Bipolar or Spiritual Awakening
Clinical Explanation
Bipolar disorder is characterized by manic and depressive episodes. From a spiritual perspective both ecstatic and sad states can be used to further one’s progress on the path towards spiritual enlightenment. Manic episodes are where someone feels very high or elated. These episodes may be characterized by increased energy, increase activity, sometimes feeling jumpy or weird, trouble sleeping, talking really fast about a lot of things, irritability, racing thoughts and risky behavior. Depressive episodes maybe characterized by feeling very sad, down, empty, or hopeless, having very little energy, having decreased activity levels, sleeping too much or too little, anhedonia, feeling worried or empty, having trouble concentrating, forgetting things, eating too much or too little, feeling slowed down, or having suicidal thoughts. In order to be classified as bipolar, the manic episode must last at least one week and symptoms must be present most of the days for most of the day. Depressive symptoms must last at least 2 weeks.
Beyond the Clinical Explanation
In manic states people experience things more from a spirit perspective and they are not embodied. They are only experiencing their essence, but in a way that in not integrated with their bodily side. During this state of being they have less ego and less contact with the earthliness of their existence. For example one may get many ideas and want them all to come to fruition at once. One may get a craving for a special sandwich three hours away and drive all the way there to get it. This is not a very embodied experience. This is a spiritual experience. On earth if we get an idea it takes time for it to come to be. For example, if I want to communicate with someone, I have to take the time to formulate words and explain things to them, I cannot just telepathically beam them my idea. Also, if I get the idea that I want to be a therapist and then I have to go to school for three years and do 2 years of practicum, and then I can be a therapist. On earth there is a gestation process that has to happen. A seed is planted and then it grows slowly til it is a tree. A human egg is fertilized and a mother must be pregnant for 9 months before the baby is born. The manic state expect things to manifest as they do in the spiritual realm, immediately. Like telepathic communication, teleportation, and instant gratification.
In depressive states, the spirit living in the human body becomes aware of their limitations, of the slowness of earth, particularly the earth that exists in the current state of affairs that we find ourselves in now which is largely out of touch with spirit and does often does not recognize the importance of the unique essence of each being. This unique essence acts as a satellite dish for consciousness to express itself. Animals do this effortlessly, they are what they are. Humans get bogged down by their egos which can make it hard for their true self to come through. When humans are not allowed to express their unique frequency of consciousness, they will become depressed. Especially as vibrant spirit beings coming into a world that is very cut off from spirit. The bipolar experience, if navigated properly, can be a process of spiritual awakening. Spiritual leader and youtube star Travor Ileseley speaks and writes about the bipolar experience as a dark night of the soul that some people go through in order to conquer the fears of their ego and emerge as more fully themselves.
Life is Like a Trip
When someone is in a manic state they may experience ego dissolution, similar to what people may experience if they take psychedelic drugs. I believe that all of life is a trip (kind of like the matrix), and to get through it we must breath in love breath out fear. It could be helpful to think of bipolar episodes as a trip, and the psychologist like a trip sitter. If a person is experiencing a “bad trip” or a disturbing delusion they must be guided through it otherwise they may get stuck there.
For example, one time I was tripping and thought the feds were going to come and bust me for being on drugs. I imagined helicopters coming down. I imagined men with helmets and swords and stone cold eyes. I got super paranoid and scared, but then I made my self stop. I talk myself out of the paranoia and made myself think happy thoughts. However, the paranoia continued to lurk beneath the surface within me until I went into it. First I realized that if the feds came, it was because they thought that they were protecting us because they thought drugs were bad. They actually had an intention of love that was coming off as overprotective, harsh energy. Then I realized that my dad had behaved harsh or over protective with me as a kid and that this had also been just a misdirected intention of love. That much understanding I was able to glean while being intoxicated and talking myself out of having a bad trip.
The next even more deep and mystical understanding of my bad trip came two months after the fact in sober meditation. I revisited my paranoid state safely from my meditation cushion. I saw the feds were coming, I felt the fear, I saw their stone cold eyes. I let them handcuff me and take me away. I went to jail. I sat in the jail (in my mind). “Now what do I do?” I said to myself. “Be peaceful.” Was the answer. And so I learned that even in the most scary situations I can keep a peaceful heart. They say the difference between a mystic and a schizophrenic (or bipolar in this case) is that the mystic believes that the world is conspiring for them and the paranoid schizophrenic person believes that the world is conspiring against them. We cary vibrations within us that create our outer reality. If we can shift our inner vibration then we can also alter our entire experience of life including what kind of spirits, people and situations we attract to ourselves.
Spiritual Awakening
I think that if we help bipolar people navigate their altered, egoless, and depressed states by really going into them and holding a container for them to feel and explore what they are going through, that so much wisdom can be gleaned from their process. I believe that from an evolutionary perspective, bipolar and other so called “mental illnesses” are a part of the global awakening process. Of course people’s mental and physical states will be affected by the state of affairs in the world. And right now the world is so out of touch with what is truly important: the fact that we are all one and interconnected, and that we are all a different parts of a single consciousness that is expressing itself in a playfully diverse array of manifestations.
If someone is having bipolar symptoms, that is the least of our worries as a planet. Lets look into the wisdom of these people and what they are experiencing because we are also them. We are all connected. If this earth is having so many “mentally ill” people it is because we are all sick, because the earth herself is sick. We are all in this together. We need to remember who we are: spirits having an earthly experience. The earthly experience is inherently traumatic. There is no human that escapes trauma. Being born into this world of dualism and a veil hiding our conscious and unconscious experiences is painful for spirit. To transcend this we need to be able to be with all situations with peace in our hearts. In order to help our animal side transcend to the spirit side, we need to be able to face life and death, joy and sorrow, pain and comfort, with the equanimity. This is the key to lasting happiness.
Bibliography
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and
statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC:
Author.
T. (2016, April). Bipolar Disorder. Retrieved November, 2018, from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/bipolar-disorder/index.shtml
Ilesley, T. (2016, December 23). YOU DONT GET OUT OF THE DARK NIGHT, you get IN. Retrieved November, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsbWzJf_C5U
Ilesley, T. (2016, October 14). The benifits of the dark night of the soul.PART 3. Retrieved November, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GToNNKyhlZs
Ilesley, T. (2018, February 16). WAKING UP AT 3 AM / AWAKENING THE DIVINE FEMININE. Retrieved November, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGrW8MVHyo0
Ilesley, T. (2018, March 01). HIGHER SELF WANTS TOTAL TRANSFORMATION, NOT CHANGE. Retrieved November, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uolz64WdVB0