Spirit possession and mad pride by Charlie Cross

Charlie Cross Spirit Possession Kristin Bloomer February 27, 2014

Spirit Possession and the Mad Pride Movement And now, arriving in magic, flying and finally, insane for the light You are the butterfly. And you are gone. -‐Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Translated by Robert Bly)

So let us be maladjusted, as maladjusted as the prophet Amos, who in the midst of the injustices of his day could cry out in words that echo across the centuries, ‘Let justice run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.’ Let us be as maladjusted as Abraham Lincoln, who had the vision to see that his nation could not exist half slave and half free. Let us be maladjusted as Jesus of Nazareth, who could look not the eyes of men and women of his generation and cry out, ‘Love your enemies.’ -‐Martin Luther King, Jr., “Speech to American Psychiatric Association,” June 1956

Introduction In our contemporary psychologized culture, there might exist no harsher

pejorative than “insane.” The word connotes a state of wrongness or disorder that is visceral, cutting through the need for explanation. It describes the extreme Other which our collective normative state of “health” is opposed to and elevated. From such a situation, that a movement might seek to reclaim the term “mad” (here understood as different in degree than insanity) points to a significant discursive battle over fundamental assumptions of our culture.

The Mad Pride movement, which formally began in England in 1999, seeks to

re-‐appropriate (or occupy, if you will), the term “mad” to connote something beneficent, in turn rejecting the psychiatric institution and the cultural beliefs it is seen to channel, paraded as ‘scientific.’ Subjectively, the “mad” individuals who

make up the movement often go through experiences akin to those involved with spirit possession. Like spirit possession, episodes of madness often entail dissolution of the self and an encounter with phenomena that are not held by the mainstream biomedical order to have real ontological status, just as spirits are held to be entirely fictitious or more vaguely, “real for the possessed,” depending on one’s perspective. Thus, scholarship analyzing the role spirit possession has played in society patterns—and recurring experiences of those involved with spirit possession provide—useful grounds for comparison to illuminate the dynamics at play in the Mad Pride movement. In this regard, I’ll be primarily working with I.M. Lewis’ Ecstatic Religion, specifically his articulation of peripheral vs. central cults and the figure of the shaman, as well as Mary Keller’s The Hammer and the Flute. First, this analysis will entail an exploration of Mad Pride and the different aims of different levels of the movement, as explained by Seth Farber in The Spiritual Gift of Madness: The Failure of Psychiatry and the Rise of the Mad Pride Movement. I argue that Mad Pride, in the broad sense, can be understood as a form of the peripheral cult in the way it localizes societal struggles in individual psyches, and through non-‐normal experiences narrated in alternative manners, which provide space for restructured values and senses of self. Yet in a restricted sense, Mad Pride leaders are comparable to shamans, both in the trajectory of their journeys and in their position leading what seem to be new central cults.

The Mad Pride Movement

The Mad Pride movement grew out of an earlier movement which was

prevalent in the 1970s—the psychiatric survivors movement. But whereas the latter stood in opposition to human rights violations (whether legal or illegal) that were seen as endemic to the mental health system (including involuntary psychiatric drugging, electroshock therapy, and inpatient and outpatient commitment laws), the former emphasizes the distinctiveness of the mad. This distinctiveness is interpreted in varying ways. For many in the movement, such distinctiveness is merely difference, and the movement exists to fight for the right to be different. For others, including Farber, the mad were actually superior in certain respects to ‘normal’ people. He traces his lineage of thought to the influential and controversial psychiatrist R.D. Laing, who thought that the mad were more sensitive and spiritually aware than normal people, who tended to be oblivious to the ‘inner world’ of their psyches.

Regardless, all members of the Mad Pride Movement reject the central

premise of the medical model—that the categorization of behaviors and experiences as ‘mental illness’ by psychiatrists is based on objective or scientific criteria. Instead, they see diagnoses reflecting psychiatrist’s subjective values and biases as usually reflecting the biases of the culture. As one example, Farber points to the American Psychological Association’s categorization of homosexuality as a mental illness until the 1970s. These biases, from the Mad Pride perspective, are dangerous. Farber says: Mad Pride activists often argue that since our society is individualistic, competitive, materialistic, and rationalistic, the conformative bias of mental

health professionals manifests itself in an inability to appreciate the communal, the cooperative, the non-‐rational, the spiritual or religious dimension of existence (Farber, 8). Dramatically, he says it is actually society as it exists today that is insane. Or in the words of Laing, it is “ontologically off course” (Farber, 8).

However, at this point a division in the movement arises. Farber’s book is

largely a polemic against more conservative members of the movement, who are unwilling to step into Farber’s more radical vision for the purpose of the mad. In Farber’s view, simply supporting difference or marginal superiority (which I will call the Mad Pride movement in the broad sense) is selling the ‘dangerous gifts’ of the mad short. In reality, they have a much greater mission, that of serving as leaders or prophets in the redemption of humanity and the earth and ushering in the new, messianic age. I will refer to this as the restricted or messianic side of Mad Pride.

It is Farber’s conviction that the episodes of madness experienced by those

who are interpreted as having psychopathological syndromes such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder—which, according to the National Institute for Mental Health, amounts to 8 million people in the United States alone1—are actually altered states of consciousness which have distinctly messianic overtones. He cites the late psychologist John Weir Perry, saying, “’Almost universally’ within ‘acute psychosis’ lies a messianic vision of a new world based on ‘equality and harmony, tolerance and love’” (8). Farber gives the example of a woman named Serine he encountered on an online support forum for those diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Serine said, 1 “The Numbers Count: Mental Disorders in America,” National Institute of Mental

I am a 31 yr [sic] old single mom, and I have BP ["bipolar disorder"] with psychosis. When I go into mania, I have conversations with God and He has told me how He plans to bring together the plan for the ages. Or how he is going to bring about global awareness (Farber, 26). Several others responded to this post, affirming that they too felt chosen or special at points in their lives. Farber says that these individuals are often bullied out of admitting the importance of their visions, either succumbing to cultural pressures explaining them away as delusions or taking a more spiritual perspective, rejecting them as egocentric. In Farber’s view, denying these visions amounts to undercutting the real power of the movement. On the one hand, this failure stems from the weight of the issue at hand. While the broad sense of the movement is largely aimed at making changes in the mental health system, Farber points out that the purpose of the system as it exists is to help persons adjust to society. How then, he asks, could there be a revolution in the mental health system without changing society? On the other hand, without a strong messianic conviction, the movement has little solid ground on which to stand. Farber notes: What is the basis of its alternative vision? In the name of what will it protest? Will it spread its wings and become a movement based on an affirmation of the holiness of the Earth, of the preciousness of all sentient life, of the freedom of the spirit, of the fraternity of humanity, of the sanctity of the imagination? Will it affirm a messianic (i.e., utopian) vision of redemption? Or will Mad Pride lose its way in the miasma of postmodern cultural pluralism and domesticated identity politics? (2).

Madness, Mad Pride and Spirit Possession At this point, the relationship between madness, Mad Pride, and Spirit

Possession needs to be explored. In The Hammer and the Flute, Mary Keller cites

Ann Grodzin Gold’s definition of spirit possession as “any complete but temporary domination of a person’s body, and the blotting out of that person’s consciousness, by a distinct alien power of known or unknown origin” (Keller, 3). This definition articulates three distinct categories upon which to compare the two. First, we might consider the extent to which those experience madness also fall prey to the domination of their body. While ‘psychological’ difficulties might be seen to be experienced entirely in one’s head, it’s clear that there is an intense physical aspect. Consider the physical control that can be lost—the sleeplessness, the diapers needed, and the extents to which friends and family go to ensure that the unstable don’t hurt themselves or others. Even if one understands the perpetrator to be the mind, the body is surely dominated by its whims. The second part of the definition, “the blotting out of that person’s consciousness,” suggests a smoother process than might be experienced in psychosis, but again, it is no stretch to see a blotting out of consciousness to be occurring. I’ll later discuss the role of self-‐awareness in both spirit possession and madness, but for the time being, it is easy to see taking place in madness a loss of a certain rational self, able to carry out intentions. Thus, we have mental hospitals for those that cannot, for whatever reason, take care of themselves. Finally, from an emic standpoint, the power that the mad are in conflict with can be known, unknown, or alien. Schizophrenics may experience themselves as been attacked by seen or unseen forces. Others might understand themselves to be in a battle with their past, the chemical dynamics of their mind, or their unconscious.

This brief analysis of the psychological similarities, illuminating points of

alignment doesn’t necessarily suggest that spirit possession and madness are the same thing, but rather that they are both entangled with similar dynamics between self, mind, body, and universe. A more subtle exploration, looking for broader ways to make sense of the psychological extremes which are present here, will follow, but for the time being, this established family resemblance will allow us to momentarily look at Mad Pride from a sociological standpoint, using the theories crafted around spirit possession.

I.M. Lewis argues that there is an acute moral and political dimension to

spirit possession. The dynamics can be easily categorized into two, opposing patterns. On the one hand is the central cult, wherein the ecstasy and information accessed by those ostensibly in contact with the spirit world functions to legitimize positions of power and authority. In such cases, the shaman, or what Lewis calls “the inspired priest” maintains privileged access to these supernatural powers, and uses them to diagnose the sins and appropriate atonement of those in his—and, in the cases Lewis studies, it is almost always a male—domain. The contrasting scenario is that of the peripheral cult, wherein oppressive social pressure gives rise to a different sort of encounter with the spirit world. Such cases play no direct part in upholding the moral code of the societies, and often undermine the status quo. Ecstasy is to be had for all—and, as they had previously been excluded, this mostly attracts women. Interestingly, the spirits in play are often believed to originate outside the local society.

The model of a peripheral cult fits the Mad Pride movement well. Although

they initially could be seen to be dealing with very different trends in society, both these recurring women’s possession cults and the Mad Pride movement involve a re-‐appropriation of dominant attitudes held by the cultures they exist within. These dominant attitudes involve whatever is stigmatized, cast out as Other or evil. For a staggering amount of our world, this is the female. Our psychologically-‐steeped society often emphasizes the importance of mental clarity and rationality for successful operation, collectively and individually. Consequently, states of mental instability—or rather, any mindsets that deviate from the rational, scientific norm— are seen to be extremely dangerous.2

Therefore, it makes sense that individuals embodying the qualities feared by

their culture use their experiences with non-‐normal states of consciousness to subvert the status quo and reposition themselves on higher ground. Lewis states: Peripheral possession can thus be seen to serve as an oblique aggressive strategy. The possessed person is ill through no fault of his own… In this state of possession the person is a highly privileged person: he is allowed many liberties with those whom in other circumstances he is required to treat with respect. Moreover, however costly and inconvenient for those to whom his normal status renders him subservient, his cure is often incomplete. Lapses are likely to occur whenever difficulties develop with his superiors. Clearly, in this context, possession works to help the interests of the weak and downtrodden who have otherwise few effective means to press their claims for attention and respect. This process, Gomm (1975) aptly calls, ‘bargaining from weakness’ (Lewis, 27). 2 Although a gendered element to the madness narrative might exist (the institutional or ideological force they are fighting could be seen as patriarchal), for the discussion here it assumes tangential importance. Since scholars often understand spirit possession to be about power (the bringing in of the spirit world as a subversive maneuver, reclaiming attention and narrative power), the lack of psychological strength experienced by the mad is a result of more ubiquitous, non-‐ gendered or sexual oppression.

In the peripheral possession cults, the feminine qualities of ‘receptivity’ are transformed into an expanded capacity for ecstasy. For Mad Pride activists, ‘madness’ is transformed into ‘creative maladjustment’. Farber suggests that the Mad Pride movement allows individuals to think of themselves in new terms, resisting the psychiatric definition of their identities. They were not persons with chronic ‘mentally diseased’ minds, incapable of making rational decisions for themselves. Instead, they were free moral agents who were victims of a punitively paternalistic psychiatric establishment that denied their status as moral agents, which is the basis for full citizenship (Farber, 6). Furthermore, Mad Pride activists and those involved in peripheral spirit possession share a similar attitude towards their “afflictions.” Lewis points out that the women do not seek to permanently expel the possessing agency, but rather reach a viable accommodation with it. Likewise, many in the mad pride may embrace their bouts of madness, understanding them as valuable, often creatively inspiring episodes. But whereas Lewis critiques the women involved, saying they incompletely taking responsibility for their position,3 Mad Pride activists understand see their afflictions differently. Their conditions are not necessarily problems that they have to take responsibility for—self-‐caused mal-‐adaptions to society—but rather challenges that they have to live out or difficult gifts they have to find ways to express. “J” says: I found it torturous when this last bout started up (about three weeks ago) but I’m learning to watch it rather than “be” it. Unbelievably challenging though… I’m choosing to see this as a spiritual experience—it’s trying to teach me many things: what’s important, what’s not; what I need to let go of; 3 “The women who succumb to these afflictions cannot help themselves and at the same time bear no responsibility for all the annoyance and cost which their subsequent treatment involves. They are thus totally blameless; responsibility lies not with them, but with the spirits.”(Lewis, 27)

forgiveness; compassion; etc. etc. 4 Moreover, many understand themselves to have actually passed through their illnesses to a more profound state of being, and here the disconnection between the Mad Pride in the broad sense and the narrow or messianic sense becomes important. For the broad Mad Pride activist, the goal is a safe but creative maladjustment. By contrast, the messianic Mad Pride activist understands herself to be exposing the insanity of western culture and as having undergone a process that is a microcosm of the transition needing to be undertaken by the rest of humanity. Messianic Mad Pride and Shamanism Those with this messianic understanding of themselves have experienced a journey and occupy positions closer to individuals such as Jero Tapakan, the Balanese spirit medium, and other initiates into the spirit world, often categorized as shamans, even if they exist in cultural locations comparable to peripheral cults. The parallel between the paths of the messianic mad and the shaman is twofold. First, both experience intense suffering, propelling them into their journey. Lewis describes a recurring theme of overwhelming illness or suffering experienced by the shaman, eventually leading him or her to withdraw from the mundane world and community. Likewise, mental breakdowns often force one to abandon regular, day-‐ to-‐day life.

This breakdown, whether or not it is a full, psychological death-‐and-‐rebirth,

leads to a process of discovering inner powers. Lewis says, “The powers involved 4 Monica Cassani, “Peer Support? This is the real thing. Free of Institutionalization (psych drug withdrawal)” Beyond Meds: Alternatives to Psychiatry. Accessed March 17, 2014. February 19, 2014. http://beyondmeds.com/2014/02/19/correspondence/

are often, either directly or indirectly, both the causes of misfortune and the means of its cure… It is precisely by demonstrating his own successful mastery of the grounds of affliction that the shaman establishes the validity of his power to heal” (Lewis, 62-‐63). Correspondingly, Farber believes that the psychological chaos experienced by the psychotic is a calling of sorts, leading them to “an initiation into a higher, more conscious mode of being” (Farber, 2). As such, they are seen as unwilling pioneers in a process that we have to collectively experience. Farber quotes Laing: The condition of alienation, of being asleep, of being unconscious, of being out of one’s mind, is the condition of the normal man. Society highly values its normal man. It educates children to lose themselves and to become absurd, and thus to be normal. Normal men have killed perhaps 100,000,000 of their fellow normal men in the last fifty years (Farber, 120) From this perspective, the mad can join the ranks of mystics and prophets (often also cast off as mad) in providing templates for a transition to sanity—not normality, but true sanity, a higher sanity. In this regard, having achieved a stable, “higher” way of being, the Mad Pride in a narrow sense might be seen as new central cults, organizing a new morality. A key difference, however, would be that in the imagined messianic new age, ostensibly everyone would have undergone this spiritual transformation, not just the privileged shaman. That being said, this notion of universal salvation could easily also be present in a number of other central cults.

Still, all of this begs the question of the degree to which mad individuals

actually experience something similar to spirit possession or shamanism. Keller gives a useful addendum to Gold’s definition, given earlier, pointing out that, “This definition focuses on the specific problem that is raised by a religious body whose consciousness is “blotted” by its experience. The broader

category of religious ecstasy as found in the scholarly study of religion entails a spectrum of experiences containing phenomena such as mysticism and trance. Spirit possessions reside at the far end of the spectrum of religious experience in that the consciousness is blotted to a greater extent than with mysticism and therefore the experience is more difficult to study” (Keller, 4) With this crucial difference in mind, we may draw a sharp distinction between spirit possession and the experiences of the restricted Mad Pride, even if the latter have episodes where consciousness is significantly altered. In the research I’ve done, I’ve found no accounts of psychosis that emphasize the loss of consciousness or self-‐ awareness—the primary subjective feature of spirit possessions.

Still, Keller’s explication brings up the “spectrum of religious experience,” a

useful field for comparison. I’d suggest that a common dynamic of self is found in mysticism, spirit possession, and psychosis. Religious experiences are often seen to be more real, more saturated with life than everyday consciousness. As a corollary, a somewhat split understanding of self arises. The normal self or ego—often associated with the body and community—assumes a secondary position in relation to the more real or fundamental self, soul, or consciousness that can interact with the supernatural world of spirits or spirit. Indeed, this situation becomes so messy that, as Lewis says, “the problem of distinguishing between madmen and mystics… is one most religious communities have had to face” (Lewis, 33). 5 5 Plato’s conception of madness speaks interestingly to this blurry picture, seeing madness as primary. In the Phaedrus, he says, “The greatest blessings come to us by way of madness, indeed of madness that is a gift sent by God” (224 A., as quoted by Kenneth R. Seeskin in “Platonism, Mysticism, and Madness,” p. 575.) Seeskin says Plato saw four varieties of divine madness: prophecy, religious frenzy, poetic inspiration, and love (eros). What is common to these four types is the idea of possession—“those who experience divine madness are said to be in a state of enthusiasm (enthousiasmos), which means that the god is present in them or that they are full of the god” (Seeskin, 575).

And indeed, many in the Mad Pride (in both the wide and restricted sense)

understand themselves to be experiencing the same reality as mystics and prophets from time immemorial. David Oaks, founder of Mind Freedom, an organization started in 1990 devoted to fighting for “human rights and alternatives for people labeled with psychiatric disabilities,”6 recounts his experience: “I think that when I went through my experience—when I was labeled psychotic—I got a taste of what saints, mystics, prophets, and shamans experience. Every cell in my body was certainly involved in the experience. It wasn’t just like a theoretical—you know—“Let us pray.” It was actually like, “I’m having a vision. I’m in an ecstatic state. I’m in an overwhelmed state.” (Farber, 94) Farber likes a metaphor from Joseph Campbell. Farber says: He wrote that the mad person and the mystic are all in the same ocean; the same “beatific ocean deep”, but the mystic and the saint are swimming, while the mad person is drowning. The reason for the difference, as Campbell saw it, is that mystics (or those who become mystics) are prepared for the ocean; they have usually been raised in or studied a spiritual tradition…they know about the ocean before they venture into it, while mad persons (those who become “psychotic”) have no preparation or guidance; in most cases they are not even aware of the ocean’s existence until they find themselves immersed in it. Psychiatrists try to drag them out, drug them up and warn them never to go near the water; then they tell them they are incurably mentally ill. (Farber, 129). While there is certainly no way to prove that all mystics are swimming in the same ocean, and that the mad are drowning in it, this metaphor might be more easily accepted if the “ocean” is expanded beyond the supernatural to the entire realm of the imagination or subconscious. 6 http://www.mindfreedom.org/who-‐we-‐are

Conclusion

The Mad Pride movement has experienced a decent amount of exposure and

criticism. While a good portion of this has been positive (usually highlighting only the broad sense of the movement), many take offense with the movement’s attitude towards drugs. In an article in the New York Times, Dr. E. Fuller Torry, executive director of the Stanley Medical Research Institute, dismisses this “pro-‐choice” attitude towards the medicine, suggesting that it could have dire consequences. He compares mental illness to other diseases, saying, “Would you be pro-‐choice with someone who has another brain disease, Alzheimer’s, who wants to walk outside in the snow without their shoes and socks?”7 Others have wondered about the potentially disastrous effects of this expanded autonomy. Could those that are so unstable as to be dangerous to themselves and others—such as the killers at Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colorado, and Sandy Hook—make responsible choices for themselves?8

These are serious critiques, and they make a good argument for the

continued, if conservative, use of anti-‐psychotics. However, I think they misunderstand the attitude towards drugs of Farber and others, which is more concerned with the average mental health patient trying to negotiate the system, the world, and their mind, all at once. Here, the problem is the entire collective attitude 7 Gabrielle Glaser, “‘Mad Pride’ Fights a Stigma,” New York Times, May 11, 2008 Accessed March 17, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/fashion/11madpride.html?pagewanted=all &_r=0 8 Anna North, “’Mad Pride,’ Mental Illness, and the Age of Antidepressants” Jezebel, August 26, 2009. Accessed March 17, 2014. http://jezebel.com/5345960/mad-‐ pride-‐mental-‐illness-‐and-‐the-‐age-‐of-‐antidepressants

surrounding mental illness and the manners in which we treat it. In this case, viewing Mad Pride as a peripheral cult illuminates serious cultural and structural flaws in our society. The stigmatization of the mentally ill, the rush to prescribe drugs, and the lack of developed self-‐help options and support communities seems to create a bloated, ineffective, if not oppressive structure around psychological health. With a healthier and more proactive attitude towards mental health— encompassing the wide variety of psychological problems experienced today—we might be able to find and heal those extremely damaged souls that have in turn, damaged our collective soul. And who knows—giving individuals more chances and the tools to courageously explore their inner ocean may prove an effective and healing endeavor for us all.

I agree with Farber’s call for a redirection of our entire culture. At some

point, our individual psychological condition cannot be separated from our communal habits, which are far from ideal. I’d point to the popularity of mindfulness meditation as an indicator of our level of collective stress, anxiety, and disconnection. Although we might put on strong or shiny faces, I think there we experience a high level of meaninglessness, despair, and fear, and much of that has to do with our cultural beliefs and structures—especially the rhetoric of individual responsibility and its companion in neoliberal economics. Increasingly (as I’m exploring in my comps), I think change needs to happen on the spiritual level. It seems to me that we must break or heal our narrow conceptions of ourselves as purposeless, self-‐interested, and blameworthy and step into a more compassionate,

and gifted understanding of self in order to live effectively and harmoniously collectively.

Bibliography: Cassani, Monica “Peer Support? This is the real thing. Free of Institutionalization (psych drug withdrawal)” Beyond Meds: Alternatives to Psychiatry. Accessed March 17, 2014. February 19, 2014. http://beyondmeds.com/2014/02/19/correspondence/ Farber, Seth, The Spiritual Gift of Madness: The Failure of Psychiatry and the Rise of the Mad Pride Movement. Inner Traditions, Rochester. 2012. Glaser, Gabrielle. “‘Mad Pride’ Fights a Stigma,” New York Times, May 11, 2008 Accessed March 17, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/fashion/11madpride.html?pagewan ted=all &_r=0 Keller, Mary, The Hammer and the Flute: Women, Power, and Spirit Possession. Johns Hopkins University Press, Maryland. 2002 Lewis, I.M., Ecstatic Religion: A study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession. Routledge, New York. 1971 North, Anna “’Mad Pride,’ Mental Illness, and the Age of Antidepressants” Jezebel, August 26, 2009. Accessed March 17, 2014. http://jezebel.com/5345960/mad-‐pride-‐mental-‐illness-‐and-‐the-‐age-‐of-‐ antidepressants Seeskin, Kenneth R., “Platonism, Mysticism, and Madness” The Monist, Vol. 59, No. 4 October, 1976. Pp 574-‐586.