Spiritual Crisis?

[psychoslice]

I have had mind crises, but never a spiritual crises, spiritual is when I am calm, in a meditative state.

 

[viole]

One night we ( a platoon) were called upon to assault a hill .. frontal assault it was called. Mentally I recalled that such a maneuver might have been similar to the frontal assault on Bunker Hill but the orders when given. In a line going up the hill I stumbled into a fox hole and believe it or not did a complete summersault with my Browning Automatic Rifle in hand. For me it was a miracle...

Anyone surviving something terrible might get the feeling to have been helped. For the ones who did not survive cannot possibly disagree.

Ciao

- viole

 

[arthra]

Anyone surviving something terrible might get the feeling to have been helped. For the ones who did not survive cannot possibly disagree.

Ciao

- viole

That's why wars need to be abolished Viole.... ! My cousin never made it back home alive...His young life was cut short by a snipers bullet. He volunteered to patrol the Mekong Delta... At least I tried to convince him otherwise. Don is a wonderful soul and I still honor him.

 

[Zigzangle]

What is the definition of 'spiritual'?

 

[Muffled]

That's the process I'm in buddhist. The fear of hell still dogs me relentlessly. And I've watched dozens of NDE videos on youtube, and their testimonies of Jesus taking them to hell and back. I can't dismiss every single video I've seen, it wouldn't be rational to think every one is a lie or some "chemical reaction." I just don't buy it.

Personally I would be an atheist if I could and just keep the golden rule of christianity "treat others the way you want to be treated."

But my case is a lot more difficult because I was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2005 and saw demons and angels while in an altered state (no illegal drugs in my system) and I just can't write it off as a hallucination. It was so real. My diagnosis has since changed to bipolar. But I had very vivid dreams of hell, and I'm convinced I'm doomed to go there. But I came to accept it, and with acceptance in a strange way brought peace. Strange I know, but I still rather be an atheist.

I believe that is most likely a lie of the devil that you are doomed to go there. Everyone has a choice. I believe the choice is to accept Jesus as savior or go to Hell.

I believe for me one of the primary reasons for accepting Jesus was a belief that God is good. If it is good that you want that is the way to go. Of course if you could keep the golden rule you wouldn't need Jesus but no-one has been able to keep it yet without Him.

 

[Muffled]

I've always been drawn to buddhism. Maybe I'll read the Varda's again and see if I can overcome these fears.

I believe with enough mental gymnastics people can manage to ignore the elephant in the room.

 

[Kelly of the Phoenix]

My question is, has anyone has a very serious soul wrenching spiritual crisis go on for over 11 years? The kind that robs you of peace of mind, and drives you to the brink of insanity?

I suffer from chronic depression. Does that count?

As stated by the DSM IV "Spiritual Emergency"

Fascinating. I'm a nurse who likes to treat things as holistically as possible, so this is good news.

The fear of hell still dogs me relentlessly.

Been there enough to own stock. Once you realize the devil can only throw horror movie cliches at you, he bores you eventually.

But I had very vivid dreams of hell, and I'm convinced I'm doomed to go there. But I came to accept it, and with acceptance in a strange way brought peace.

I know where Satan keeps his keys. You can go back and forth anytime you want if you just have the cajones, LOL.

Don't know where you're from, but if you're from anywhere within spitting distance of the US' Bible Belt, that would explain your phobias of hell, as they force feed it down your throat.

Have you ever had the sensation of observing your mind, and wondering to yourself "why am I thinking such things?". Buddhism explains it as the higher consciousness observing the lower mind.

Metacognition: been practicing that since I was a kid. I can almost tell you where the thoughts are in my brain, but would love an MRI to see if I'm accurate.

Because many of them were atheists and still saw hell and demons.

They are inundated with media references, though.

 

[nash8]

Metacognition: been practicing that since I was a kid. I can almost tell you where the thoughts are in my brain, but would love an MRI to see if I'm accurate. .

Me too!!!

And to the OP, I once had an encounter with what I call a demon, but is really just a lost soul. I can still see his image in my mind clear is day.

In not diagnosed schizophrenic or mpd, but if i told a professional what was going on in my head I would be in an institution real quick lol.

As mentioned above, metacognition, or thinking about thinking, is the keycontrolling all that nonsense in your head. Recognize when those thoughts arise and develop a positive mantra to say when they do arise.

Meditation is definitely the best remedy, but I know it can be hard to meditate with all that going on, but by just actively recognizing when you get in a negative thought cycle and then repeating a positive mantra whenever it occurs you will cause physical changes in how your brain is wired and slowly, your brain will start to automatically go to that positive part of your brain when those negative feelings start to rise. Its a process but if you can get that mantra working consistently for a few weeks it will get progressively easier and easier to control.

Good luck with your journey my friend

 

[OceanSoul]

There is a certain fatalism in the way the place is taught like no matter what you do, you'll never be good enough, faithful enough, and that is what makes the idea so crippling. The road to destruction is wide or so the Bible says in Matthew 7:13 and it seems you'll fail because you're not perfect. Humans aren't perfect, but that doesn't mean everyone deserves such a terrible place.

I live in the Bible Belt so yeah there are (some) churches that really push the fire and brimstone stuff and describe it in graphic detail to boot and if you live there then I get your anxiety though I just don't think about it and even considering that someone I love could be in Hell makes me feel depressed so I try not to think like that.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Personally I would be an atheist if I could and just keep the golden rule of christianity "treat others the way you want to be treated.".....strange I know, but I still rather be an atheist.

There seems to be a theme here. I used to do silent worship with some Quaker friends, and met one or two non-theist Christians. In any case it is possible to be "spiritual" without being a theist.