Does brain fog reduce the spiritual sense?

[kurt]

Brain fog is caused by many things, and one such thing that most ignore or fob off is the effect of wireless technology on CFs and ME sufferers. Since the proliferation of the airways with microwave non-ionised radiation in a form of electrosmog soup the increase of illnesses and syndromes are noted. If you are in such an environment, then you are possibly electro hyper sensitive (EHS) to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) and electromagnetic fields that are emitted from mobile phones and towers, Wi Fi, DECT phones, and wireless computer/modem/router.

These are some of the symptoms of EHS:

• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Sleep disorders
• Digestive Problems
• Brain fog and memory loss
• Depression and anxiety
• Dizziness

If I remember my physics course (many decades ago), the only way wireless signals could harm a normal, healthy person would be through heat, and that would be only if the person was too close to a transmitter. Before I became disabled with CFS I worked on a military project that involved training people in RF hazards, so I learned a bit about how this works, with normal people who don't have high metals.

I believe the problem is that if a person has an unnaturally high level of metals, which will be the case with poor methylation and low glutathione combined with exposure to toxic metals, then there can be different types of magnetic or radiation effects, disruptions like you mention. And as more and more people get sick with toxic metals and develop methylation blockages, probably EHS will increase.

I had severe EHS at one time. My EHS was so bad I had to get rid of my electric clock, and limit computer use, and I could not be in the same room with anyone using a cell phone. This is mostly cured with methylation support, mold avoidance and rehydration therapy (an oral rehydration solution). And I did also take EDTA for awhile. I am able to tolerate EM/RF now, can even use a cell phone again, although some newer computers are still a problem if I am too close to the CPU or use them too long.

Anyway, I believe that high metals (in the brain or CNS perhaps) are a primary factor in EHS. Not sure why the mold issue made my EHS worse, probably that was just a general health and general sensitivity improvement.

 

[kurt]

Brain fog is caused by our human resonant frequency being captured by a deceiving frequency from the powers of darkness or wireless technology. The frequencies of these realms are much the same as the natural frequency of a human body, and the same frequency used by non-ionised radiation from wireless technology can intrude into the human body through harmonics causing illness or deception.

I seriously doubt this, although there are many things we don't know, but brain fog can be traced to neurotoxin load, digestive dysbiosis (notice how many minutes after a meal before brain fog starts), and orthostatic or blood volume problems, vasoconstriction, among other natural, biological causes. I'm not saying radiation can't cause harm, no doubt if a person has a high metals load some types of radiation can disrupt various CNS functions or even trigger brain fog. Perhaps even natural solar radiation, ever feel better when the sun goes down? There are many curiosities surrounding CFS and EMS, but I would be careful about making assumptions here.

At one time I was completely convinced that mercury poisoning caused my CFS and perhaps most of the phenomenon. I had Cutler's book and was taking the supplements. But they made me sick. And then my daughter became ill with CFS, and she had no known mercury exposure, never had a single filling, no amalgam. Oops, CFS is strange, that's for certain.

 

[Dreambirdie]

I was brought up in the Christian tradition (Catholic to be precise), but being one of these "seeker" types, which are people who restlessly search for some undefined truth at the end of a rainbow, I got involved in a number of different traditions. I was most drawn to Buddhism and Zen in terms of practices to follow, and it became very clear, from my direct experience of performing these practices, that what they evoke strongly resembles Christian precepts. From this you get the impression that states of mind we have familiarly with, such as that feeling of being imbued with the Holy Spirit, also occur in other certain faiths (but perhaps not in all faiths), just under a different name.

Me too, Hip. I was brought up Catholic and drawn to Buddhism and Zen at a young age. But I don't think I could compare my Catholic upbringing, and especially my experiences in parochial school, to my Buddhist meditations. Kneeling next to a statue of the Virgin Mary with gum on my nose doesn't have any correlations to anything I experienced at Vipassana.

I will say, though, that I felt disappointed when they changed the name of Holy Ghost to Holy Spirit. As a kid, the ghost image appealed to me much more. But other than that, I never took any of it too seriously and never felt any real connection to the Catholic faith, because the nuns and priests that I knew who preached it were such blatant hypocrites (and so abusive to children!), that they lost all credibility in my eyes early on. I chose instead to pray to the Beatles. That brought me a sense of real joy and made me feel connected to spirit in a way that the mean old god with the pointy finger never could.

I think that this correlates to the idea of "following your bliss," finding where your true inspiration lies, and letting that be your guide. Anything that gives me a feeling of deep peace or a spark of joy is where I find spirit. That could be anything, but most usually it is something in nature or something creative. A tree, the sky, the ocean, my partner, the sound of my guitar in an open tuning, a spontaneous painting, a dream, a great line in a book, and of course the Beatles. They still give me a thrill. Nothing better for brain fog than that!

 

[Hell...Hath...No...Fury..]

I was brought up catholic too. Its thanks to this upbringing that i've been on a quest for spiritual truth ever since, because i certainly never found any within the walls of a church. Being specifically told not to question anything resulted in me questioning everything ever since

 

[Hell...Hath...No...Fury..]

I know its not relevant to the discussion but this is a video of my local teacher Sherab at my local buddhist centre. I'm too ill to get there most of the time unfortunately as his classes are excellent.

http://m.youtube.com/?reason=8&rdm=920#/watch?v=0uhDLWwsMXo&desktop_uri=/watch?v=0uhDLWwsMXo

 

[Dreambirdie]

Questioning everything is a good place to start. And not having all the answers figured out ahead of time is even better! YAY for the MYSTERY!

 

[Hip]

The pope must have read the above posts about the spiritual failures of Catholicism, and it was this that lead him to resign!


I do think, though, that Catholicism in the English speaking countries is, in a way, not the natural form of Catholicism. Catholicism is a bit strained and forceful in the English speaking world.

If you visit countries that are predominantly Catholic — like France, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Cuba, and much of Central and South America — you find that because Catholicism is everywhere as the normal backdrop in these places, its teaching does not need to be so severe.

Also, I think there is a difference between church Catholicism and cultural Catholicism. Church Catholicism is what is taught in Catholic schools and in the churches. Whereas cultural Catholicism is just the social behavior and disposition of ordinary people in Catholic countries in their everyday day lives. I really enjoy visiting Catholic countries because of the culture and behavior of the people there; there is a kind of natural, laid back, emotional stance to these people.

Of course, countries where the Protestant faiths are in the majority (which includes the English speaking world) tend to be more advanced countries, and materially successful countries, perhaps in no small part due to the Protestant emphasis on knowledge and reason over emotion. And also Protestantism is not quite so domineering, so this allows other faiths and social activities to flourish more, which in some ways increases the cultural diversity and sophistication of a country .

The original Christianity is of course the Orthodox. Whereas the Catholic emphasis seems to be more emotional, and the Protestant emphasis more towards knowledge and reason, the emphasis in the Orthodox Christian church is definitely more spiritual.

In a way, these three major branches Christianity — Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox — and their respective emphasis on reason, emotion and spirit, kind of reflects the nature of the three parts of the Holy Trinity itself: God, Christ and the Holy Spirit.

 

[baccarat]

It seems to me that too many who have here declared to be or have been catholics have not had the good fortune of receiving a satisfactory education in the faith. I feel sorry for you.
I have to disagree on some of the points raised.

Myth 1. : catholics do not question anything
A good number of priests, bishops and cardinals question (unfortunately) many basic truths of the gospels like the existence of satan or the role of the church in healing to the point of denying through elaborate theological discourses that Christ actually dealt with those phenomena.

The catholic world is not a monolith as we are often lead to think, it's rather a very composite world of very different moving parts with sometimes diverging and active theological views.

Myth 2. catholics emphasis on emotions vs. protestant emphasis on reason
If you ever attended the service of some protestant denominations you wouldn't think so...on the other hand I find the catholic liturgy, certainly in most western countries, on the whole quite stiff and unemotional.

I have also been quite struck by the the rigour and discipline of the catholic church in handling cases of supernatural manifestations. I get the impression that too many catholics feel sort of embarrassed by such situations and would rather hide than have to face them.

I'd also like to mention that catholic theologians are in such awe of the power of knowledge and reason that tend to actively discourage the use of the word "miracle" which is usually replaced by a "remarkable".

Myth 3. Spiritual truth is to be found within the walls of a church
We can only find it, that is in relation to the Christian faith, in the Bible by going deep into it, meditating on it and understanding it through our own individual effort.

And again, whoever goes on a Bible study course will discover that is impossible without debate, questioning and then practically testing those truths in our individual lives.

Myth 4. the spiritual failures of catholicism are other people's faults
Every religion has had its fair shares of failures but that's because every human endeavour is flawed as it carries with it the flaws inherent in the human beings that make it.

It's a shame that somebody may have their view of a faith influenced by what some other people say or do.
With regard to the Christian faith what matters to me is the message of Christ and the love He pours out and remains freely available to all of us.

Having said that, I believe each spiritual path may have its merits and different people may find benefits in following different paths.

For me personally the acid test is my own individual and honest assessment of where that has lead me in life, in every area. That's my own spiritual truth acid test.
When I look back I can't ignore the fact that of all the paths I've tried, the Christian faith is the only one that has brought me, directly or indirectly, to a life where I have found peace, good friends but also a state of relatively good health, which I had always thought impossible for a guy like me who, because of our illness, found himself alone and isolated, without house, money and no much brain power. Thanks Virgin Mary and Jesus!


PS: Sorry Hip but you lost me with your last post where you talk about the "Holy Trinity" in terms of reason, emotion and spirit?
In my mind God is pure love and only love, whilst Christ is the image of God given to us so that we could understand God's will, i.e. what love is all about and really means, whilst the Holy Spirit is the essence of God and allows us to experience God.


I also have to disagree on the cultural diversity/sophistication argument. I have certainly found a lot of diversity within the Catholic world and perhaps more than in Protestantism, due to the cultural influences that african, latin american and asian catholics have brought with them.

PPS:

I was brought up catholic too. Its thanks to this upbringing that i've been on a quest for spiritual truth ever since, because i certainly never found any within the walls of a church. Being specifically told not to question anything resulted in me questioning everything ever since

next time you attend your sangha try questioning their belief in reincarnation and see what happens...

 

[Hip]

It seems to me that too many who have here declared to be or have been catholics have not had the good fortune of receiving a satisfactory education in the faith. I feel sorry for you.

That is a very patronizing comment.

 

[baccarat]

I'm sorry you felt that way and as I reread it, I acknowledge that you're probably right. I wrote it with rather a sentiment of sadness. I'm myself a recent and still work in progress as far as my christian education is concerned.
From personal experience and reading some of the previous posts, I maintain the opinion that quite a few christian leaders, communities, schools etc. haven't done a very good job at communicating, preaching and implementing the teachings of Christ.

 

[Hip]

I don't think it should really be seen as sad when an individual leaves one religious culture, because they have found a different practice which eminently suits. There is always some degree of movement of people between religious or spiritual practices, and this movement often occurs because individuals did not find what they were looking for, or had a "personality clash" with a religion. It's neither fault of the religion nor the individual when this happens.

You will generally have just as many people arriving into a faith like Catholicism, as you will have departing. The most important thing is that a given individual finds an appropriate means to connect to the transcendental — a means that works for them. DIfferent personalities will find some religious or spiritual practices work perfectly for them, but that other practices don't work well at. It's not so different when you find friends or partners in life. Sometimes there is just this wonderful chemistry that occurs.

I have a lot of fondness for Catholicism and its values, and socially speaking, I feel very at home with Catholics. But found my true spiritual awakening and sustenance in Eastern religious practices such Buddhism, Zen, yoga (the proper spiritual yoga), as indeed did many people in the West over the last say half century.

Without these Eastern practices, I would have been much diminished person spiritually, and a little lost in the world. They gave me the connection to the transcendental that I was always looking for. I only have immense gratitude that I found them.

In general, I think that there are two basic types of people in religious or spiritual circles: people who like structure, doctrine, and concreteness to their religious practice; and people who like the mystical, spiritual, ethereal, open-ended aspects.

My feeling is that very often, mystical types are not that well catered for in the Protestant and Catholic faiths, and so these people may find that the more mystically oriented Eastern religions or practices like Buddhism and Zen are better for them, with these practices being more on their wavelength.

I once had a short discussion with a Church of England bishop, asking him why his faith was not particularly oriented towards the mystical and spiritual, in comparison to Eastern faiths, and I expressed my view that not catering for the more mystical types (who often just don't go for concreteness and doctrine) meant that they were losing these people to other religions like Buddhism. He did not have an answer to this. But I was trying to be helpful. Although concreteness and doctrine form the backbone to any religion, it is the mystical energies within a religion that, in my view, forms its living soul.

 

[Hell...Hath...No...Fury..]

next time you attend your sangha try questioning their belief in reincarnation and see what happens...

I already know what happens, the question is opened to the room for discussion, i'm not sure what your point is...

 

[baccarat]

I already know what happens, the question is opened to the room for discussion, i'm not sure what your point is...

then generalisations do not apply neither here nor there, do they?
Saying "Being specifically told not to question anything" and associating that with Catholics was a false generalisation.

 

[Hell...Hath...No...Fury..]

i didnt generalise about all catholics. I was talking about my personal experience of being catholic which is neither unfair nor wrong, its my experience.

 

[baccarat]

Hip,
You raise a valid point on structure, doctrine etc.. What I would just add is that Jesus and many saints afterwards weren't too much concerned with those aspects and many orders (Franciscans, Carmelites etc) within Christianity continue to live by that example.

 

[Hip]

Have you ever come across Meister Eckhart, Baccarat?

Eckhart is considered one of the greatest of all Christian mystics. He is highly regarded by some Buddhists too, which is an immense endorsement, because Buddhism is perhaps the most mystical of religions.

What Meister Eckhart says can be very difficult to understand, because he is speaking from the most profound states of mystical union. I particularly like Eckhart's descriptions of the Godhead, and the distinction he makes between God and the Godhead. The Godhead is the name Eckhart gives to the Absolute — that is, the void or abyss which mystics seek union with, which is "prior" to God.

I'll just paste in a few Eckhart quotes on the relationship between God and the Godhead, so that you appreciate the extraordinary depths of his mystical vision:

"Godhead is the negation of negation, the absolute fullness of being."

"If creatures speak of God, why do they not mention the Godhead? Because there is only unity in the Godhead and there is nothing to talk about. God acts. The Godhead does not. The difference between God and the Godhead is the difference between action and non-action."

"God works, the Godhead does not work: there is nothing for it to do, there is no activity in it. It never peeped at any work."

"If you do not let go of yourself completely, if you do not drown yourself in this bottomless sea of the Godhead, you cannot get to know this divine light."

"I beg God to void me of God, for my essential being is above God, insofar as we take God to be the beginning of creatures."

"The treasure of the Kingdom of God has been hidden by time and multiplicity and the soul's own works, or briefly by its creaturely nature. But in the measure that the soul can separate itself from this multiplicity, to that extent it reveals within itself the Kingdom of God. Here the soul and the Godhead are one."

Of course, giving sermons like the above to his much bewildered congregation eventually led Eckhart to be investigated by the Roman Catholic inquisition for heresy. This occurred when Eckhart was getting on in years, in his 60s. Fortunately, Eckhart'a brilliant mind knew all the scriptures inside out, and thus he was able to demonstrate to the inquisitors that he was fully conversant with the orthodoxy, and that he was no heretic. So finally after much investigation, he was exonerated. I am sure Eckhart must have breathed a sigh of relief at that point!

 

[Dreambirdie]

Great quotes, Hip. Thank you! Eckhart was a fascinating human.

 

[Hip]

It just saddens me immensely that ME/CFS seems to have destroyed, or at least greatly reduced, my mystical/spiritual sense. This means you become cut off from this transcendental reality. Banished from divine contact.

 

[Hell...Hath...No...Fury..]

The best thing i ever found to clear the brain fog and still use it to this day are antioxidants, but they are expensive to use at the full dose and they have to be taken with meals. The first time i experienced a complete detox flush of my brain, i was astounded after two weeks of hell while they kicked in, i woke one morning and it was as though someone had turned on the light, i could see clearly, everything was bright vivid colours all of my senses were fully awake for the first time in years and connecting to the spiritual again became very easy and natural. I hadn't realised the level at which the physical world around me had been reduced to a drab grey through the lens of the thick fog and that same drab grey permeated everything. People kept commenting that i looked like an amazed child looking at the world for the first time with a huge smile on my face. I don't think the world was ever that crisp and vivid even before the ME.
The government were trying to ban the antioxidants so i began to try to survive on a minimal dose, which is enough to keep me functioning but not at that same level as before. That combined with not being able to afford food to go with them let alone the antioxidants themselves, i've now lost that detoxed state.
Its been a few years and i'm currently splashing out on high dose again to give my brain a holiday, the tablets don't seem as effective as before as i think some ingredients were removed but i'm making an effort to take the full dosage again temporarily to clean out my brain so i'm going through detox hell at the moment. Once its complete though i 'should' have that light switch on again, I'm praying! And i'm going to make the most of it while i can afford to make it last and enjoy the spiritual connection again hopefully. I'll be specifically watching for it this time around to note the difference, if there is any this time.

 

[Wayne]

Wow HHNF, that's quite a story. Thanks for sharing it. Makes me think about doing a similar antioxidant protocol. Sounds expensive and difficult, but I would love to move out of the drab and grey and thick brain fog as you described. --- May your renewed efforts pay off, so that you can again experience that "touch of heaven" you described so well.