The Unconscious Mind, Mysticism & Madness - by Meli G

Some people say that during psychosis, a person’s unconscious material bursts forth into their waking life. The veil is thin. Filters are dissolved.

The same can be said for mystical experiences. As the great Joseph Campbell said in his book The Power of Myth, “The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight."

Some people believe there’s not much difference between psychosis and mystical states - states that are frequently experienced by shamans, psychics, and mediums. Both can involve the classic “delusions and hallucinations,” along with lapses in time, trance/altered states, dipping into the unconscious, and contact with the spirit world. Many psychotic delusions are spiritual in nature. Hallucinations too.

The “default mode network” in the brain (DMN) is also thought to be imbalanced during psychosis. The DMN is vital for processes like emotional processing, self-reflection, creativity, social interaction, daydreaming, empathy, and sensing boundaries between self and the outside world - which can be viewed on a spectrum of frightening loss of self & blissful unity consciousness.

As you can potentially posit, there’s a similarity with mystical states. According to a study published by the National Institutes of Health, “Both clinical psychosis and temporary altered states (like deep meditation or psychedelic experiences) share a common thread: the desynchronization or over-activation of the DMN.”

Myriad factors contribute to psychotic episodes, of course, but I find it fascinating that there’s so much overlap with altered states of consciousness - and that such a glaring commonality is rarely mentioned in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, or medicine (check out my piece The Overlapping Realms of Spirituality and Mental Health).

Psychosis is generally more disruptive to a person's life. Sometimes incredibly disruptive, but not always. Either way, "madness" shares many qualities with mystical and transcendental states. Psychedelic states too. Ask anyone who's taken DMT.

Joseph Campbell also wrote in The Power of Myth: "The unconscious sends all sorts of vapors, odd beings, terrors, and deluding images up into the mind. Beneath the floor of the comparatively neat little dwelling that we call our consciousness, goes down into unsuspected Aladdin caves. There, not only jewels but also dangerous jinn abide."

Dr. Andrew Moskowitz, a forensic psychologist from George Washington University, explains that psychotic symptoms are ways of coping with overwhelming trauma and the emotions that lie underneath, by preventing actual memories of trauma from entering into conscious awareness. Also related to trauma are dissociative disorders, like dissociative identity disorder, in which a person can develop a fragmented self with split parts of their personality (or "alters"), each with distinct voices and personas.

Before we sink further into the topic of the unconscious mind’s role in mysticism and psychosis, I think it’s helpful to define the various levels of the mind. I appreciate this explanation by author Ibrahim Arrahim in his article, “Understanding the Conscious, Unconscious, and Subconscious Minds in Harmony:”

“In simple terms, the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious minds are like different parts of a team, each with its own role. When they work in harmony, life becomes smoother and more intentional. The conscious mind makes decisions, the subconscious mind holds our habits and beliefs, and the unconscious mind stores deeper, hidden material.

The conscious mind is the part of your mind that you are fully aware of right now. It’s like the tip of an iceberg — the small part you can see. This is where your thoughts, reasoning, and decision-making take place. When you’re awake, you’re using your conscious mind to think, plan, solve problems, and make choices.

The subconscious mind works beneath the surface, operating in the background. It’s responsible for storing memories, beliefs, habits, and automatic functions. Unlike the conscious mind, which only processes a small amount of information at a time, the subconscious mind is always working, even when you’re not aware of it. It handles things like driving a car, walking, or even breathing, once you’ve learned how to do them. Think of the subconscious mind as a huge storage warehouse. Every experience, emotion, and habit you’ve ever had gets stored there, and it influences your behavior without you even realizing it.

The unconscious mind holds deeper, more hidden material - things that are outside of your awareness and that you can’t easily access. This can include repressed memories, unresolved emotional issues, or experiences that are so painful or traumatic that the mind keeps them locked away. While the unconscious is harder to access directly, it can show itself through dreams, feelings, or certain behavioral patterns.”

Often the unconscious mind waits until dark to reveal itself through dreams. But my episode of manic psychosis felt just like that: a dream. Other times, a nightmare.

My delusions were a strange brew of deeply-imbedded fears, paranoia, persecution, grandeur, elation, heroism, victimhood, horrible visions, and utter public humiliation - topped with a heaping dose of thrilling adventurism. Had it not wrecked my life, it would’ve made a great movie script. Who knows, maybe it will one day.

Psychosis is like an accelerated mythical "hero's journey" on meth. I've also referred to it as a 4th step on steroids (for those who've been in 12-step programs). Psychosis can change your life in a flash - and sometimes that's a good thing - in the long run. This makes the case that it has at least 1 potential evolutionary purpose. But it can also forever scar people's lives and families. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

But ultimately I try to learn from all of my challenges and alchemize them - and hopefully help other beautiful souls who've endured such a psychic upheaval. I'm cleaning away the wreckage to find the buried treasure underneath, aka my true eternal essence.

Psychosis can also be viewed as one way to undergo an "ego death" or ego dissolution. I went from being a hero in my own script to a total zero (in my mind at least). Talk about a lesson in humility. I was completely humiliated. At the same time, I recently heard someone mention that "humiliation rituals" can be very common for those on the awakening path. And boy did it strengthen my reliance on God. I'll be forever grateful in that regard.

Some people also believe psychosis is primarily caused by dark spiritual forces. I can't argue with this, although I believe the causes are multi-factorial. Many also believe that spiritual warfare is real, and that dark entities easily affect our thoughts, behaviors, and actions (if we're not aware, which most Westerners aren't).

For as long as humans have lived, the theme of good/evil/angels/demons has been shared across cultures and continents. Many people believe that psychosis is caused or exacerbated by things like curses/hexes, black magic, "bewitchment," archons, egregores or negative thought forms, and/or demonic attachment, oppression, or possession. Healing arenas that address these issues include exorcisms, deliverance ministries, energy healing, and shamanic healings, among others.

One psychotherapist named Dr. Jerry Marzinsky worked with schizophrenic patients in prisons and state mental hospitals for decades. He came to believe that all of his patients were influenced by dark spirits, which were creating the voices.

Personally I believe we can be positively and negatively influenced by the spirit world, based at least partly on our vibration/frequency and whether we're resonating with higher or lower frequency beings or energies (and that some people are more open to the spirit world than others). I also believe the darkness - or even dark thoughts - can serve the light by pointing out where healing is needed within us. My beliefs are ever-evolving though. And this is such a huge topic, which I'll park here for now.

Back again to the unconscious. It’s been said that the language of the unconscious isn’t word-focused, that it mostly conjures images, symbols, archetypes, metaphors, stories, colors, and emotions.

My delusions were loaded to the gills with such things. But my mind didn’t know how to make sense of everything that was bubbling to the surface (probably surfacing for healing). It seemed to come in the form of movie plots or obsessions with symbols like the checkered floor (iykyk). Up was down. Down was up. Surrealism felt like realism.

Had I realized my mind was sometimes communicating in metaphor and myth, it could’ve saved me a lot of trouble. I’m still unpacking my psychotic episode. But now I can better examine the wildly exaggerated delusions that occurred during my month-long rollercoaster with mania. A few of my delusions turned out to be true, as outlandish as they seemed to people at the time. Most of my delusions, however, had only remnants of truth. Or they represented a specific fear. While some of these truths were at the metaphysical level - but nevertheless :-)

Prior to this, I’d had 2 manic episodes after my kundalini awakening in 2017. But I had also experienced severe trauma around that time, so I self-diagnosed my mania as PTSD-induced psychosis. I think it was a blend. Fast forward to 2026, I was diagnosed with bipolar 1 disorder. These days I take the label with a grain of salt.

But back to the unconscious mind…

If a picture’s worth a thousand words, you can imagine what your unconscious mind is storing and accessing every day. It’s a treasure trove of material. Yes, it can be dark and scary. But it can also harbor gold.

There are numerous activities that can tap into this spring of unconscious material - for inspiration and for healing.

They include hypnosis, automatic writing and journaling, meditation, breath work, evoking trance states, music, dancing, movement, trauma release exercises, yoga and the like.

Sleepy time also allows for the unconscious to reveal itself, especially during dreams and during our REM sleep cycle. There’s also a big connection between psychosis, sleep, and melatonin.

In these open states where the veil is thinner between the conscious and unconscious minds, we’re more receptive to inspiration, messages, and downloads from “external” sources, which include the following (pls take what resonates and leave the rest :):

> Spiritual and religious figures like God, Jesus or Yeshua, Allah, Muhammed, Buddha, Brahma, the Monad in Gnosticism, Mother Mary & Mary Magdalene

> The conscious collective and unconscious collective, coined by the great Carl Jung

> Ascended masters, enlightened beings and Saints

> Nature spirits, especially in shamanism and Native American & indigenous cultures

> Higher self and/or future self

> Spirit guides and spirit teams

> Guardian angels and archangels

> Muses of all kinds

> Akashic records

> Soul families and ancestors

> Many people believe in receiving light codes from the Sun, along with DNA activations/upgrades from various sources, including star beings and star families (many people also channel info and inspiration from intergalactic beings)

> Beings from the “elemental kingdom” like fairies and dragons

> Spiritual beings of many sorts, including jinn in Arabic traditions

> Some people deliberately conjure demonic spirits, but this is playing with fire (entire topic unto itself including demonic influence/attachment/oppression/possession). Shamans, exorcists, and energy healers can heal people struggling with this. Prayer is powerful too

> Psychedelics, plant medicine, and “Mother Ayahuasca”

> Mother Kundalini and Kundalini Shakti (re: kundalini awakenings)

The list goes on.

As you can see, humans have pursued altered states of consciousness for millenia - both to access deeper parts of themselves - and to channel downloads/insights/inspiration/ideas from the “unified field” or “quantum field” or “field of consciousness” that connects us all.

Many artists have revealed that their finest works seemed to instantaneously flow through them. That it felt like an instant download. Scientists and inventors too.

Psychoanalysis and depth psychology can also help us investigate our subconscious and unconscious minds through concepts like shadow work, archetypes, synchronicities, and psychological complexes.

Shadow work involves examining the parts of ourselves that we deemed unacceptable in our childhood, which we suppressed (behaviors or feelings that our families/societies etc frowned upon). When we learn to acknowledge, accept, and integrate these aspects of ourselves - like jealousy, anger, or vulnerability - it can allow us to enjoy the positive flip side of such traits. Anger, for instance, can energize us to set empowering boundaries. Thus unconscious exploration can spark myriad improvements in our lives.

Other experiences can also pique the unconscious mind.

Spiritual awakenings and powerful energetic transformations - like kundalini awakenings - can shake a person’s entire mind, body and spirit.

These profound experiences can shift a person’s perspective on life itself. They are highly transformational phases within a person’s life (or lifetime) that catalyze the purging of “whatever is no longer serving us,” including unconscious fears, traumas, repressed memories and suppressed emotions - for the purpose of relaxing the egoic stronghold so that we may ultimately embody/radiate our true divine nature.

Some people travel far and wide to elicit a spiritual awakening experience. They may spend years and decades in the pursuit. For some, it happens out of the blue. For the unprepared (like myself), it can be blissful at first, and then completely disorienting. Each person’s experience is beautifully unique.

On the whole, the spiritual awakening process often takes years and decades to unfold (once the initial awaking occurs). Over time, it extracts fears and traumas to the surface for healing. Many say our planet is going through such a purging and I agree. It’s actually a mass awakening on a global scale.

There’s also no finish line for the awakening process - and emotional challenges definitely still arise at each “stage.” Although I’ve also heard that some enlightened beings are continually “blissed out” and do a whole lot of smiling and laughing :) God bless them. Whenever someone awakens, it benefits the entire collective. And each enlightened person has an enormous impact on the field of consciousness. It has a powerful energetic ripple effect.

Lots of people like to make fun of spiritual people “who just sit in caves” or who live apart from society. Some of these people are doing more for the collective than we can imagine. Besides, each of us has our special gifts and roles. Their isolation might also simply be one stage in their life. Many enlightened people, like Jesus and Buddha, spent a lot of time alone. It may not seem like it, but the awakening process involves enormous sums of inner-work that’s largely unseen to others.

But with much inner-work and integration, people can experience a new level of peace, authenticity, joy, love, and compassion - that they never realized was possible. People on the spiritual path often have more mystical experiences. Many people’s psychic senses are also activated or heightened. Their third eye can open. Intuition is heightened. People feel a deeper connection to themselves, others, nature, and the cosmos.

The awakening journey is a wild ride, though. I’m riding the waves as we speak. It takes strength, courage, faith, grounding, support, and a whole lot of surrendering to the powerful divine energy that’s running the show. Just like a flower doesn’t decide to bloom - it just blooms.

A person going through a spiritual awakening isn’t necessarily a “good salesperson” for awakenings or spirituality. Thankfully that’s not the purpose of awakenings - to sell anyone on anything. I think it’s the purpose of life, in my belief. And it happens in God’s divine timing. But the process can be very dark and unsettling at times.

Awakenings can be very destabilizing in some cases, especially if a person has a lot of trauma to work through. Other factors include:

> If they’re living in stressful, abusive, oppressive etc conditions

> Have a demanding career or job that involves long hours etc

> Have children, families, elderly, or disabled loved ones to care for

> If they’re living in poverty or in crime-ridden neighborhoods (this happened to me, including gang violence) or a heavily polluted environment or war zone etc.

Additionally, in the West and especially the U.S., spirituality is rarely talked about in the mainstream. It’s even mocked to a large degree.

So many people in the U.S., particularly those who go through “spontaneous awakenings” and have no prior knowledge of spirituality, are flailing in isolation. Not understanding what’s even happening to them.

Many start to question their lives and the nature of reality. Their interests change. They awaken to many illusions. Their relationships start to change or fall apart. The ego and mind can’t make sense of all the changes. The ego doesn’t want to let go of its perceived control and defenses. Meanwhile the person’s spirit is awakening and taking the helm - and the train has left the station! ;)

This process can be so unnerving that some people experience “spiritual emergencies,” “spiritual crises,” and even spiritual psychosis. “Divine madness” is another type of experience, although this is described more as a “divine frenzy,” encompassing many positive attributes.

Awakenings are a lot for the mind, body and nervous system to process. There’s also the “dark night of the soul,” that often follows an awakening experience, which probably accounts for a decent percentage of the cases of depression in the U.S.

As Carl Jung said, “There’s no coming to consciousness without pain.”

Some people have a pretty smooth awakening. And there are the lucky few who’ve attained instant enlightenment. I’m genuinely happy for them. “Slow and steady” also seems like a good way to awaken, versus forcing it through practices like excessive kundalini yoga etc. But I believe it’s mostly out of our hands. I believe that a divine force is acting through us and we’re essentially an extension of source. One wise person said “we’re the hands of God.”

Either way, I believe that those of us on the spiritual path need more support. We need more “wise elders” found in indigenous cultures. More rites of passage. More support groups. Community Centers and gathering places. And so on.

Thankfully there are many amazing spiritual teachers, coaches, and therapists out there, especially those trained in transpersonal psychology. But the need is great.

I’m so grateful for the Internet and YouTube. I’ve essentially been broke for the bulk of my awakening journey thus far. So free teachings have been my jam :) I can’t count how many online spiritual teachers have helped me to heal.

Since my awakening in 2017, I’ve devoured articles, posts, and videos that helped explain what I was going through. One of my favorite YouTube channels is called Conscious TV, hosted by an amazing British couple. Their channel focuses on “nonduality” or unity consciousness. But there are tons of terrific channels online, as many of you know.

I’m also super grateful to the therapists who’ve aided my healing process, and of course my family, without whom I might have been homeless - or dead. For real. I’m so blessed to have their love and support. We’ve had our challenges, but personally I believe we choose our families and soul lessons before incarnating into each new lifetime. And I can totally see how my family has been essential to my awakening arc.

Thank you so much for reading and please reach out if you need support - or if you have any insights to share! It takes a village! 🙂

Much love and blessings to you & us all! 🙂 - Meli

Photos in order of appearance: Dip Singha, Caleb Lamb, Unpoquitode Foto, Pavel Danilyuk, Asul Lotfi, Doug Manning, Beyzaa Yurtkuran, Elizabeth Zernetska, Hilal, Pixabay, Valentin Ivantsov, Neydi Gastelo, Tkirkgoz, Veronika Andrews, Amresarse, Kool Shooters, Gesel and Brett Jordan