Manic depression or "Enlightenment"?

[Matt.]

Hi there, a few years ago I went through a very interesting experience that progressed over the course of three to four months, the peak of which was one of the most profound experiences I have had to date. It started out with a sudden realization and understanding of the feeling of what convicted beliefs were. Once I experienced this feeling, for some odd reason I was able to elicit it in any situation if I chose to feel convicted about my thoughts. For example, I could believe this or that and feel it as true. From this point, it became almost a psychological game or experiment with my perception. Often times I would forget it was happening however, and as such I eventually got lost in the illusion of it all, forgetting that I was even consciously and deliberately forming my beliefs about what I was experiencing. Once this happened, words suddenly felt intensely unique, all of them had their own tinge of emotion and all of them were unique in the default impressions that they put on me. For example, a word such as staple or nail might feel aggressive. After this point, there started to be the feeling of emotional connection or feeling of intense importance within inanimate objects or situations. It was all so fascinating because while I knew it was happening, there was no obvious reason for me to wish to stop the experience or to think it was somehow negative. When I would think or consider a topic, it would feel as if I formed a whole concept of what I had to say about the topic as soon as the idea of it came up. As if I had instantly an explanation of any topic at the ready, in packets or chunks that related to an emotional sensation from which I could easily expand this into a literary explanation. Has anyone experienced anything similar?

Edited May 31, 2015 by Matt.

[jamesjr191]

Sounds a bit like my ex-wife. she was badly bipolar, hell to live with.

[quiXilver]

Nice descriptions of the processes going on.. thanks for sharing,

[back to earth]

manic ... depression - two phases of one condition ... what you describe does not seem to be wildly fluctuating ?

Feelings associated to seemingly unassociated things could be a type of synesthesia ... but that usually does not have the 'manic' phase associated with it.

It does seem to have tinges of 'illuminationism .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminationism

which may come from some 'internal' ( ? ) faculty or perception and realisation . See ;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_%28classical_mythology%29

[Professor T]

Has anyone experienced anything similar?

Yep.. But short lived, and from deep states of meditation/contemplation.. The effects for me only last a short while afterwards... But Woah, to have that connection at will or all the time must be pretty intense.