[John Freestone]

Originally Posted by fellowtraveler

Although I disagree with you on the atheistic thing, and I think true telepathy might be possible, you are right on the money with this. I have family members who suffer(ed) from psychotic breakdowns. There are those on here who would tell us to leave them alone, as they're seeing "true reality". I say, well maybe they are...but that doesn't stop them from walking out into traffic or forgetting to eat, or shower on a regular basis.

Better they be frightened into seeking help than go through the agony I've seen my loved ones go through.

Yes. Thanks for saying that. I always feel it's a risk to mention psychological problems in response to such posts about intuitions and supernatural powers. Decades ago a number of psychologists and philosophers pointed out that we have no absolutely reliable knowledge, and we only assume that the shared reality of the masses is the right one, and this leads us to label people who experience things differently from the norm as mad or ill, and that is untenable, a collective arrogance (and, arguably, a shared mental illness!). Psychologists used to have 'adjustment' of individuals as their express aim without any embarrassment, but after that relativization of sanity and truth, they have to (rightly) concentrate much more on helping people to improve their lives by their opinion of that rather than society's.

But you're right: functionally our 'shared reality' has a great many advantages and keeps us safe a lot of the time. We can argue 'til the cows come home about how real it is or how deluded we are in our collective realities, and the whole philosophical point was in fact a rather 'fine' or academic one in the first place: adjustment to our society is a natural part of personal health; it's hardwired into us, which is why we get lonely if we don't feel we fit in very well (for one thing) and if clear vision of reality can't be guaranteed collectively, neither can it be guaranteed individually (for another). This last bit relates to that erroneous judgement people make, which you mentioned, that the person who is perceiving and behaving in unusual ways is 'seeing things truly as they are': there is absolutely no reason to think that, and more reason to believe that they aren't.

In a similar vein, it is just possible that some spiritual vision results from altered mental states (e.g. in meditation, using drugs, in sensory deprivation, mental illness, etc.), but the jury is very much out, and a lot of neurologists and the like will tell you it's very much the other way round.

I did see an article the other day suggesting that long-term talking therapy can help serious mental ilness. The drugs are not a real good thing but necessary sometimes. I'm hoping my loved one can be weaned off them eventually.

I hope so too. I think these situations are very variable, and what helps one person (and of course is an acceptable way forward for them) won't suit another. I know that in my own case I would try my hardest to work through mental illness with a counsellor, go into a retreat, drop everything and travel (if I'm well enough), use alternative medicine, and a host of other things to avoid getting a prescription for something like an anti-psychotic, but I'm just a bit of an old hippie. I can't advise anyone else on what they need.

May I ask why you left the therapy profession, if it's not too personal? Did you find it fruitless? Too taxing? Low pay? I ask only because I'm toying with the idea of doing that as a second career.

I'd recommend it to anyone who feels they have what it takes (which, of course, I do ). It can be very stressful depending on circumstances. I gave it up for a combination of reasons: the stress, low pay, I don't like some of the political changes in the profession (UK), and mostly I felt it was time for a change. I worked from home and can always go back to it with some advertising. I do miss it sometimes....but we're really hijacking this thread! Feel free to PM me if you want to hear more about that.

Tonality, I'm wondering if you've been reading the responses to your OP that you posted in mid-summer, and how you think and feel about it now. We're not demonstrating very good 'listening skills' here, we just seem to have opinions. I haven't forgotten that there's a real person behind the words, though, and I'm rooting for you. I hope you get to the truth about this and get more peace in your life.

@Revolution, I don't know if that was meant as a tongue-in-cheek friendly jibe (maybe you two know each other) or if you really intended to ridicule tonality, but it looked to me like the latter. If it was, maybe you could consider people's feelings in future? Or maybe it's just me. Or maybe you're serious and the birds laugh at you.