Geral Blanchard, LPC, is a psychotherapist who is university trained in psychology and anthropology. Formerly of Wyoming and currently residing in Iowa, Geral travels the world in search of ancient secrets that can augment the art and science of healing. From Western neuroscience to Amazonian shamanism, he has developed an understanding of how to combine old and new healing strategies to optimize recovery, whether from psychological or physical maladies.
An MDMA Christmas Carol
Ebenezer Scrooge, in Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, experienced a quantum change in spirit, a spiritual transformation of sorts
It was the story of how the wealthy sometimes must be supernaturally terrorized into sharing.
William Miller, a research psychologist in New Mexico, coined the term quantum change after interviewing fifty-five people who reported they had undergone a sudden radical transformation in a relatively short period of time. He defines quantum change as “a vivid, surprising, benevolent, and enduring personal transformation when profound awe, a sense of bright light, and a feeling of love were all usually present.” I liken it to a positive trauma.
Retrospectively, Miller’s subjects were asked to note shifts in priorities from a list of fifty personal values. Certain values were enhanced across the board all of which were linked to positive emotions like internal peace, forgiveness, spirituality, humility, and generosity. After the powerful experience, men reported they felt less macho and less materialistic; they reported major drops in the importance of achievement, adventure, comfort, fame, fun, and power (all values that women rated low to begin with). Female changes placed positive emotions as a high priority, with lessened emphasis on traditional “feminine” values like fitting in, safety, and self-control.
Miller likened what he observed to the spiritual transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge. Real life offers similar examples of spontaneous, life-changing spiritual experiences in the lives of Joseph Smith, AA’s Bill Wilson (after using LSD), John Wesley, Florence Nightingale, Malcom X, and Muhammad Ali.
In all of these examples, awe, spiritual transformation, and mystical illumination led to a greater sense of community and belonging.
Miller suggests that these quantum changes reflect a broader and more enduring phenomenon than, let’s say, a transient and somewhat typical religious conversion following a revival meeting. He believes that the suddenness of such transformative experiences are analogous to finally recalling the combination of a locked safe following a period of increasing frustration and anxiety. Suddenly, and almost miraculously, all the tumblers fall into place and the ensuing emotional experience holds a mixture of relief and joy. The individual is changed forever. And so many of his subjects concluded it is better to give than to receive. This ability for transformative change seems to be locked inside us, hardwired if you will.
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“The brain is wider than the sky.”
- Emily Dickinson
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Additional Reading:
Spiritual Evolution by George E. Valliant, M.D.
Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief by Andrew Newberg and Eugene D’Aquili
Other Topics
Basics of MDMA
Rituals and Ceremony
Brain and MDMA
Trauma
Heart
Energy Movement
Quantum Physics
Native Cosmologies
Nature
Spirituality/Enlightenment
Kogi Tribe
Books written by Geral T. Blanchard
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