Is Bipolar Mania Spiritual Enlightenment?
I recently came across a two part video on YouTube called “Is Bipolar Mania Spiritual Enlightenment?” and I was very curious about what the video was all about. Currently and in the past, I have been borderline obsessed with content surrounding the topic of ‘enlightenment’ and I have read many books on eastern philosophy, consciousness, perception and religion so this topic was naturally of great interest to me. I could personally relate to a lot of what was being said. In fact, I believe my condition with bipolar disorder and the effects it had on my experience of my life has been the main driving force behind my obsession with understanding my existence through philosophy, psychology and religion. The pits of my depressions and the highs of my hypomanic mood have brought me to places where my brain has functioned very differently than what is apparently the norm. I’ve always felt different, thought different and behaved different than the people in my social surroundings. At times I’ve felt a deeper understanding and communication with the universe, where I’ve felt that I could perceive things as they truly are and see past the delusions brought on by the senses. I believed my extreme shifts in mood opened new windows into worlds that would normally be hidden to my mind.
I knew that there were definite similarities in the experience of mania and the description of the concept of enlightenment (in a general sense), but I never completely linked the two as being one and the same. Nor have I since watching the videos. However, I do think that author of the videos has highlighted some interesting aspects of some of the common experiences of bipolar disorder that may require further investigation - a sense of oneness with everything, a deeper understanding of life, indescribable sensory experience, extreme sensitivity, timelessness, tremendous love & appreciation for beauty, a release of repression (shame), sacredness, the feeling that the universe is testing you, confrontations with death, experiencing your origins, a change in values/behavior, and more concern for social issues.
I don’t fully agree with many of his conclusions, but I do acknowledge and commend his attempt to better understand his personal experiences of bipolar disorder by taking the time analyze and decipher what the disorder was allowing his mind to perceive and attempt to link it to a deeper understanding of himself within the universe. The main area that I disagree with in his conclusion of bipolar mania being enlightenment, is the sense of peace and control that is supposedly experienced during enlightenment. From my understanding, enlightenment, once achieved is not as reckless as a bipolar manic episode. There is a cessation of desires brought on by a deeper understanding of reality. You are calm and at peace in your mind and in the world. You become content by understanding your true identity and connection to the universe. Your thoughts are perceived correctly and lose the drastic influence they once had on your sense of identity and behavior. For me a manic episode, as interesting as it is from analytical perspective, is not enlightenment. There can definitely be deep insights derived from a manic episode, but the sense of control over one’s mind and behavior just isn’t there.
I don’t want to discredit anything that the author of the videos has suggested because I do think he has made some important observations about bipolar mania that require further investigation. I believe many of these experiences are quite valid and can be learned from if the time is taken to analyze their content. I’ve noticed through my own personal accounts that there is a terrible tendency to devalue the experiences brought on by bipolar disorder because they are labeled a product of mental illness. We are told that these experiences mean nothing and that we are not normal for having them. They don’t fit neatly into the social context of our societies and the majority of people fear the content they reveal to the people experiencing them. The world easily forgets all the great music, art, science and philosophy that people suffering from mental illness have brought to us throughout the ages. I believe all experience can tell us something important about ourselves and the world around us, regardless of the apparent or implied distortions. I remember one of my favorite history teachers in high school telling the class that ‘truth’ is simply what the majority agrees upon and perhaps this is holds more truth now than ever.
January 19th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Suffering with Bipolar Disorder and not knowing where to turn, I searched the internet for some help. I came across BipolarAdvantage.com and am so happy that I did. The founder, Tom Wootton, has written two books that have been such a help to me. His first was ‘The Bipolar Advantage’ and the newest is called ‘The Depression Advantage’ which is about real spiritual enlightenment and it includes examples of saints that were depressed. Wow, I had no idea how great I would feel knowing I am not alone and suffered mentally like our saints did. The chapter on Saint Teresa of Avila was wonderful. Now I need to use my depression to my advantage as the book teaches. Be sure to check it out, I am so happy I did and plan to attend a seminar or workshop now that I know there is help for me and my family.
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:26 am
I have had manic episodes in which I do feel the sense of enlightment - that sense of ‘knowing’ what the meaning of life is and moments of heightened creativity. On the down side, most of my manic phases are not like this at all and tend to revolve more around aggression, which plainly isn’t a feeling of enlightenment.
Though it’s interesting to read the different views and theories offered in concerns to bipolar, both personal and scientific. One I just Blogged about was the possible relationship between bipolar and epilepsy. It’s good to know people are still trying to get to the bottom of what is still an extremely mystifying disorder.
This post reminded me of my friend’s father for some reason. He passed away last year but battled schizophrenia since his late teens. Strangely he also had an uncanny psychic knack for predicting future events. Often his family members were left astounded at the things he’d come out with that actually ended up happening precisely as he’d said it would. The nurses who looked after him in his elderly years admitted that many patients with these types of mental disorders also had this enlightened talent as well.
The brain is a fascinating contraption and I dare say it will hold onto its mysteries for quite some time to come.
January 27th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Once again, I have to thank you. I’ve been looking for something like this for so long!! When I watched the first clip I was just absolutely gobsmacked. It wasn’t just similar to my own experience, it was EXACTLY the same. I suppose I’d thought that my first psychotic break was a random disconnection with reality, which was somehow vaguely related to my own past experience. Naturally no-one had ever really gone into detail with the specifics, or even seemed very interested what I said. I found the fact that ohters were experiencing EXACTLY the same thing, as completely incredible!!
The “reverting back to origins” I found particularly interesting..as I remember sitting on the edge of the bed and going through the whole of evolution step by step, recreating everything up to the present moment. At the time I’d tried to explain it to myself as being caused by the fact that my daughter, who was very you at the time, kept getting black and white confused and that somehow I’d thought that I needed to reacreate everything in reverse. Now of course I have changed my view. If this is a common and specific experience then there is obviously something else to it.
Another thing that struck me was the perception of time. I did have trouble with keeping track, but also at the peak of my experience I could absolutely control my perception of time. I say “perception”because naturally I know I was only in control of myself and not everyone else. In fact it was so absolute, that I would set the alarm clock and turn of the light and my conciousness would completely turn off until the alarm sounded. You might say well everyone does that when they go to bed, but this was in the daytime and I wasn’t drifting off to sleep, it was like flicking a switch, and I remembered nothing of the intervening time. During this “off” period I would be moving, but completely unresponsive….the typical “there in body, but not in mind”.
I wont go on about the rest, but you get my drift.
I’m not sure how much this aligns with “spiritual” experience, but it is certainly “mystical” and is analogous with states that shaman and other mystics enter in which to gain other perspective on the 3-D world.
Personnally I belive this to be part of human evolution, and once we get over the fear of it that it will become an importat part of who we are. Because of this, it worries me that so many people are interested in supressing the experience and engineering it out of future generations.
Anyway, I’m sure there will be so much more to be said on this subject in the future and it’s so exciting to know that there are other people out there who understand and have shared this experience.
I’m certainly changed because of it, and I don’t see that as a bad thing.
January 27th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
look at this site, it has made such a difference for me reading his books and attending seminars and workshops. what a refreshing approach to our condition, there is an ‘advantage’
April 1st, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I want to comment on the ‘recklessness’ aspect of bipolar in comparison to the ‘peaceful’ aspects of enlightenment. Most people that become ‘enlightened’ go through training in order to prepare themselves for the experience of universal oneness, and the collapse of the ego. When an unprepared person ‘awakens’ (what may be happening to ‘bipolar’ individuals) that person can become confused and act out. If you do not have control of your senses a cosmic awakening can send you to a place of complete distortion. And this can cause erradic behavior. But if you listen to yourself and learn of our true spiritual nature, you’ll be able to gain more control over your ‘episodes’ over time. It takes time to truly discover the self, and you have to lose yourself in order to find yourself at times.
April 29th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
I don’t think my manic experiences were enlightenment at all. Certainly I felt like I was enlightened during both of my manic episodes but what does that mean if your behavior includes:
*screaming at your mother like the child from Exorcist, believing that you’re being taken over by a green planet
*threatening to break a roommate’s keyboard, believing that breaking your own things and breaking others’ things are the same morally
Doesn’t seem to be very enlightened to me!
April 30th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
My manic episodes aren’t enlightenment either, I’ve had some real horrors, and I’ve been sectioned twice. I do think a manic episode is a blessing if you know what you are doing and friends and family know to give you a lot of space. I have learned it’s when you stop being centred the trouble begins, getting distracted from what is really going on, forgetting others do not share your perceptions, especially your sense of time. They can’t without drugs. To know how others perceive you and what you can do to modify that is essential. I find classical music, aromatherapy oils, soft lights, photography and walking all help me feel tranquil, and I now run like hell from overbearing people - that is the killer for me.
June 14th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
From My experience i alway wanted to write a book on those kind of matters, psychologist see that like skyzo people and all,
I’m a a kind of tarot reader , Reiki master, I have awakened Untils my first years of school The enlightment is in process for me, gone lot of time at hospital, Drug’s , Medical Drug’s , And there’s no one , good for me, Anxiety , insomniac,
The fact is while meditating you can save ur energy for later, you can also quit this perceptions of the times, (2:48)
I recently started tai chi and Qi Gong, Omg Wonderful.
i’ve started to work on my mind and my brains when the young one was trying to learn at school, I was alone in the class, Training my brains alone.
I can do not sleep for many day with only one meditation by night of 2 hours, I can remove the pain. we see everyone on they’r good side in each person there’s a good part when ur enlight this is the only part you see.
The Shaolin monk and some other monk know that it’s make a long time and that why they learn you how to meditate cause those Experience CANNOT BE EXPLAIN by HUMAN WORDS,
For sure Not everyone , goes this way ,
(((( QUOTE))))
Lucy Says:
April 30th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
My manic episodes aren’t enlightenment either,
(((QUOTE DONE)))
For sure and i’ll understand ya! , You know dunno if we can says they’r some real disease some girl healed herself with vacancy from cancer , they still study that i think, and she was having proof of a cancer.
My manic episodes my anxious episodes and everything bad losin reality, feelin, and everything That not nice i know ! , I was unable to get out of the house, unable to do much of my thing When my ego broken , that been worst, I was sittin on my chair for one week
then the enlightment started, Now i’m fully healed without medicine, Without Psychologist ,
Just Follow ur soul, Listen to ur soul and all ur disease gonna disapear Break ur past life chains and karma by meditatin and visualisation !
Fight the fear. Cause you are gonna be afraid!
Don’t be a snake, Stoppin evolvin.
August 30th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
when i first watched this presentation i was completely blown away by how well and defined all of the different experiences were told, im 17 and have recently in the past few years been experiencing “bipolar manic and depressive episodes”. It may be because of the “newness” of it all or i spend a lot of my time confused and overactivly agitated with my minds activity that i cant figure it all out or even begin to make sense of all these dimensions, but when i watched this video i could relate exactly to the areas brought up and was so happy to discover this very well put together clip. Its a real relief to know there are other people going through the same waves of reality and surreality.
January 6th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Fascinating clips. Two thoughts. One, William James Varieties of Religious Experience examines this profoundly and is thought by many to be the beginning of modern psychology; it helped me very much. Second, Kay Redfield Jamison’s book Touched with Fire; Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament…
In manic and hypomanic states I’ve talked to God (He started the conversation). People take drugs to have these experiences; for me that’s the difference between a rollercoaster and riding on the freeway in a Ferrari driven by a blind man.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Hi,
Your post reminded me of my friend George Denslow’s book, Living Out of Darkness: A personal journey of embracing the bipolar opportunity. Check it out and read his blog on embracing bipolar here: http://www.LivingOutofDarkness.com
p.s. I included his e-mail address instead of mine above, in case you want to get in touch with him about the book.
September 11th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
I’ve watched these videos before. I don’t agree totally with the reasons behind “why” ( Jungian ego crisis ) some manics get to this point of enlightenment. But I certainly agree with just about all the sensations / experiences that went into my first manic episode 10 years ago, as descibed in the second paragraph.
Maybe the reasons don’t matter anyway: the bottom line is that many people who are labelled as having a manic episode, experience profoundly intense feelings of oneness, pure love etc. And to put those experiences into words that someone else might be able to understand is practically impossible. Not to get too graphic - but try explaining in words what it is like to have an orgasm to someone who has never experienced one…
Thanks for the post
April 3rd, 2010 at 11:49 pm
I’ve had about 6 manic episodes, all requiring hospitalization. They have such a strong spiritual element to them that I am compelled to try to understand them from this perspective. I came across this comment that reflects my own experience. The minute I start thinking I’m someone special, it is DEFINITELY NOT ENLIGHTENMENT. The quote below describes this very well. Sean Walton said it beautifully… it is the collapse of the ego, not the enhancement of it. Enhancement = delusional psychosis, Collapse = enlightenment.
“Jung understood very well that one of the greatest dangers that you encounter during this experience [mania] is to become inflated, thinking that you are someone special. You become identified with the archetype instead of relating to it from the standpoint of a conscious human ego. You’ve literally gotten swallowed up and possessed by the deeper, more powerful transpersonal forces, falling totally into your unconscious.” - Paul Levy