In other words if you deeply hold the belief that mind is merely an epiphenomenon of a biochemical process then this very belief becomes the limiting factor that prevents you from changing your mental state at will. That belief will prevent you from being able to 'tune out' unwanted phenomena such as voices. Your 'higher self' will respect your core belief so if you want help from your 'higher self' you should change your core belief to be inclusive of a way for you to empower yourself to stop hearing voices via spiritual practice. I hope that makes some sense.
My core beliefs have changed in line with the evidence.
First of all,
not all psychosis is schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a very specific kind of psychosis with a different set of symptoms than the usual Siddhi-type stuff. It is also highly linked to manic-depression. Schizophrenia is not just hearing voices. Voices only start to occur when the illness is well established. Usually the disorder starts either in a manic-depressive type-psychosis and evolves into schizophrenia over time and/or it starts with unusual LSD/psylocibin perceptual changes. Voices usually start to occur after the following sequence.
If you really want to know all the details about schizophrenia the book that best describes the illness is this book by Dr Abram Hoffer MD PhD:
http://www.amazon.com/Healing-Schizophrenia-Complementary-Vitamin-Treatments/dp/1897025084/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377490945&sr=8-1&keywords=healing+schizophreniaBizarre perceptual changes - changes in distance perception, visual illusions, bizarre sensations of delusions, etc
Here is a list of perceptual changes from the book:
Faces are distorted
Faces are funny
Inability to distinguish faces
Colors too bright
Colors too dull
Unable to judge distance
Negative symptoms start to occur - avolition, apathy, poverty of speech, inappropriate giggling
Catatonia can occur
The person then hears their thoughts out loudThen the person hears voices.
When the symptoms are more mild the volume is quite low on the voices or the person just hears their thoughts "out loud" (the thoughts are repeated and occur in a different location than they normally occur). Volume decreases and increases according to severity.