In 2009 I went crazy, OR had immense spiritual experience of an alternate reality....

a reply to: Im a Marty

Interesting thread!

These kind of experiences do occasionally happen to people. This kind of state can be brought on by a chemicals (psychedelics, deliriants, dissociatives, and others), by deep meditation, spontaneously, and sometimes by a brain imbalance (either natural, or triggered by illness, brain injury, extended chemical usage, or sleep deprivation). I personally think that some people have bad reactions to alcohol and experience "Alternate Realities" without ever realizing the cause - alcohol and opiates can also effect the way your body works up to 2 years after your last use (see PAWS).

These things happen when your Relative Truth (your mind) begins to override or lose sync with the Ultimate Truth (objective reality) - more on that here.

A few links to show a couple different ways this emerges (off the top of my head):
-Crazy Wisdom
-Delirium Tremens
-Dennis Mckenna's Experience at La Chorrera
-Psychedelic Experiences
-Schizophrenia (the one you already know)

Hope this can be of interest to someone!

Now you both have my compassion. I'm not a kid so I can well imagine the situation. If you are still searching for answers here' s few more thoughts.
If you believe it was caused or triggered by this octahedron visualisation then you may need to visualize something superior to it for a while.
I'm not very much into the subject but without someone else's definition I see it clearly as a reversed pyramid with the sixth vertex. If the square base means physical reality as it usually does then the fifth point is clearly the Spirit, God and mirrored sixth point means some kind of opposition - it looks like evil symbol to me.
However I would be carefull seeking just for something with 7,8 or 12 vertexes in so called "sacred geometry" because it could be all created on this evil basics. Like the Spirit could be painted...
The substance I mentioned is pretty effective in closing connections, cutting thoughts, closing unwholesome relationships etc. Like closing aura or something like that. Too effective actually. However I wouldn't like to spend the remaining years on man-made, imperfect chemo when there could be something better, natural, comming from a living being-plant. I think the main side effect is that without any fear one is vulnerable to do whatever like wrong things and unenlightened mistakes.

OR

in terms of metaphysics... reject every false teaching you absorbed for yourselves and construction you made and just let the living Lord fix you. Only this suggestion can't go wrong. The rest is just a food for thoughts from another imperfect being

a reply to: knoledgeispower

I am sincerely greatful for your response regarding my experience with Marty. Throughout this time and as all the events were unfolding, I never at any time had the thought of leaving him and I never entertained or contemplated the option to do so.

When I read part of your comment

I don't know how many people would have been able to go through all that & not leave your husband.

it confirmed for me that as painful and emotionally heartbroking as it was for me, if I had to go though this or re-live it, I would choose to endure it all over again.

To not have my husband in my life or apart of it, is no life worth living.

As always I will be the non spiritual one in this.

An episode of mild psychosis, very possibly it was following a period of mania - energetic, happy, full of the seratonin bliss.

Not brought on by meditating. The psychosis, or roots of, had begun before meditation only the ill mind attributes the effects to the meditation.

Got bad, as psychosis often does, as you were coming out of it. Reflected by the change in hallucinations. Which is also refelected by the chemicals in your brain.

I imagine this didn't happen to you a long time ago.

EDIT: Sorry to sound clinical.. I do wish you well x

a reply to: and14263

There is a chance you are highly receptive to seratonin. The meditation creates seratonin and you had a bad reaction to it. Maybe extreme is a better word than bad. Therefore the meditation could have caused this.

How many mushrooms u ate?

originally posted by: ChrisB76728

. For me after things went wtf I started experiencing random thoughts of things to do that were usually hatefull then I'd see a story shortly later of what I was just thinking. As if for a few seconds someone would somehow implant ideas and emotions then echo them by perceiving them through news, songs, tv shows etc.

OR as if for a few seconds your brain behaved like an HD signal receiver, tuning into different channels and simply decoding all the messages and songs that were about to be broadcasted

AND to everyone else who has seen the trees and the world with more clarity and more vivid colors, not only do you perceive your surroundings like that when on psychedelics - you also experience it when pregnant. Exactly the same 'feeling' except you know you're preggo and therefore 'not yourself' so you don't bother with the surroundings and focus on the inside a lot more.

a reply to: Im a Marty

Interesting thread

I have been doing my own research, in this very area, due to a family member who was a solid person by all societal standards, then had a complete mental breakdown, out of literally nowhere this last spring.

I have found many interesting things related to what some doctors label bi-polar, and more.

A new book has come out on Amazon that I intended to buy here shortly. It deals with a Doctor who believes that mental issues and distress maybe spiritual awakenings.

www.amazon.com...

I'm going to keep my eye on this thread, because this is more than once I have heard someone say the things you are saying.

Peace,

RT

a reply to: Im a Marty
First thats some story there.

And second, I think your mind pattern was off its set vibrational frequency. It happens, most especially when you play with brain altering chemicals, or if you go through a bunch of traumatic stress, in fact life itself will change your outlook on things, this whole place and even universe was in many ways created to do that, its also why it will always mirror you and you will always mirror it. We practically exist in multiple dimensions and we can also operate out of those, this place is one such dimension, what you saw was the latent thoughts of your inner mind and worlds that you have running around your head coming to the forefront. Its actually quite normal even in dreams you do that to an extent.

Though thats the thing about doctors and drugs or hospitals. They tell you and sometimes give you what they call mind altering substances. In truth there not by actual definition mind altering, there more or less brain altering, they mess with the chemical process which by defunct messes with the ability of the mind to anchor to any set vibration, and when that happens then your mind alters.

Your thoughts basically run wild your perception of things did not know which to grasp on to, and you see things, does not mean those things do not exist, just that they do not exist for you at that particular place and time. Basically what I am saying is that on some levels yes we are like those little wind up toys. And your set to one particular pattern, if you leave that pattern well things go haywire for a bit till you find your rhythm again. A blending of two worlds you can say.

If OP thought it was a medical problem he wouldn't put it in philosophy/metaphysics which ( religion in disguise. )
However I too think that sleep deprivation could be the main factor of latter unusual perception. The sunrise after a night at work is always rather killing me. Sleep deprivation is actually used in some religions intentionally but in case of such induced manic insomnia the brain is just messed up. It needs sleep and also darkness to function properly as an organ, produce melatonin and regenerate. (see "light restriction and darkness therapy")
It really could be that simple. Look: wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_sleep_deprivation_on_cognitive_p erformance
I use isochronic tones to manipulate brainwaves (never binaural). It gets the job done better than any meds in most cases.
14 or 14.3 Hz is said to help repair sensory-motor-rhythm and keep you awake during the day and sleep well at night with a fair amount of REM.

a reply to: Im a Marty

For what it's worth, here is my story:
I started to feel suggestions after I had an accident with my horse that almost killed me. I hesitate to say "hear voices", because it actually is more an instant recognition of the meaning, than words put together. Then I signed up here on ATS and achieved in getting attention from "German officials". I got tv series giving me clues and a nice play developed, I followed the flow and ended up laying motionless on the terrasse telling all the worlds leaders what and how they got it all wrong. While I was hearing footsteps and someone took my horse out of the stable, threatening it right next to me, I couldn't look, but I could tell from the noises. From there on out, I was communicating regularly and people started to pick up my thoughts around me, without me actually talking. The "voices in my head" forbid me to talk to someone, and when I greeted my neighbour she didn't answer but said, very loud "Du du du!", which is what Germans say, when they're warning their children to behave. I saw the strangest clouds ever, books had hidden messages and were like they were written just for me to read in this very moment. It was beautyfull and scary. Also my perception changed and saw more intense colours, a little bit like what "Im a Marty" wrote when he described his episode, and I agree with him it felt like the pinal gland was feeding me chemistry... I established parameters of communication and from there I got repeatedly the "permitt permission". My take on it is: Aliens. Why? Because I had a few nice chats with the fellow that got tortured to death in Roswell. It is his family asking us to permitt permission. I embraced the AI theory for a while too, or if the interwebs developed consciousness, or if it might the world itself, God, whatever, I called it UnknownCommunicatingObject, or UCO. Because I am still not sure. But if through my head I reached only some of the ones I was addressing, then I threatened your military complex badly. Not only by saying, yes Roswell was true, a first attempt to contact, got shot down and disected. But also: we came and come in peace, but if you attack again, it will be a bycicle trying to catch up with a Ferrari.
I don't know and still referre to it as my shizophrenic episode. The bad part is, I can't scribe it off as that, because:
1. There was a blue ribbon on the stable door after I played dead man
2. People answered my thoughts not my words
3. There were shootings in the little woods behind the house and my neighbour, a former Bundeswehr said: "Stay inside the house, it is over soon."
4. I got presents, flowers and pralines and stuff after that, and an elderly lady wanted my blessing, or that was what it felt like when I waashed her hands.
5. My husband noticed and built little research environments, later he sabotaged me, when it was clear I wasn't willing to play along anymore

Anyhoo, my blood was taken three times, in a very short period, the fun part is: I don't even know my blood-type and sometimes it felt like people thought I am an alien myself. DNA that's entirely unrelated to everybody else on this planet. Which is fun, because my mum used to tell how she got aborted by aliens, with me in her belly. But unfortunately that's also why I always connect the alien story with mental issues. So I don't know, but I think it is truly fascinating how it looks like more people are going through similiar stories...


Hope you don't mind. I had it in another tread, my self help group introduction.

I too had a psychosis, and basically experienced auditory and visual hallucinations, and an overload of thoughts that were being drenched up from my subconsciousness.

a reply to: SystemResistor

A few days ago I had afun bath tub experience: I was bored and tried to reach my private parts with my mouth, my ears were under water and I heard clear as day: "try harder"
I almost drowned laughing...

a reply to: Im a Marty

Dear Marty, just as eagles one can see faster movements than light indirectly including information of what you see in front of you or around you.
Anyway, thank you for the information. I can rarely and barely see the purple myself and have no time to try random practices which eventually work. I can only hear from the pineal location and feel without detail willingly.

It is strange that you even thought you are crazy after you had practiced with the very organ which reacts to faster movements.
Perhaps your understanding of the world is not ready.

Purple makes sense, invisible hair extensions make sense.
On the screen it does not make sense to me.
TV and computers only show the ordinary colors. You might only be slightly able to see more detail.
The eyes? I don't know, around them is where most people focus their consciousness on. Directly in them is to us invisible material to catch the speed of light. Glassy.

Lack of sleep can indeed help to see new things and illusions.

I would always reject medication, especially against mind.
Autism is one one of the diseases which free thinking is described as. The symptoms are no friends, much time, behavior of analysis and questioning, unable to communicate with manipulated ones.
I for example was very lucky to escape all these filters hunting me, trying to make me "normal" and had to fight these therapies and offerings of medication.

If you lose self awareness of your face, you look sick to others, as you let down your emotions and energetic look. Distraction.

More info on this topic (it is documented if you know where to look for)

In many instances, it is possible to identify the situation that precipitated the psychospiritual crisis. It can be a primarily physical factor, such as a disease, accident, or operation. At other times, extreme physical exertion or prolonged lack of sleep may appear to be the most immediate trigger. In women, it can be childbirth, miscarriage, or abortion. We have also seen situations where the onset of the process coincided with an exceptionally powerful sexual experience.

[...]

One of the most important catalysts of psychospiritual crisis seems to be deep involvement in various forms of meditation and spiritual practice. This should not come as a surprise, since these methods have been specifically designed to facilitate spiritual experiences. We have been repeatedly contacted by persons in whom extended periods of holotropic states were triggered by the practice of Zen, Vipassana, or Vajrayana Buddhist meditation, yogic practices, Sufi ceremonies, monastic contemplation, or Christian prayer.

The wide range of triggers of spiritual crises clearly suggests that the individual's readiness for inner transformation plays far more important role than the external stimuli. When we look for a common denominator or final common pathway o the situations described above, we find that they all involve radical shift in the balance between the unconscious and conscious processes. Weakening of psychological defenses or, conversely, increase of the energetic charge of the unconscious dynamics, makes it possible for the unconscious (and superconscious) material to emerge into consciousness.


[...]

And yet, our work with individuals in psychospiritual crises, exchanges with colleagues doing similar work, and study of pertinent literature have convinced us that it is possible and useful to outline certain major forms of psychospiritual crises, which have sufficiently characteristic features to be differentiated from others.

Naturally, their boundaries are not clear and, in practice, there are some significant overlaps among them. I will first present a list of the most important varieties of psychospiritual crises as Christina and I have identified them and then briefly discuss each of them.

1. Shamanic crisis
2. Awakening of Kundalini
3. Episodes of unitive consciousness (Maslow's "peak experiences")
4. Psychological renewal through return to the center (John Perry)
5. Crisis of psychic opening
6. Past-life experiences
7. Communication with spirit guides and "channeling"
8. Near-death experiences (NDEs)
9. Close encounters with UFOs and alien abduction experiences
10. Possession states
11. Alcoholism and drug addiction

realitysandwich.com...



and another book:

www.amazon.com...

Out of the 11 type of experiences listed above, mine was the closest to 4 followed by 3:

Psychological Renewal through Return to the Center

Another important type of transpersonal crisis was described by Californian psychiatrist and Jungian analyst John Weir Perry, who called it the "renewal process" (Perry 1974, 1976, 1998). Because of its depth and intensity, this is the type of psychospiritual crisis that is most likely diagnosed as serious mental disease. The experiences of people involved in the renewal process are so strange, extravagant, and far from everyday reality that it seems obvious that some serious pathological process must be affecting the functioning of their brains.

Individuals involved in this kind of crisis experience their psyche as a colossal battlefield where a cosmic combat is being played out between the forces of Good and Evil, or Light and Darkness. They are preoccupied with the theme of death — ritual killing, sacrifice, martyrdom, and afterlife. The problem of opposites fascinates them, particularly issues related to the differences between sexes. They experience themselves as the center of fantastic events that have cosmi relevance and are important for the future of the world. Their visionary states tend to take them farther and farther back — through their own history and the history of humanity, all the way to the creation of the world and the original ideal state of paradise. In this process, they seem to strive for perfection, trying to correct things that went wrong in the past.

After a period of turmoil and confusion, the experiences become more and more pleasant and start moving toward a resolution. The process often culminates in the experience of hieros gamos, or "sacred marriage," in which the individual is elevated to an illustrious or even divine status and experiences union with an equally distinguished partner. Thi indicates that the masculine and the feminine aspects of the personality are reaching a new balance. The sacred union can be experienced either with an imaginal archetypal figure, or i projected onto an idealized person from one's life, who then appears to be a karmic partner or a soul mate.

At this time, one can also have experiences involving what Jungian psychology interprets as symbols representing the Self, the transpersonal center that reflects our deepest and true nature and is related to, but not totally identical with, the Hindu concept of Atman-Brahman. In visionary states, it can appear in the form of a source of light of supernatural beauty, radiant spheres, precious stones and jewels, pearls, and other similar symbolic representations. Examples of this development from painful and challenging experiences to th discovery of one's divinity can be found in John Perry's books (Perry 1953, 1974, 1976) and in The Stormy Search for the Self, our own book on spiritual emergencies (Grof and Grof 1990).

At this stage of the process, these glorious experiences are interpreted as a personal apotheosis, a ritual celebration that raises one's experience of oneself to a highly exalted human status or to a state above the human condition altogether — a great leader, a world savior, or even the Lord of the Universe. This is often associated with a profound sense of spiritual rebirth that replaces the earlier preoccupation with death. At the time of completion and integration, one usually envisions an ideal future — a new world governed by love and justice, where all ills and evils have been overcome. As the intensity of the process subsides, the person realizes that the entire drama was a psychological transformation that was limited to his or her inner world and did not involve externa reality.

According to John Perry, the renewal process moves the individual in the direction of what Jung called "individuation" — a full realization and expression of one's deep potential. One aspect of Perry's research deserves special notice, sinc it produced what is probably the most convincing evidence against simplistic biological understanding of psychoses. He was able to show that the experiences involved in the renewal process exactly match the main themes of royal dramas that were enacted in many ancient cultures on New Year's Day.

These ritual dramas celebrating the advent of the new year were performed during what Perry calls "the archaic era of incarnated myth." This was the period in the history of these cultures when the rulers were considered to be incarnated gods and not ordinary human beings. Examples of such God/kings were the Egyptian pharaohs, the Peruvian Incas, the Hebrew and Hittite kings, or the Chinese and Japanese emperors (Perry 1991).

The positive potential of the renewal process and its deep
connection with archetypal symbolism and with specific periods of human history represents a very compelling argument against the theory that these experiences are chaotic pathological products of diseased brains. They are clearly closely connected with the evolution of consciousness on the individual and collective level.

Episodes of Unitive Consciousness ("Peak Experiences")

The American psychologist Abraham Maslow studied many hundreds of people who had unitive mystical experiences and coined for them the term peak experiences (Maslow 1964). He expressed sharp criticism of Western psychiatry's tendency to confuse such mystical states with mental disease. According to him, they should be considered supernormal rather than abnormal phenomena. If they are not interfered with and are allowed to run their natural course, these states typically lead to better functioning in the world and to "self-actualization" or "selfrealization" — the capacity to express more fully one's creative potential and to live a more rewarding and satisfying life.

Psychiatrist and consciousness researcher Walter Pahnke developed a list of basic characteristics of a typical peak experience, based on the work of Abraham Maslow and W. T. Stace. He used the following criteria to describe this state of mind (Pahnke and Richards 1966):

Unity (inner and outer)
Strong positive emotion
Transcendence of time and space
Sense of sacredness (numinosity)
Paradoxical nature
Objectivity and reality of the insights
Ineffability
Positive aftereffects


As this list indicates, when we have a peak experience, we have a sense of overcoming the usual fragmentation of the mind and body and feel that we have reached a state of unit and wholeness. We also transcend the ordinary distinction between subject and object and experience an ecstatic union with humanity, nature, the cosmos, and God. This is associated with intense feelings of joy, bliss, serenity, and inner peace. In a mystical experience of this type, we have a sense of leaving ordinary reality, where space has three dimensions and time is linear. We enter a metaphysical, transcendent realm, where these categories no longer apply. In this state, infinity and eternity become experiential realities. The numinous quality of this state has nothing to d with previous religious beliefs; it reflects a direct apprehension of the divine nature of reality.

Descriptions of peak experiences are usually full of paradoxes. The experience can be described as "contentless, yet all-containing." It has no specific content, but seems to contain everything in a potential form. We can have a sense of being simultaneously everything and nothing. While our personal identity and the limited ego have disappeared, we feel that we have expanded to such an extent that our being encompasses the entire universe. Similarly, it is possible to perceive all forms as empty, or emptiness as being pregnant with forms. We can even reach a state in which we see that the world exists and does not exist at the same time.

The peak experience can convey what seems to be ultimate wisdom and knowledge in matters of cosmic relevance, which the Upanishads describe as "knowing That, the knowledge of which gives the knowledge of everything." What we have learned during this experience is ineffable; it cannot be described by words. The very nature and structur of our language seem to be inadequate for this purpose. Yet, the experience can profoundly influence our system of values and strategy of existence.

Because of the generally benign nature and positive potentia of the peak experience, this is a category of spiritual crisis that should be least problematic. These experiences are by their nature transient and selflimited. There is absolutely no reason why they should have adverse consequences. And yet, due to the misconceptions of the psychiatric profession concerning spiritual matters, many people who experience such states end up hospitalized, receive pathological labels, and their condition is suppressed by psychopharmacological medication.

a reply to: JUhrman

This is probably the most reasuring and comforting thing ever posted on ATS.
We should open a self help thread.
Hello my name is Nadine, and I drank from the water of life...
Whichmakes me wonder, if all these hidden hints in fiction, or other cultures, like initiation rites are because it is ment to be a part of human adolescence to go through this crisis? We just surpress an important part of our personal development, if we deny ourselfes these experiences maybe? Could be the root for modern illnesses like burn-out?

originally posted by: Peeple
This is probably the most reasuring and comforting thing ever posted on ATS.
We should open a self help thread.
Hello my name is Nadine

Hello Nadine my name is Gautier

originally posted by: Peeple
Whichmakes me wonder, if all these hidden hints in fiction, or other cultures, like initiation rites are because it is ment to be a part of human adolescence to go through this crisis?

That's quite an interesting question! First, you did indeed notice initiation rites are a big part of social life all over the world. In our modern western societies, obsessed with safety and closing its eyes over realities like danger, suffering, illness and death, such rites are not welcomed anymore. Yet, there is in the heart of many people a longing for more, for meaning, hence why things like freemasonry and religions/spiritualities are still quite popular.

I believe that it is indeed part of human adolescence to go through crisis, and that initiation rites help young people becoming adult. Personally during my youth I was subjected to 2 traditional initiation rituals (one as a scout and one as a student) and they were nice and all, but certainly not as powerful and life-changing as real initiation rituals from tribal societies. I consider my psycho-spiritual experience to be my 3rd and final initiation rite and the only one that truly and completely changed my life, after I completely surrendered to the experience and to the eventuality of my death.

Since such rites are a very important component of the social and cultural life from all over the world, this is IMHO perfectly normal to find this theme, either blatantly, either symbolically, inside fictions and other forms of art. Artists are almost always inspired from the world around them, from their own questioning, and from the rich world of symbols which plays a huge role in our psycho-spiritual development.

Initiation rites are also re-enactment of something very old, of a very ancient story that inspired most mythologies and stories. Joseph Campbell's monomyth (en.wikipedia.org...) and Jungian analytical psychology (with the archetypes and all) are good places to start reading about this universal and mythological experience/journey that is the reason you feel like there "hints" about initiation rites in fictions and elsewhere. The monomyth is probably one of the oldest archetypal story ever (like the creation, the flood, the birth of the savior and other stories), because it talks to us as a symbolic description of the psychological development happening to all of us, at different paces.

This process describes initiation rites, mystical experiences, magical journeys, fairy tales, etc because they all are symbols of the same psychological reality (according to Campbell but I kind of agree).

originally posted by: Peeple
We just surpress an important part of our personal development, if we deny ourselfes these experiences maybe? Could be the root for modern illnesses like burn-out?

Yes but not only. I think many psychological illnesses are caused because we have lost touch with that ancient side of our psyche, but also because we now live in small sanitized bubbles, always more isolated from the real others and the real world, and closing our eyes to the things which constitute the true human experience; struggle, suffering, mutual assistance and eventually death.


By thinking we can live in a reality where there is no illness, no ageing, no death; by making everything to keep physical suffering to a minimum, the development of our psyche happens by the only way left for us to suffer: psychological suffering.

That's why today, even if people live always longer and healthier, they also suffer more and more from a psychological point of view, because without suffering there is no growth.

Or like the gym freaks like to say: "no pain, no gain".

You experienced an altered state. I believe it's possible to have one without any drugs. Of course, then there's no chemical to "wear off", and it didn't go away, so you ended up in the hospital. a reply to: Im a Marty