Alternate Views Of Reality
I titled this chapter alternate views of reality because I am a bit reticent to completely write off all experiences of depersonalization or derealization as purely pathological. After experimenting with marijuana, I experienced a dissociative disorder, which has continued to visit me throughout my life. The major characteristic of all dissociative phenomena involves a detachment from reality. According to Hunter and Sierra, unreality symptoms affect up to 5 percent of the general population in the course of their lives (2004). Although these experiences are often caused by head trauma or emotional trauma, they can be very traumatic in themselves.
Carl Jung described pathological manifestations of dissociation as special or extreme cases of the normal operation of the psyche. This structural dissociation, opposing tension, and hierarchy of basic attitudes and functions in normal individual consciousness is the basis of Jung’s Psychological Types. He theorized that dissociation is a natural necessity for consciousness to operate in one faculty unhampered by the demands of its opposite. If you are having any experience of unreality and you’re experiencing trauma as a result, I highly recommend consulting a licensed therapist. A person with experience with dissociative disorders will be the most helpful even if treatment options are limited.
Practices which directly affect prior conditioning rewire the brain and body, which are projecting the outside world. You may start to see reality projected in a different way for unknown periods of time. In my personal journey so far, it has only happened for minutes. But for some people that I have known, the change has been integrated completely for years. The outside world may appear fuzzy and cartoon-like, and you may feel a lack of personal identity. Things may take on a different color or quality. Time may change in some way. Although in the moment this can be shocking and you can literally go into physical shock, my advice remains the same: don’t resist, take calming breaths, and don’t follow negative thought patterns if they appear. Engage in the healthy practices that you know have positive effects. Your being will naturally find its bearing and integrate properly. The universe knows what it’s doing. Your body and brain have an inherent intelligence. Focus on the positive and the positive will grow. Besides a licensed therapist, I also recommend reaching out to reknowned meditation teacher Shinzen Young or accessing his materials at ShinzenYoung.org for any meditation-related problems. Byron Katie, Eckhart Tolle, and others have experienced a type of enlightenment/dissociation that started during traumatic self-talk. It seems that our beings have ways of changing our whole perspective when our current one isn’t working. Your brain might have to work out the kinks, though, before you get such a lucky rewiring.