a vision from God followed by a visit from the devil

by moodswinger
(U.K)

I experienced a very vivid vision from God of Jesus holding out his arm to me, the waters parting and everything for me to join him..... then the devil came and told me horrible things, i could actually hear him and he told me outrageous things.

The doctors told me i was having a manic episode.

Ben's Answer:

Even when visions or hallucinations are experienced because of a psychotic or manic state, it doesn't necessarily mean that all the symbols are random or meaningless. Just as a dream can offer us deep insight and meaning for our life, it is sometimes possible to find something of value in a manic experience, once things have come back into balance. We could say that all appearances in this world are a mirage or a dream - subject to our interpretation, and all transitory. When doctors disregard meaning and symbolism and only define an experience as a symptom of mental illness, they rob us of the opportunity to find meaning and purpose.

Mania is a real experiential phenomenon, and can be a dangerous state to be in. But the subconscious mind, and the collective unconscious is "real" too.

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May 02, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		Your vision helped me
by: Bill

The parting of the seas can also represent the overhead view of the brain; A clear division of left hem and right hem. I've always been a bit right brained creative and holistic, so am lucky, because since multiple manias my left hemisphere is always now a bit more stuck. This means I tend to fixate, and take apart more, but when meditate it can snap back to the whole.

Your vision has a left right parting of waters relationship, and then the up down processes of brain; ethical and loving, then crude energetic and impulsive . So actually your vision is a great presentation of what is happening in your mind.

Your vision led me to this video, which undeniably has let me know am actually at least visually mostly thinking with left hem, which means I might be slightly manic. Won't miss my lithium this morning. Thanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZMJeQ4yPPk
May 02, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		Brain Surfing
by: Bill

According to Jack Pettigrew of Queensland University, in Mania the activity gets directed, or is stuck in, from/in the left hemisphere of brain. This is the more goal oriented and linear. The usual upper brain processes and checks and balances are disrupted; It is like the top of the brain opens up and the unconscious and very powerful feelings and impulses of the lowest part of the brain come up. Without the judgement center of the right hemisphere of brain, the left hemisphere does its best to organize, but it often gets expressed in a kind of ritualistic expression.

In cultures which are shamanic or support trance states, there is usually a communal process for someone to go into, and then out of trance. This has been somewhat eradicated in the Abrahamic faiths including Christianity, but there is still enough within any faith to deal with this. So that the brain doesn't get burned out with repeated manic or psychotic states, the brain is cooled off or stabilized with anti-psychotics, but this does not mean that you should not feel free to reconcile the depth of your experience.

Remember that Jesus journey actually began with that 40 days in the wilderness, the devil, and quite possibly, a mania. And the metaphor of John the baptist and cooling off with water. Remember that the "parting of waters" was for a "shared journey" across, to enhance that for all of us to evolve...the journey is for both you and your doctors to have a greater realization. As a bipolar often I get narcissistic, even messianic, thinking am alone. But a degree of surrender to my context, and doctors has helped.

I wrote a stream of consciousness poem early on in my diagnosis, with Jesus and Satan with surfboards at the sea side. They had driven up in two different cars, Jesus in a Prius, and the devil with a monster truck full of explosives and the ignition key booby trapped. The lower part of the brain is very powerful, sex, food etc, it is a part of the energy of who we are. In some religious traditions this huge energy is converted into bliss and devotion. Also if your visionary experience takes you away from any kind of immediate task, it can be in total, delusional no matter what. Take care.

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