XPost: sci.psychology.psychotherapy, alt.consciousness, talk.origins   
   From: john_SPAM@wilkins.id.au   
      
   Paul Allen Panks  wrote:   
      
   > Are my experiences real, or am I hallucinating yet again?   
      
   Paul,   
      
   I'm no expert on these things, but I gather than one account of   
   schizophrenia is that sufferers hear inner monologues without   
   recognising they are just that, and identify them as external. Similarly   
   with visual recollections.   
      
   What you "see" and "hear" in your mind are usual and ordinary -   
   recollections of people, imaginations of discussions with famous   
   personalities, but the part of the brain that realises these are   
   internal rather than external is not working properly.   
      
   As a result you are experiencing these as real, rather than internal.   
      
   Similarly, the psychic flashes - we all are constantly examining the   
   future possibilities and expectations we have, and it is no surprise   
   some of them work out - humans are pretty good at planning ahead. We   
   make connections between events all the time, and if you are unable to   
   make a clear distinction between reality and fantasy because your brain   
   is galloping on noradrenalin or some other imbalance, you will find   
   these to be significant.   
      
   UFOs are just things we don't recognise, happening in the sky away from   
   referents we would normally use to identify them. I have seen three   
   myself. You don't need to be suffering from an abnormal condition to   
   mistake them.   
      
   OOBs and NDEs are caused by differences in brain states. They are not   
   really that unusual - in cases of oxygen deprivation, for example, the   
   brain shuts down parts of it that are used to filter out random activity   
   and recognise bodily states. Drugs will do it too.   
      
   This is my personal take on these matters. Perhaps they will help you.   
   --   
   John S Wilkins PhD - www.wilkins.id.au   
     a little emptier, a little spent   
     as always by that quiver in the self,   
     subjugated, yes, and obedient.  -- Seamus Heaney   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)