Am I Bipolar or Waking Up: An Interview with Sean Blackwell

[WeAreBullets]

this is how i feel. makes so much sense, thank you sean and holonsnetwork for sharing this!

[ClubMistafied]

¥T

[joeyzzzz]

Sean Blackwell...the Guru of our tribe :p

[ophiuchus1130]

I would like to add something. THe people you speak of that have the most difficult time with "acute psychosis" are most likely empaths and "crystals" sent to purge the negative energies on the planet and it takes a strong spirit to do so. Those dealing with intense fear and anger, be strong and know you are still helping the planet.

[bipolarorwakingup]

@ophiuchus1130 Well, they are sensitive for sure, but the level of child abuse and the intensity of drug addiction with those who have more disturbing experiences was a shock to me, in that it was so obvious in their story telling. Pretty much everyone I´ve talked to that suffered with intense disturbing hallucinations, for example, were abused in childhood.

[Monolith1618]

Either bipolar disorder is the next evolutionary step in the teleological unveiling of the Universe, or it's simply a disorder.

If it's only a disorder then everything anyone has ever heard about mysticism is nothing but hocus pocus. Us mystics, well we might very well be the broken ones, but as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said;

"Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted."

[Monolith1618]

@Monolith1618 Just so you know, I'm one of those bipolar mystic types. Officially diagnosed and everything. One Love.

[bipolarorwakingup]

@Monolith1618 Love back!

[Tengent]

So I think the Taoist mindset can really help anyone out, whether the "cause" of uncomfortable feelings is spiritual or not.

[JAYDUBYAH29]

it is not wise to try and take a "spiritual" perspective on bipolar disorder, or any other brain problem.....

it is easy to be confused by it because most likely many people who have been thought of as spiritually awake were really bipolar, schizophrenic or experiencing temporal lobe epilepsy.

the fairly recent knowledge that allows us to diagnose this let's people get the help they need.

[JAYDUBYAH29]

@JAYDUBYAH29 grof, sanella and before them r.d. laing did a lot of work down this dead end street, but it never went anywhere.....

no offense, i only comment because i feel you may not be taking into account the number of people who will likely be harmed by the incorrect idea that mental illness is really a spiritual awakening. for people with mild symptoms this may be liberating, but for people with full blown disorders this could be utterly catastrophic.

[ozjthomas]

@JAYDUBYAH29 did you listen to the interview? Sean talks a lot about this and I made sure to bring up the subject of psychiatry and when and if coming off meds is wise- we both agree there is definitely a place for medication and yes, it is taking a chance, but staying medicated for life is a pretty grim prognosis for many. I disagree with Sean that it is primarily spiritual- I think there are sociological, chemical, nutritional as well as familial and biological aspects to this as well.

[JAYDUBYAH29]

@ozjthomas yeah i kept listening and was somewhat relieved. i think though his perspective has it EXACTLY backwards in that in the past psychotic experiences were labelled spiritual and now we know better - not the other way around! i also find the things you both say about the normalcy of psychotic states in most people's lives really ill-considered and minimizing of the intensity of bona fide psychiatric conditions.

confusing of mental illness for spiritual awakening has been long discredited.

[Tengent]

@JAYDUBYAH29 I'm reading Grof's Spiritual Emergency at the moment and basically all of the writings make a distinction between actual mental illness and spiritual emergence. I've gotten mild symptoms of a panic disorder (derealization, depression, unexplainable feelings of extreme fear, etc.) after using psychedelics and I still am unsure if I would blame spiritual emergence, PTSD from a bad trip, or HPPD. But, eastern wisdom has helped me out tremendously.