Bipolar vs. Spiritual influctions

[nammyoho]

Hi all,
I'm interested in discussing the concept of mental illness in spiritual terms. It seems the past few years have been strange for me. I've had periods of darkness, depression, despair, and overall hopelessness followed by periods of bliss, energy, oneness, and love.
In the medical field, this would most likely be diagnosed as bipolar. I, however, do not feel that I am mentally ill.
I believe everyone goes through these phases in life and do not feel that medication would solve these cycles. I know I get depressed when I stop caring about what I eat, when I stop meditating, when I let negative thoughts spin in cycles instead of calming them down with kinder thoughts.

What are your thoughts about this? Have you had similar experiences?

[Free1]

I have had many of those experiences, and have learnt to relate to them and let them be a part of me. Learning to relate to the inner world is part of what it means to mature, I think. These days I like the feeling of depression for example, from time to time, because it is deeply relaxing.

I believe our culture is obsessed with living a fun life, but we have more depth and "texture" than that.

[arcaneopal]

Hello nammyoho,
Long message ahead... :P

It is interesting to me that you brought up this subject. Because I sometimes wonder about the same thing and would even explore different websites to try and help shed more light on the matter.

I know science wants to try and find an answer for EVERYTHING. They will say mental disorders are caused by chemical imbalance or some such, or neurons misfiring in the brain, etc. etc. But 'what if' they have it all wrong? What if, in their attempt to explain these matters to the laymen, and through their scientific findings/experiments, what they have been describing as science/matter were "spiritual" all along?

Maybe, just maybe, these two opposing sides of your depression bouts, along with bouts of happiness and bliss, is a spiritual warfare at play.

Do you believe there exists a greater force than us, (God/source/higher power, what have you) that has your best interest in mind? Do you pray and believe this source will protect you?
Or is that notion so far-fetched against your belief system that you never thought about it?

Imagine what a spiritual warfare would be like:
You have the angels, who want to help you, guide you, show you peace and love and happiness.

Then you have the demons, who want to make you suffer, feel miserable, hated, and cause you to spread the hatred.

And then, to trump these two forces, we have our free will at hand. It is ultimately our choice which path we take. Now that's not to say that even if we choose the angel path will our life be full of happiness and devoid of problems. Because guess what? We have OTHER PEOPLE'S free will to contend with as well. And if they choose (even unwittingly, as I'm sure most of it is) the demon path, that will reflect on others as well, in a cycle that can only be broken once people start to wake up and consciously start choosing the angel path.

If you haven't done so already, I would recommend reading a bit about nde's. It is a fascinating subject that kind of delves a bit about the choices we make in life, and how it affects others, and even ourself - in a sort of karmic learning experience.

I think some have even implied that those that do go through hardships, whether it be mentally/physically/emotionally, can also be our soul's/higher self's way of teaching us lessons that we need to learn from a past life wrongdoing. The key is to not give in to the darker side, and be prepared to humble our way through and just try our best. I think our goal on this planet is to simply love one another.

There's a lot more to this subject, but just wanted to give you some food for thought.

And I have deliberately refrained from giving you advice to seek medical attention, because you are aware yourself that you think this is something different. So just wanted to give a different theory.

Originally Posted by arcaneopal

And I have deliberately refrained from giving you advice to seek medical attention, because you are aware yourself that you think this is something different. So just wanted to give a different theory.

Interesting post. I've never been too afraid to deal with demons, if indeed that's what they were, because they won't go away simply by denying them. I sometimes see, purely from a spiritual angle, that depression can result from refusing to deal with them. It hasn't always been a matter of turning to the light for me. The moment the light dims, out come the shadows....until they can be dispersed completely (or as near completely as possible).

...

[arcaneopal]

You know, a friend once told me, that the more hardships one endures, the more the 'demons' are trying to get you on their side. They see you as a threat to them, so they want to throw curveball after curveball at you so you give up being nice and good and succumb to them. They want to tarnish every single soul they can find. And if they're after you, KNOW that they won't break you, that you won't let them break you, no matter what, KNOW that angels are with you and they'll protect you, and they'll desist.
Once they realize they can't get you because you have firmly chosen your side, they'll give up and torment a different soul.

Now when she told me this, I kind of just nodded politely, although inside I was mentally painting her as one of those overtly religious fanatics that want to explain all the world's problems on outside forces instead of doing the responsible thing and taking the blame for our own actions. (Because who wouldn't question someone who says something like, "the devil made me do it"? Although even if that was the case, that they were REALLY being prompted by demons to act, it is THEIR choice to succumb or deny. So they would still be at fault for deciding to choose that action, instead of rebuking it.)

But after dealing with some personal demons (pun intended :P) and slowly (s...l....o...w....l...y) coming to the realization that there were things in my own life that didn't make sense scientifically, I started to entertain what my friend had said. And.It.Made.Sense.

Then, after admitting to myself that I may have been wrong and my "crazy but kind" friend could possibly be right, I would look up online at other people's experiences and realized it's happening all around us. Which drew me into researching nde's (although I have never had one) and it is, I believe, the closest door that could explain what's going on.

(A thank you to my friend for being the catalyst that lead me into something deeper.)

[CrystalSong]

Knowing more of what you experience as a person somewhere on the path of awakening would be helpful.
Not beliefs but actual experiences. What happens in your life that you consider to be spiritual. What have you discovered in moments of epiphanies?

Without some sort of context for what spiritual means to you the up down cycle sounds a bit like manic depression.

The two can look a lot alike, but without actual awakening happening and higher states of consciousness and connection being there then a bio-chemical cause is rather likely.

Originally Posted by nammyoho

Hi all,
I'm interested in discussing the concept of mental illness in spiritual terms. It seems the past few years have been strange for me. I've had periods of darkness, depression, despair, and overall hopelessness followed by periods of bliss, energy, oneness, and love.
In the medical field, this would most likely be diagnosed as bipolar. I, however, do not feel that I am mentally ill.
I believe everyone goes through these phases in life and do not feel that medication would solve these cycles. I know I get depressed when I stop caring about what I eat, when I stop meditating, when I let negative thoughts spin in cycles instead of calming them down with kinder thoughts.

What are your thoughts about this? Have you had similar experiences?

Mental health disorders are usually very common responses to life at a more extreme end of the scale.

So if you read up on 'symptoms' of mental health disorders, then most people have most disorders. So yes you are right that everyone goes through these stages in life, but I feel that you are mistaken to believe that if most people went to a qualified person they would be diagnosed with bipolar and given medication (except perhaps in a corrupt system where money is involved).

If you don't feel that you are mentally ill, then you quite likely aren't. Have you had an experience when you have sought medical help and been diagnosed with an illness?

But having said all this, my personal feelings are that many people that don't have any illness, but find themselves repeating unpleasant psychological or behavioural patterns, could benefit from therapies.

[Belle]

In the past my life would get glum, very very glum. And it has done over and over again. Turns out - it's a boundary issue. People's unhappy emotions come over to me!

And a cousin who recently took her life, I truly believe she was plagued by boundary issues.

Some of us with boundary issues just attract other people's yuck stuff.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by nammyoho

Hi all,
I'm interested in discussing the concept of mental illness in spiritual terms. It seems the past few years have been strange for me. I've had periods of darkness, depression, despair, and overall hopelessness followed by periods of bliss, energy, oneness, and love.
In the medical field, this would most likely be diagnosed as bipolar. I, however, do not feel that I am mentally ill.
I believe everyone goes through these phases in life and do not feel that medication would solve these cycles. I know I get depressed when I stop caring about what I eat, when I stop meditating, when I let negative thoughts spin in cycles instead of calming them down with kinder thoughts.

What are your thoughts about this? Have you had similar experiences?

That description doesn't seem bipolar - though some docs can be pretty slaphappy with diagnoses - however, life does have its ups and downs an unless mood swings are incapacitating then should be more or less OK... and some meditation, healthy eating and a bit of activity very likely make for a pretty happy place.

[nammyoho]

Originally Posted by arcaneopal

Do you believe there exists a greater force than us, (God/source/higher power, what have you) that has your best interest in mind? Do you pray and believe this source will protect you?
Or is that notion so far-fetched against your belief system that you never thought about it?

I used to have a very strong sense of spirituality but seemed to have misplaced it along the way...
I'll admit I have a hard time believing that a force out there protects me, as I'm constantly reminded to view things objectively and from a logical mindset. I have, however, experienced many synchronicities in life that have made me wonder what's up

Originally Posted by arcaneopal

And I have deliberately refrained from giving you advice to seek medical attention, because you are aware yourself that you think this is something different. So just wanted to give a different theory.

I have an extensive history of therapy, psychiatric meds, etc. Most of my family is depressed, neurotic, addicted to alcohol, divorced, and just plain overall lost. Naturally I want to believe that I'm the one that breaks the pattern but at times I feel doomed.

I can understand that life comes with ups and downs but to me it just feels like I feel it stronger, which of course is something everyone probably feels. Some days it seems that I'm just an incredible combination of contrasting and incompatible and inherently messed up genes.