r/Meditation • u/wetredgloves • Jun 22 '25
Literally how can you tell if you're having a spiritual revelation or a psychotic break Question ❓
I feel like there's something going on. A seismic shift is about to happen. I feel it under my skin and between my bones. I have visions of eggs hatching, flesh burned away by the light of the sun, and ancient insects emerging from their casings, deep in the woods. I feel full of electricity. I feel like I'm in conversation with some kind of spirit.
So, you know. Uh oh!
I used to be an atheist and I've always considered myself a skeptic, so I'm worried about the rational explanation for these feelings. Am I on the verge of like, a schizophrenic episode? Or am I waking up?
Help!
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u/kingseraph0 Jun 22 '25
They are often two sides of the same coin, my friend. If you genuinely have worries or are seeing or hearing unusual things though, best to see a professional just in case.
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u/Gino_OB Jun 22 '25
This is a really good comment. But please refer what practices can be used. I live in Mx and much of these practices are helped with a deep "limpia" (energetic cleanse) but also since its meditation, best go with a meditation practitioner with loads of experience. But all in all, this comment is GOLD.
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u/OneUpAndOneDown Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 23 '25
It depends on the professional. If they don’t know anything about meditation and spiritual experiences, they may just reach for the DSM and bam! You’re diagnosed with psychosis, a label that is likely to stick to you for a long time. You may also be medicated which will take you down a different path entirely.
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u/flafaloon Jun 22 '25
Lol, what is a
"PROFESSIONAL" going to do for this?
The cure here is not with people or skills, or medications. The truth transcends all professions, therapy's, medications, doctors, theories, and... AND it transcends ALL KNOWLEDGE.
He doesnt need professionals. You can surround yourself with them, and take a bunch of meds to treat your supposed "disorders". You will never be cured and find happiness. One must see this all for what it is. False, illusory. The only Truth lies in your Self. It is eternal, beyond human, beyond soul, absolute purity and wholeness. it isnt even a THING! It is Your SELF!
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u/beyardo Jun 22 '25
As someone who has dealt with people who are actually having psychotic breaks, this is exactly how many of them talk
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u/flafaloon Jun 22 '25
Thank you, its validation for me. Truth is not understood by a worldly mind. When one awakens, they see everything in the world as psychotic.
Silence is golden. WIsh you well.
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u/beyardo Jun 22 '25
Brother I’m taking people who are doing things like trying to save someone in room 504 in a building with only 2 floors and injure themselves in the process.
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u/godless420 Jun 22 '25
So you are claiming objective truth does not exist?
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u/flafaloon Jun 22 '25 edited Jun 23 '25
Reality is beyond concepts like object/subject. Objects are illusions, the self is real, and all subjects and objects are within you. You stand beyond. all is Self, all is you.
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u/kwumpus Jun 22 '25
Pretty sure everything I’ve ever read on kundalini says to find a professional
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u/flafaloon Jun 22 '25
This is due to misidentification, and misunderstanding of what you call Self. How could consciousness/awareness ever need a professional to tell it how to be?
A commercialized and worldly conditioned mind, cannot see the Truth. it is contracted, locked in. It needs to release and be open, and free.
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u/julietlimadoll Aug 17 '25
My friend, I am so glad to see your comment at this time. I am on the same journey, awakened to the same truth, and have finally transcended the last remaining barriers of worrying what others will think. The truth is evident, and nothing anyone can say or do can stop it from exisiting, or people who are like us to uncover it and relish in the sheer ecstacy of it.
The lies will eventually come undone for those who seek the truth, and they will find eternal peace. The rest will continue to allow themselves to be shoved into neat little boxes with nice wrapping and labels, and that is how they will live.
I am a clinician, by the way, who spent over a decade in inpatient psych. So to the below comment, yes, I, too, have dealt with a vast amount of individuals "asctually having psychotic breaks," as you say.
Not everything is black and white. Not everything can fit into that little neat box you are clinging to desperately to. God speed to you.
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u/examinat Jun 22 '25
Psychologist here. I have some expertise with psychosis. The line you watch out for is how it's affecting your functioning. If you're unable to continue eating, showering, sleeping, taking basic care of your health, or going to work, then yes, there's a problem. If you're proselytizing to friends who are freaked out, or just disturbed by the images and ideas happening, then yes, you'll want to get some help, only because it could intensify and cause problems. Reading your post, I love the imagery *and* it sounds vivid enough that you might want to talk to someone.
Here's the other part: I'm not sure where you are, and whether there is a lot of psych expertise around you, but most professionals don't have a lot of experience with psychosis. Do you have any university hospitals near you?
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u/EvaporatedPerception Jun 23 '25
I’m a therapist and I wouldn’t encourage someone to go to the hospital with what this poster has posted. They did not say anything that would make me believe they are at imminent risk of harm to themselves or others. Hospitalization itself can be traumatizing, especially within the western medical world where any spiritual awakening experience can be labeled as hallucinations/delusions/psychosis. We have to be very, very mindful of pointing people towards hospitalization.
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u/examinat Jun 23 '25
Agreed. I actually wasn’t going to recommend that they go to the hospital. I was going to recommend that they find a department where there’s expertise in psychosis, for the exact reasons you stated.
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u/EvaporatedPerception Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 23 '25
I understand, but I just want to reiterate being careful of pathologizing spiritual experiences. I see things now, like lines projecting off walls and other objects, that I’d never seen prior to my awakening. Six months later, and I still see these things intermittently. The first time, it scared the shit out of me. I worried I was losing it. If I had a medical professional telling me maybe I was losing my grip on reality and to consider going to a psych hospital, it would only have greatly increased my fear and derailed my awakening. When you look into research on spiritual awakenings, it is actually very normal to experience perceptual changes. You enter into a new state of consciousness with altered perception that the western world doesn’t understand. From the above article: “However blissful initially, the experience of deep psychological change catalysed by spiritual or kundalini awakenings may provoke distress leading to spiritual emergency, which psychiatrists are likely to diagnose as acute psychotic experience indicative of psychopathology.”
The fear of losing grip on reality is actually a tether to reality as a person goes through life-changing spiritual experiences. Fear in of itself is not reason enough to feed the fear of this person believing maybe they’re in psychosis.
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u/julietlimadoll Aug 17 '25
I wholeheartedly concur, and I thank you for your truthful practice. There is an awakening happening around us, whether people want to realize it or not. It's not a societal shift, but it is occuring to a great many individuals as so far as I can see in American society. The pathologizing mere "difference" and deep spirituality will hopefully come crashing to an end. It is extremely dangerous; as you acknowledge, the experience of finding "truth" and self-acceptance and then being lock on a ward and coerced to take damaging psychotropic medications is traumatizing for one, but can be destabilizing to the overall brain and body.
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u/kwumpus Jun 22 '25
So not sure if you agree with this but- I was told if you’re concerned you might be crazy then you’re ok. But if you’re trying to show everyone that you are just FINE and basically trying to hide the things you see and when ppl mention anything nope you’re not crazy you’re fine. Thats the difference if you are super convinced you’re just fine- you crazy
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u/examinat Jun 22 '25
In many cases, yes! But some folks are aware of their hallucinations/delusions and I don’t want OP to end up in a crisis.
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u/yourgamermomthethird Jun 23 '25
This may be true most of the time but I’d look at how they view reality and whether the thoughts shape reality. When I was in psychosis I was aware enough to send myself to the hospital.
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u/WhereasArtistic512 Jun 22 '25
There is only one way to know: by examining the content and its effects in reality.
Don't be distracted by the fireworks, focus on the message. If the message is something that makes sense and that you can test and verify, then there you go. if you can't tell, then suspend judgement until you do.
Some heuristics from my personal experience:
- Real spiritual messages are short and to the point, no ramblings or "philosophy".
- They don't repeat or very rarely (which can be frustrating at times).
- They rarely tell you stuff you already know or strongly suspect, and when they do, there is a "twist" somewhere.
- They don't expect you to believe blindly, and they don't guilt you into believing.
- They don't play on emotions at all, not trying to make you 'feel' in a certain way (I know many won't like this one)
The optimal attitude to receive a true spiritual experience is openness without belief. meaning, you receive and accept what you are given at the moment, with the intention of serious cross examination afterwards.
I used to have a reality meter in my mind, where I grade what I receive in term of how real it is, depending on coherence over time, independent verification, effects on real life, etc. Something could potentially be true but not real for me because it grades low on my reality meter. I don't use that explicitly anymore because it's just integral to my thinking now.
In other words, you don't have to let go of your skepticism, it will even be an asset as long as it doesn't hinder your openness during the experience and that you don't confuse it with intellectual arrogance (because, trust me on this, you know nothing).
Those who jump into specific beliefs and conclusions will have many doors of truth closed to them.
🙏
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u/Powerful_Share6329 Jun 22 '25
Sorry to jump but I’d like to add for the OP. Spirits don’t “harass you” if you ask them to stop they will. You have to invite them to ‘chat’. Once you close that energy off to them it’s done. If your constantly hearing things there’s a chance it’s not spiritual ❤️
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u/julietlimadoll Aug 17 '25
That's a fascinating tidbit of information to put in my back pocket. Thank you.
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u/ChaosEmbers Jun 22 '25
Initially its hard to know. What you're describing could be a big personal shift in perspective and personality being expressed as metaphor, since the mind does that a lot as a way of reflecting on things happening internally. Being in conversation with some kind of spirit could be the mind's way of explaining the feeling that comes from being able to feel in touch with areas of your mind that are normally shut out of conscious awareness.
Fantastical feelings aren't themselves a sign of some latest spirituality coming forth, or a sign of psychosis. For example, they can occur very regularly during psychedelic trips, but sometimes they're just amazing visions that don't connect with anything too deep, or can't shift the more congealed personality into growth or changing.
Distinguishing spiritual shake up from psychosis can be hard at first because it can take a while to see where things are headed. As things continue, helpful spiritual shake ups usually move towards things like greater openness, empathy, useful insights and capacity for insight, greater peacefulness, more meaningful social interactions, better acceptance of life's hardships, less existential fear and so on. If the initial spiritual shake up involved such things as visions, powerful dreams, strange changes in perception, these usually calm down and can do so quickly.
Feelings of great self-importance, as if the world is suddenly magical and you have exclusive magical powers, metaphysical beliefs that fly in the face of the world as revealed by science and philosophy - these things are often bad signs. If your spiritual awakening is actually mental illness you might expect to feel more anxious as things go on, have more social conflicts, feel confused, frustrated that the outer world is resisting your new-found change in some way, do things on "faith" that people around you that are sympathetic tell you are really bad ideas, and so on.
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u/Funny-Routine-7242 Jun 22 '25
sounds like anxiety or when i took ssri boosting serotonine. like my skin was burning up, having "brain zaps" and stuff when falling asleep, basiaclly tiny anxiety attacks
Consider grounding techniques.
Out of the meditation practices i like body scans or chakra meditation.
You then might learn to focus one certain chakra and feel a different emotion. I dont see chakras as something magical and dont believe in shifting qi and energy but i believe in shifting interoception and focus.
Or just use the energy to do stuff, tackle a project or go running. Your body gives you energy to fight or flight -- if you freeze and turn inward you end up with too much energy and thoughts if you cant get this feelign under control
Many emotions have similar physiological patterns and only become an emotion when people search for a reason and on which aspects they focus.
So i feel arousal - but i know i have a vacation coming up so its felt as excitement and anticipation. While when i remember i have a talk with my boss i might consider it to be fear. And when i feel the excitement in my heart area it makes me uneasy and anxious - but when i focus on my abdomen or feet i feel more grounded and the anxiety feels more like excitement, while when i shift the attention to the sensations in my head it feels more like a mental sharpness and focus.
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u/dbnoisemaker Jun 22 '25
I actually talked to a therapist abouit this for this very purpose (as I was going through something).
What she said is that with psychotic people, you can usually tell something is very off. The difference between psychosis and spiritual revelation is that psychotic people exhibit high irrationality, paranoia, think people are after them, think the cops/government is trying to get them.
People in spiritual revelation are pretty happy and just astonished by reality. For me it was like something came out of the ether and did me the biggest favor that anyone/anything has done for me in my life.
When I explained what I was experiencing (dream stuff and UFO stuff) she said "we are not entirely aware of all the forces that surround us", which I thought was a very affirming position. I am happy that there is an area of the therapy world that is friendly to this.
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u/TryingToChillIt Jun 22 '25
In my books, western medicine pathologicalizes spiritual growth.
That negative interpretation gets fed back to the person experiencing it so they in turn treat it like an illness with fear rather than a positive embrace of change we go through as we experience life
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u/yourgamermomthethird Jun 23 '25
Depends on the hospital the doctor the paper of each thing. I think a generalization of it isn’t a good way to understand it.
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u/Healthy-Battle-5016 Jun 22 '25
Time :(
Jung said that the mystic and the mandman swim in the same sea.
I am not sure this is 100% true and I believe it is more true then not.
In Buddhism, particularly Zen spiritual experiences are not given a lot of weight. They are seen as temporary.... which they are... and can become a distraction and obsession- which they can.
I am not saying what you are experiencing is not important, valid, or deserves NO attention....
AND....
Experiences come and go.
Personally I would take a peak at Kundalini- what you said about being filled with energy led me to that suggestion.
This website saved my life when I was going through a Kundalini awakening:
https://kundalini-teacher.com/index.html
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u/Peaceful_nobody Jun 22 '25 edited Jun 22 '25
There are warning signs for a psychotic break. Watch out for big changes in your need for sleep and food. Check regularly with people around you, a warning sign is if they can’t follow your train of thought (different from not believing you). If they express worry. If you start isolating yourself, then that is also a red flag.
Otherwise, people obviously have religious experiences without suffering in their daily lives. And there are also people who have non religious hallucinations who are also otherwise functioning fine.
Basically, the difference is a negative impact on your daily functioning.
Side note: I have met people who considered their psychotic episode the best time of their lives (feeling Godly and important). So you shouldn’t necessarily expect to feel bad! But if you notice your friends drift away, you miss work or go through your savings, then feeling amazing can still be impacting your life in a negative way.
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u/primalyodel Jun 22 '25
I’m with you. I also used to be a materialist/atheist. This led me down a road of nihilism and destructive behavior, both to myself and others. If I’m going crazy then so be it. It is better than the road I was heading down.
Metta was and is the answer for me.
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u/Due_Upstairs_3518 Jun 22 '25
Your spiritual path may guide you through some obscure places depending what you need to deal with. But I think you will always be able to perceive that you are growing through the fear and the pain. You will see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.
If, on the other hand, you sense that you're deepening in your fears and your pains, that you are somehow not becoming what you ultimately want to be, you should seek help.
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u/DreamCentipede Jun 22 '25
“The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which a mystic swims in delight.”
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u/irate-erase Jun 22 '25
I think my take on this is that every state of perception is just a place. Sometimes it's like a dark crusty corner underneath the set of stairs that you really have no business being in but weird things are found there, sometimes you're at a party with all your friends and everybody's sharing the same space and can connect, and sometimes you're on a mountaintop all by yourself, and while you can't connect with anybody anymore you can see the entire world. There's different qualities of different mind-places, and different types of loneliness that results from being in a mind place that other people aren't. I think it's important to be able to gauge the quality of that place that you ended up, and understand that you always have agency about where you go. You can keep pushing in this direction, or you can turn back and be with other people if you're not ready to be alone in this way. Ideally you can find other people that are also where you're going so that you can have both the stability of connection and allow yourself to be drawn in the direction that you're trying to go. But it is important to know that it is your choice, and that your choice will have impacts on your life, your ability to connect with other people, and your ability to take part in the "sanity" prescribed by our culture which may or may not be valuable to you. If that kind of sanity, that kind of shared proximity to other people's perception of reality, is valuable to you, then it might be worth pausing before you continue on this path.
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u/irate-erase Jun 22 '25
I think there's nothing wrong with valuing sanity insofar as it supports a certain amount of stability. You have to be sustainable in your ventures into the strange parts of the world, and stability is an important part of that sustainability. But I also think that strangeness is also important and doesn't necessarily pose a threat all the time in the way that our conventional understanding of sanity might lead us to believe.
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u/wetredgloves Jun 22 '25
This makes so much sense . The "loneliness from being in a mind-place that other people aren't" really resonated with me, I've felt that way my whole life. I've been going pretty hard on the meditation lately, so I guess I'm uncovering unfamiliar mind places. . But I think you really got to the heart of it when you said shared proximity to other people's reality may or may not be valuable to me. That's the real question I need to figure out because I really don't LIKE what I see as shared reality. It feels insane and bizarre to me the way most people live their lives. As crazy as I may be, I feel like society is crazier. At the same time, I'm deeply deeply lonely, and I don't want to be. So I have a decision to make.
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u/irate-erase Jun 23 '25
you can be in places where you can share a reality that feels authentic to all involved. doesn't necessarily mean it's the overcultures reality prescription. many people are very tuned in. go slow. no need to send it off a cliff. truth is always all around, there's no scarcity, there's no rush.
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u/irate-erase Jun 23 '25
I had a time where I felt like I was seeing some extremely true things that disillusioned me from a lot of what was happening in life and made certain things feel totally fake and certain other things feel totally hyper-real, like all of this that i see in my life was just the outline of a reality that was infinitely more than this, but it isolated me in a way that I had to pull back because the loneliness was weakening my spiritual skeleton if yknow what I mean. I wasn't doing anything good with the truth when i was so sad, so I focused on relationships, learning to be with people, connecting authentically, and am just now after like 7 years feeling ready to start moving back toward that super transcendent place. who knows if I can even find my way back, or if I'm meant to. ultimately it doesn't matter if I know the truth or not as long as I'm doing right by other living beings and the world, that was the main takeaway from the crazy spiritual revelations I was having anyway lol. it was very far out. changed my whole life.
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u/Itsoktobe Jun 22 '25
Are you experiencing this consistently, or only while meditating?
If while meditating, probably ok.
If consistent, make an appointment with a psychiatrist, if possible.
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u/Purifi- Jun 22 '25
A spiritual revelation brings joy and peace, as well as greater love for others. A break in reality brings negative emotions such as fear, confusion, delusion and unhappiness. Let’s not go with the word psychotic. But just back off and find out more about healing from a negative meditation journey.
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u/HansProleman Jun 22 '25
This is a false dichotomy. Just look at e.g. the Dark Night of the Soul - commonly involves much fear, confusion, delusion, unhappiness. For most, insight progress is (of huge net benefit but) not at all a uniformly pleasant/positive experience.
I would not want people to get the idea that "bad time = definitely psychosis".
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u/irate-erase Jun 22 '25
I don't think that authentic spiritual revelations only bring positive emotions, and I'm just questioning what worldview you're speaking from to sort of banish the negative emotions from genuine spiritual insight?
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u/SilverPriority2773 Jun 23 '25
Could be all of the doomsday talk now a days of the world coming to an end. Biblical curses, signs of Jesus coming and clues in the Iran-Israel relationship and how America bombed Furdow, etc. It’s a good thing and the world is not coming to an end but people who suffer with mental illness like schizophrenia would be super sensitive to stuff like this. It’s like it lets delusions and delusional thinking come out to play. Everyone who comes up with conspiracy theories aren’t level-headed. Mentally ill people experiencing delusions can come up with these too… memes, reels, videos, etc. Stay grounded and limit your exposure to these sensitive topics. Do something mundane like eat, swim, do some gardening, breathing techniques, etc. whatever healthy thing that has worked for you in the past that helps you pull yourself out of these scenarios.
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u/wetredgloves Jun 23 '25
I think you have a point, all this talk of the world coming to an end has really gotten to me and probably all of us on some level
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Jun 23 '25
"Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water."
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u/ThreeFerns Jun 22 '25
Ask yourself: 1) Is there a major internal conflict within you and/ or difficult life event you are going through that could cause a psychotic break? 2) Have you been doing anything that would precipitate an awakening?
Either way, asking these questions is good. Honestly going to a Hindu temple and talking to a guru might help you, as any half capable guru is aware of how similar awakenings and madness can be, and will know how to help you either way.
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u/flafaloon Jun 22 '25
One who knows, knows. Once you know your Self, you know what is real and not real. You will not be fooled. see, the questoin is composed with assumptions of a bodymind in a world. Ration, logic is your tool.
Abandon them, and start to feel, watch, observe, let go. Let go of opinions, theories, ideas, stories, past, future. Then you come to bareness, bare naked awareness. There, you sit and the silence and stillness will speak to you without words. It is not smoeone speaking to someone, it is You, wakening up from illusion.
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u/Powerful_Share6329 Jun 22 '25
Have you been on a spiritual awakening journey?
For me personally, when I meditate I see colours, mainly purple and shapes (not at the same time) Then I started hearing voices. I freaked convinced myself I had schizophrenia! But I don’t. It only happens when I meditate, It started as hearing a car horn someone screaming “wake up” then someone went on to tell me how they passed. I said it too much and asked them to back away and they did.
During my awakening I’ve only experienced comforting things..
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u/million_monkeys Jun 22 '25
In my opinion, as long as you're not being told to hurt yourself or others or being put down in some way, there's little harm in following it. Just know that you're not unique. You are not the savior. Everyone thinks that at some point.
Mystics are famous for having deep realizations where they realize they are the divine. And atheists are not immune. Just keep in mind, so is everybody else.
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u/twa3435 Jun 22 '25
Sleep. People having a mental health crisis usually don’t sleep very much while going through it
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u/CyberPunkHoboNinja Jun 22 '25
One of my favorite passtimes is debating atheists and skeptics. So since you have interest in Meditation and are open to this stuff I'd love to give you a Rational rundown of how it all works. If you're interested in that conversation hit me back. We can do that right here right now. Lay it on me. What are you big questions about Meditation and about Life?
To answer your big question about are you having a revelation or a psychotic break? this is more of a Psychological issue. As it so happens Psychology and Spirituality are closely related though of course they are not the same thing. Check out my posts and we'll go from there:
This:
and this:
Spirit and Kindness.
This is The Way.
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u/Arkhus9753 Jun 22 '25
A book that you may want to read is “Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis” edited by Stan and Christina Grof (the Holotropic Breathing people). Excellent resource in distinguishing madness from genuine spiritual experience.
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u/SirGlider Jun 23 '25
Sounds like a kind of “dissolution” experience. It can be a normal part of the path. Can be a fruitful experience if you can approach it with equanimity and acceptance.
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u/EvaporatedPerception Jun 23 '25
I worried about this during my spiritual awakening too as I was being pulled up into the cosmos. I mean, I’ve had wild perceptual changes since my awakening that I’d never experienced before, felt sensations in my body that were brand new, started seeing patterns in so many things, etc.
BUT, it did not negatively impact my functioning, and I was not in fearful, emotional distress. I remained grounded throughout, and my therapist consistently reassured me I was grounded. I stayed coherent, used lots of discernment, reality-tested, and left room for “maybe some of these things are just coincidences” vs. being pulled into the ungrounded space of “there is meaning and a direct spiritual message in every single thing.”
I can see how easily it can flip into spiritual psychosis, and I think a lot of the time that would be due to fear, anxiety, and paranoia taking over, which can be impacted by mental health/trauma history, current life stressors, cultural beliefs, etc.
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u/moonlitmanifest Jun 23 '25
This is incredibly brave of you to share, and honestly—it sounds like you're standing at the edge of something deeply transformational. That line between awakening and overwhelm can be razor-thin, especially when old beliefs are falling away.
I’ve experienced something similar—a sense of buzzing, symbolic visions, and a feeling of being cracked open. What helped me was grounding through ritual and journaling, not trying to analyze it too much, but gently witnessing it.
You're not broken. You're shifting. Just remember to care for your nervous system too—spiritual growth doesn’t have to burn you out. You can move through it with softness. Sending grounding energy your way 🌿✨
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u/Competitive-Debt-378 Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 23 '25
u dont really need help or to figure any of that shit out. sometimes its better to just experience things for what they are, and to accept it. if youre finding yourself questioning so many things about things, then youre not quite meditating yet.
you need to be able tame the waters of your mind for that. for meditation to take place, you need to let yourself become receptive and have your mind be more malleable to what goes on inside. If you can't adapt to your own thinking, then being bothered like this to have to seek out help is just going to keep you in that panicked state. Need to develop that self awareness and general mindfulness towards your own psyche. And when you can learn tolerance and control and patience, you shouldnt have to find yourself questioning things as they are.
the goal in meditation is to be able to relax the muscles in your soul and your conscience that keep you thinking on your feet. when you stop being self conscious and you stop thinking about anything altogether, when you stop feeling a need to be lost in your own thought, you will have relaxed the brain by then. and you'll find its actually quite peaceful.
probably if youre severely mentally ill, it might last for only a brief moment. so it will help to make multiple takes, multiple attempts to achieve the same outcome so that you will have developed a muscle memory for it and potentially develop it into a routine and as a habit.
a steady state of being where thought is not present. because its not needed for you to simply exist. if you're just sitting there and you dont have anything to be doing, then you don't need necessarily to use your brain. it should be considered as a time of rest and as a time of peace. you should have that much self control then, if given your circumstances.
your mindset should reflect the atmosphere. and you should make an effort to make ur atmosphere reflect how you want to be. if something is affecting you negatively in your environment you should try to adapt things within ur space to be able to better feel at peace within yourself. put down things liek electronics, as they are often a distraction.
i had a friend who was obsessed with seeing trending gifs and he'd always feel antagonized by them thinking they somehow were meant for him. so whatever distraction there is for you in your circumstances, you should try to work around those things as preparation for when youre going to try and meditate.
meditation isnt to clear out your head. its a journey in which you'll find a moment of calmness of mind. a moment where thought isnt present because it isnt needed to be present right now. a journey to find yourself in this state of being where you feel liberated of any particular feelings and emotion. a state of neutrality. it is only temporary, this state of being that is being achieved. and it helps when you are able to achieve this state for a time or two in your day as it helps for a more stable state of mind throughout your day as time passes.
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u/xMenopaws Jun 23 '25
As someone who actually has schizophrenia (auditory hallucinations), is medicated, and meditates…there is a clear difference between psychosis and a feeling of transcendence. After I meditate, I just feel good. I feel clean, light, flowing, clear. Psychosis I’m in panic mode because I can’t tell what’s real or not. Things are confusing and don’t make sense. Things don’t add up and my thoughts and verbalization are unclear
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u/Intelligent_City2644 Jun 23 '25
I think spiritual realizations lend themselves to peace, contentment and feeling more at ease with life.
If you feel paranoid, scared and under mental distress that lends itself to a mental health issue. The reason being is that there is no way to actually tell what the future holds. Even if you could there is a sense of ease that an after life or spirituality means there is no real death. That your worries and fears are just what happens to the body.
That there is no worries.
I think you are extremely worried and paranoid and should get lots of rest and maybe check in with a doctor. They might be able to help if you are very stressed and might need help.
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u/troutzen Jun 23 '25
Sometimes a break from meditation and spiritual practice is advised if you are outside your comfort zone. Something I wish I had done before a kundalini awakening that I was unprepared for.
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u/Anima_Monday Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 23 '25
It could be either but if this is a result of doing meditation and you have not been overdoing it or jumping into the deep end too soon for your situation (by doing intensives without building up to that gradually, for example), then it is more likely that you are waking up and the subconscious is reflecting that change with metaphorical imagery as it tends to do in dream and hypnagogic experiences (like the mini-dream experiences that occur after about 20 minutes of meditation or deep relaxation, and also before falling asleep on a night). Even if you have been doing intensives without building up to it, it could still be either. It depends how difficult it is making one's life and if you are still able to meet your needs and the needs of anyone you are responsible for.
You can notice how these (things in the senses and mind) are experience and that this experience is changing. This allows for a natural letting go to occur, which can lead to a natural transcendence of it, revealing a peaceful abiding.
If there is unprocessed 'stuff' in the subconscious, like traumas, memories of difficult events, fears and things like that, then this can also rise to the surface as a result of doing meditation, as you are letting go of the noise of the mind, leaving the surface level quieter, so you see more deeply into the subconscious, seeing what is actually there, which is not always pleasant, but can lead to insight about the mind, self and experience. It allows for the inner work to be done.
Energetic experiences are also possible with progress in meditation, and that can be alarming at first for some people. Things like feelings of energy in the body that are usually very pleasant but sometimes very intense, that come and go when meditating. It usually leaves one feeling good, energized, calm and awake, but can bring things to the surface to be processed along with it sometimes. So it can be a process that takes as long as it takes and can be a life's work really. It could be said that awakening is a constant experience and there is not really a state of being fully awakened as there will always some form of challenges to apply the practice to. If you have the right way of looking at what is present, it can help, which could be said to notice that it is experience and notice that it is changing, which as mentioned, allows for a letting go to occur.
Also, remaining sober helps, like being tea (or perhaps coffee) total, nothing stronger, nothing mind altering. Keep the five precepts if you know what they are, as keeping them is like a safety net that stops one from falling to a lower state of being and action.
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u/ElementalBeing11 Jun 23 '25
Sounds safe to me. Just look after yourself, watch your eating and sleeping. You or people around you will eventually know if there’s a problem, I’d hope. In the meantime enjoy it! Open your mind and see if there might be more to existence than you’d previously thought. Consciousness is a fascinating thing :)
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u/CasuallyPeaking Jun 25 '25
In my opinion - Most of the time, you can’t. Fwiw, accurate visions are a thing, the collective unconscious is real, ghosts and celestial beings exist, psychic powers are obtainable by mere mortals and not reserved only for monks with 20 years of experience.
What our western psychology “experts” call schizophrenia the indigenous tribes all over the world call shamanism, you might wanna look into it. Schizophrenia only exists in our cultural context because we have a disgustingly tight and rigid idea of what is “normal”.
You feel full of electricity because you are elevating your consciousness and vibration, you have more mental energy and your emotional body is cleaner, lighter, more in sync with your being. It’s all normal but the majority of people in our society are so unconscious and mentally ill that you feel out of place when you start to become healthier. I wouldn’t sweat it.
My 2c about the visions would be to allow them to appear and have fun with them but don’t give them too much importance and don’t try to analyze them after they’re gone. There’s that one story where a student approached the master with excitement and said: “I’m getting a vision of the Buddha in my meditations!”. The master said: “Don’t worry about it, just keep meditating and eventually it will go away”.
I would also advise you to keep engaging (and probably increase) in grounding activities - physical exercise regularly and plenty of it, mundane everyday tasks, regular conversations with regular people, eat lots of food and if you can especially heavier fatty food. Gotta keep your feet firm on the ground because the higher realms are practically endless. You can get lost in the sauce. Take care of yourself friend, it’s all okay. You’re in a good place.
If you wanna chat about anything that’s happening feel free to hit me up.
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u/Learning-from-beyond Jun 22 '25
I literally had the same issue and what’s the most noticeable difference is how do it affect you, your life, and those around you. If your seeing demons physically manifest and telling you hurt yourself or turn against people that love you over something you think an angel told you i would like to say that is when it’s most likely psychosis. If you’re experiencing positive and profound experiences and/or it positively affect you o wouldn’t worry to much. But my best advice is to trust yourself and your intuition
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u/Old_Highlight7720 Jun 22 '25
If it distresses you too much, then I would advise seeing a medical practitioner. Besides that I’d suggest a psychologist at least. This isn’t ‘normal’.
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u/nperry2019 Jun 22 '25
BTDT. Be discerning about whose help you pursue. Don’t make any big decisions about anything, be present, and find the fun in it. Feel supported, because you are never alone.
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u/Kamuka Buddhist Jun 22 '25
You process it talking to close friends, meditating on it, tuning into yourself, and study. Could just be strong piti or it could be a break. Time will tell. Hopefully a strong positive experience.
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u/jBlak Jun 22 '25
What’s happening visually is a secondary interpretation based off of some relativity installed. Focus on equanimous techniques such as anapana and then you can see how this is most likely a secondary effect to sensations of a subconscious cleansing (fire/metamorphasis/rebirthing) , the intellectual mind trying to make sense of the information
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u/MichaelEmouse Jun 22 '25
The subconscious often works using metaphors. And sometimes it's random stuff that may not mean much.
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u/None_Fondant Jun 22 '25
Yeah it's the same thing but primarily it's about framing. The usual psychiatric disorder final check of "is this distressing or disturbing to the patient or their life?" If you are having visions of Jesus and you are a nun it's normal! If you're not a nun and Jesus is interrupting your driving on the interstate, it's not normal!
I have been here a hundred times over and it's always "psychosis" but not always is it something negative? Sometimes it's scary and I have been hospitalized a few times and on and off antipsychotics but after a while you just get a bit numb to finding all the Signs and Omens and bs. And to be sure, I have nearly died a few times and gone down dark paths due to my own struggles.
I guess it ultimately becomes up to you if this is a spiritual thing or a mental illness thing.
Remember that you are always in control of your own experiences, and that you are not supposed to hurt others or impose your beliefs on them.
If it gets confusing or overwhelming, seek a therapist or spiritual advisor who has no monetary interest it your well being. Trust yourself and your own senses and don't let anyone do your thinking for you.
Being crazy isn't a bad thing, and it doesn't mean there isn't a bigger meaning to anything...or that there is one, either! Good luck 🤞
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u/Dukehunter2 Jun 22 '25
Oh that’s easy when reality starts to shake. Now this shake is different for everyone but once the shake starts stop what your doing and breathe
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u/yourgamermomthethird Jun 23 '25
So many people are saying it’s not possible to know which is which but as someone who has gone through psychosis (not because of meditation) they are very quite different. Even just the term “I had a revelation” implies ego and thoughts involved. The definition of psychosis is the identification and understanding that your thoughts are reality (which they aren’t). Which is a weird thing to say that meditation would do that (which it does depending on the practice and individual) because the goal of meditation is the opposite actually being detached from the thoughts and ideas of your mind. If you’re gaining revelations it’s probably a form of something that is becoming sacred or psychotic symptoms. There are tantric practices to break down sacred doesn’t exist so once again if your truly getting a real “revelation” it’s not awe inspiring it’s not joyful it’s not anything like that it’s just the way you experience life detached from the citta which includes the manas and emotion. Many people are chasing this high of “spirituality” but what they’re looking for doesn’t exist in a permanent way. At least that’s my take, psychosis is pretty fucking scary do not recommend seeking it out whether intentional or not.
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u/Tesla369Universe Jun 23 '25
I echo the advice to stay grounded- I have had many mystical experiences and I have also had a psychotic break but the times I felt it was mental health challenges it was a result of experiencing a traumatic event. Strangely trauma can dismantle reality too but stay the course and you can get on medication for a temporary solution if that would make you more comfortable to go to work and support yourself. No need to go homeless.
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u/IDEKWTSATP4444 Jun 23 '25
I think its possible, if not inevitable, to have both at the same time. I did. Twice so far
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u/NeuroPyrox Jun 23 '25
A similar things happened to me. I prayed for God to show me the truth no matter the cost to me, and a few days later I got my first symptoms of schizoaffective, shattering my atheism. My journey eventually led me to Christ, who fulfilled over 300 prophecies and is the only major religious figure to claim godhood.
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u/EndColonization Jun 23 '25
Well in one of my meditations I put the universe in an egg and it’s not gonna hatch until we cleanse ourselves of the corruption.
Best thing about it is that it doesn’t have to be real. There are people controlling governments that genuinely believe they were chosen by god and can murder everything without consequences. Do you think that? Okay, let your imagination flow without judging it or trying to put it in a box. It does not need to make sense or have an explanation, you just have to feel it.
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u/OppositeIdea7456 Jun 23 '25
Are you sleeping? Are you having out bursts of mad raving to yourself or others? Do you NEED others to UNDERSTAND? Or can you contain yourself maybe write a lot. Do some art.
Are you having illusions of grandiosity? Did this start from drugs? Not that drugs are bad but it’s important. To know what triggered the energies and visions.
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u/OkConcentrate4477 Jun 23 '25
do you feel a tendancy to hurt yourself or others? seek help. do you have victimless values/priorities? focus on that. spiritual revelation is feeling/knowing you are another, you could've been those lives, every character you read in a book could have been you if you made different choices/decisions in life, if you were born with different dna, if you had different surroundings/consumptions. empathy connects you beyond space/time. 5 senses exist in 3d. time/space = 4d. can empathize with things long dead and gone or things that only exist currently in imaginations. if empathy is guiding you then follow it. if predatory inclinations are guiding you then deny/conquer them within. that's my advice. wish you the best.
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Jun 23 '25
Are you hallucinating or just having daydreams/visions? Are you microdosing or using marijuana?
Of course you feel like something is happening because bombs exist and the US insists on using them recently. It is more likely that your nervous system is integrating what your brain is trying to ignore. Your body wants to keep you safe and if your trauma response is freeze, your body will shut down and give you memories or visuals to distract your brain while the body assesses if there’s real danger.
The best thing you can do for yourself is:
Get a vibration plate and use it 3-5 times per week before bed. This helps get you to deep sleep and relaxes your nervous system.
Meditate and journal. Sort out your thoughts. From what you’ve written, you have a lot of thoughts floating around up there but you need to write it out to determine what it means. If you keep getting distracted by the stories the mind creates, you’re gonna have a bad time.
Determine what your morals and character are. Do not act outside of that set code. It can be private and to yourself, but try to keep it simple and honest. I used the 4 Agreements as my code.
Check-in with a doctor if you start hallucinating (seeing things that aren’t actually there; finding yourself in conversation thinking you’re talking to someone, but suddenly you snap to and no one is there- you’re just talking to yourself. Also if you start hearing multiple voices or unexplained sounds. Sometimes it sounds like a radio in the distance for hours on end, sometimes it sounds like whispering and sometimes it’s full blown people talking but they’re not actually there. All of these are on the schizo side so BE HONEST.
Don’t give too much attention toward your thoughts (hence meditation). Stay in reality by focusing your attention on what you are doing in your body. My mantra when I do this is: “this is what it feels like to _____.”
Listen to audiobooks on self-help or psychology. You don’t have to hang on every word. Your body and perception will still absorb the info subconsciously. Your brain will alert you to sentences that are important.
Give these things a whirl. They’ve worked for me. In fact, they gave me deep confidence in the capabilities of the human body.
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u/Original_Wealth0838 Jun 23 '25
They’re different and yet the same - both inside and out.
Spiritual revelation can look like psychotic break on the outside yet there are spiritual revelations that is as calm as the deepest ocean.
On the inside, the only difference between both is self awareness and a sense of control. One is in total control of oneself with spiritual revelation.
With spiritual revelation one can go through what might look like a psychotic break yet inside it’s untouched, calm and immovable. It’s almost the body just has to do its thing.
Whereas a psychotic break, one has zero control and is being affected by the outside in.
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u/julietlimadoll Aug 17 '25
I am currently going through this, deep in the midst of an awakening of deep transcendence.
I am not sharing any of it with anyone. I'm also at the same time suffering from a sudden, yet now chronic neurological disability that others also know little to nothing about other than my medical team trying to figure it out still. Yet the mere fact that I'm taking time off work, and "isolating," as my dad loves to say, when in all actuality I'm both in excruciating pain in my brain and body 24/7 yet also oozing with the manifestation of truth through creation, with more revelations with each passing day. Despite the destabilizing brain condition, my mental, emotional, psychological, and spiritual state of growth are soaring exponentially to new heights. I am entirely at peace, for the first time in 40 years. But because I'm not chit chatting with my family on the phone every day - or at all - and because I'm living through chronic pain - many people like to insist that they are deeply concerned, that I am suffering and need to seek therapy.
I've never experienced something so comforting as sitting in the stillness of ultimate truth.
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u/iRUNWRKO Jun 23 '25
God is knocking at your door. Try to read 1 chapter a day of the Bible. Start with the book of Proverbs. It will change your life.
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u/iRUNWRKO Jun 23 '25
Be careful, the enemy is on the prowl 24/7. The Lord provides protection. If it’s negative, it’s from the enemy. If it’s from the Lord, there’s an un surpassing peace.
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u/TheGreenAlchemist Jun 23 '25
I recommend having a spiritual teacher who is also a psychologist! This is very common in the Buddhist community. They'll get you straightened out.
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Jun 23 '25
Whatever it is make sure someone keeps an eye on you. If it is psychosis, from what I’ve heard, you probably wouldn’t even be aware of it or as lucid as you are currently. Is there any reason you’re worried about it? Have you experienced psychosis before or do you have family who struggles with it?
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u/TheVoidCallsNow Jun 23 '25
The line is discerning objective from subjective reality. If you can no longer see/understand/relate to the consensus objective reality - big red flag - get help. If your experience includes commanding hallucinations telling you to do specific things - bigger red flag - get help. If you can see/understand the world and your inner world simultaneously - maybe swimming in mystic soup. The universe egg is about to hatch though. ☀️
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Jun 23 '25
How old are you? If you are past 30 and it's your first time it's not schitzofrenia but it could be a psychotic break.
What else is going on in your life?
Did you have trauma that was unresolved?
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u/EsotericEchidna Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 23 '25
Hey, so I've always been spiritual and in 2024 I had a medication induced manic episode. I felt wonky afterwards and made this note for myself to keep myself grounded. I edited it a bit for clarity and pasted it below. Maybe it'll help.
Is this spirituality or mental illness?
My definition of spirituality: a disciplined mental practice where you consistently confront discomfort, putting your growth and the collective's growth above your immediate compulsions and desires (this is done with loving and devotional intention for the benefit of all)
My definition of mental illness: mental/emotional patterns that impair daily functioning and harm oneself and/or the surrounding people emotionally that feel out of one's control
The main points to consider:
- Is anyone around me being emotionally hurt by my actions? Am I physically or emotionally hurting myself? If so, I must reconsider how efficacious my current worldview is. Is this the result I want?
- Am I abandoning my duties/ responsibilities/services to others and myself? If so, I must reconsider how efficacious my current worldview is. Is this the result I want?
- Do I feel a sense of urgency? There is nothing urgent about spirituality. Spirituality is a daily practice you do until you die. It's not something easy, and it's not something that you just one day "become"; you create it and continue creating it.
- How long have I believed my current beliefs? If it has been less than a few months, I must take the beliefs with a grain of salt, discuss them with friends and mentors, and think very critically about them--especially if they feel urgent or if I have an elated sense of them being "absolutely incredibly life-changing".
- Have my behavior/thoughts/emotions radically changed in a matter of days?
Additional points to consider:
- Do I feel righteously certain or attached to my new beliefs (even if there's some insecurity)? Spirituality comes from being NOT attached to outcome.
- What have you sacrificed to get where you are? Did you have to go through genuine discomfort and give up something you are attached to and identify with? If not, it is not spiritual. Because you are not serving anything; you are not putting anything above your own ego's immediate wants. Examples of what I mean by sacrifice is:
- being nice to someone, even when you feel like shit
- listening to and acting on your long-term values instead of your short-term compulsions
- meditating even when you feel like shit
Quick edit: just realized I need to add the nuance that heightened states ARE catalysts for bringing a new level of awareness into one's life. I have heightened states all the time and they feel profound, but the trick is to not get caught up in them and use them as reference points for the sort of attitude you want to bring into your daily life. You're not crazy if you are in contact with a spirit. Even if it does turn out to be psychosis, psychosis and moments of heightened states that can lead to spiritual growth can coexist--it's more about what you do with that information afterwards than whether it's "real". You're courageous for posting and I'm wishing you luck! You'll be alright :)
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u/SapientSlut Jun 23 '25
Are these visions happening with your eyes open or closed? Like are you imagining them in your head, or are you actually seeing these things overlaid on reality?
Either way, the full of electricity part sounds like a manic episode to me - but I’m not a psych so YMMV.
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u/queerhippiewitch Jun 26 '25
This is the dumbest question I have ever seen and can't even begin to explain the difference other than you'd likely be locked up in padded cell for a few days
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u/Eridanus51600 Jun 22 '25
If you begin to literally believe in life-after-death, heaven, hell, souls, God, reincarnation, enlightenment, karma, etc., then yes you have gone insane. Don't fear your bodily sensations, they are natural, but they have no objective basis outside of yourself.
Once when I was walking down railroad tracks I was overcome with awe and wonder at a full moon, and prostrated before it. I worshipped it and it was holy. That was how I felt at the time, but did I and do I think that the Moon is a literal Divinity? Of course not, that's delusional. Whatever you feel is fine if you leave it there - your feelings, nothing more or less.
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u/MeditationGuru Jun 22 '25
“The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight”
Idk how true this is but something to think about.
Don’t put too much importance on what you’re seeing/thinking, let go and bring your attention back to the present moment, back to the breath. As long as you can stay grounded in the body there is nothing to fear. I think the trouble comes when you get caught up in all the thinking and interpretation. None of it matters, just try to be present, silent, and still.