Notes on Schizophrenia - The Moment of Truth

The essential element in the schizophrenic’s delusional reality is, I think, the dominance of the ego. It seems that the schizophrenic clasps the ego like a buoy in stormy seas as his mind is pulled deeper into an ocean of synchronicity. As the safe and ordered cause-and-effect reality fails (which is in fact in some ways as artificial as the world which the schizophrenic builds for themselves), and they get a glimpse of the synchronous universe, they recoil in fear (which is very understandable). Just what happens at this point is perhaps beyond description—it may be that the ego fights for its existence, or it may be that the schizophrenic clings to the ego--probably both--but the end result is the same. As the ability to adhere to socially condoned cause-and-effect strings falls away, and the open universe yawns before them, the ego becomes the last vestige of the old consensual reality for the schizophrenic. Their connection with the “real” therefore now funnels into them entirely through the ego—a bit like a grossly distorted lens. The awareness now stands “behind” the ego in the synchronous universe, clutching it in desperation.