PETER: 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.

GARY: 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. 4.12.2000

Actualism Homepage