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Is Autism a Higher State of Consciousness?

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Jericho123
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03 Aug 2011, 7:09 pm

I've reflected upon the idea that the soul or spirit has the capcity for all experience, and that the brain is the specific structure which orients the soul in present time. I have no idea really, just a thought.

I do not regret being born who I am, I've never been able to deeply relate to anyone, I do not have any special talents, unless rambling about things I love is one of them. Of course understanding this "difference" in my mind is part of the healing and journey.

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03 Aug 2011, 7:10 pm

Psychedelic drugs never did much for me because I'm already like that. One of the many reasons I never took to smoking weed.



Louise18
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03 Aug 2011, 7:21 pm

kfisherx wrote:
Now this anecdote aside, I have to say that reading the majority of the posts on this site lead me to conclude that not all autism is created equal. I have to say the majority of the posts I read are comprised of people with ASD and comorbid depression/anxiety that keeps them from functioning at a any sort of level let alone a higher level. This is also true with the ASD people that I personally know. Many of them have so much inner "noise" about how broken they are that it is impossible to say that they are on any sort of "higher plane"


I agree with this. However, I would like to point out that this is not the result of autism. Before becoming severely depressed I operated within the top 2% of NTs, my academic performance matched that of NTs who had 10 IQ points more than I do because I spent more time thinking about how things worked strategically, I had a longer concentration span, could delay gratification longer and was impervious to the peer pressure that often makes people waste opportunities when they are young. After some years of severe depression I am now working my way slowly back from the bottom 2%, but that isn't because of autism, which I have had all the time, but because of depression which I developed later.

That said I don't think autistic people have a higher consciousness. I think they are more likely to have certain valuable traits which are valuable, but there are plenty of NTs who are capable of much more than I was even without depression, who possess many of those same strengths and who also have additional assets that autistic people don't have.



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03 Aug 2011, 7:51 pm

"Higher state of consciousness" is probably a phrase with too much bagage attached to it. However I firmly believe that autistics are capable of using areas of their brain that remain dormant in others.



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03 Aug 2011, 8:24 pm

Image

Understand this chart and you understand autism. Threads like this shouldn't happen.



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03 Aug 2011, 8:29 pm

Quote:
Is Autism a Higher State of Consciousness?

No. That is wishful thinking.


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oceandrop
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03 Aug 2011, 8:34 pm

Poke wrote:
Image

Understand this chart and you understand autism. Threads like this shouldn't happen.


Interesting but backed by what evidence? I can tell you as a scientist that labeling an axis with something as vague as 'extent of characteristic being measured' and claiming the distribution would hold for every characteristic is wishful thinking at best.



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03 Aug 2011, 8:54 pm

kfisherx wrote:
Now this anecdote aside, I have to say that reading the majority of the posts on this site lead me to conclude that not all autism is created equal. I have to say the majority of the posts I read are comprised of people with ASD and comorbid depression/anxiety that keeps them from functioning at a any sort of level let alone a higher level. This is also true with the ASD people that I personally know. Many of them have so much inner "noise" about how broken they are that it is impossible to say that they are on any sort of "higher plane"


I must admit that my comorbid depression has caused me more trouble than my intrinsic differences in perception and processing. Having been consistently told I was broken made that internal noise very loud. It has taken many years of hard work to turn down the volume.


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03 Aug 2011, 10:13 pm

No. Not until we shed our physical form.

Just joking. Your idea intrigues me. I think it was Temple Grandin that said autistics can think in the subconscious. I'll have to look that article up.


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03 Aug 2011, 10:48 pm

oceandrop wrote:
Interesting but backed by what evidence? I can tell you as a scientist that labeling an axis with something as vague as 'extent of characteristic being measured' and claiming the distribution would hold for every characteristic is wishful thinking at best.


It's not meant, or at least I don't take it, as an expression of science, but a truthful and even philosophical generality.

PS) There is a word for what the above chart measures, but I shan't use it in public for fear of inciting a riot.



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03 Aug 2011, 11:08 pm

kfisherx wrote:
This is a fascinating topic to discuss and one I have come to the conclusion about (for myself) LONG before I knew about autism.

Not long after I was born (1963 so long before Aspergers), my Mother knew something was different about me. But I was smart and functioning okay so she just called me a martian (when prodded what that meant, she said, "Weird, loner child who would sit endlessly still and watch things")

Over the years, I had an awareness that I was different but it did not matter to me. I was thrown in with the cousins (large family) to integrate and so I did. After I became an adult I realized that I was different but my picture (martin) changed to an Angel because it felt like I had a higher awareness about so many things. NTs continually sought me out and sought my advice and opinion, stating that my views are unique.

Now this anecdote aside, I have to say that reading the majority of the posts on this site lead me to conclude that not all autism is created equal. I have to say the majority of the posts I read are comprised of people with ASD and comorbid depression/anxiety that keeps them from functioning at a any sort of level let alone a higher level. This is also true with the ASD people that I personally know. Many of them have so much inner "noise" about how broken they are that it is impossible to say that they are on any sort of "higher plane"


I agree 100%. NT's who know me frequently want to know my opinion and perspective on things, complimenting on my unique point of view. However, if something is bothering me, such as depression or anxiety, any sort of functioning goes right out the window.


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04 Aug 2011, 12:39 am

Tambourine-Man wrote:
"Higher" is probably the wrong term as it implies superior. That is why I mentioned deficits. Higher awareness in one area naturally results in lower awareness in another.


Human beings (autistic or NT) have a limited capacity when it comes to our use of our brain to attention. Our short term working memory is easily distracted by external visual and auditory input. Whether we are autistic or NT our brains are unable to divide attention easily.

By saying autistic people have a higher awareness of certain things over NT people is perhaps a broad generalization. In addition consciousness is a concept to model our awareness and processing of the environment. There is a tendency to project some special awareness that AS people have like we are all savants. While many autistic people are exceptionally gifted in some activities (i.e. math) and some have savant abilities it becomes tiring to remind everyone here that intelligence is normally distributed among all of us no more than it is among NTs. In other words we are not any smarter than NTs.



winterqueen
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05 Aug 2011, 11:20 am

like autistic people are perfectionists and this life can never provide a perfect setting, or u mean they are seeking reality and seeking the truth, they see the problem that others do not see and get busy trying to get the perfect solution, as long as autistics are being takencare of every one knows that they are on this planet to save it, to provide for survival when the NT people keep destroying it, they are what life needs,



draelynn
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05 Aug 2011, 12:20 pm

pensieve wrote:
No. Not until we shed our physical form.

Just joking. Your idea intrigues me. I think it was Temple Grandin that said autistics can think in the subconscious. I'll have to look that article up.


That's an interesting theory that makes sense. The autistic brain tends to lack the natural filters NT's possess - language, thought, senses, etc. It would stand to reason that the 'filter' that seperates conscious and subconscious thought might be faulty as well.

Along those lines, I tend to find dream interpretation a fairly simple and straight forward affair. Can't really get more subconscious than dreams. That doesn't prove anything, it's just an interesting coincidence.



jayraytee
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05 Aug 2011, 2:32 pm

We have a deficiency in at least one area of the brain, which is counter balanced by other parts of the brain. Each aspergian may use a different part of the brain or different method to overcome the deficiency, hense the varied types of 'aspies'. This is, in my mind, much like how a blind person will have increased hearing to make up for his loss of sight. Higher consciousness? No. Especially not if you have been taking drugs, which are essentially poisons. The result of which is more accuratly described as lower consciousness.

Celiac disease and gluten intolerance are two different things. Celiac disease is very rare and amounts to gluten or wheat becoming poison to you system. Increadibly hard diet to fulfil, in fact truthfully you would probably not be able to eat out at all. Because one speck of wheat is enough to through your system into a downward spiral. Gluten intolerance is basically like lactose intolerance, it means your body has difficulty digesting the material.



winslow
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05 Aug 2011, 11:02 pm

Mindslave wrote:
Psychedelic drugs never did much for me because I'm already like that. One of the many reasons I never took to smoking weed.


Marijuana has the complete opposite effect on me. It makes me feel 'normal-er''. I don't know how to completely describe this as I am still learning about my newfound aspergerism except to say that I comprehend everything better. Like it puts a filter on my brain that keeps some of the aspergers out for a little while lol.



Last edited by winslow on 06 Aug 2011, 3:28 am, edited 1 time in total.