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.

Is Bipolar Mania Spiritual Enlightenment? (1 of 2)

Is Bipolar Mania Spiritual Enlightenment? (2 of 2)