Existential crisis.
I hear this term get thrown around a lot.
According to dictionary.com, an existential crisis is “a psychological episode in which a person questions the meaning of their life and of existence itself.”
I would define it this way:
“An existential crisis is a realization or series of realizations where the ego self discovers that it is full of sh*t and that its ideas about how life should be and how the person should be are actually wrong.”
People don’t like this experience, but it’s one of those spiritual turning points that can be really good.
Or a total trap.
Why both ways?
In this situation, the ego is at a point where it is questioning life.
This is the good part!
But the ego generally wants an answer to protect its beliefs and bring a sense of safety and order back to the person’s life.
That’s the bad part.
An existential crisis may open up a person to the possibility that they don’t know who they are or what life is. That can send a person on the quest for the truth. But usually, the ego doesn’t want to know the truth. It doesn’t want to see all of its nonsense, illusions, and crap. It wants safety, happiness, or whatever it feels like was lost.
So most people will grab onto any thing or idea that they think will give them what they want. This leads many people to shutting down again and sinking back into the ego ignorance that caused the suffering that very likely caused the existential crisis in the first place.
Wisely Dealing with an Existential/Ego Crisis
This moment is an opportunity if you are willing to take it. In this sacred turning point, you have a chance to find your way out of suffering and transform an existential crisis into a moment of spiritual rebirth. So the best way to deal with an existential crisis is to go within, begin to understand your ego and its many false beliefs, and learn to surrender to what is.
Here are some blog posts to help you:
Has God Turned His Back on You?
