It's interesting that Jerry does take such an extreme position, where not only does he attribute all schizophrenic voices to external spirits, but also all the negative thoughts we take to be our own. It really doesn't strike me a obviously true, but then we can't really know where thought come from. I was interested to ground the interview in how do people gain freedom from such thoughts, irrespective of their ultimate origin.
Im definitely with you on this one Richard . I compare my meditation practice and past experiences during meditation with those of my patients/residents. I believe there are what I would call unhelpful entities, discarnate humans. I don't know how they can invade such personal space. There must be a kind of lower frequency alignment. For my residents though, Its not just hearing voices. There's generally a mix other DMS diagnoses, Depression, Anxiety Disorder, Bipolar, Schizoaffective. Delusions are common. Complicating this are the medication side effects, especially 1st generation, which in some cases really give a psych pt. their crazy look I.e. Tardive Dyskinesia, spasms, poor motor control, shakes and tremors thing.
Its almost better for me to look back at my 20 something friends which heard voices and didn't in general receive regular medication. I have a friend from a Pennsylvania high school. He's hopefully still out there. His name was Lanny (fictitious). In later years he preferred Treeplanter (really). He became an arborist in his 50s. He did give battle to his voices. He was hospitalized a number of times. One time I had take him myself to Salem Psych Hospital in Ore. in 1973. He almost went unresponsive. I actually consulted with one of the psychiatrists that was later featured in the movie, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. So he was certifiable. However he was completely non violent and mostly a vegetarian. In his twenties, I remember he engaged in paranoid thinking, but as time went now. He entertained and embraced all sorts of Christian and Eastern spiritual beliefs and was a conspiracy theorist as well as claiming he had visitations from aliens and UFOs.
Now this guy became a talented grifter in time. He got himself declared mentally disabled in California. Collected a monthly sum which enabled him to buy a van, but he never had a home. He was a kind of wandering sadhu. He liked to walk around in the nude. Sometimes in public. I think either he didn't care or there may have been times when he got too far out there. looked to get hospitalized to have a warm bed and regular meals. He mostly used Eastern Spiritual Ashrams as temp homes. He would sell himself as a devout follower of whoever. It was a scam mostly. Rashneeish was one of those places. He robbed another Ashram in Fla in the early 80s only because it was too loose, nobody seemed to be in charge. He would do menial chores work in the gardens and then score on the ladies. He developed a gift for sweet talking women. He had no fear with woman. He told me he was part woman, he understood them and knew exactly what to say to get their clothes off. He had thick long hair and was a decent looking guy. I heard some good stories. No they were true. I saw him in action, saw pictures.
Now did he cure himself? I don't know. I think he did. Never took psych meds voluntarily. He did like to smoke pot and do various hallucinogens. I never heard him talk about voices later in life and if he did, they weren't malicious. He found love and he embraced love. Not sexual love alone but he loved animals and trees and people. These unhelpful entities are vampiric, I think that stuff is like garlic and holy water to them if they were external.
Don't let me draw some enlightened idea about him. I found myself avoiding him as much as possible just due to his completely different ideas about things and his lifestyle. He wasn't inwardly happy. He did the best he could given his personality and so called demons. I apologize if I went on to long