Do Mental "illnesses" Like Schizophrenia Show What Reality Is? Do they show what reality REALLY is? an illusion?

[paulmason411 0]

I think that for those people who drift off in a dream world and pay no attention to the real world may enjoy that world they have created for the mean time, but the fact is when it comes to the crunch and they actually have to deal with reality, they are going to have many difficulties. Its a toss up; you can enjoy the dream world now and face reality later , or you can get realistic and never experience such highs and lows, and become a more stable person.I think in the long run its definitely a healthier choice to be living in the real world.

[matak 2]

1. He said that i should take some pills beacouse if i don't i might go "crazy" before new year

How did you feel about taking pills? I only ask because i dont like the idea of pills being used much because it doesnt get rid of the cause or treat it at all, only treats the symptoms and some drugs for very badly affected people are like tranquilezers sad.gif

And its true that drugs and possibly alcohol can cause schizohrenic symptoms like halucinations. Strangely enough a drug used to treat parkinsons disease (i think its parkinsons) can also cause schizophrenic symptoms which is freaky considering a lot of older people are probably taking this drug

And finally

“I gave way to delight,as mystics have for centuries when they peeked through the curtains and discovered that this world so manifestly real was actually a tiny stage set constructed by the mind. We discover abruptly that everything we accept as reality is just social fabrications."
Timothy Leary, 1966

That is one fantastic quote! the man must be a genius! Thanks for posting that tongue.gif

Yes timothy was a smart guy. I just hope he is laughing at all of this somewhere, wherever he might be
Edited June 25, 2007 by matak (see edit history)

[iGuest 3]

Do Mental "illnesses" like Schizophrenia Show What Reality Is?Do Mental "illnesses" Like Schizophrenia Show What Reality Is?

I see alot of people here are claiming that they believe reality is "what you want/make it to be"

 

But that defies the definition of reality given by first commenter to make this argument. Reality is an abstract concept that recognizes the limitations of human thought process to reconcile the external world with the ego or idea of self. It cant be what you want it to be, you would be living in some sort of rationalization of the ego in that instance. Instead our phenomenal perception is ONLY the bits of information we can rationalize, the rest is kept in our subconcious mind and is much more massive in the amount of information we take in.

 An example is ofcourse, our perception, we only see certain colors, hear certain sounds, and we can hear sounds that we cant actively recognize. There are sounds that our bodies pick up and react to tht we can actively know we are hearing, and then theres the limitless amounts of sounds that we cant hear.

 

Now that doesnt mean we don't have mental tools to help us navigate reality, we just have to remember our limitations and how to compensate for them, humans have survived this long for a reason and we do have developed minds capable of this. Reality its self is vastly larger than what humans can percieve, human phenomenology is like "conciousness" as a being looking through the peephole into an ocean of "reality"

-reply by Observer