S-Max

Hi everyone, I have followed Leo's videos almost from the beginning and it's amazing that his last two videos are very close to an issue I'm dealing with and found out about just recently . I'm so desperate to find out whether my brother has developed a mental disorder or he is experiencing God . I'm an atheist and do not believe in God, however, I believe in enlightenment if that even makes sense to you, so I want others opinions, especially people who believe in God. I have already booked psychiatrist appointments just to have their opinions as well, but as you know, it's not uncommon to get misdiagnosed and labeled with mental disorder. And apologies if you find anything unclear here, I'm not a native English speaker. My brother is 35 and lives alone in another country for like 10 years. Our parents are believers, not religious, but strangely enough my brother is a vary dogmatic religious person. I just recently found out that he has been experiencing some connection to a higher power and God as he describes it. He said it started 6 years ago when he was praying and it started connecting with him by moving his fingers uncontrollably , and after a couple of years it started connecting to hime by writing with his hand, meaning my brother starts writing but not what he thinks, it's like someone else is using his hand to connect with him and speaks with him through writing. And he says it's been like a year that this higher power started speaking to him with a very gentle voice and asks my brother to do some good deeds. And sometimes it controls his body and walks him a few steps uncontrollably. He refuses to see a psychiatrist and he even believes that it's an insult to the higher power to doubt this experience. As I mentioned, I'm going to consult this with 3 different psychiatrists but I want spiritual mindset opinions on this as well. Leo answered the question "Is it possible to have a false experience of God" in 1:01:40, and his answer is that you know it when you awaken, he also answers the question that why people with different beliefs experience God in different ways such as seeing Jesus. but as I mentioned my brother is very dogmatic and biased and I'm not sure if he's deluded or having mystical experiences. I appreciate if you can share any thoughts on this and please share if you have any similar experience. Best, Max

@Nahm hahaha I love hearing others, and to be honest I'm more of an agnostic atheist. Could I PM you the details about my brother. He doesn't know anything about this and I sort of feel uncomfortable sharing more about him here.

@Nahm I have tears in my eyes reading your response and the fact that you took the time to write all this. You have no idea what it means to me in this situation. I don't know some of the details you asked. I'm gonna ask him and will come back to you as soon as possible.

@Nahm My concerns are mostly about these unusual behaviours and thoughts: Believing that our grandmother who was very close to him and passed away recently, is actually not passed but was replaced with someone else few weeks before she passed. This is one of the writings while his hand was possessed. Talking to himself, which is actually responding to God He walks all day to other side of the town because the voice or his hand guides him to do so, and he doesn't know the destination, even though he got foot blister from previous walks and very tired and frustrated he still does that if God wants him to do so.

@Nahm I just read your edited reply, you can discard my previous comment and thanks for sharing your insight.

@Nahm Do you think this is a mystical experience? If you have any question about the details please ask specifically.

@Nahm Could you give me some insights from your perspective? what do you think about this whole thing going on about my brother? I want to hear others opinions.

@Nahm Thanks for your comment. This is not really about me or my belief system and I am not here to oppose or encourage anything. I would be jumping up and down if someone can for sure tell me this is God and nothing else. Please be more understanding that I'm very worried about my brother and hope from the bottom of my heart that I am wrong and this is God and not a mental disorder.

@Matt23 Thanks a ton for sharing your experience. Actually, he is doing better now, he has more understanding towards people and he is very calmer (he was a bit aggressive before). Now he thinks he's chosen to do good deeds and I think it makes him feel good. He said some days his finger guides him to go to some neighbourhoods he hasn't been before and see how some people live in bad conditions. And he walks miles with no intention to go anywhere but his finger guides him. He said he is sometimes very tired and thirsty and hungry to continue the walk but the voice calmly encourages him to continue and says to him ''Trust us". I'm the only person he shared this with (the only reason was to encourage me to believe in God, and he's now praying for me to experience the same thing). Even though he's more in peace now, I'm afraid if I don't do anything about it, it gets sever and hard to treat. But I don't really know how to go about it. If I may ask, do you believe it was God when you were experiencing that your hand was possessed?

No, I'm sure of it. I'm afraid of psychiatrists too, but I don't really know what to do. I'm afraid if it's a mental disorder and if we don't take action now, it will get sever and hard to handle.

He went through some though times and has been depressed for some time and basically didn't do anything for a long time. But 6 month ago he decided to finish his studies. So now he's studying and working part time.