and incoherence” (McCraty & Al Abdulgadar, 2021, p. 12). Based on their research, it is plausible that as increased numbers of the population experience spiritual emergence and emergencies, the positive outcomes of deeper healing that transform incoherent magnetic fields of the heart to coherent magnetic fields of the heart, can then contribute to greater levels of heart coherence among all members of the population, including those who are not actively engaged in psychosomatic healing.

The Projector and the Lens Model of the Evolution of Consciousness

It is becoming more commonly known within spiritual awakening communities that changes in electromagnetic and geomagnetic frequencies are contributing to severe symptoms that seem to either activate the nervous system or inhibit it. Those identifying as experiencing ascension symptoms believe that these energy shifts contribute to the physical sensations (akin to kundalini kriyas), emotional, and cognitive fluctuations they experience daily. A plausible metaphor for the interplay between astrological forces with an archetypal quality and the solar and geomagnetic forces of the Earth that intensify physical symptoms, might be one of a projector and lens. Where planetary transits act as various colored lenses contributing to the psychological themes experienced in holotropic states, solar and geomagnetic forces act as the projector whereby changes in brightness and intensity of light moving through the lenses amplify the neurophysiological conditions that underly holotropic experiences, particularly in those hypersensitive to energetic frequencies. These would provide the conditions required for healing the fragmented psyche at both individual and collective levels, brining increased harmony and easier access to non-dual states of consciousness.

Proposal for Research and Summary

This a complex interdisciplinary framework that requires more research that is both theoretical and applied. A major assumption of this paper is that there is a current phenomenon affecting a population large enough to create an enduring shift in collective consciousness. I have not come across research that can substantiate these claims. In order to help determine the accuracy of this assumption future research may include a survey of the wider population to determine whether the rate of spiritual emergence is increasing and what factors are reported to contribute to this among individuals. What populations would be prime candidate for studying this shift? Members of numerous online social media support groups may provide one line of study. Another may be looking at the rates of SPMI diagnosis among mental health institutions and comparing them to intake assessments to see which cases show symptoms consistent with spiritual emergency. Diagnostic tools that differentiate between psychosis and spiritual emergency may also be necessary for consideration.

While this paper recognizes the entire spectrum of spiritual emergence as a mechanism for collective spiritual awakening, it has largely focused on the more extreme expressions of holotropic states found within spiritual emergencies. What other observations might be made that suggest a greater shift in consciousness at a collective level, and how is this reflected in populations experiencing less adverse holotropic states? Future research may also want to address nervous system hypersensitivity to chemical, geomagnetic, electromagnetic, and solar activity, the factors that contribute to these in certain populations, and the interplay between hypersensitivity and more adverse forms of spiritual emergency.

This paper has introduced concepts related to spiritual emergency and holotropic states, archetypal astrology, geomagnetic and solar activity. It provides a possible framework whereby these processes guide a collective spiritual awakening leading to a higher order of evolved consciousness. In bringing greater awareness to this, humanity may be better equipped to remove factors that are suppressing this natural process, allowing for a future where a more harmonious level of collective consciousness presides, valuing co-existence and unity over division.

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