Mysticism / Schizophrenia

[Tamrin]

Mysticism / Schizophrenia

According to Prof. Joseph Campbell (Myths to Live By, 1993, org. 1972, p.209):

What is the difference between a psychotic or LSD experience and a yogic, or a mystical? The plunges are all into the same deep inward sea; of that there can be no doubt. The symbolic figures encountered are in many instances identical ... But there is an important difference. The difference - to put it sharply - is equivalent simply to that between a diver who can swim and one who cannot. The mystic, endowed with native talents for this sort of thing and following, stage by stage, the instruction of a master, enters the waters and finds he can swim; whereas the schizophrenic, unprepared, unguided, ungifted, has fallen or has intentionally plunged, and is drowning. Can he be saved? If a line is thrown to him, will he grab it?

In his account of shamanism, Dr. Silverman described how (Jung, op cit., pp.206/7):

In essential schizophrenia the characteristic pattern is of withdrawal from the impacts of experience in the outside world. There is a narrowing of concern and focus. The object world falls back and away, and invasions from the unconscious overtake and overwhelm one. In "paranoid schizophrenia," on the other hand, the person remains alert and extremely sensitive to the world and its events, interpreting them all, however, in terms of his own projected fantasies, fears, and terrors, and with a sense of being in danger from assaults. The assaults, actually, are from within, but he projects them outward, imagining that the world is everywhere on watch against him. This, states Dr. Silverman, is not the type of schizophrenia that leads to the sorts of inward experience that are analogous to those of shamanism. "It is as if the paranoid schizophrenic," he explains, "unable to comprehend or tolerate the stark terrors of his inner world, prematurely directs his attention to the outside world. In this type of abortive crisis solution, the inner chaos is not, so to speak, worked through, or is not capable of being worked through." The lunatic victim is at large, so to say, in the field of his own projected unconscious.

Amiens Cathedral

[Tamrin]

Kundalini & Schizophrenia

[Excerpt]

Factors that trigger both schizophrenic breaks and kundalini awakenings include circumstances of impossible dilemmas, double-binds, and avoidance/attraction etc... That is situations in which we cannot proceed in a logical-prefrontal manner, but which force us to spin our wheels and to experience angst, perplexity and frustration. Since energy is not utilized in a normal fashion it builds and leads to a psycho-energetic crisis—the energies of flight fight, having no resolution basically kick off either a psychotic breakdown or breakthrough—usually a bit of both. Koans, of course operate in a similar fashion to confound the normal rational thinking process leading to the overload of the nervous system and the sudden progress to a new level of awareness.

Symptoms of schizophrenia include: thought disorder, withdrawal-retardation, hallucination, estrangement, psychosis, sensory gating deficits, voices, delusions, obsession, paranoia, feels out of time, out of space, loss of body boundaries, and non-existent as a person.

The perturbation of everyday consciousness reduces the filtering system and presents a scale of consciousness that spans from schizophrenic to mystic. This transnormal impact of consciousness if interpreted adequately by the rational mind is then called mystic revelation. If however the rational mind is off kilter then ones interpretation is called schizophrenic.

[Tamrin]

Basically, the difference between mysticism and madness lies in one's ability to distinguish between inner and outer realities, when appropriate: Both are to be valued for what they are.

[Tamrin]

Psychism, however genuine, is a fruitful cause of self-delusion.
A psychic is invariably highly sensitive and suggestible. This is the basis of his gifts.
Psychism not being a normal development, among Europeans at any rate,
the psychic is, in the language of nautical engineers ‘over-engined for his hull.’
He is consequently unstable, liable to violent emotional reactions, and in general exhibits
those aberrations of conduct we are accustomed to associate with artistic genius.
Unless a psychic is trained, disciplined, protected and watched over by those who understand
his condition, his psychism is never reliable because he is blown about by every wind of influence.
The psychic and the neurotic are closely akin in their reactions to life,
but the neurotic differs from the psychic in that, instead of being over-engined for his hull,
he is under-hulled for his engines. The result is the same, however —
a discrepancy between the force and form with the consequent inability to maintain
a central, reasoned, directing control. The technique of the occult discipline is largely
directed towards maintaining control of the disparate forces, compensating the
sensitiveness of the psychic, and protecting him from unwanted impressions.
It is never well to learn how to open the door of the Unseen
unless at the same time one learns how to close and latch it.

Dion Fortune

[corab]

Sept 15, 2009 7:52:26 GMT 10 Tamrin said:

Basically, the difference between mysticism and madness lies in one's ability to distinguish between inner and outer realities, when appropriate: Both are to be valued for what they are.

Quite. That's a quote if ever I've come across one.