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costello · Feb 14, 2012, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shoe

That is a great metaphor. What creates a tornado is opposing forces like when warm air and cool air collide. It is opposing forces deep inside of us that creates the psychosis also. We need to hold tight and weather the storm so that we can rebuild. If I would have pulled the plug when I was in my 20's there would of been so much of life that I would have missed out of. I was able to go back to school and get my degree, have a profession, get married, build a house, have a couple of kids and help them grow up, get divorced, and now at 60 years of age get married again.

Here's s_e's thread on this: http://forums.psychcentral.com/showthread.php?t=179266

I really think it's worth looking at again. It's a long post, but there's this at the end:

Quote:

There are two kinds of death; one of them is a physical death and the other is a psychological kind of death. I'm going to pull in a few examples of psychological kinds of death because this seems to be a common theme in psychotic experiences, perhaps, as a result of them.

Quote:

"I died, Gallagher. The "me" of me-ness died."
- Tess, Story as a Vehicle of Healing

"That wasn't just a bunch of stuff that got destroyed. That was ME!"
- Jack, Fight Club

I have lost my self. What is my name? I have no name.
- Mary Hagan, Making Sense of Madness From the Inside

All of the above are examples of people telling those around them, "I have lost my sense of self-identity". It is another way of saying, "I have lost my ego." If we return to our example of the house and the tornado, we know the ego is still there but it's broken and in pieces and somehow, we have to put it all back together again. This is a task of patience.

For the first few years after my experience my primary task was sorting through all the mess that the tornado left in its wake. It required picking up each piece, turning it over and over in my hands, looking around and underneath it, critically examining each fragment and asking myself, "Does this belong to who I am now?" For the longest time, I thought I had to throw everything away, I thought it was all junk. But slowly I came to understand that only some parts should be thrown away, some parts should be placed carefully on the shelf of my Life, some parts should be allowed to come out and shine in the daylight, and some parts should be let go.

Death is an ending but often, what it signifies is not a physical death but the ending of something. What that something is will vary for each person. It might mean that a dream has died, or a way of living, or a collection of beliefs we hold about ourselves or the world around us. We are the ones who have to do the work of determining what should be allowed to live in our lives and what must be put respectfully to rest.