How often does the holy spirit talk to you?

[Angrboda]

And so says the vast majority of schizophrenics. They are also absolutely certain about their experiences...their descriptions sound identical to yours...As outsiders, how do we go about telling the difference between your above described experience, and those of schizophrenics?

Mystical experiences do not have the same content as the the products of mental illness. While each experience is unique, they are generally marked by feelings of unity with the divine and transcendence of ego awareness. The opposite is true of hallucinations and delusions which produced a heightened feeling of alienation between self and others. The objects seen and heard by the mentally ill are described as having an independent existence from the person having the experience.

Even if mystical experiences are purely mental constructs, they still should not be grouped with mental illnesses. Hallucinatory, delusional, and drug experiences are debilitating and interfere with a person's ability to function normally in society. The same cannot be said for mystical experiences that often result in people finding themselves better adjusted afterwards.

This is not necessarily true. I have had delusions most of my life, and they seemed the most natural thing to me. Depression and other negative symptoms often accompany schizophrenia, so you have something of a chicken and egg problem. But many people have hallucinations in the absence of mental illness and the effects are quite variable.

Beyond that, the mere fact that you have pleasant results with your mystical experience does not indicate anything about the origin of the experience. You seem to be implying that because the effects were positive, it wasn't illusory. The brain is capable of producing both good and bad trips. In particular, that feeling of oneness and unity is characteristic of DMT trips as well as certain types of epileptic seizures. The brain is quite capable of producing both good trips and bad trips.

As a person with lifelong delusions, I can tell you that the one overriding sensation to accompany these delusions is simply a feeling of certainty that they are 'true'. The brain can produce that feeling of certainty in cases where you are certain and things are 'true', but it can also produce that feeling of certainty in situations where you are wrong. Robert Burton in his book On Being Certain gives the example of returning to town for a class reunion, and pulling up in front of an old pal's house. You're certain you've got the right house, but upon inquiring at the door you find you're totally wrong. No feelings of unnaturalness occurs; just a recognition that the facts don't match your experience.

I have had times when I would go through periods of several weeks in which religious themes took on heightened importance. I converted to Buddhism several times under the influence of such spells. But returning to normalcy made it clear to me that it was just a spell. I suppose perhaps you might suggest that the spell was indicative of deeper truths that I was temporarily made aware of. Having experienced delusions and manic episodes throughout my life, I didn't feel any difference between those spells and other mental health episodes, despite the fact that you imply that I should be able to differentiate brain caused spells from mystical episodes. My brain was simply tickling the mystic feelings.

I might add that now that I'm on medication, the delusional beliefs are still there, they just come to mind less frequently and less intensely.