Page 11 - NAMAH Oct 2015
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Namah Knowledge frameworks in medicine and health
Psychiatries, I also reported on medical, They may disassociate and exist in a trance-
religious, and spiritual practices observed in like state. An individual who suffers extreme
Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu and Bengal (6). experiences, psychosis, hearing voices or
seeing visions, may appear to have no on/
What are anomalous experiences? off switch (7). Today, there is a global network
of organisations supporting those who hear
There are specialists who experience an voices (8), or have extreme experiences.
expanded state of consciousness, but are able
to deliberately switch it on and off at will. Religious experiences
These may include healers, shamans, psychics,
mediums, seers, clairvoyants, traditional Then there are people who have spontaneous
doctors and gurus. They are able to tune into experiences, which have religious, mystical,
an altered state of consciousness and glean spiritual, numinous, paranormal or clair-
information for social or environmental well- voyant aspects. These are transformational
being. and differ from ordinary experiences (9).
They may involve a kind of non-sensory
Unusual experiences, which cannot be apprehension of the Divine, which may
switched off at will, are called by many manifest as transcendence or as coming
different names, including mental ill-health. from a higher power. They may or may not
Other terms include ‘spiritual crisis’, ‘spiritual be benign. People experience extended
emergency’, ‘extreme ‘experience’, ‘shamanic perception, a wider reality beyond the
vision’ or ‘spiritual awakening’. People who ordinary and may have contact with angels
have them believe these experiences are or deceased relatives. These experiences
profoundly transformative and are a route start spontaneously and stop. They may or
towards enlightened states of consciousness. may not have a religious content; the phrase
These experiences may offer insight into ‘religious experience’ is a catch-all term.
reincarnation, spirit possession, clairvoyance
or shamanic opening. Included in this group are religious or
mystical experiences, visions and presences
Extreme experiences can be visual, auditory or of human or non-human beings. Others may
sensory and people who have them may feel as experience what have been termed OBEs (‘out-
if they are receiving too much information, of-body experiences’ (10) or NDEs (‘near-
which becomes unmanageable or distressing. death experiences’ (11) or ELEs (‘end of life
Those who experience this may feel as if they experiences’ (12). Some people, who appear
have data overload, whilst others cannot to spontaneously switch dimensions into
adjust to the flow of sensory experiences. spiritualist realms and do not have an
Their mind feels like it is bombarded with explanatory framework, may become con-
inner experiences. They may also experience fused and distressed. They may carry out
clairvoyance, extended numinosity and negative actions, which they claim are
heightened awareness of reality. Sufferers influenced by voices or ‘other-than-human-
may find it difficult to cope with daily life beings’. In association with other factors, this
and feel out of touch with ordinary reality. may result in a psychiatric diagnosis.
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