Hearing Voices/Sounds

Sophie-David

stella01904 said:
So you are seeing it as your higher self tapping into the answers, and I am seeing it as spirits tapping in and giving them to me. So there is some point of convergence where the illusion of separateness falls away and "higher self" and "spirits" become one. We are just touching different parts of the elephant, I think.
Yes, just so! Although I think I will stick with my evasive answer, "all of the above".

stella01904 said:
That's what the Tibetans say, that there is wisdom in everything, if you are perceptive enough, you can look at anything and divine something, see it as a manifestation of wisdom. Even a Honda Civic. Though I have a long way to go to get to that point. BB, Stella
But its fun to try - but maybe not while driving!

Cheers
David
 

The Dreamer

Here are the ideas which arise for me upon reading back through this thread-

Sophie-David's idea of synchronicity as "magic" strikes me strangely; people often use the word magic to cover anything which seems either "neato" or unexplained. Synchronicity is both of those, but, for the purposes of this discussion, we are trying to explore it, not just dismiss it as magical- (in like manner, I so often find people attributing to "god" every unexplained phenomenon; and that doesn't seem very conducive to understanding to me.)
But I find his idea of magic (switching the meaning to practical magic, now)as "information exchange" to be something I've never thought of. As a way to modify external/internal realities- sure. But I always come back to wondering what is internal and what is external. Sophie-David's and Stella's "all is one" ideas sound very nice, and give me a nice feeling, but I don't know if they explain anything.

There are a few other points I found interesting in the thread which I won't quote box because there are too many:
Alissa's statement that listening to a language that you don't know is exactly like hearing strung together syllables that don't make sense-
I have not found that to be my experience. I've heard english speakers "speak in tongues" and chinese speakers "speak in tongues". I don't speak chinese, but when I hear it spoken I can easily tell that it is a language; when I hear a chinese speaker switch from speaking chinese to speaking in tongues, however, I can tell immediately that they are no longer speaking in language. A chinese speaker's "tongues" sounds exactly like an english speaker's "tongues"- and neither sounds anything like language. What it sounds like is gibberish.
What a cool story, though, that Alissa began to hear phrases from Hindu religious texts before having heard or read about them. Could these phrases be embedded in the structure of our brains, did she intuit them, or are they really supernaturally related?
Alissa's clairaudience sounds not only benign, but beneficial. I don't know how to interpret it, though.

Which brings me to the statements of a few others in this thread- "I have to take medication for that" "I don't know if it's a mental condition or a psychic gift" "sometimes I wonder if there's something organically wrong with my brain". Those are something to consider. Where does religious or psychic experience end and psychosis or schizophrenia begin? Does mental illness exist at all, or is it all just a spectrum? It seems like a lot of people who hear voices do experience it as detrimental, and not benign or spiritual, those on this board notwithstanding (the writer of "I have to take medication for that" being a possible exception.)

I just keep going back to wanting to know where "our stuff" ends, and the "big stuff" begins. (Our stuff is big stuff, of course- I mean big, outside of ourself stuff.)

Unrelated to the above ideas- Simone's experiments with different sounds on the chakras I found very intriguing, and I'd love to see a thread about that.

Final thoughts- internal reality, spiritual reality, archetypes, mental health, god.

?

Big questions- probably unanswerable.
 

The Dreamer

And by "our stuff" I mean our stuff as humans, not our stuff as people who do divination; and by big stuff I mean contact with "spirits" or "god" or even the "collective unconcious".

(A few people in the thread took the existence of ghosts and spirits as a given- I find that difficult to do, because I've had no experience of them; and if I did have the experience, I would probably doubt whether it was a problem with my senses. Until I proved it or something. Faith is probably a factor in that- I don't have any; except in the loose sense of faith as hope. Faith to me means believing in things you get no proof for, or believing the stories of others and trying to apply them to yourself when they don't apply. I'm all for believing the stories of others, but not for trying to apply it to myself if I get no proof for myself.)

:)"The eternal self tunes in to that which lies beyond it all..." What a nice thought. I've often thought it- but there are so many particularities to sort out which do not lie beyond it all. My bias is that I want to sort them out. :TAS :T7C :confused: :)
 

Ruby7

Wow! I have to admit I have been a bit overwhelmed by the responses to my initial post. I have found them very interesting and enjoyed the thread but am really unsure as to what I think.

I should also make it clear that the few times this has happened to me I have felt very at peace/happy and it has been a very pleasant experience although a little surprising, I have felt blessed by it. I don't feel that in this case there is a supernatural element (as in ghosts/spirits) involved. I'm still not sure what it is all about.

Many thanks to everyone for sharing :)

Ruby7
 

stella01904

The Dreamer said:
Sophie-David's and Stella's "all is one" ideas sound very nice, and give me a nice feeling, but I don't know if they explain anything.
MM ~ You need some background or it just reads like a catchphrase. The eastern religions explain it in the most detail, I think, but it's common to most, if not all, religions.
Which brings me to the statements of a few others in this thread- "I have to take medication for that" "I don't know if it's a mental condition or a psychic gift" "sometimes I wonder if there's something organically wrong with my brain". Those are something to consider. Where does religious or psychic experience end and psychosis or schizophrenia begin? Does mental illness exist at all, or is it all just a spectrum? It seems like a lot of people who hear voices do experience it as detrimental, and not benign or spiritual, those on this board notwithstanding (the writer of "I have to take medication for that" being a possible exception.)
The general rule of thumb is that if they are hostile, telling you that you're no good, need to die, things like that, it's time for meds. Joseph Campbell wrote some interesting things about this. He said that in the tribal cultures, when an adolescent has a psychotic break, he is trained to be a shaman. Instead of removing the voices, he is brought into accord with them. BB, Stella
 

Alissa

The Dreamer said:
Alissa's statement that listening to a language that you don't know is exactly like hearing strung together syllables that don't make sense- I have not found that to be my experience.
Hmmm I may not be explaining myself well, or pehaps it's just a difference in perception. When I was travelling the trains in Europe, I would sit and listen to the cabin full of fluent Italian speakers (a language I do not know at all). The sounds of their language would wash over me, in melodic syllables all strung together, and delivered in rapid fire succession. It was comforting to hear, and reminded me viscerally of being a child, and listening to the words of the Big People around me, when I couldn't really understand what they were talking about/really meant. Just syllables and syllables... sounds.
Could these phrases be embedded in the structure of our brains, did she intuit them, or are they really supernaturally related? Alissa's clairaudience sounds not only benign, but beneficial. I don't know how to interpret it, though.
Or the akashic record, as the Hindus say... the Indian equivalent (sorta) of Jung's Collective Unconscious. And gosh, I have to say how reassuring to hear someone else beside me say, "I don't know how to interpret it though!" :D :D Story of my life... "No how on earth did that happen... and how soon until it happens again???" })
Where does religious or psychic experience end and psychosis or schizophrenia begin? Does mental illness exist at all, or is it all just a spectrum? It seems like a lot of people who hear voices do experience it as detrimental, and not benign or spiritual, those on this board notwithstanding (the writer of "I have to take medication for that" being a possible exception.)
I have a strong concrete, and functional understanding of our world, but have never lost my wonder of it - and somewhere therein lies the rub.

When does the phenomenon become detrimental? When does it become dysfunctional? When does it interfere with one's ability to lead a normal life?

Schizophrenia is often only diagnosable when compared to an agreed upon "norm," and it's the "sane" who decide that norm. What happens when the paradigm changes? Do our definitions of mental illness change?

I've given several years of my life to studying schizophrenia in order to novelize it (years ago). From my own perception, a mental disorder is diagnosable only in comparing yourself with the mutually agreed upon "norm," and analyzing how much the phenomenon negatively impacts your "quality of life".

No one locks up people who hear ancient, dead languages, but still manages to make her breakfast, take care of herself and family, and such. ;) (At least, they haven't locked me up... yet).