Fortunately, some are born with spiritual immune systems that sooner or later give rejection to the illusory worldview grafted upon them from birth through social conditioning. They begin sensing that something is amiss, and start looking for answers. Inner knowledge and anomalous outer experiences show them a side of reality others are oblivious to, and so begins their journey of awakening. Each step of the journey is made by following the heart instead of following the crowd and by choosing knowledge over the veils of ignorance. ― Henri Bergson
, Nobel Prize Winner for Literature, 1927
I think we all have this spiritual immune system buried beneath the layers and layers and layers of social conditioning. We need only start paying attention. Some of us have no choice, of course, and for that I am now profoundly grateful.
We would be much better served if we were told by mental health professionals from the very beginning to trust ourselves. Instead, the entire system is fraught with the infantilization of the client…this is (in general) true of both psychology and psychiatry as currently practiced.We absolutely need others, we are ultimately interdependent and all connected. Everything matters…but the wrong other is often far worse than no one at all when we are hurting or in need…re-traumatization often being the rule rather than the exception when one enters the mental health system. (more)
Our bodies, in perfect reflection of our psyches, hold our personal mythologies. In this way we are all unique. This is what western medicine does not get. Clinical trials can never capture this. (more)
May we all honor the mystery of our individual paths.
In the west the almighty “professional” is the guru. The educated “expert,” in general, takes on many different guises but we are systematically taught not to trust ourselves and to, instead, submit to the expert opinions of people who do not know us and who, all too often, believe they know far more than they actually do. The party line in mental health care is that we should find a professional for just about everything. What happens if an appropriate professional is not available? The reality on the ground is that is often the case as much as we’d like to think otherwise. (more)
Everything matters 