Wod and Woe: An Exploration of the Relationships Between
Mysticism, Art, and Mental
Illness
By Sapphire
Are mystical experiences universal?
Do they occur more frequently in the creative and/or the mentally
ill? What are the similarities and differences
between a mystical vision and a psychotic one? Can these experiences be used as
tools to self-actualization in either the mentally balanced or the mentally ill
or possibly in both? Can mystical
experience lead to the healing of a former psychotic or schizophrenic? The goal
of this paper is to explore and answer these questions.
Contemporary verbal psychotherapy and neuro-biologoical models of
explaining the causes and cures of psychological problems replaced millenia of
traditional spiritual approaches. Much of what we define as symptoms of mental
illness have been deemed divine gifts in other times and places. Among doctors and clinicians, as well as
among those classed as somehow “mentally ill”, debate runs rampant between the
opposing viewpoints of medical materialism and a more spiritual approach. Many of those who have been deemed as
"mentally ill" feel that “something profound is missing in these
diagnoses.” (Clay, 1994) Medicine does
not take into account what the “mentally ill” person has actually endured. Even
if the experience is the result of some chemical imbalance or a
"defective" gene, madness has its own reality that demands attention.
There is something compelling about the experience of an altered state, something
that Ed Podvoll (1990) calls ”The Seduction of Madness.” Sandra Clay writes,
“What is compelling about madness is the tantalizing hint that it holds the
secrets of consciousness, of healing, and of spiritual power.” (Clay, 1994) “Contemporary psychotherapy has lost sight of important
aspects of the human experience as well as of ways of helping people encumbered
by life's difficulties. Such a
de-spiritualized psychotherapeutic endeavor overlooks the spiritual dimensions
of life and of experience.” (Sollod, 1993) The mistake that many people make is taking an all or nothing
approach to science and religion. On
one extreme are those who diminish our humanity to a bundle of chemicals and on
the other extreme we have superstition.
The truth lay somewhere in the middle.
Just because the chemicals in my brain cause certain moods and
experiences does not diminish the experiences themselves. Maslow writes:
Peak-experiences are very easily and very
often "explained away" rather than really explained. One friend of
mine during post-surgical relief and contemplation had a great illumination in
the classical style, very profound, very shaking. When I got over being
impressed with the revelation, I bethought myself of the wonderful research
possibilities that this opened up. I asked the surgeon if other patients had
such visions after surgery. He said casually, "Oh, yes! Demerol, you
know….. Of course, such ‘explanations’ explain nothing about the content of the
experience itself, no more than a trigger explains the effects of an explosion.
And, then, these explanations that achieve nothing have themselves to be
understood and explained and psychoanalyzed…… One can avoid feeling
stunned or ignorant before, let us say, a beautiful flower or insect or poem,
simply by taking it apart. (Maslow, 1965)
One may wonder why human being developed such a seemingly strange
and even unnecessary ability such as the ability to experience transcendent
states in the first place. Why would
the human brain, which evolved for the very practical purpose of helping us
survive, possess such a seemingly impractical ability such as the ability to
have mystical experiences? At first
glance the answer seems obvious. Myths
arouse to alleviate existential fear and comfort us in a confusing and perilous
world. Jung asserted that in the
collective unconscious there were universal archetypes, which accounted for the
striking similarities of myths thought the world. Basically all myth can be reduced to the same consistent pattern:
identify a crucial existential concern, frame it as a pair of opposites, then
find a resolution that alleviates anxiety and allows us to live more happily in
the world (Newberg A., E. D'Aquili, & V. Rause, 2002, p. 62). The first
cognitive operator in this process is the causal operator, which is the mind's
ability to think about abstract causes and the second is the binary operator,
which refers to the mind's ability to frame the world in terms of polar
opposites. An example of this would be
someone in a tribe dies. The chief of
the tribe sits by the fire and contemplates the corpse. He sees the person's body, but he knows
something is missing. As he contemplate
the mystery of death the fire goes out and he watches as a wisp of smoke rises
to the sky and disappears leaving nothing but a pile of ash where the fire once
burned. Suddenly he has a flash of
insight that the spirit of the body has flown to heaven. For a brief instant the intellectual
pondering of the left brain unites with the holistic, intuitive right brain and
they "match". Suddenly the
agreement of both sides causes a neurological resonance that sends positive
discharges through the body triggering pleasure from the quiescent system. For a brief moment both the quiescent and
the arousal systems are active, immersing the leader in a blend of rapture and
fear or ecstasy and awe. Some neurologists call this the Eureka effect.
Suddenly freed from grief and despair, the chief feels he has been released
from the bonds of death. He tells the
others in the tribe. If they share even
a portion of this insight, then it will become myth. Many scientists now
believe that the mind's ability to enter unitary states actually arose as a
part of the neural circuitry that evolved for mating and sexual experience (p.
125). The language of mystics has
always hinted at such a connection and is even blatantly enacted in some
traditions such as Tantra. The
mechanism of orgasm is activated by repetitive, rhythmic stimulation. Significantly, orgasm requires the stimulation
of both the arousal and quiescent systems, which are the two systems, which
sets the mind's machinery towards transcendence into motion. Mystical union and sexual bliss share
similar pathways, but neurologically they are not the same experience.
"Sexual bliss is primarily generated by the hypothalamus, a relatively
primitive structure, and while the higher thought processes might be involved
in enhancing the pleasures of intercourse, the ecstasies of sex are primarily
the result of physical, tactile, sensations.
Transcendent experiences, on the other hand…likely depend upon the
involvement of higher cognitive structures especially those in the frontal lobe
and other association areas.
Newberg A., E. D'Aquili, & V. Rause
(2002) write that the neurological machinery of transcendence may have arisen
from the neural circuitry that evolved for mating and sexual experience. The
language of mysticism hints at this connection: rapture, ecstasy, and
exaltation. They speak of losing
themselves in divine union, of melting in elation, and of total satisfaction of
desires. “….it is also the language of
sexual pleasure. Nor is it surprising, because the very neurological structures
and pathways involved in transcendent experiences including arousal, quiescent ad
limbic systems – evolved primarily to link sexual climax to the powerful
sensations of orgasm.” (p. 125) This isn’t to say the two experiences are the
same. They are not. Sexual bliss is primarily generated by the
hypothalamus, a relatively primitive structure are predominately the result of
physical tactile sensations, even if higher cognitive function enhance the
experience. Transcendent experiences,
on the other hand, at least those that lead to intense unitary states as
described by the Buddhist monks and nuns in the single photon emission computed
tomography (SPECT) experiments I will talk about later in this paper, depend
upon the higher cognitive structures, especially those in the frontal lobe and
other association areas. “The subtle
and complex mental rhythms of meditation and contemplative prayer are
neurological triggers that set the process in motion.” (p.126)
Plato divided mental illness (and therefore
depression) into two categories: disease and divine gift. Under divine gift are
four subcategories: prophetic, religious, poetic, and erotic. "Depression
is analogous to seeking sanctuary in a cave". It is a natural reaction of
the psyche to disruptive situations and is essential if the psyche is to adapt
to live through that situation. If properly nurtured depression can lead to new
life. Depression only becomes pathological when the individual remains locked
in this state of inactivity. Depression is an "existential vacuum".
In Taoism a precondition to finding meaning or acquiring spirituality is an
internal emptiness, an available, potentially sacred space. One must be empty
of oneself before one can be filled with the Spirit. Socrates declared, "Our greatest blessings come
to us by way of madness, provided the madness is given us by divine gift."
(Dodds, 1951, p.61)
In
shamanic cultures future shamans are recognized by unusual experiences or
behavior that are interpreted as signs from the spirits of the person's
calling. Roger Walsh writes, "Often the
shaman-to-be exhibits bizarre, dangerous, even life-threatening behavior. The
result may be weeks, months, or even years of unpredictable chaos that disrupts
the lives of the initiate, his family, and his tribe. The onset may be abrupt
or gradual.“ (Walsh, 1990, p. 34) The call to shamanism may come in dreams or
in a vision quest or may come as an illness, either physical or mental and/or
the unexpected recovery of such an illness. The call is often received with
ambivalence and many try to refuse it at first. It usually occurs shortly after
adolescence with an onslaught of unusual psychological experiences, which
sometimes includes heightened sensitivity and perception. However, the spirits, symptoms, or dreams
may be so distressing and persistent that the person is eventually forced to
heed the call. Refusing the call results in permanent sickness, insanity or
even death. The calling explodes with a life-shattering force in the chosen,
destroying the old equilibrium and identity and demanding birth of a new self.
(Walsh, 1990, pp 39-40) In the West these kinds of behaviors are regarded as
severe pathology, but in shamanic cultures this crises is interpreted as a
calling to be a shaman. The initiatory crisis is often compared to
schizophrenia and other types of psychoses and can indeed be considered a time
of psychological crisis and even brief psychoses, yet their visionary journeys
and altered states are under control and helpful to others making them clearly
distinguishable from schizophrenic hallucinations. Perhaps what is most important
is not the crises itself, but what comes out of it. For the shaman is not only
a "sick man", says Eliade, "he is a sick man who has been cured,
who has succeeded in curing himself."
(Eliade, 1972, p. 239) I believe
this approach to the mind/spirit and its mysteries, both light and dark is the
correct one to take. Accounts of many
who have suffered mental illness, such as Clifford W. Beers, and subsequently
were cured either spontaneously or with medication and therapy, testify to the
growth and self-knowledge that comes with such experiences. In some ways it can be seen as the crossing
of an Abyss, though relapses may occur the sufferer has gained in strength and
inner resources. An extreme emotional
breakdown or psychotic episode can be something like a conversion
experience. It is one of the ultimate
lessons in humility, one that requires having to redefine oneself and one’s
relation to the world at large. If one
makes it back to solid ground, he is wounded, changed, scarred, and redeemed
all at once.
Not all
experiences need be so extreme. Many lesser experiences, in which brief, yet
equally intense visions or hallucinations, both auditory and visual, occur in
the sanest of persons. Why is it that
there are those who work years and years hoping for such revelations and never
experience them, while others with little effort spontaneously experience
them? Obviously certain temperaments
are more prone to such things, certain genetics factors may play a role,
especially in families where mood disorders are common. Brain chemistry is likely to be more easily
changed or altered in those individuals with hereditary predispositions to mood
or cognitive disorders. This certainly does not insubstantiate the experience,
if it is meaningful to the individual in question the experience affords some
kind of lasting change for the individual.
Investigations of epilepsy patients have ”linked reports of mystical and
paranormal experience and religious preoccupation to bursts of electrical
activity in the brain's temporal lobes.” (Bower, 2001, ¶23) Some researchers
speculate, “many religious visionaries and founders of major religions may have
had temporal-lobe seizures that jump-started their mystical journeys.” (¶24) William James was an
active proponent against scientific materialism, supporting a broader view of
experience. In The Varieties of Religious Experience James writes, "Medical
materialism finishes up St. Paul by calling his vision on the road to Damascus
a discharging lesion of the occipital cortex, he being an epileptic. It snuffs out Saint Theresa as an hysteric,
Saint Francis of Assisi as an hereditary degenerate." (James, 1982, pp. 13,14) James didn't discount the likelihood that
these Saints suffered from neurobiological disorders, but he also refused to
accept that this invalidated the spiritual reality of their experiences. James studied the case of George Fox, the
founder of the Quaker movement, and tried to reconcile the fact that while everyone
knew him to be a deeply spiritual person yet "from the point of view of
his nervous constitution, Fox was a psychopath, or detraque of the deepest
dye." (p. 7)
The nature
of schizophrenia, and other forms of psychosis is still under debate and a
significant issue is the relationship between psychosis and the mystical, or
religious, experience. Throughout history scholars from all fields of inquiry
have addressed this question. Currently, psychologists are looking at the
similarities and differences between the experiences, hoping to shed light on
the nature, process, and treatment of psychosis. A great deal
of information on mystical experience and psychotic episodes is available. It
is my aim to examine mystical and psychotic experiences as a natural, universal
phenomenon. This idea is by no means a new one, but it is specific to recent
research and its objective, systematic nature.
Some
characteristics or ideas “emerge repeatedly in the works of many authors who
have attempted to define mystical experience: experience of unity, intense
affective experience, time/space distortion, noetic quality, ineffability, and
a sense of holiness or sacredness.”
(Stahlman, 1992, p.1)
Universality is also a term or concept present in many authors' works.
“William James put forth the idea of a continuum of mystical states of
consciousness ranging from the non-religious to the most religiously
profound. He notes that even the
simplest form of mystical experience impresses a strong sense of significance
and knowledge on the person who experiences it.” (Stahlman, 1992, p.1) He refers to this as its noetic quality, and
it is one of four qualities he uses to define mystical states of consciousness.
Ineffable is another quality marking mystical experience. Due to its subjective
nature, the experience is much like emotional states. James asserts that these
two qualities "entitle any state to be called mystical." (James, 1980, p.302) Other qualities usually associated with
these occurrences include transience.
They fade and yet some memory always remains. This residual memory can
be used to "modify the inner life of the subject between the time of their
recurrence". ( p.303) The fourth characteristic put forth by James is that
mystical experience is a passive experience. People do not seem to actively
process the information. Though people may actively study and/or practice
methods to attain these states of consciousness, the experience seems to happen
of its own accord; it is “received”.
James later goes on to suggest that as our field of consciousness
increases these experiences become more available. One can contend that these simple experiences bring a slight
increase in consciousness, whereas the more profound experiences occur when
consciousness expands to include things that are usually filtered out or
hidden. Such things might include
memories and sensations. As awareness increases to include more external and
internal information, a sense of self, a boundary between self and environment,
expands, seems to dissipate. The experience is one of unity with information
formerly defined as non-self. He
explains that mystics tend to follow a very structured, common process,
culminating with the mystical experience. The mystic moves from an
"awakening of self." (p. 323)
to the complete severing of attachments to the social world and the self,
resulting in an experience of "a state of pure consciousness, in which the
individual experiences nothing."
(p. 324) He has added a final "step" in which most mystics
happily and successfully reintegrate into the world of social attachments. He points out that it is attachment to the social world that
mystics renounce through their process and not the social world itself. This
expansion of the self, often referred to as loss of self, may not be beneficial
for someone who does not have a "strong" sense of self to begin with.
To these people, a mystical experience can be frightening and confusing. It is
precisely this knowledge that has led adepts to admonish students “to know
themselves first.” Lacking a strong
sense of Self, the Self is easily obsessed by other forces. The concepts
"unifying" and "ego-transcending" seem vital because these
kinds of expressions recur frequently in works on mysticism. Happold (1975)
writes, "unless the idea of non-duality can be grasped the range of
mystical experience is incomprehensible." (p.71) "Duality" describes the manner in which we usually
perceive our self in relation to the environment. A division of "self"
and "other" occurs. "Ego" can be used to refer to that self,
of which we are aware. What happens during a mystical experience has been
described as transcending this ego, or going through a process of temporary
"ego-loss." As multiplicity ceases, the experience is of a mode of
consciousness often referred to as "the One." Tomas Agosin, a friend of Peter Cohen who
is one of the leaders of the psycho spiritual movement, concludes that the
psychotic and the genuine mystic have the same psychological setup, in which
the ego has become lost in the self, which causes both to feel a profound and
important union of the individual identity with something larger."
(Shorto, 1999, p. 70) He claimed that
the difference between the two states was that of grandiosity. A psychotic feels inflated, while the mystic
is humbled. Others such as David Lukoff adopt James's biblical reference point
in distinguishing between the two states - "by their fruits you shall know
them" - meaning that if a person goes on to lead a normal life or is
influenced in a positive way then the experience is mystical. If the person gets lost in the chaos then
that is psychotic. Stern balks at the
temptation to categorize. "Putting
a definitive psychiatric diagnosis on somebody can be like judging somebody as
evil. You're expressing your resistance
to that person. As far as I'm concerned
to use words like 'health' and 'illness' is to make a judgment that is not
ultimately ours to make. We make it
provisionally, but let's recognize it as provisional." (Shorto, 1999, p. 97) It is also important
to consider that “schizophrenia lasts for decades, disrupts psychological
development, heightens one's sense of self and isolation, and often includes
the torment of being berated by imaginary voices—opposite extremes of mystics'
reports of their transcendence.” (Bower, 2003, ¶27)
Assagioli (1989), in his seminal paper, "Self-Realization and
Psychological Disturbances," noted the association between spiritual
practices and psychological problems.
Some persons may for instance become inflated and grandiose as a result
of intense spiritual experiences ”too great or energies too powerful for their
mental capacities to grasp and their personality to assimilate" (Lukoff,
2000, p.6). Stanislav and Christina
Grof coined the term "spiritual emergency" in 1980 to identify a
variety of psychological difficulties. They define spiritual emergencies as:
…crises when the
process of growth and change becomes chaotic and overwhelming. Individuals
experiencing such episodes may feel that their sense of identity is breaking
down, that their old values no longer hold true, and that the very ground
beneath their personal realities is radically shifting. In many cases, new
realms of mystical and spiritual experience enter their lives suddenly and
dramatically, resulting in fear and confusion. They may feel tremendous
anxiety, have difficulty coping with their daily lives, jobs, and
relationships, and may even fear for their own sanity. (Grof & Grof, 1989,
back cover)
Grof and Grof note,
"Episodes of this kind have been described in sacred literature of all
ages as a result of meditative practices and as signposts of the mystical
path" (Lukoff, 2000, p.7). They have described the more common
presentations including: mystical experiences, kundalini awakening, shamanistic
initiation, possession states and psychic opening (the sudden occurrence of
paranormal experiences). They list up
to 12 types of experiences.
There
are two types of mystical experiences according to Maslow: high
plateau-experiences, which always has
a noetic and cognitive element and “peak experiences” which may not have the
noetic, cognitive element and may be purely and exclusively emotional. Peak
experiences often involve an element of surprise and are experienced almost
like a small death and rebirth. The plateau experience in contrast is far more
voluntary and serene in nature. “One can learn to see in this unitive way
almost at will. It then becomes a witnessing, an appreciating, what one might
call a serene, cognitive blissfulness which can, however, have a quality of
casualness and of lounging about.” (Maslow, 1964)
Some
individuals have spontaneous mystical experiences. It seems they can occur in seemingly any situation, with
religious or non-religious connotations.
Priest and author, Andrew Greeley, is one of many scholars who have
conducted a "census" to determine what portion of the US population
reports having had a mystical experience. His preliminary findings show that a
large percentage of people have had such experiences, ranging from mild to
intense, rare to frequent. What about the idea that mystical experience is
religious? Greeley (1974) expresses with great emotion that the underlying
message of the mystics' accounts is that "love" is at the core of the
universe (p.79). He defines the
experience as "a feeling of intense unity with the universe and of one's
place within that unity". (p.12)
He stresses that mystics describe the experience as more of an experience of
cognition than of feeling; the mystic comes to know something previously
unknown. Accompanying the mystical experience is often extreme joy, or
exultation.
Mystics often describe feeling so wonderful that they later conclude it was the
working of a higher force, or it is so emotionally overwhelming that it
completely alters the individual's lifestyle.
Stern
writes," Adventure involves letting go of the familiar, which is what both
the psychotic and the mystic do: release the self, let it fly up and join
something else, become a new self. Some
of these flyers have faith: they trust that there will be a place to land. Others - lacking faith or maturity, or
strength, or a support structure - go mad." (Shorto, 1999, 101)
Throughout
history however, there have been accounts of mystical experiences, which are
accompanied by strong negative emotions - the diabolic mysticism James wrote
of. He refers to these as "lower mysticisms," springing forth from
the same psychological mechanisms as the classic, religious sort. However, the
messages and emotions are experienced as negative. James concludes, ”The
definition of mystical states must be value-neutral. All mystical experience,
he writes, whether experienced as positive or negative, deserves recognition as
available states of consciousness.”
(Stahlman, 1992, p.1) There is no ‘superior’ form of mystical
experience, and even the true mystic sometimes gets lost and confused.
The Glossary of the American Psychiatric Association defines psychotic
as "grossly impaired in reality testing", meaning that a person ceases
to be able to discern between the real world and fantasy. Psychosis involves delusions or
hallucinations and is often marked by "hyper-religious
ideation". The functional psychoses are divided into three categories: mood
disorders, schizophrenia, and the delusional disorders. Mood disturbances are disorders of affect;
schizophrenic and delusional disorders are considered to be disorders of
thought. Disorders of affect and
thought are explained in great detail in Epstein (1979) who describes two common
symptoms of impaired cognitive functioning:
a loss of integrative capacity and lower perceptual systems. With the loss of integrative capacity, the
ability to make inferences about size, distance, depth, and other relational
cues break down. Epstein explains,
"when there is a partial breakdown of cortical control, the individual
tends to experience current situation with a sharpened intensity." (p. 318)
Since the 1960's there have been
attempts to view psychosis in broader terms.
Two pioneers of this crusade are psychiatrists RD Land and John
Perry. They believed that the
psychotic was not "ill" but rather on a "profound, dangerous,
mystical voyage whose purpose is to find new, deeper ways to communicate. The psychotic isn't content with the ways of
that the ego offers, any more than the religious mystic is." (Shorto, 1999, p 15) David Lukoff, a psychologist at the Saybrook
institute of San Francisco and the San Francisco Veterans Admn Day Treatment
Center, is one of the leaders of the new spiritually attuned psychology. A
veteran of his own psychotic experience he began to explore the relationships
between schizophrenia and mystical experience.
As he examined his own experience he came to believe that there might be
something valuable in it. Lukoff (1985) speaks of the
criteria that must be met to acquire the label "psychotic." He writes
that the phenomenology (imagery, cognitions) of the psychotic condition shares
many characteristics with dream experiences (Hall, 1977), hallucinogenic drug
trips (Kleinman et al, 1977), spiritual awakenings (Assigioli, 1981), near
death experiences (Grof & Grof, 1980) and shamanic experiences (Halifax,
1979) and the fantastic or bizarre. (Stahl, 1992) Lukoff (2000) says that
psychosis is considered a disruption to the normal functioning of
consciousness.
Ornstein
(1977) addresses the universality of the mystical experience. He postulates that all individuals have
access to knowledge beyond the scope of ordinary, intellectual cognition. This
kind of indefinable knowledge is often ignored in our culture. Ornstein
supplies many example of this knowledge: creative wisdom and insight from
dreams, body temperature patterns, chemical reactions on a cellular level, and
claims there are many forms of information we are yet unaware of. He suggests we follow a lesson found
cross-culturally: the most effective mode of operation appears to be one that
synthesizes both means of engaging the world. Prince (1979) discusses four
population surveys regarding mystical experience. All four surveys reported
that 20-40% of those surveyed claim to have had a mystical or religious
experience. Some respondents did not understand the concept of mystical
experience, yet fulfilled the criteria. Studies reveal that the experience is
actually more common when the individual is in good mental health. Scholars
maintain that these percentages, along with cross-cultural evidence, justify
classifying mystical experience as a universally occurring natural phenomenon.“ Greeley (1975, 1987) summarized his survey
research to conclude that 29% of American adults reported visions, 67% reported
ESP experiences, 67% indicated deja vu, and 31% had experienced clairvoyance.
According to a 1985 Gallup poll, 43% of American adults surveyed have reported
an unusual spiritual experience and 15% have reported a near-death
experience.” (Sollod, 1993, p. 3) Greeley (1987) concluded, "More people than ever say they've had such
experiences... whether you look at the most common forms of psychic and mystical
experience or the rarest...These experiences are common, benign and often
helpful. What has been 'paranormal' is not only becoming normal in our time--it
may also be health-giving." (p. 49)
Robert
Ornstein's discussion of "reality" and what is considered
"normal" consciousness raises an important issue, especially as it
relates to mental health. He explains that normal reality is a consciousness,
which can be shown to be a constructed reality; in order to create a stable,
manageable environment, a sensory-filtering system develops from childhood and
continually shaped by subsequent situations. What is experienced as reality,
Ornstein explains, is actually only a representation. If "normal" consciousness is created, he concludes,
then that consciousness may be altered, simply by changing the manner of its
construction. The mystical experience
can be seen as a transcendence of normal consciousness and reintegration; the
knowledge gained from the experience offers beneficial growth-potential.
Schizophrenic experience initially follows the same course as the mystical one;
however, the difference emerges when the preparation involved is
considered. Mystical experience usually
occurs after long years of dedicated effort. Mystics train their
"muscles" gradually, so to speak, to withstand the rush of experience
from the "inner world."
(Wapnick, 1980, p.334) In other
words, the mystic, in conscious control, prepares for the experience ahead of
time. The schizophrenic, on the other hand, lacks preparation; "he is
overwhelmed, with no means of dealing with his experience and no conviction
that he will survive it." (p.335)
The schizophrenic has no control over the experience of the inner world. In
addition, Wapnick explains that while schizophrenics are later able to
reintegrate into society, they are not able to carry over the
"lesson" of the experience. Their "inner potential" is
usually left undeveloped. Ornstein's
point-of-view exemplifies the style, or manner, in which the subject of
mysticism has come to be studied. By describing the experience using neutral,
bio-psychological terms, scholars such as Ornstein and the others I have
referred to enable mystical experience to be studied as a universal - and not
necessarily religious - experience of consciousness. This is essential to an
accurate examination of the similarities and differences between mystical
experience and psychosis.
By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer
and enjoy in solitude. Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies - all these are
private and, except through symbols and at second hand, incommunicable. We can pool information about experiences,
but never the experiences themselves. From family to nation, every human group
is a society of island universes. … Thus, remembering our own bereavements and
humiliations, we can condole with others in analogous circumstances, can put
ourselves in their places. …. The mind is its own place, and the places
inhabited by the insane and the exceptionally gifted are so different from the
places where ordinary men and women live, that there is little or no common
ground of memory to serve as a basis for understanding or fellow feeling. Words
are uttered, but fail to enlighten…….For example, how can the sane get to know
what it actually feels like to be mad? Or, short of being born again as a
visionary, a medium, or a musical genius, how can we ever visit the worlds,
which, to Blake, to Swedenborg, to Johann Sebastian Bach, were home? …. To the
unmitigated behaviorist such questions, I suppose, are meaningless. But for those who theoretically believe what
in practice they know to be true - namely, that there is an inside to
experience as well as an outside…..by means of systematic meditation, or else
by taking the appropriate drug, I might so change my ordinary mode of
consciousness as to be able to know, from the inside, what the visionary, the
medium, even the mystic were talking about. (Huxley, 2000)
Clay (1994)
writes, “People who have experienced madness have something to give back to the
world. It is no coincidence that we are likely to be sensitive thinkers,
talented in the arts, and understanding of others. Many of us have seen the
"I am," have understood the "suchness" of phenomena, and
want to help others. When we talk about
finding a "cure" for mental illness, it is important to expand the
definition of sanity to include clarity and compassion that can co-exist within
so-called "symptoms." Health, or sanity, can be achieved even within
an affliction or disability. “There is something to be learned here about the
mystery of living itself…. We must teach each other, knowing that it is often
the wounded healer, or the wounded prophet, who is most able to help others….
Like Jacob after he wrestled with the angel, we can wear our disability as a
badge of honor. In Jacob's first altered state, he received a wound that stayed
with him for the rest of his life” (Clay, 1994):
That night, after Jacob had sent his family across the stream, he
sent
over all his possessions. So [he] was left alone, and a man wrestled
with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he could not
overpower
him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was
wrenched
as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "let me go, for
it is
daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go
unless you bless
me." The man asked him, "What is your name?"
"Jacob," he answered. Then
the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,
because
you have struggled with God and with men and overcome. (Genesis
32:22-28)
I
believe that those who suffer from mood disorders are also far more prone to
introspection and spiritual practice because the very nature of such states
forces the sufferer to question, search for meaning, strive for personal change
and growth…things a content, happy person are not pressed to do. Having learned
to control and overcome such states also puts the sufferer at the advantage of
knowing how to "battle demons" and succeed. While the war may not be
won, every battle is a step closer to the goal. This also puts them in a
position to understand the struggles of others. Periods of depression are like
small deaths. The loss of energy caused by depression is mistaken for
sensations of physical death when it is in fact psychic death, which is
followed by rebirth. Suicidal people often fail to recognize nature’s demand
for a new attitude and increased self-awareness. The refusal or inability to change results in a permanent
pathological state and/or suicide. Havelock Ellis writes, "The prevalence
of suicide….without a doubt is a test of height in civilization. It means that
the population is winding up its nervous and intellectual system to the utmost
point of tension and that sometimes it snaps." (Rosen, 1993, p.10) Depression results from existential
frustration. This occurs when a person fails to find meaning in life and in
suffering. Nietzsche said, "The person who has a why to live can bear
almost any how." It is not
stress and tension in them that cause depression, but the inability to find
meaning in it. Victor Frankl, who developed his psychology while an inmate in
Auschwitz and other concentration camps says, "What man actually needs is
not a tensionless state, but a striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a
freely chosen task." (Rosen, 1993, p. 14)
It is ignorance and attachment to the impermanent and an ego-image
results in sickness, suffering, and death. Identification with our false
selves, not allowing an ego-image to die, results in a state of permanent conflict
and disharmony within the self. Egocide (letting the old idea of the self die
so a new self can be born) is the symbolic act of killing the ego – a sacrifice
of the ego to the Self; the lower to the higher. After egocide it is still
necessary to go through a grieving process. The ability to let go means the
ability to transcend self-imposed limitations. Transcending old modes of
thinking and feeling clears the way for personal transformation. Transcendence
is not a place to get stuck, however, to get stuck in transcendence leads to
aloofness, inflation, and isolation. Transformation is the next step.
Transformation is the union of opposites, which leads to creative change.
Depression forces one to examine oneself honestly. It forces one to ask,
"Am I really moving closer towards my true Self or am I moving further
away?"
The
DSM-IV has included a new category called Religious or Spiritual Problem (Code
V62.89). This code was included to detail a spiritual condition as a process
that mimics a psychiatric disorder, allowing for the possibility that not all
psychiatric crisis is a mental disorder or evidence that something is wrong.
Spiritual emergence is a transformative experience, with characteristics of
other DSM-IV types of behavior present. “According to John W. Perry in Trials
of the Visionary Mind: Spiritual Emergency and the Renewal Process, (1998)
stress may cause highly activated mythic images to erupt from the psyche's
deepest levels in the form of turbulent visionary experience.” (p. 105) Dr. Perry formulated a mental
syndrome, which though customarily regarded as acute psychosis, is really the
natural effort of the mind to mend its imbalances. According to him, if the process is received in the spirit of
empathy and understanding, and allowed to run its course, what appears to be an
acute psychotic episode can reveal a self-organizing process with self-healing
potential.
Many
biblical figures with prophetic and religious vision have been studied as
possibly bearing manic-depressive characteristics. People who have experiences
of oneness with the universe often cannot escape profound feelings of
connection to something greater than themselves. Muslim mystics were perfectly aware that the psyche was capable
of oscillating between the extremes of what they called expansion and
contraction. Expansion is what Jung
refers to as “positive inflation”. (Zaehner, 1961, P. 93) “It is the case of a
man who is experiencing an expansion great enough to contain all of creation.”
(p. 94) Contraction is the opposite of expansion wherein a man isolates himself
so much that he can contain nothing. It
is the felling that damnation is near and that the punishment is well
deserved. Both states are natural to
the mystical path and both are inherently dangerous because they are inferior
to the ultimate goal of annihilation of the ego in the divine.
Artistic creativity is also a form of spirituality and a trait that
manifests itself in higher among those with mood disorders than mere
statistical averages would indicate across the general population. Early research during late 19th and early 20th centuries pointed to
accounts of mood disorders written by prominent artists and their relatives as
anecdotal evidence of a link. Supporters of the link suggest that it must be
more than just coincidence that so many of history's most eminent artists have
been characterized by symptoms consistent with bipolar disorder. Recent studies done in the past twenty years
have employed more systematic techniques, including improved diagnosis
techniques and structured interviews, providing a more scientific and reliable
means of establishing a link between creativity and manic depression. The
results of this research, a selection of which is summarized in the chart
below, have found that rates of manic depression and cyclothymia, its milder
form, are 10 to 20 percent higher among artists than expected for the general
population (Preti, 2002). Thus it
appears that manic-depression occurs far more frequently among artists than is
likely just by sheer chance. Though these studies have received some criticism
for methodological problems, they all point to the same overall trend, a trend
that suggests that manic-depression somehow contributes to creativity in
certain individuals. However, creativity drops in those with full-blown
manic-depression (Bipolar I), but still exceeds that for unaffected controls
with no family history of mood disorders. These studies also found that
relatives of creative writers are more likely to do creative work or to have
experienced a mood disorder, suggesting a genetic and therefore inheritable
basis for the disease and further evidence for a link between the disease and
creative abilities.
Proponents of this research suggest that certain characteristics of
manic-depression promote the development of creativity - somehow enhancing the
ability of certain individuals to make art - and are comparable to
characteristics of creative, unaffected individuals. The manic state is in part
diagnosed by evidence of "sharpened and unusually creative thinking,"
the importance of these attributes to artistic productivity is
self-evident. The enhanced cognitive
state of hypomania may contribute to the fluency of ideas that would seem
essential to innovation. During a hypomanic or manic episode a person is more
emotionally reactive and sensitive, and are uninhibited in their attitudes
(Jamison, 1995). The experience of
alternating between depression and mania, and the associated depth and variety
of emotions, may be particularly favorable for the development of artistic
insight. It is not understood what
causes the deterioration that occurs in the more extreme states of mania, but
much of the seeming deterioration of communication may be due more to the
limitation of vocabulary and language, than to a basic error in the thought
processes. Extreme mania, however, can lead to disorganization of thought and
words. Even hypomania can lead to the
inability to concentrate. Some studies
indicate that most creative work is done in mild states of depression, which
allow the individual to sit and work without distraction. In my experience the inspiration for
creative work is often a means of reminiscing about periods of hypomania or mixed
states (dysphoria) and the state of mind those states created. Much food for creativity also seems to come
from melancholia and the need to put the indefinable anguish into form. Depression broods, questions, mania answers
with vigorous certainty. Thoughts are suppressed, turned inward confined. Thoughts are given free reign, expansive and
outgoing exuberant. Thinking slows dies and becomes cold; thoughts become fluid
fire. The link between bipolar disorder and creativity is, naturally only
relevant for only a few individuals. Prominent critics of this relationship as
well as many manic-depressives themselves fear that the push to establish such
a link tends to romanticize a condition that causes tremendous suffering and
has ruined the lives of many individuals. Even for the sub-group of individuals
for whom manic-depression may be associated with creativity, the illness is
both a blessing and a curse, and we must seek ways to reduce its pain. "Sometimes I think God gave me the gift
of creativity as a consolation prize, but I'm still suffering. I don't know
where this disease came from, but I sure wish it would go away". (Gutin, 2002)
Maslow (1964) stresses that
while peak experiences may happen to anyone at any time there is no way to
bypass the necessary work for the more enduring plateau experience which leads
to true self-actualization. “I don't
know of any way of bypassing the necessary maturing, experiencing, living,
learning. All of this takes time….”
Spiritual enlightenment should not be confused with any single experience. The
"spiritual disciplines," all take time, work, discipline, study,
commitment and this is a lifelong process.
Peak experiences are like windows of opportunity. They may lead one to explore the nature of
their minds and should more deeply, give new perspective, and may even inspire
one to make valuable changes in their lives, but the real achievement is in
learning to bring all the parts of oneself into perfect balance.
“Meditation
has also become a popular tool in psychotherapy as a relaxation technique and
to stimulate insight.” The goal of meditation is to reach or achieve an
absolute or sacred state of consciousness, a state of unity where one
transcends the material world and “views reality with unfettered clarity.”
(McDonald, 2000, ¶2) but it need not be practiced within the confines of any religious
or spiritual tradition for it to be effective.
Meditation has been shown not only to reduce stress, but it also
generally improves the mood and quality of life of those who practice it in the
long term. It has also been shown to be
an effective technique in pain management. “During meditation, the
brain releases serotonin, which can ease the mood of people with mild
depression. Too much serotonin, however, can cause all of the symptoms of
relaxation-induced anxiety, and according to Solomon Snyder, Head of
Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, in some cases of schizophrenia, an
excess of serotonin coupled with meditation can trigger psychosis.” (PsychiatryMatters, 2002) Several years ago,
Michael Persinger, a psychologist at Laurentian University in Canada, reported
that meditation could induce epileptic-like seizures in some people. His study
of over 1000 students showed a higher rate of hallucinations in the 221 who
meditated. Other studies have reported ”meditators report feeling emotionally
drained and sometimes see the environment as unreal, two-dimensional and
amorphous, which are all consistent with reduced blood flow to the parietal
lobe.” (PsychiatryMatters, 2002) In long-time meditators, this unreality can
strike spontaneously. Jack Kornfield
(1989) writes, "There can arise a whole series of strange altered
perceptions. For example, the body may
seem very tall or very short. You may
feel very heavy like a stone or being squashed under a wheel. Or you may feel that you are floating…"
(p.155) Emotional release of despair, delight, rapture, profound grief, fear,
etc. may also occur. There may be enhanced
perceptions, visions of colors and lights, visions of past lives, or any number
of other sensations or experiences as a result of meditation.
Eight Tibetan monks meditate for one hour and are then injected with
radioactive material through an intravenous line. Upon completion of their meditations they are taken to the
hospitals Nuclear Medicine Dept where a massive single photon emission computed
tomography (SPECT) camera awaits.
Because the tracer is carried by blood flow, and because the particular
tracer used locks almost immediately into brain cells and remains there for hours,
the SPECT scan gave an accurate freeze-frame of blood flow patterns in the
brain just moments after injection - at the high point of the meditative
state. Increased blood flow to a given
part of the brain correlates with heightened activity in that particular area,
and vice versa. Since the authors have a good idea of the specific functions
performed by the various parts of the brain, the expected the SPECT to tell
them a lot about what the brain was doing at the peak moment of meditation. They weren't disappointed. The scanned images showed unusual activity
in a small lump of gray matter nestled in the top rear section of the
brain. This section is called the
posterior superior parietal lobe henceforth referred as the orientation
association area or OAA by the authors.
The main function of the OAA is to orient the individual in physical
space. Prior to mediation this area
showed vibrant reds and yellows, but now was bathed in cool greens and blues,
indicating a sharp reduction in activity.
This finding was intriguing because the orientation area never
rests. As the authors pondered the
question they came upon the fascinating possibility that the orientation area
was working just as hard as ever, but that somehow the sensory information was
being blocked suggesting that the OAA had been temporarily
"blinded". If this were true
what would happen if the OAA had no information with which to work? With no input to the OAA the brain would not
be able to find any boundaries to the self; it would perceive itself to be
endless and interwoven with everything and everyone and this would feel utterly
and unquestionably real. This
experience would be identical to the descriptions of both our subjects
generations of Eastern mystics. (Newberg, D'Aquili, & Rause, 2002, p.6)
"The
neuropsychiatrist Vilayanur Ramachandran tested a group of epileptics who had
temporal lobe seizures in which they reported mystical experiences, and found
they had an unusually high emotional response to the mere mention of religious
terms (such as "God") compared to two control groups." (Shorto,
1999, 189) The results suggest that
there may be neural circuits in the temporal lobe that are part of the
machinery involved in mystical experiences. Another study done at the
University of Pennsylvania used a single positron emisssion computed tomography
(SPECT) to visualize the brains of Buddhist monks during meditation. The studies showed that the deeper the monks
went into meditation the activity of the parietal and frontal lobes diminished. Since these areas are responsible for
spatial orientation of the body the monks felt the sensation of being
"nowhere". However religious experience cannot be narrowed to a
single entity or compound. We cannot say that the frontal lobes are the house
of "God" or that dopamine alone or even that dopamine and serotonin
together are the "God" chemicals. It is a vast, complex system that
we are only beginning to realize psychiatry doesn't even begin to understand.
There is a
text from Zen tradition called The Tiger's Cave, which describes the
meditation-induced psychosis of one of the most famous Japanese Zen master's
named Hakuin. After months of strenuous practice under the tutelage of a great
Master, Hakuin received enlightenment at the tender age of thirty. After the initial joy of the experience,
however, Hakuin found that he was no longer in balance and was plunged into the
full force of the energy coursing though him so that he could not rest nor stop
his thought. With his teeth clenched,
his tongue afire, eyes glaring, ears rushing with the sound of a stream, and
his legs freezing, he went to see the best Zen masters of his day. It was to no avail. They could not help him. Finally someone suggested he go to see an
old Taoist hermit in the mountains who might know secrets of how to cure
meditation. At first the hermit would
not speak to him, so Hakuin sat outside his cave patiently waiting for a long
time. Finally the hermit saw that the
monk was sincere and agreed to see him.
Hakuin described his problem and the hermit taught him the principles of
grounding and balancing the inner energy.
The principle is the same now and always. When someone becomes lost or overwhelmed in the mental sphere we
try to ground them with exercise, heavy food, mundane labor, showers, working
in the garden etc.
The kundalini force is an eastern concept
that involves the awakening and energizing up the charkas. The kundalini is depicted as a serpent and
is female in nature. Kundalini can be thought of as a kind of an awakening of
consciousness. The higher up it goes
the more abstract it becomes. It is the
universal power of Shakti. It is a
potent force that may be awakened through various meditation and yoga
techniques. Sometimes it can be
accidentally awakened and to an unprepared person who does not know what is
happening it can feel like something is seriously wrong. They may even fear for their sanity. “… prevailing social ignorance about this multidimensional transformative process makes it hard to find
medical or alternative health practitioners or spiritual advisors who recognize
the symptoms, particularly when they are strongly physical. Many people know
that the risen kundalini flings open gates to all sorts of mystical, paranormal
and magical vistas but few realize it can also dramatically impact the body.”
(Collie, 1995) Doctors and psychologists have often been frustrated because
they were not able to interpret the strange illness and radical mental,
emotional, interpersonal, psychic, spiritual and lifestyle changes in their
patients. Descriptions of kundalini
awakenings are not unlike descriptions of mania. Manic episodes are not unheralded by warnings. According to John Custance "At the
onset of phases of manic excitement I have sometimes noticed the typical
symptoms, the pleasurable tingling of the spinal chord and warm sense of
well-being of the solar plexus, long before any reaction in the mental sphere
occurred." (Zaehner, 1971, p.96) This description bears a striking
resemblance to the physical theory on which Yoga is based. My own experiences are often presaged by an
increased pulse, chills, and tingling in the head.
Many studies have been
performed examining the topic of religion and mental health. Some studies have found a positive
correlation (e.g. Koenig and Larson 2001; Gartner, Larson, and Allen, 1991),
some have found a negative correlation (e.g. Dreger 1952; Schaefer 1997), and
some have found no significant relationship at all (e.g. Lewis et.al 1997). It
is my opinion that the discrepancy between the studies is due to the
multifaceted nature of religion and that its different aspects relate in
different ways to the different aspects of mental health. There is for example a vast different
between extrinsic (religion as a means to an end, such as social interaction)
and intrinsic religion (religion as an end in itself). There is a vast difference between esoteric
(religion where internal reality and direct experience are emphasized) than
with exoteric religion (where belief is based on written word and literal
truth. There is a vast difference in
how people practice. Fundamentalist
religion varies greatly from more liberal religions. Traditional religions vary greatly from alternative
religions. Furthermore, the definition
of mental health varies widely as well.
In a
meta-analysis done by Hackney and Sanders (2003) an overall
relationship between religious practice and mental health across all conditions
was found to be positive. Depending on
which definitions of religion and mental health one used, evidence can be found
to support either side of the religion/mental health debate. This finding is explained by the
multifaceted nature of both religion and mental health. Secondly a pattern can be seen in which more
positive correlations are found between intrinsic religion and psychological
well-being than between extrinsic religion and psychological well-being.
Nix et al (1999) found a
positive correlation between self-determination and vitality, indicating that
greater internality of motivation influences a measure of subjective
well-being. Deci and Ryan (1985) also
reported a positive correlation between autonomy orientation (a
conceptualization of internal motivation) and self-esteem, and an undermining effect
of introjected motivated on self-esteem.
Taken together these studies indicate that greater internality is
associated with more positive mental health outcomes. Consistent with this approach the religious/mental health
correlation becomes stronger as both concepts are operationalized in an
internal, identified manner.
Creativity does seem to run
proportionately higher in families with histories of mood disorders. Perhaps
the nature of art favors those who readily feel intense, poignant emotions
despite the suffering it causes the individual who has to feel them. Altered states of consciousness are
universal. There does not seem to be a higher instance of mystical experience
among the “mentally ill” than among the general population, though a number of
people who have such experiences are wrongfully classed as mentally ill or fear
being classed as such and therefore, keep such experiences secret. Learning to
integrate these experiences is the key to their usefulness and obviously to
achieve Maslow’s plateau state or a zen-like life of serenity and acceptance
requires the subject be capable of the discipline, maturity, and work
required. It is tempting to cling to
peak experiences as pinnacles of achievement.
It is easy to begin to seek out the ecstatic vision or the paranormal
experience as the goal of spiritual work when in reality these things are
really only side-effects. True freedom
means to let go of these experiences and move on knowing that it is this
ability to let go, which is true spiritual freedom.
There are an increasing number of
psychotherapists, psychiatrists, and psychologists who not only accept the
place of spirituality in therapy, but also utilize techniques and insights from
traditional spiritual and healing approaches. Methods such as meditation, visualization, reiki, prayer, etc.
will likely to be increasingly incorporated into psychotherapeutic practice
during the coming years (Sollod, 1993). As modern medicine becomes more open to
the possibilities of such experiences without making them pathological perhaps
the artist and the mystic will once again be revered as instruments of the
divine. The human
mind is an amazing and still largely unexplored thing. Breaking new barriers and exploring the
outermost realms of the psyche has always been the domain of mystics, artists,
and yes, madmen.
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