Madness: How Do You React?

My world-view is very spiritual. I am a very spiritual person in my thinking, and I feel close to God. I have a firm belief in the persistence of Life after physical expiration (I believe there is a Heaven). I have had numerous experiences of Divinity and perceptions of Divine power, so my belief in God is also strong. I have certain experiences I label as paranormal, within a spiritual framework. But what if you call all this madness? What if, for you, there is no 'sixth sense'?


Being on the receiving end of such pronouncements, I can tell you that the response to my beliefs that discredits them as madness and irrational creates division, and seems to be a breeding ground for disrespect. My question here is this: is there a way of disagreeing with someone, of being skeptical of what they say, that does not create a division or disrespect that person? With madness, there is an accentuating of the personal difference that exists between us all; the mad person is not just unique, but different in mentality, and in a way that requires more effort than usual to be harmonious with them.


In the UK, a long time ago, it used to be that people deemed insane were not allowed to vote - they were a kind of lesser person. It was the same for women and criminals too! That's just a point about how we see the insane, and where we have come from.

It used to be that what I believed made no sense, and now, even though I can display a clear system of belief, and quote authorities, I feel some near to me are more than skeptical of what I say. There's a distance there, presumably in the fear of madness (which itself can be seen to be rooted in the fear of the incomprehensible violence that psychotically deluded people sometimes commit).


There's something strange in being told that what you are thinking is wrong. It can be a confrontational moment, and a moment of discomfort or exclusion.

It must be that nurses in psychiatric wards are adept in responding to delusional beliefs, responding not just with compassion, but with humour, and with care. I think this is ideal. If you think I'm mad, please hold the thought gently - because I'd rather not be distanced by that.


There must be a better way of disagreeing with someone and telling them that they are seeing things fundamentally wrongly, than by making them feel stupid or strange - without degrading them.

Everyone has different ways of responding to difference, whether rigid or flexible. Are you a tolerant person? How do you respond to human diversity? Are you open-minded? Can you engage with me emotionally and be gentle when you state that I am misled in my thinking? Or do you have no time for people who are ill, do you effectively disrespect the insane as 'lesser people'?

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My world-view, concerning my health, begins with an invitation to believe in the spiritual, and continues into a description of the paranormal; the consideration of the reality of an extra-sensory, spiritual dimension to Life is important in meeting me intellectually. Spirituality, it seems to me, is very much a cultural issue, - it is not a dimension of experience readily believed in my part of the world culture... Where are the spiritual psychiatrists I can discuss my condition with? The condition goes like this:

1. Life on Earth
2. God
3. soul
4. Afterlife
5. Heaven
6. 'Unascended' people in spirit
7. Harmful mental interactions with unascended people in spirit

There is only one way to know about an extra-sensory, spiritual dimension to Life... and that is through extra-sensory perception. More correctly, we can also know the spiritual  through books, which report others' extra-sensory experiences. I look forward to developments within psychiatry that have respect for people with spiritual beliefs, not treating them as 'lesser people'...

In the mean time, I repeat, if you think my perceptions are false, and my beliefs are erroneous, please hold that thought gently, because I am, after all, still your dignified human brother.