Hamlet's Crisis of Consciousness

This ground-breaking book extends and critiques
Stanislav Grof s work on psycho-spiritual
transformation by considering whether adolescents can
experience spiritual emergency . Grof contends that
the human psyche, stimulated by new material
originating from loss experiences will spontaneously
reorganise itself. This process either unfolds gently
as spiritual emergence or overwhelms the individual
as a spiritual emergency. By examining the deeply
introspective soliloquies of Shakespeare s Hamlet
through the lens of Grof s extended cartography of
the psyche the author reveals extraordinarily vivid
and powerful dimensions of adolescent loss
experience. This challenging work identifies
significant connections between the notion of
positive personal transformation, the work of grief
and loss theorists, and a number of developmental,
educational, philosophical, psychological and
spiritual positions. It argues for the
acknowledgment and identification of this potentially
difficult and discomforting experience and recommends
that further research be undertaken to understand the
significant link between stressful life events and
crises of consciousness in young people.

Autorentext
Peter Bray, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in Counselling in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Napier, New Zealand. Dr. Bray's research interests include the impact of losses in adolescence with particular emphasis on the spiritual dimensions of post-traumatic growth, and the practice of counselling.

Klappentext
This ground-breaking book extends and critiques Stanislav Grof's work on psycho-spiritual transformation by considering whether adolescents can experience 'spiritual emergency'. Grof contends that the human psyche, stimulated by new material originating from loss experiences will spontaneously reorganise itself. This process either unfolds gently as spiritual emergence or overwhelms the individual as a spiritual emergency. By examining the deeply introspective soliloquies of Shakespeare's Hamlet through the lens of Grof's extended cartography of the psyche the author reveals extraordinarily vivid and powerful dimensions of adolescent loss experience. This challenging work identifies significant connections between the notion of positive personal transformation, the work of grief and loss theorists, and a number of developmental, educational, philosophical, psychological and spiritual positions. It argues for the acknowledgment and identification of this potentially difficult and discomforting experience and recommends that further research be undertaken to understand the significant link between stressful life events and crises of consciousness in young people.