Når spiritualitet blir kroppslig

Spontaneous spiritual awakenings are increasingly common in alternative spiritual communities in Norway, yet research on such experiences outside religious contexts in Nordic countries remains scarce. Based on three qualitative interviews with individuals in Norwegian spiritual communities who experienced spontaneous awakenings, the article describes altered states of consciousness, intense feelings of love, and physical bodily energies that led to permanent psychological transformation. Using humanistic and transpersonal psychology, the authors argue these embodied spiritual transformations differ from religious conversion and are better understood through trauma healing, self-actualization, and human potential.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Spiritual awakening is becoming a common phenomenon in alternative spiritual communities and is no longer exclusive to a small elite of religious saints and disciples. There is limited research on spiritual experiences outside religious contexts in the Nordic countries. While relevant theological research exists on religious experiences in Christian contexts, much of the research on alternative spirituality is based on outsider perspectives that miss out on the deeper psychological phenomena experienced by “spiritual, but not religious” individuals. This article is based on three qualitative interviews with individuals in contemporary spiritual communities in Norway who have experienced spontaneous spiritual awakenings and speak openly about this. Focus is on the experience of altered states of consciousness, intense feelings of love, and physical energies in the body, which lead to permanent psychological transformation. Starting with a review of relevant Norwegian and Swedish research in the field, we apply a theoretical approach drawn from humanistic and transpersonal psychology to make sense of our interviewees’ experiences, and then discuss how these cases of embodied spiritual transformation differ from religious conversion and are better understood in terms of psychological concepts of trauma healing, self-actualization and human potential.