by Bill
(Rohnert Park, CA. U.S.A.)
Mania is an extreme. But the reality is, there are many more organic similarities between a so called normal brain, and a manic-depressive one. We all have a stewing and brewing unconscious which certain cultures accept and others are in denial of, or even, afraid of.
According to Prof. Jack Pettigrew what happens is that in the manic-depressive the "normal" hemispheric switching of brain gets stuck. The so called normal cycles intermittently between a left hemisphere emphasis (manic, linear, goal driven but over-positive), and right hemisphere emphasis (depressed, holistic or total-view but negative, lethargic); An ongoing check and balance.
When either a person has a perspective which is self defeating, leading to more stress, or actually has a stressful situation presented to them, there is a tendency within all human beings for the emergency system to go on, for the brain to run hot. So in a real time emergency, the fact is most human beings can get a little berserk which brings up the most primal and powerful impulses, and locks the brain in the left hemisphere temporarily. For both warrior societies and shamanism the symbols seem to overlap. The Medusa was also the aegis on the Athenian Greek warrior shields, and her tongue is protruding much like the Archetypal Kali. When mania erupts, the limbic and even the lowest part of the brain arises, if untrained, unaccepting and with inverted views, it is a terrifying primal experience full of symbolism and competing chaos...much like the imagery of snakes darting around on the head; Very imaginitive...often ritualistic, cunning (Metis).
The problem with someone with no context for this, as Western views have largely stripped external imagistic forms, is that it seems alien to even their own religious experience. We feel that it is an unacceptable and frightening regression. Or we feel a new found power, which based on a former insecurity complex and isolation, we feel a kind of messianic narcissism. In a total defensive mode, I can see the trained police person's alarm that this glazed eyed person has likely more chance of being an inverted berserker than a compassionate shaman type.
In Korean Shamanism you have the Mudang (South Korea) or Kangshinmu (North Korea) who are typically initiated into the tradition after a Spirit Sickness called "Shinbyeong". The description of Shinbyeong (different forms) are as follows:
"The Mudang cannot eat and becomes weak physically and psychologically. In another type of shinbyeong, these basic symptoms are preceded by physical illness. In yet another, the shinbyeong is caused by a psychotic episode. In a type of shinbyeong that is relatively rare, the Mudang's mental state becomes weakened by an external
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