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A Journey With You

Tag Archives: spirituality

Non-Western Views of Mental Illness

25 Saturday Nov 2017

Posted by A Journey With You in mental illness, schizophrenia, Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Islam, mental health, mental illness, mentally ill, non-western, religion, schizophrenia], spirituality, sufi

The recent terror attacks in Egypt reminded me of many things from my own life. Because the majority of people killed were Sufis, I thought about how I used to read poetry and stories written by the Islamic mystics.

Before I became psychotic the first time, I used to read a lot about mysticism, spirituality, and religion. I had several books about the Sufis (the mystics of Islam). I was fascinated by the poetry and stories of this sect of Islam. One story that I read (and I have never been able to find it again, and that alone would make a good Sufi story), was about a man who went on a “Sufi Journey.” In his travels, he had meetings with some Sufi masters. One such meeting was with a man, and at that man’s house, a woman was walking around in her nightgown unraveling a tangled ball of yarn. She walked, unraveled, walked, unraveled. When the man trying to learn more about Sufism asked about her, the master said something like; she needs to untangle the yarn. She will be fine. On his journey, he visited that master’s house a couple of times over a several year period, and the woman was always there, always in her nightgown endlessly trying to unravel the yarn. Years later he saw the same woman, she was a successful businesswoman in London, living a remarkable life.

When I read the story, the woman was described as someone who was mentally ill; possibly suffering from something like schizophrenia. Her task was to unravel the yarn, but you never really think she will and then amazingly at the end of the story she is living a “normal” life in a bustling city.

If you are familiar with Sufi writing, it often seems almost nonsensical. I think it is supposed to get your out of your regular or habitual form of thinking, to question, to seek, to accept mysteries. I read this story almost twenty-five years ago, and it stayed with me. I wish I could find the story again. I would like to read it now, as someone who has traveled the journey of mental illness for nearly three decades. I wonder how I would interpret the woman unraveling the yarn and being absorbed in that task so much so that she doesn’t dress or go out in public but wanders the property and house of a Sufi master?

Was the woman mentally ill? Did she recover? Is it possible that some of us must “unravel” in our minds in order to become a new person?

I rarely look at mental illness from other cultures or other perspectives. I don’t do this because there is no way I am going to stop taking my medications and walk a different path than I am right now. I must admit the way that non-westerners see mental illness is of interest to me at times even if I don’t plan to adopt a view outside the medical model.

If you happen to know this story, or where I can find it, please let me know. I think reading it again would be interesting. I wonder if my memory is as solid on this issue as I think it is?

To Be Like Trees

31 Sunday Jan 2016

Posted by A Journey With You in Uncategorized, writing

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

americans, care, environment, essay, farming, food, inspiration, nature, neighbors, nurture, resources, society, spirituality, sustainability, trees, vegan, vegetarian, writing

I read this article a couple of days ago  and it led my husband and me to have a conversation about Americans and spirituality.

The trees have social networks. The trees take care of a sick neighbor by feeding them sugar water and can keep them alive for decades.

If the trees are social beings and care for one another, it seems like these things would be at the core of our being, too. I think greed and selfishness are the difference, though. People put money before human beings – profits before people. We also see human beings ask questions like, “What is in it for me?” Of course, there are also people who deliberately injure or kill other people.

How is it that the trees are more loving and noble than many people?

The other day my husband and I went to see a retirement planner and she was talking about the stock market. She said, “The stock market isn’t reacting to the economy right now. We know the economy will grow as long as people spend money.”

We are taught to spend money. We are taught to want and buy and buy and buy. This behavior doesn’t consider the resources that go into the products we buy like wood, water, gas, copper, steel, and human lives. Many people don’t consider what they eat – the fact that they are nourishing their bodies with cows, pigs, chickens or the milk or eggs of these animals.

There is a disconnect between people and the natural environment and other living things. I think when we are so cut off from the things that sustain our lives we become sick in our spirit, and that sickness is apparent in the way we treat the planet and other human beings.

Very few of us still hunt and fish or farm our food, so we don’t have a relationship to the things that keep us alive. We don’t often think of trees helping us to breathe. Some of the same things that separate us from plants and animals also separate us from other people – the convenience of modern living- cars, computers, refrigeration, heat, air conditioning, grocery stores, and shopping malls. We don’t think that our lives are dependent on others, but they are, we just don’t see the people who we need. We don’t see the farmers in the fields, or the people overseeing the washing of fruit in factories, or the truckers bringing food to the market, and on and on.

Today, I am in awe of the tree. There are so many lessons they have to teach us, and I hope we learn them soon because using them as an example would ease so much suffering.  Who knew that along with giving us oxygen, trees could teach us how to live and care for each other when planted side by side? Trees make excellent neighbors, but do we?

Street Teachers

22 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by A Journey With You in hope, writing

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

bible, christianity, generosity, giving, homeless, hope, inspiration, jesus, life, love, poor, spirituality, street, writing

Mark 12:41-44 New International Version (NIV)

41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

My husband went to the drug store to pick up my medications, some toilet paper, eye drops, and a few other things. As he was walking into the front door, a man sitting on the sidewalk with his back resting against the wall said, “Hey man, can you spare any change?” My husband searched his pockets.

“I don’t have any right now. Maybe on the way out. Wait. I am using a credit card. Sorry.” My husband said.

“Can you buy me a sandwich?” The man asked.

“I’ll see what I can do.” My husband said.

In the store, my husband picked up the few things we needed and then went to the refrigerator section to look for a sandwich. The only food there was frozen food, so he went to where the chips and nuts are shelved. He found a box of granola bars, and placed it in his basket then went to the pharmacy to pick up my pills and to pay for all the items.

On the way out of the store he approached the man sitting down who was talking to a man standing next to him. My husband handed the man sitting down the box of granola bars. “They didn’t have any sandwiches so I bought you these. I don’t know if they are good, but I hope so.”

The man sitting said, “Thank you, man. These are great. I appreciate it.”

The man standing said, “You bought him those? That’s cool. Those are good.”

The man sitting ripped open the box, took out a granola bar, and offered it to the man standing next to him. “”Here, have one.” He said.

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