spirituality and madness

I am suggesting that no one who is well-adjusted, has high "emotional intelligence", is considered "cool" etc. has genuine spirituality. And I am suggesting that only people that are labelled "mentally disordered", "mentally ill", "not normal" etc. can have genuine spirituality.

Thoughts?

a reply to: introspectionist

I think you could be in for a rough ride with that OP. Some of those cool spiritual dudes with inflated egos might drop in. Or even those that don't want to be considered normal...and anyway what is 'authentic genuine spirituality'?

ETA s+f for courage.

Would we misinterpret enlightenment for madness?

Anyone who speaks against what is commonly accepted, especially spiritual matters is usually labeled mad in some capacity.

Humans are like televisions. We're set to receive a set range of frequencies. Anything outside of it, we normally can't perceive. So when it comes to truly thinking outside the box, true enlightenment, most can't receive the frequencies outside of their normal range of perception. So they'll think it's crazy, no proof, and wacky.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Answers are everywhere, we're currently trained to be so limited we're kept in the dark.

originally posted by: introspectionist
Thoughts?

Thoughts on whether or not clinical insanity is a prerequisite for having authentic spirituality? I think that's very narrow-minded and extremely limited in scope if you really wanted to honestly explore either mental health or spirituality.

Being truly talented in certain arts could definitely benefit (some say require) a spark of madness. But to say that they go hand-in-hand as commingled components to one another will do you know favors if you truly want to learn.

originally posted by: introspectionist
I am suggesting that no one who is well adjusted, has high "emotional intelligence", is considered "cool" etc. has genuine spirituality. And I am suggesting that only people that are labelled "mentally disordered", "mentally ill", "not normal" etc. can have genuine spirituality.

Thoughts?

And I would suggest that anyone with this perception has very limited life experience...

But, there's still time, so put on your Reeboks, strap on that safety helmet, and get out there..!

a reply to: Yeahkeepwatchingme

Would we misinterpret enlightenment for madness?

Perhaps it depends on one's definition of enlightenment.

One man's enlightenment is another man's folly.

Humans are like televisions. We're set to receive a set range of frequencies. Anything outside of it, we normally can't perceive. So when it comes to truly thinking outside the box, true enlightenment, most can't receive the frequencies outside of their normal range of perception. So they'll think it's crazy, no proof, and wacky.

We are not really like televisions. When it comes to thinking 'outside the box', it isn't about receiving frequencies or some such made up stuff. It is about thinking about things in a different way.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Answers are everywhere, we're currently trained to be so limited we're kept in the dark.

It would be nice if extraordinary claims had just some normal everyday evidence. Answers to what are everywhere?


Regards Midicon.

originally posted by: BestinShow

originally posted by: introspectionist
I am suggesting that no one who is well adjusted, has high "emotional intelligence", is considered "cool" etc. has genuine spirituality. And I am suggesting that only people that are labelled "mentally disordered", "mentally ill", "not normal" etc. can have genuine spirituality.

Thoughts?

And I would suggest that anyone with this perception has very limited life experience...

But, there's still time, so put on your Reeboks, strap on that safety helmet, and get out there..!

I've tried that a number of times. Every time I feel my soul eroding. It appears to me to be a choice between staying sensitive and getting desensitized. Of course, conditioning wouldn't call it getting desensitized, it would call it "socialization process", "growing up", "maturing" or any number of things.

originally posted by: introspectionist
I am suggesting that no one who is well-adjusted, has high "emotional intelligence", is considered "cool" etc. has genuine spirituality. And I am suggesting that only people that are labelled "mentally disordered", "mentally ill", "not normal" etc. can have genuine spirituality.

Thoughts?

Well,,, You use the term "no one". Absolutist statements like this have a tendency to be judgmental, which, to many is not spiritual either. Do you see? Then later you use the term "only people" and once again draw an absolutist line.

However, I do wonder about what you ask but on a more non-absolute scale. If we understand spirituality as a human development that is fostered by an individuals desire to grow and develop according to a "higher" or "deeper" paradigm of truth and understanding than can be found within the structure of social norms, then yes I can understand the root of your assertion. The more a person adjusts their lives to succeeding and fitting into many of our world social systems the more likely they will have little time for an intensity that many spiritual paths require.

What's right is not always popular, and what's popular is not always right.

Albert Einstein

a reply to: introspectionist

In my experience, encounters with extradimensional forces can leave you mentally reeling. I've lost all sense of reality for long months at a time and slowly climbed my way back out of the hole through Apollonian methodologies. I would recommend reading the Odyssey by Homer. Allegories in that book helped me through my journey back.

I think the real purpose of a mystery school if it is to have one is not to weed out the elect, but to insulate its member from experiences that are too much for most people to handle. In that way, they walk people step by step through these tried and tested gradients until they learn how to swim. I bet none of them get dumped off in the middle of the ocean during typhoon season.

There is a benefit to heading out on your own; however. You either learn to surf or you drown. You basically force any latent talents you might possess to speak now or forever hold their peace, and in doing so, you save yourself a lot of time and frustration. How many mystics out there will never achieve enlightenment, but will continue to invest in long hours of study in futility?

Spirituality is nuanced. It isn't the emotionalism and sensationalism you see today in the new age movement. It isn't psychological, intellectual or philosophical. Visions and tactile experiences are fun and informative about the mind of the creatures that delude us, but there is a secret pathway extending inward and outward from your being, and it exists on an axis from which we have no sensory devices to acquire any information, but there is a kind of intuition that can lead you to it, as you are drowning, as your body is screaming out in agony and your mind is actively seeking a way to surrender. Upon finding it, there is a source of power there, a will to confront anything, and it is that authority which can admit you into the condition of not only surviving in the universe, but co-opting it to your own designs.

The universe is like clay. If you spend your life in disgust over the material you are working with, how can you ever become a master artist? You must mix your own being with the substance you are working with and hear the harmony that can emerge when your two resonations synthesize into one form of expression. This is if you walk the path of progress and self-ascension. There is another path, a darker path which currently dominates this world. I would suggest avoiding it. If you look for teachers, 99.999999999% of the time, they will lead you down this path or they will stumble and fall into a pit, dragging you down along with them. It is best if you go it alone.

youtu.be...

There's how the truly spiritual are viewed.

You probably can't both have the cake and eat it.

originally posted by: introspectionist
I am suggesting that no one who is well-adjusted, has high "emotional intelligence", is considered "cool" etc. has genuine spirituality. And I am suggesting that only people that are labelled "mentally disordered", "mentally ill", "not normal" etc. can have genuine spirituality.

Thoughts?

Are you saying this in a good way or a bad way?

originally posted by: DarknStormy

originally posted by: introspectionist
I am suggesting that no one who is well-adjusted, has high "emotional intelligence", is considered "cool" etc. has genuine spirituality. And I am suggesting that only people that are labelled "mentally disordered", "mentally ill", "not normal" etc. can have genuine spirituality.

Thoughts?

Are you saying this in a good way or a bad way?

in a good way

The best moments of my life have been psychotic.

I'm hardly a saint. I have my struggles with conflicting desires etc.

a reply to: introspectionist

Some could say that the mentally ill just took a walk on the DARK side of spirituality, but it doesn't have anything to do with spirituality as a whole.

originally posted by: introspectionist
in a good way

The best moments of my life have been psychotic.

I'm hardly a saint. I have my struggles with conflicting desires etc.

Bro, I'm no saint either and anyone that claims they are is probably talking sh*t. As for the topic, It's an interesting outlook.. I need to think about it a bit more.

a reply to: introspectionist

Some of the most intelligent people I know are considered insane or crazy. as far as being mentally ill, they are demonically possessed.

Thats pretty stupid. Spirituality is a pretty broad term. You cant just rule something out because someone is stable. You also said high emotional intelligence cant? Then what the heck is your idea of being spiritual? Being autistic is spiritual?

a reply to: introspectionist

If I understand your point its something like this; The world and people (normal people, status quo) are crazy and immoral and chaotic and evil, and so to be well adjusted to this, you cannot be a truly good person. Therefore a truly spiritually pure and good person, will struggle, maybe to the point of madness, in such a wicked world.

Where as to extents that might be true. In some regards, there are communities on earth that are rather spiritual in tune with purity.

a reply to: introspectionist

The concept of spirituality falls under a broad spectrum and bleeds into other spectrums as well.

It is not easy, nor do I personally feel is necessary to attempt to define such ideas using pre-existing labels.

Consider this: How many individuals do you truly know and understand? Of those individuals, how many are possibly just good actors that understand how to project themselves in such a way as to mask the true nature of their inner being?

There are too many variables to take into account.

How they say, you can't dance at two parties in the same time.
I do believe that following a genuine spiritual path you are less involved with the normal, conventional world, and sooner or later will come out a bit "off". Because being genuine spiritual is a little more than being just a "good person", a "God-fearing" person or even a philosopher. Some veils come off from your eyes and the illusion wears out, so your reactions may start to look weird to others.
Yet I do believe that many spiritual persons can pass out as "cool" when they want to. There is no set in stone rule, so I try to never judge or label people by their behavior.