Quote:
Originally posted by The Hierophant:
Also, to Yorick and Chewbacca, I assume your faiths involve the interaction of incorporeal entities with 'physical' bodies? Does being 'possessed' or 'ridden' by the spirit/daemon involve a suspension of 'rational' thought in your opinion? In which case, if brain damage also results in such irrationality, can any distinction be drawn between brain damamge spiritual transcendance?
|
Why would communication with a discorporate personality necessitate the suspension of rational thought. 2+2 still equals four whether I am talking to myself or an individual on an unseen level of existence. Of course one could take the thought of hard rationality and conclude that the very act of communication with an discorporate personality is itself irrational due to the fact that science has yet to prove that people can exist beyond the body.
I am neutral on the subject of channeling external intelligences. I am more concerned with communicating with the inner aspects of myself that are mostly hidden and distinct from the everyday rational conscious mind. This does not inhibit rational thought. I would say it is the other way around actually.
Quote:
Chewie, where you say you treat schizophrenia as schizophrenia until it is evident that it is not, how do you make the distinction between the two? I'm asking that seriously, how do you personally decide?
[
|
Well in my case, the "voices" in my head "explained" to me what was happening. Or in other words I recieved guidance from on the inside in the form of words, visions and dreams. I also actively seek spiritual growth and having episodic expiriences similiar to Schizophrenia on this path is a well documented phenomenon from across time and cultures. Oh, I also asked other people more knowledgable and expirienced than me in the realm of Mysticism/Shamanism. There is a structure and purpose underlying expiriences like mine that greatly differs from schiztophrenic delusions.
A therapist with an understanding of this new DSM IV classification might recognize the aspects of evolving consciousness. By the same token I already touched upon the potential for misdiagnosis due to a therapist's sympathy towards these spiritual paths.