Translating Spiritual Emergency – From Trauma to Knowing
Dr. Brian Sackett, PhD
In 1970, Brian had a partial transcendent awakening during a presentation at Stanford University by Baba Ram Dass and Swami Muktananda. This led to a week of Out of Body Experiences, Divine Revelation and eventual hospitalization, misdiagnosis as a paranoid schizophrenic and included weeks of antipsychotic medication. This was 20 years before the concept of spiritual emergency was developed – and was experienced by Brian completely without context. Brian will utilize AI created images to illustrate what happened, to show experiences difficult to put into words. Over the last 56 years, he integrated these experiences and shares the understandings of how these experiences relate to what he’s learned about spirituality and who and what we are today. This is offered in the hopes that it will be helpful to others undergoing spiritual awakenings, emergence and emergencies and offer insights into dealing with the darker or traumatic sides of these experiences.
Dr. Brian Sackett, PhD, is a retired clinical psychologist and resides in Toronto since 2018. As a psychologist, he specialized in working with clients dealing with trauma and abuse. Prior to becoming a therapist, Brian worked for years in high tech in Silicon Valley. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from Stanford University, as well as a Master’s in Counseling Psychology and a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology.
He has meditated and studied spirituality since he was 21 and has had many strong Spiritually Transformative Experiences, including a childhood Near-Death Experience, a spiritual emergency in 1970, and a profound Shared-Death Experience in 2012. Brian has presented to the Spiritual Awakenings International conferences in 2021, 2023 and 2025, local IANDS groups, and the 2015 IANDS annual conference in San Antonio, TX. He currently facilitates an online meditation/self inquiry group and does spiritual guidance and coaching.