What do enlightened people think about psychosis?

[Sockrattes]

Are mental issues like schizophrenia and psychosis spiritually meaningful or are they just some kind of error in ones mind?

[egoeimai]

No there is not an error.

"You are not broken".

They're just labels.

 

[Rilles]

they are only errors if you think they are

[Dogsbestfriend]

I do think there is some connection. Hard to say what it is, the lines seem to be often blurred between a spiritual experience/psychosis - there's actually a ted talk about it:

 

I think there are connections your brain makes it otherwise wouldn't with a spiritual awakening, same as when using psychedelics which in turn can have adverse effects.

[Arman]

Schizophrenia/psychosis and spiritually significant states are two distinctly and qualitatively different things but can appear similar or indistinguishable on the surface to those who can't tell the difference. 

Edited July 26, 2018 by Arman

[Nahm]

Completly opposite directions. 

[Dogsbestfriend]

1 minute ago, Arman said:

Schizophrenia/psychosis and spiritually significant states are distinctly and qualitatively different things but can appear similar or indistinguishable on the surface to those who can't tell the difference. 

Why are they different? What's to say there is no link to spirituality? Doesn't in some way everything have a link to it if you believe in spirituality?

[Dogsbestfriend]

@Nahm So in these particular cases altered states of mind have no link to spirituality but others do? Why the need to be selective in this regard - where is this supposed barrier that separates the two?

[Nahm]

Because it’s a loop you’re doing. Starting as God, imaging a life & forgetting you’re God, and then arriving at both simultaneously (back to God). The loop is unidirectional, obviously, as finite can not create infinite - it already is - it never wasn’t - that was just a thought.

[Arman]

Just now, Dogsbestfriend said:

Why are they different? What's to say there is no link to spirituality? Doesn't in some way everything have a link to it if you believe in spirituality?

Both what you and I have said are contextual statements. On one level it could be said that everything is linked to spirituality - but applied context is a matter of relevancy. You can make any statement correct or incorrect by shifting it's context, so what becomes appropriate is practicality given the circumstances.

Within the context of spiritual evolution, states of mental illness (severe chemical or psychological imbalances) have not been historically considered of significant relevance or reflections of growth and to consider them otherwise would be a misunderstanding or distraction. That doesn't make them right or wrong, but irrelevant to the subject if ones intention is spiritual evolution. 

[Dogsbestfriend]

@Arman Actually it has been considered to have a link by some but not traditionally no. Depends how you look at it and what you consider traditional, sigmund freud linked religion with neurosis. But really there are countless articles and studies about the relationship between both..

 

Some psychologists that are also tuned/familiar with spirituality have considered it's worth further investigation.

Just because something has not been considered historically of significant relevance is not a good argument against it, just means it hasn't been looked at deeply enough before. Anything relating to spirituality is granted hard to prove, shame you dismiss this train of thought/research,

[cetus]

@Sockrattes Here's an interesting little piece from Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Psychonaut/comments/2wxu8r/psychosis_or_enlightenment/

[Forestluv]

@Sockrattes Is a 7 ft. tall man an error?

[Forestluv]

18 minutes ago, Outer said:

Yes they are errors, unfortunately. 

I can see how it might be perceived as uncommon, yet how is it an error? “Error” implies that something is “wrong”. It’s happening exactly how it should given the complex interplay of genetics, life history, physiology and environmental input. 

[Ananta]

10 hours ago, Sockrattes said:

Are mental issues like schizophrenia and psychosis spiritually meaningful or are they just some kind of error in ones mind?

There are not spirituality meaningful or an error, they just ARE....they are an appearance like anything else.

[Prabhaker]

13 hours ago, Sockrattes said:

Are mental issues like schizophrenia and psychosis spiritually meaningful

The madman, if in the hands of enlightened people, can achieve enlightenment faster than your so-called sane people. In the East there has been a longstanding tradition… in this century one man revived it again – his name was Meher Baba. He went all over India seeking and searching for mad people. In all the madhouses, anywhere that he heard there was a madman, he would go. He traveled all over India his whole life, searching for mad people.

His disciples asked him, “Why are you wasting your time with mad people when sane people are available to work upon, and they want your time?”

Meher Baba said, “You don’t understand. To bring a sane person out of his sanity is very difficult. But to bring out a madman is very easy because in a way he is already out, but from the back door. He has tasted something of the outside; we have only to show him the right door and say, “Please don’t go out from the wrong door, go from the right door. Being out is perfectly right, but choose the right door.” And Meher Baba turned many mad people into enlightened people.

[Freethinking Guru]

Like everything in nature, the extremes come with its drawbacks:

Schizophrenics may have a hypersensitivity to their surroundings. This may give them the strength of being able to sense others emotions, intentions, and vibrations quite well. They can be very intuitive. Their minds can also be super-creative.

With that blessing comes the curse of auditory and visual hallucinations, paranoia, and anxiety. An exaggerated mental construct.

It's possible that they may catch glimpses of the state of connectedness with how strongly attuned they are with their surroundings -- but it's also naive to think they don't come with their own set of problems. 

We definitely want to eliminate the stigma of the condition and icy-ness of the label, but we also want to be careful to not be so naive to the point of being irritating.

FreethinkingGuru.com

[Dogsbestfriend]

I just think these terms ultimately are crude approximations and reality is a lot more fluid.