© 2011 Mark Macy

Spirits are around us all the time. They move in and out of our world… in and out of our lives constantly. I’ve spent the past 20 years proving this to be true, thanks to the amazing results of ITC research done by friends and colleagues in Europe… and thanks especially to the somewhat extraordinary and eccentric spirit-face photos I’ve accumulated in recent years… courtesy of Jack Stucki and the late Patrick Richards, who acquainted me with the “luminator.” (click here for sample photos)

Yes, I know that spirits are real… and I know they influence us on a daily basis. If you review my work with an objective mind—free of dogmas, ideologies, cultivated preconceptions and fears—then you know it too.

Now… for your own sake, disregard it.

That may seem like an odd, contradictory statement—to acknowledge spiritual influences and to ignore them—but I’ve come to realize its importance lately, while researching the influence of spirits on people with mental illness. What I’ve learned applies to just about all of us: Spirits are as pervasive as the air around us, and in our day-to-day lives we should give them the same attention we give the air: None.

There are times we focus on air, such as during breathing exercises and breathing meditations… and there are appropriate times to focus on spirits, such as during prayer, skilled mediumship, and serious ITC research… but on a daily basis we have more important matters to contend with. After all, there are many obstacles, pitfalls, and traps in this world… and we need to keep our feet planted firmly on the ground as we walk the Earth. If we don’t pay attention to the physical world around us, we can get hurt.

More important, the more we think about spirits, the more we attract them into our lives… and the more influence they have on us. That can be a wonderful thing when we pray to God or give thanks to our ethereal guides (angels) or feel warmth in the heart for departed loved ones on birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries… but it can be an unsettling experience at best, and at worst agonizing, when we open ourselves to the vast dark cloud of troubled people who linger around the Earth as spirits in a confused state after they die.

For that reason, I believe, we humans on Earth have built-in blinders that block our view of spirits. We’ve evolved, down through the ages, with these mental blocks against the many spiritual influences around us for our own good… to keep us focused on the task at hand: Living in this world. The more we think about spirits indiscriminately, the more they’re attracted to us—especially the confused ones—and the more we have to contend with foul moods, bad dreams, and accidents. So we’ve evolved with built-in blinders.

When the blinders are removed, there can be problems. That’s true for all of us. It’s especially true when we’re sick or injured or stressed out or using alcohol or pleasure drugs… and it’s most especially true for people suffering schizophrenia, a mental disorder that makes it difficult to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences, to think logically, to have normal emotional responses, and to behave normally in social situations.

Schizophrenia, I believe, is a case of faulty blinders. Many people with schizophrenia see and hear the spirits that other people can’t see and hear. They live in two worlds at once—this physical world and the worlds of spirit. The realities of those two worlds are so vastly different that simple day-to-day living can be a hopelessly confusing and unsettling ordeal for those suffering schizophrenia. Here are some of the common symptoms of schizophrenia that suggest the sufferers are trapped between two realities (with my comments in parentheses):

• An overpowering, intense feeling that people are talking about you, looking at you. (Spirits around us do indeed watch us and talk about us. Without the blinders that “normal” people have, it can be annoying to say the least.)
• An overpowering, intense feeling that you’re being watched, followed, and spied on, as though with tracking devices, implants, hidden cameras. (For spirits to move in and out of our world and to stay close to certain individuals occurs naturally to them… that is, “natural” by the laws of their world. But by the laws and realities of our world, such close, constant observation seems impossible without the application of advanced surveillance technologies… which makes schizophrenia seem delusional when sufferers explain their experiences.)
• A strong sense that people are colluding to harass you. (Many sufferers are badly upset by the unworldly sights and sounds they perceive, and their fears attract spirits who stir up the fears even more. They tend to “gang up” on a a sensitive person with chronically troubled feelings.
• A strong sense that people can read your mind and control your thoughts. (Telepathy is the “normal” mode of communication among spirits, so they can and do read our thoughts… and they also influence our thoughts.)
• The notion that your thoughts are being broadcast over radio or TV. (Again, thoughts are broadcast by all of us, and they’re picked up by receptive minds, especially the sub-conscious minds of spirits… but again, the conscious mind of a schizophrenia sufferer uses worldly explanations—radio transmissions—to try to reconcile what’s happening to him or her… and to most of us it sounds delusional.)
• Delusions of grandeur—the feeling that you’re a great world prophet with a mission to save the world. (I suspect that such thoughts are ignited and fanned by confused and troublesome spirits.)

This is the reality we inhabit, folks. I know this to be true, based on two decades of afterlife research, especially ITC. And I believe it is in everyone’s best interest 1) to acknowledge this truth, and 2) to disregard it.

Know that spirits are right here, all around us… but don’t dwell on it. Stay focused on the day-to-day.

And the best way to deal with schizophrenia, I believe, is to remove the stress from the lives of those who suffer it. Remove the stress, and the suffering will go away. Stress stirs up fears, which attract troublesome spirits that can make the lives of sufferers a living hell.

Nearly everyone with schizophrenia is subject to severe stress, not just from the outside (by people pressuring them to be “normal”), but also from inside (the turmoil from trying to reconcile the powerful norms of society with the overpowering norms of spirit). The external and internal sources of stress can make schizophrenia unbearable.

Remove the stress from schizophrenia, and the condition will transform from a “mental illness” or “brain disorder,” to a condition of spiritual awareness. As the person’s life becomes anchored in happiness and love, troublesome spirits will drift away as playful, supportive spirits move in close to make life more joyful. Instead of suffering delusions, the person will begin to receive spiritual insights, wisdom, and love from the finer realms inhabited by ethereal beings.

So, those external influences of schizophrenia sufferers (mental health professionals, the families and friends of sufferers, and society in general) can remove stress by redefining “normalcy.” It’s time to acknowledge that spirits move in and out of our world constantly, and that they influence our lives in profound ways. Then, we won’t burden sufferers of schizophrenia with stigmas like “hallucinating,” “delusional,” “paranoid,” and “mentally ill.” Such stigmas cause more stress in the lives of those who carry them.

Acknowledge spiritual reality, remove the stigmas and stress, set up loving, supportive environments… and schizophrenia will quickly vanish. In its place will emerge a legion of brilliant, sensitive seers who’ll grace the world with tremendous insights from the finest realms of spirit.

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Other posts on health and well-being:

Some great exercises   —   Are you an extrovert or an introvert?    —   Know thyself   —   Nonfunctioning alcoholism   —   Addiction   —   Mental illness: barriers lost