Can Awareness Arise While on Psychiatric Medication?

My question is around the issue of psychiatric medications and awakening. We have talked about this issue on ETT forum. It is an issue in my life situation and the life situation of many others on the forum. Some believe they need to go off their medications to awaken. And others say without the medication, they would not have enough clarity to even begin to bring presence in their lives. My question is, can a person take psychiatric medication and still awaken? Will psychiatric medication hold a person back or slow down the awakening process?

Thank you. Thank you. May I ask a personal question? Are you on medication?

Yes.

But you're also here. That is already part of the answer. Because for you to be here, there must be some inner recognition of awareness. And so, despite whatever the medication is or whatever the condition your condition is, there is an arising of awareness. So it's easier for me to answer this question because you are standing there than an abstract question. You are living proof. I'm not saying necessarily you don't experience periods when you are taken over by whatever patterns there are in the mind. But there is an opening into awareness, which is not the case with many people who are not on medication or who are considered normal. They are not standing here. Many of them are not and wouldn't be. In them, there is no opening. So one cannot say categorically, under this or that condition, awareness cannot arise. Awakening cannot happen. As a general rule, before anybody seeks help of that kind, I would advise to explore other possibilities. If you wish to gradually become free of medication, which in many cases can obscure the awareness that wants to arise, you would need to do it with a physician who is relatively conscious. There are some. There are maybe twofold question. One question is, with medication, is awareness able to come through? And of course, that depends what kind of medication, what period of time and other factors. But in some cases, I believe it is. In other cases it's not. It can obscure the awareness. The other question is a certain mental what is diagnosed as mental illness? Can awareness arise there and again, that depends on the nature of the illness. Sometimes in the west, shifts in consciousness are misinterpreted. If they happen suddenly, they can be misinterpreted and misdiagnosed by a physician. And Western physicians, because they're conditioned by the Western system, have no idea of shifts in consciousness. It's not part of the medical model. There are no shifts in consciousness in psychiatry. So you can either you are normal, abnormal, of course, is insane, but they don't know that, or your illness, your disease, the mind is ill. There are people who are Put on medication. Unfortunately, children, sometimes in increasing numbers, who in whom there may simply be a change in consciousness happening. Their children, who for the most absurd reasons are put on medication just to keep them quiet. And people like who in India, Ramana Maharshi, the Indian sage, who when he was 17, 16 or 17, suddenly did something that in the west would have been regarded as a sign of severe mental illness. He left his home, he went to a. Took a train and he sat down by a temple and stopped doing anything. Didn't even put food in his mouth, just sat. And of course in the west they would have put him away. And in India they respected it and allowed him to sit there and fed him. People came and after a few years he started to speak again. And it turned out that he was awakened. He had awakened. But the shift was so sudden that he became dysfunctional for a while. From a normal viewpoint, came dysfunctional, couldn't operate anymore in the world. So this can happen to people sometimes and it's totally misinterpreted. So often what is called medical psychiatric illness not always can be a misdiagnosed shift in consciousness. At other times there is actually a condition there with which it would be very difficult to live. Many types of so called schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a huge term which can be applied if you don't know what exactly is wrong. You call it schizophrenia. It's almost like that. The same way in physical body it's a viral infection. They don't really know. But this is a term that covers a lot of things. It's a viral infection. Oh, now I know what it is. And then schizophrenia, now I know what it is. In many cases it is true that in mental illness, the very cause of the illness can be total identification with certain mental movements, lack of awareness. I've had limited success when I worked with people one on one. Some years ago I had some people who had forms of schizophrenia who came to see me who were on medication. And by sitting with them and pointing to the possibility of awareness, they were able to become free and eventually also become free of the medication. For example, I remember one case, a woman came to see me who had severe auditory hallucinations, so called voices. And again, we don't even know whether the entities actually are talking to her. That's possible, whether it's. But it really comes to the same thing. Whether it's thoughts in her head that take the form of a voice that she hears. The voice tells her to do something, it's very insistent, or several voices, sometimes very insistent, telling her to do this, do that, and enormous energy behind that voice. And the way I approached it was to point out the possibility of not giving, not paying attention to the content of what the voice says, but simply to be aware that there is a voice speaking and that it is a voice in the head. It is a thought, I call it a thought. Maybe it's something else, but it comes to the same thing. It's a thought, it's a voice, whatever it says. You say there's a voice. Be the awareness for the voice. Don't fight it. Be the awareness so that the voice. You don't do what the voice says because you disregard the content. So if the voice says you are God, say thank you, there's a voice again. If the voice says you are the devil, thank you, there's the voice again. You are the awareness for the voice. Disregard the content. Then gradually the voice lost its power. Because she disregarded the content of the voice, awareness grew. So ultimately the healing in any case is awareness. So awareness can arise in the strangest circumstances and to people you would never have predicted could arise to. And that includes even people who have a so called psychiatric disorder or who are on medication. It can happen. Nobody can categorically say that it cannot happen. In some cases those people are closer than normal people. As you know, there was a movement in psychiatry in the 60s and 70s where some anti. It was called anti psychiatry where it was recognized that often psychiatric conditions are really something else. So it's really. It is simple in your case that obviously despite the medication, you are here and something shift is happening inside you. Nothing can stand against the power of awareness ultimately. Because the power of awareness is the power of the evolution of the universe itself. So nothing really that it seeks the slightest opening and it can come through that. So I would say that. Trust that as it's happening, it will continue to happen for you. And there may be a point when, with help, the medication won't be needed anymore as awareness grows. But you need somebody who is conscious to help you with that. A physician who is conscious to help you with that. It's wonderful to see that it is working.

It's helped that I've disidentified from it.

Yes.

And I'm able to be the witness.

That's the power.

It's been my symptoms. Less power over me.

Yes.

And knowing that I'm not that there, it's.

That's right. So that's the key to be the witness, to be the awareness for whatever it is. It's wonderful so I'm very grateful. I'm glad you asked the question. And I'm sure there'll be many people who are in a similar position have the same question. So. Yes, it is possible. To your possible. Thanks.

Thank you.

Thanks.