Nona's World

Many psychological traumas, once conquered, result in experiencing a new consciousness and interconnectedness. In many societies, the psychological breakdown in accepted and the person experiencing the trauma is taken to the local shaman. The shaman teaches the apprentice how to manage his or her experience and to use it for the betterment of the individual and the society.

Around 40 years ago, an acquaintance of Joseph Campbell, Dr. Silverman, had written an article on what he called shamanism and schizophrenia. Dr. Silverman had distinguished two very different types of schizophrenia: "essential schizophrenia" (also referred to as non-paranoid schizophrenia in modern psychiatric literature); and "paranoid schizophrenia". He drew a comparison between essential schizophrenia and shamanism. In essential schizophrenia the affected person withdraws from the everyday world and the contents of the unconscious are released into the conscious. In "paranoid schizophrenia," the person remains alert and projects his internal fantasies, and fears to the external world. In reality his internal world is falling apart, and, unable to handle this, he projects this to the real world and imagines cracks in the external world, for example the assaults from within are imagined to be actual assaults from strangers or friends.

On the other hand, in essential schizophrenia the person is grappling with unmastered
psychological energies. This is something that the shaman does as well. The difference between the shaman and this person is that the shaman has the support of the local social order and its forms; and these are the very things that help bring the shaman back to rational consciousness. On "recovery" it is found that his inward personal experiences reinforce the local traditions; for his personal dream-symbology is at one with the symbology of his culture. Whereas, in contrast, in the case of a modern psychotic patient, there is a radical break off and no effective association at all with the symbol system of his culture. The established symbol system here provides no help at all to the poor lost schizophrenic, terrified by the figments of his own imagination, to which he is a total stranger; whereas, in the case of the primitive shaman, there is between his outward life and his inward a fundamental accord.

What is then the mystical sea into which the essential schizophrenic falls into ? Joseph Campbell puts it best. He says that the plunges are all into the same deep inward sea. They are the waters of the universal archetypes of mythology.There may be a feeling of danger and being overwhelmed but also helpful personas that may guide and help one through. These are "the gods, the guardian, daemons or angels: innate powers of the psyche", that help face the shattering negative forces. The symbolic figures encountered by the mystic and the schizophrenic are in many instances identical But the difference-and he puts this very visually and beautifully - the difference is similar to that of a diver who can swim and one who cannot. The mystic has been trained to deal with this experience and he is a master of this sea, whereas the schizophrenic has fallen in and may be drowning.

Campbell says "the inward journeys of the mythological hero, the shaman, the
mystic, and the schizophrenic are in principle the same; and when the return or remission occurs, it is experienced as a rebirth: the birth, that is to say, of a "twice-born" ego, no longer bound in by its daylight-world horizon. It is now known to be but the reflex of a larger self, its proper function being to carry the energies of an archetypal instinct system into fruitful play in a contemporary space-time daylight situation. One is now no longer afraid of nature; nor of nature's child, society-which is monstrous too, and in fact cannot be otherwise; it would otherwise not survive. The new ego is in accord with all this, in harmony, at peace; and, as those who have returned from the, journey tell, life is then richer, stronger, and more joyous".

The challenge is to go through the experience with getting lost, not to avoid the experience or become lost in the experience but to be equipped with tools that would help the person to recognize, tame and incorporate the energies of the demons that are encountered. This experience is similar to mysticism because in both cases the boundary between the individual and the rest of the world has fallen away. Mystics can be immersed in this experience with identifying with the images that they see, while schizophrenics identify with everything within its scope of consciousness. In western society, when someone is able to return to an ordinary state of consciousness, there is a chance that society may view their experience and insights as mystical, but when they are lost it will be defined as a psychosis.

There are a couple of possibilities with regard to the schizophrenic experience. If the self identifies with objects that are a source of joy then extreme joy will result. This joy is intense because of the lack of a barrier between the self and the universe. If the self identifies with objects that are a source of trauma or pain then the sadness will be equally intense. Moreover this feeling will be combined with a sense of responsibility and guilt.

Methods of gaining control used by apprentice shamans are many. Drumming a repetitive beat on hand drums, long adventurous walks, rubbing stones together, painting or sculpting things seen in dreams, removal from society, immersion in the new consciousness, allow the schizophrenic to gain control of a chaotic consciousness, yet schizophrenia in modern society is almost always addressed by medicine. Medication in our society may raise the issue of two contradictions: on one hand they are being chemically pulled away to a normal life, on the other hand they cannot ignore or immerse themselves in understanding their mysterious experience. This is worsened by going through this experience in a society where mystical experiences are mistrusted and the support system for shamanism is completely missing.


websites:
http://website.lineone.net/~crowseed/sands/skzlike.html


http://www.mindspring.com/~berks-healing/campbell-schiz.pdf


http://www.spiritualcompetency.com/sic.pdf

Labels: abnormal, barrier, break, breakdown, Campbell, Carl, down, ego, Joseph, Jung, medication, mysticism, normal, oceanic feeling, psychiatry, psychology, schizophrenia, shaman. shamanism, visions