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Others ~ Selected Correspondence Delusion
I was writing to someone the other day who is involved in research into schizophrenia, so I had to do a touch of investigation. Schizophrenics display a wide range of symptoms but the common ones are hallucinations, delusions, blunted emotions, disordered thinking and a withdrawal from reality. Schizophrenia is a psychotic illness, an aberration from what is taken to be normal, but many of the symptoms are common to all humans to varying degrees. The paranoid type of schizophrenia, which usually arises later in life than the other types, is characterized primarily by delusions of persecution and grandeur combined with unrealistic, illogical thinking, often accompanied by hallucinations. It does seem that this later definition fits well with the symptoms exhibited by many fervent spiritual/ religious followers. When I was a spiritual believer I was completely blinded to the fact that in my father’s generation in the West, anyone claiming to be God-on-earth or God-realized would most probably be interred in a mental institution – and yet nowadays, with Eastern religion in fashion, such people are regarded as the wise ones and worshipped as such. I deal sometimes with schizophrenic individuals in the course of my work. I agree wholly with Richard’s suggestions for relating to people whose thinking is characterized by delusions and/or hallucinations: a steady, down-to-earth, concrete and practical approach rather than a probing, digging and analysing approach works best. When I relate to these individuals in my work, it is with friendliness, practicality, and helpfulness, and not too many questions. That also relates to dealing with fervent spiritual/religious followers as well, for they are severely deluded, as was I in my spiritual period. Now I am astonished at the extent of my delusion. It is indeed a crushing blow to one’s spiritual pride to admit that one has been so blinded. The actualism writings are generally framed in terms of being a search for freedom, peace and happiness and the reason for this are two-fold. Richard’s discovery of the ‘self’-less pure consciousness state was a two stage process, an elimination of his social/ psychological self, or ego, and the final elimination of his instinctual/ psychic self, or soul. Having been Enlightened and then gone beyond it to actuality, his expertise and experience of the delusions of the spiritual world are second to none and his writings reflect that expertise, knowledge and approach. Similarly, Vineeto and I have had extensive insider experience of the world of the spiritual/ religious believer and our writings tend to be slanted towards our expertise. The other even more important aspect of this slant is that it is reasonable to assume that anyone interested in freedom, peace and happiness would be on, or interested in, the spiritual path – the only alternative thus far to remaining ‘normal’. Well, while probably most people interested in freedom, peace and happiness would be on, or interested in, the spiritual path, there may be others who are not. So far, perhaps that remains to be seen. I became interested in what Richard had to say while on the Krishnamurti list, it is true. But earlier in my life, I was on what I would call the ‘drug’ path – ‘better living through chemistry’. I cared not a snoot for religious or other spiritual thinking, although the ethos of that time – the Love Generation – was very much influenced by Eastern religions and ideas. I wonder to what extent the ‘drug’ path I was on was actually a kind of spiritual path. In any event, with the exception of a brief foray into the teachings of Timothy Leary, which were remarkably like that of Buddhism, and used some Buddhist-like doctrines, my approach to freedom, peace and happiness was by being permanently stoned. I was watching a TV program last night (I watch TV a lot at night) on Ecstasy. Apparently there is a lot of Ecstasy use among young people now. One woman was testifying to the mood enhancing properties of the drug and was an outspoken advocate for its’ legalization and widespread use as a panacea for modern day ills. She said she just wanted to be ‘happy’ and now was since she had found Ecstasy. I no longer use any drugs, alcohol, and (with the exception of an occasion coffee) have not for 15 years. I have not had any cannabis or psychedelics since about 1981, also the last time I took any LSD. I sometimes think I was helped by my drug use in a positive way. But I would not want to return to any type of drug use, no matter how alluring. It was hell. Because along with the highs came the inevitable lows, as it was a chase for the good feelings as a way of getting away from the bad feelings. At the end of it all, I was more filled with malice and sorrow than I had been at the start of it all. Gary to Peter
Just a point here so as to make very clear the distinction between ‘seem real’, real, very real and actual. It may appear that I am nitpicking here but the continual failure to make this distinction clear is exactly why all previous attempts to bring an actual end to human animosity and misery have ended up dying in the bum. Human emotions and passions are real in that they cause very real effects – all of the ongoing actual wars, murders, rapes, domestic violence, corruption, suicides and despair are the direct result of emotional reactions. There is a direct and irrefutable link – cause and effect. At first I thought there might be a misunderstanding of what I was saying but now I don’t think so. I was saying that the emotional reactions that are occurring in the body and the subjective experience of the emotion ‘seem real’, and maybe it was a poor choice of words. They are real enough – emotions can be studied, they can be observed by studying heart rate, galvanic skin response, etc. They have observable consequences. Then there are the hormonal and neuronal mechanisms involved in fright, anger, etc. So they are undoubtedly real. But by saying ‘seems real’, perhaps I conveyed the wrong message, because I distinctly remember being in that delusionary spiritual state, often telling myself things like ‘I’m in Heaven right now. None of this is really happening’ or ‘I rest in God’s Love. I am only Love. All else is not really happening’. These delusionary dissociative states are a denial of the reality of emotions, emotional reactions, and their associated destructive consequences in the real world of people and world events. What I meant to convey is that emotions are not actual, and one can find that out by remembering any Pure Consciousness Experiences they may have had – these are experiences of the actual. So, one has to be very careful, I think, not to be sucked into the delusionary state of denying emotions and the consequences that emotions have wrought in the world as it is while realizing that the emotions and passions are superimposed over and prevent a direct experiencing of the actual. Gary to Peter Web page designed by The Actual Freedom Trust |
