Is epilepsy a spiritual experience?

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Thanks for the reply shelly,
I dont remember being told that it was temporal lobe Epilepsy, neither did i stop breathing (to my knowledge) I was told they were classed as a general seizeures. I completly lost consiousness for around 20-30mins with violent thrashing, took me around 2-4 hours to get my memory back in hospital, with no memory of the seizeure at all. I remember before both times as my sense of smell incresed so much I felt as if I could smell the otherside of a 26 lane bowling alley up my nose (different drinks, smoke etc), very strange and also severe lapses in concentration where i would completly forget what had a taken place over the last minute. Its not till recently i've thought much about my epilepsy and happily taken my medication for the last 5 years, till more recently as i've had more time on my hands and found this forum
 
Of course

Of course it is all part of the journey, it is what makes your journey unique, and yes, I definitely believe that the grand mals where I have had NDEs are definitely spiritual, also even the myoclonics, I think of them as a pruning of the synapses or something to that nature.

WE have a different vibration, but I know my energy, aura and chakras are really being affected by meds at the moment, aughhhh, just have to try doing the right thing!!!!!

yoga, meditate, eat right, exercise, socialize (really diffiicult right now)

have faith!!!!!!
 
I have temporal lobe epilepsy. I am also a very religious and spiritually inclined person. I used to have major uncontrolable seizures. I found that unless I used prayer and meditation with chemical and herbal tincture the seizures wouldn't end. Now I get a chill in my brain and body but that passes when I pay attention to my breathing nothing like before. The spiritual and physical level can be a gift if one is open enough to accept it as such.
 
Interesting elderly thread got a bump.

Throughout human history people with E have often been cast as one or the other of two extremes, possessed by evil spirits or the devil, or in direct communication with some angels or deity.

In my opinion that is just people trying to find some explanation that makes sense for a condition they don't understand.

While I agree with joyous that breathing and meditation can be very effective in helping to control seizures in some people, I think it is very possible to do breath exercises, meditate, control your seizures and still be an atheist.

If someone finds a divine experience in a seizure, I'm happy for them but I really don't see anything divine about fear and pain followed by lethargy, exhaustion, and more pain.
 
Interesting elderly thread got a bump.

Throughout human history people with E have often been cast as one or the other of two extremes, possessed by evil spirits or the devil, or in direct communication with some angels or deity.

In my opinion that is just people trying to find some explanation that makes sense for a condition they don't understand.

While I agree with joyous that breathing and meditation can be very effective in helping to control seizures in some people, I think it is very possible to do breath exercises, meditate, control your seizures and still be an atheist.

If someone finds a divine experience in a seizure, I'm happy for them but I really don't see anything divine about fear and pain followed by lethargy, exhaustion, and more pain.
AlohaBird ... I totally agree. I'm glad that some folks can get solace through prayer and meditation, and as far as seizures go, whatever works. Personal peace and overall outlook go further than a lot of people believe as far as general health, including epilepsy.

That said, the way seizures and epileptics have been treated throughout history is not good, and religion played a big part in that. I am glad to live in an age where medicine is used to treat seizures, and not religion. I'm kind of jealous of those that can find spirituality in seizures, all I've experienced is pain, lethargy and scary thoughts about the future.
 
I'd read about this a while ago & found this extremely interesting. I'd definitely suggest reading the whole article. I find it extremely cool!
I also like the description of "an exclamation point after emotions" when having a seizure. That is so accurate to my experience.

It could have been God; it could have been a seizure. But one thing Devinsky does believe is "whatever happened back there in Sinai, Moses' experience was mediated by his temporal lobe."

The temporal lobes run along the sides of the brain, and deep within them is something called the limbic system. This system handles not just sound, smell and some vision but also memory and emotion.

When people have a seizure in the temporal lobe, it's as if the normal emotions have an exclamation point after them, because so many nerve cells are firing in rhythm. People may hear snatches of music — drawn from their memory bank — and in rare cases, interpret it as music from heavenly spheres. They may see a glimpse of light and think it's an angel.

"These patients give us clues as to what parts of the human brain are involved when all of us have a numinous experience," says Jeffrey Saver, a neurologist at UCLA.

Saver says when people with no brain dysfunction have numinous, or spiritual, experiences, it's the same limbic system being activated — but with the volume turned down

The Quest For The 'Sensed Presence'

This made me wonder: If God uses the temporal lobe, can neurologists make God come and go at will? Well, they can make ecstatic seizures go away with surgery or medication. But what about summoning God? Could a scientist manufacture a spiritual experience by manipulating my temporal lobes?

That question led me to Michael Persinger's laboratory in Sudbury, Ontario. It's 6:30 on a Saturday evening, and Persinger, a neuroscientist at Laurentian University, has pasted eight electrodes on my scalp. He eases a modified motorcycle helmet with its own sensors onto my head. He calls it the "God helmet."

The helmet is supposed to stimulate my right temporal lobe with weak magnetic fields, and create the illusion of God in my head. Well, not God exactly, but a sensed presence, a feeling that another being is in the room.
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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104291534
 
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not in my wildess dreams is epilepsy spiritual experience unless waking up to light poked in eye by doc or blinding head ache may be thowing up or banging me head when going down somewhere in the middle coloured halo..the only spiritual thing for me is if I get it out in time is'OH GOD NOT ANOTHER ONE)
 
I don't think there's anything spiritual about pain and suffering, although I suppose some might disagree. Personally, I consider the possibility that somehow E is God reprogramming or monitoring our brains, but I find at least a few flaws with that argument.

1) If God is the all powerful being that we are led to believe, why would he have to resort to such an intrusive method of manipulating or monitoring us? Surely he can do what he needs without "intervening" in our lives.

2) If God is manipulating or controlling us through seizures (and also psychosis as the case is for me), why would he have brought psychiatrists and neurologists into my life to try and prevent those seizures?
 
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