Paradoxically, it is also clear that aspects of the disease are intimately connected to a profound "intensification" of his mental faculties, and are a significant cause of the development of his higher spiritual preoccupations:...there was a certain stage almost immediately before the fit itself when, amidst the sadness, the mental darkness, the pressure, his brain suddenly seemed to burst into flame, and with an extraordinary jolt all his vital forces seemed to be tensed together.