Post by Denethor on Apr 24, 2010 14:53:58 GMT -5
THIS IS A VERY LONG POST. IF YOU'RE INTERESTED, FEEL FREE TO PRINT IT OUT AND READ IT ON THE TRAIN.
I'd like to start a thread on this topic. We have at least a couple of people here who might enjoy discussing the topic and trading suggestions. Also, there might be the occasional guest viewer who wouldn't mind reading about the topic.
It used to be that the assumption was that anyone who had even visited a therapist, for any issue, no matter how minor, was somehow "more likely to crack" and should never ever engage in mysticism or magic or pursue any kind of spirituality that did not revolve around gathering in a stone building once a week for a moral lecture concerning one's money or one's genitalia, and a little bland or rote prayer before dinner and before bed, and that such people had no business having any sort of independent opinion about spirituality at all. One can still find this view among old-school doctors and in certain traditional societies, the latter usually basing their view on eligibility requirements established a century ago or on books written at about that same time. I'm going to assume that if you are reading this, you probably don't hold this view. The question up for discussion becomes then, if techniques aren't especially "dangerous" for you, which ones, applied how, will actually help a mental condition? Which are neutral? When is it a waste of time?
Now, as our regular membership knows, my own main experience has been with depression and anxiety. If a reader's interest is on how magical or other techniques can help with psychosis, I'm sorry, I'm not your guy. Perhaps another member will have suggestions about that.
So I'll kick off with my number one suggestion for the depressed: as I'm sure you have noticed, depression kind of comes and goes. You have good periods and bad ones. My number one suggestion is that during a good period, you establish a regular, as in daily, practice. Choose a simple ritual that you can do every day, not a long elaborate one, as it is likely that if your ritual takes an hour or more you will abandon it within a week. I'm thinking fifteen minutes, maybe half an hour. Modern lives are busy and do not allow a lot of time every single day.
Meditation is great. Don't start your meditation practice when you're at your most anxious or depressed; if you start it then it will be quite hard, and frustration at it may make matters worse. If you're using medication, give it its necessary time to start to take effect. If you're doing lifestyle things (sunlight, exercise), focus on establishing those routines first, and when they start to work, add in a spirituality period. A relaxation exercise is an excellent starting point in this area; your doctor may even have already suggested it. Do one in the morning and one before bed; to the non-bedtime one, you can after a time add meditation, ritual, prayer, or another technique.
Now there are different definitions out there for meditation. I tend to divide meditation, which is a receptive (not a passive, however) state, from concentration, which is an active, focused state. Of the two, if you have time for only one, the concentration type is better. Do a real concentration exercise, the kind where you evaluate your performance and build your skill at holding an image or idea in your mind for a length of time. Why? Because, next time things start getting challenging, an ability to focus your thoughts is the most potent imaginable charm against worry. You will find, that when something comes up that might make you anxious, your skill at turning your mind to something else makes you far better at setting the worry aside until there is something practical you can do about it. Or, if applicable, it'll help you step out of the worry and recognize that it is ridiculous, and you'll have good laugh.
Vary your choice of concentration object. Build a toolbox of relaxing, inspiring images, varying the "feel" so you can match the image to the need. When the time comes you'll have a lot more options. Also, when you go to do a meditation, you'll have a lot more options there as well. You will also, if you've varied the images, find it easier to concentrate on a completely new one when you want to.
If you'd like to do something more along the lines of a ritual, the top picks are grounding, banishing, energizing/awakening, and courage/protection. It is easy to see where these apply. Good grounding rituals can be found in any Wicca 101 book or equivalent tome from another tradition; energizing/awakening breathing exercises can also be found there, or in many yoga manuals. For banishing, pick any of the usual suspects (Google "Lesser Banishing Ritual" for one that is so common in the Ceremonial tradition that there is really no escaping it - but I feel obliged to add that, based on my experience, if you do this one regularly you will get Angels. Consider it a side effect, though They sure don't. If you're one of those who consider Angels to be like cooties you might want to pick something else). Just make sure to remember what you're banishing: not demons from outside of you or curses from your neighbors (at least probably not), but your own depression, misery, or anxiety. For courage/protection, think along the same lines, obviously. If you have a Patron of some kind or a guiding spirit or whatever, ask for help in keeping your thoughts and outlook positive, and use the techniques to energize you when you do the "homework" assigned by your therapist. Remember, there is a spiritual war on, but the battleground is your heart, not your ritual space, and the enemy is within not without. This is so in almost every case of psychic "battle" that comes up, whatever the perceived mental health or lack thereof on the part of the participants. What you are doing is amassing your weapons against this enemy within, whether you view it as a disease, as an evil twin, or as your personal Satan. These views are common symbols; your spiritual tradition may vary on the form of the symbol or its literality.
Incidentally, this is not the Shadow that you sometimes hear you are supposed to "embrace" and work with, the one that "can be turned into a powerful ally along your path through life". No, no, no. Not everything is to be hugged and welcomed. If your philosophy is that you have a Shadow to embrace, that one is something else. Embrace your suicidal tendencies at your peril. They are not your "Shadow"; they are a misperception of such, and as a misperception they are the enemy.
So your illness is not to be embraced; if it's an ally at all, it's one of those "difficult teachers" where you learn by vanquishing it or by recognizing it as an illusion. This is not the happy Trickster, but the Prince of Lies. When you are sick is not the time to go "embracing" anything.
So, if it's a battle, who are your allies? You have many. If you're not into "spiritual entities", you still have friends, family, good professionals, and well-meaning people everywhere. Some of these allies are more useful than others, depending on their strengths and flaws and limitations, and on how well you get along with them. The same applies to spiritual entities if you're into that. For both groups, you have to pick the ones you know and trust and get along with. Relationships like these are another thing you can work on when you're doing well, so that they're there when you're doing poorly.
For those that do wish to contact spiritual entities and concepts (I imagine among readers of this thread that will be the more popular alignment), prayer is another obvious option. If the idea works for you and you have some rote prayers stored up from your spiritual tradition, use them, but even so I recommend you try your hand at writing up your own prayers. Or wing it, and if you come up with a turn of phrase that you like during prayer, write it down or memorize it for re-use. If you don't have either turn to society's huge compendium of written sources from all manner of traditions. There are a gazillion Bibles out there for those who like that work (I find the primary benefit to the Bible is that as a resident of a modern Western nation I can rarely be indoors without one being available); the world's other "Great religions" have their own holy writ, also relatively easily available; for Pagans and Heathens, there are the Greek poets, the Eddas, and so forth. Try sacred-texts.com for some ideas.
I will say about prayer that you might want to avoid prayers that appear to put your success completely at the mercy of some external being. "God's Grace" or suchlike is a great concept in many situations, and not at all the simple abdication of personal ability that it might first appear, but when fighting depression you also need to feel empowered. You also are not expecting the entity to fix everything for you; that might sound convenient but in the long run it sends a terrible message to your heart. You're not going for learned helplessness. "I have the power to do the right thing, I want to do the right thing, and I am grateful for Your help, [Entity]" is a good starting mood.
You might note that these suggestions look remarkably familiar, as the same suggestions are often made to those pursuing a spiritual path who have not had a mental health diagnosis. That should not be surprising. They appear in one form or another in most guidebooks for being human, as everyone has good times and bad times. These things just have particular relevance in trying situations, or in preparing for possible same, and a psychiatric condition is a trying situation if there ever was one. Go ahead and use the tools at your disposal.
Somewhere else I have posted about the "all in your head" versus the "external reality" models for spiritual entities, processes, and concepts, and how it really doesn't matter when it's pudding-eating time which model is actually true. But that's not this post.
Feel free to read this, print it out if you like, and of course to reply and add more thoughts.
Edited to add the long post alert.
I'd like to start a thread on this topic. We have at least a couple of people here who might enjoy discussing the topic and trading suggestions. Also, there might be the occasional guest viewer who wouldn't mind reading about the topic.
It used to be that the assumption was that anyone who had even visited a therapist, for any issue, no matter how minor, was somehow "more likely to crack" and should never ever engage in mysticism or magic or pursue any kind of spirituality that did not revolve around gathering in a stone building once a week for a moral lecture concerning one's money or one's genitalia, and a little bland or rote prayer before dinner and before bed, and that such people had no business having any sort of independent opinion about spirituality at all. One can still find this view among old-school doctors and in certain traditional societies, the latter usually basing their view on eligibility requirements established a century ago or on books written at about that same time. I'm going to assume that if you are reading this, you probably don't hold this view. The question up for discussion becomes then, if techniques aren't especially "dangerous" for you, which ones, applied how, will actually help a mental condition? Which are neutral? When is it a waste of time?
Now, as our regular membership knows, my own main experience has been with depression and anxiety. If a reader's interest is on how magical or other techniques can help with psychosis, I'm sorry, I'm not your guy. Perhaps another member will have suggestions about that.
So I'll kick off with my number one suggestion for the depressed: as I'm sure you have noticed, depression kind of comes and goes. You have good periods and bad ones. My number one suggestion is that during a good period, you establish a regular, as in daily, practice. Choose a simple ritual that you can do every day, not a long elaborate one, as it is likely that if your ritual takes an hour or more you will abandon it within a week. I'm thinking fifteen minutes, maybe half an hour. Modern lives are busy and do not allow a lot of time every single day.
Meditation is great. Don't start your meditation practice when you're at your most anxious or depressed; if you start it then it will be quite hard, and frustration at it may make matters worse. If you're using medication, give it its necessary time to start to take effect. If you're doing lifestyle things (sunlight, exercise), focus on establishing those routines first, and when they start to work, add in a spirituality period. A relaxation exercise is an excellent starting point in this area; your doctor may even have already suggested it. Do one in the morning and one before bed; to the non-bedtime one, you can after a time add meditation, ritual, prayer, or another technique.
Now there are different definitions out there for meditation. I tend to divide meditation, which is a receptive (not a passive, however) state, from concentration, which is an active, focused state. Of the two, if you have time for only one, the concentration type is better. Do a real concentration exercise, the kind where you evaluate your performance and build your skill at holding an image or idea in your mind for a length of time. Why? Because, next time things start getting challenging, an ability to focus your thoughts is the most potent imaginable charm against worry. You will find, that when something comes up that might make you anxious, your skill at turning your mind to something else makes you far better at setting the worry aside until there is something practical you can do about it. Or, if applicable, it'll help you step out of the worry and recognize that it is ridiculous, and you'll have good laugh.
Vary your choice of concentration object. Build a toolbox of relaxing, inspiring images, varying the "feel" so you can match the image to the need. When the time comes you'll have a lot more options. Also, when you go to do a meditation, you'll have a lot more options there as well. You will also, if you've varied the images, find it easier to concentrate on a completely new one when you want to.
If you'd like to do something more along the lines of a ritual, the top picks are grounding, banishing, energizing/awakening, and courage/protection. It is easy to see where these apply. Good grounding rituals can be found in any Wicca 101 book or equivalent tome from another tradition; energizing/awakening breathing exercises can also be found there, or in many yoga manuals. For banishing, pick any of the usual suspects (Google "Lesser Banishing Ritual" for one that is so common in the Ceremonial tradition that there is really no escaping it - but I feel obliged to add that, based on my experience, if you do this one regularly you will get Angels. Consider it a side effect, though They sure don't. If you're one of those who consider Angels to be like cooties you might want to pick something else). Just make sure to remember what you're banishing: not demons from outside of you or curses from your neighbors (at least probably not), but your own depression, misery, or anxiety. For courage/protection, think along the same lines, obviously. If you have a Patron of some kind or a guiding spirit or whatever, ask for help in keeping your thoughts and outlook positive, and use the techniques to energize you when you do the "homework" assigned by your therapist. Remember, there is a spiritual war on, but the battleground is your heart, not your ritual space, and the enemy is within not without. This is so in almost every case of psychic "battle" that comes up, whatever the perceived mental health or lack thereof on the part of the participants. What you are doing is amassing your weapons against this enemy within, whether you view it as a disease, as an evil twin, or as your personal Satan. These views are common symbols; your spiritual tradition may vary on the form of the symbol or its literality.
Incidentally, this is not the Shadow that you sometimes hear you are supposed to "embrace" and work with, the one that "can be turned into a powerful ally along your path through life". No, no, no. Not everything is to be hugged and welcomed. If your philosophy is that you have a Shadow to embrace, that one is something else. Embrace your suicidal tendencies at your peril. They are not your "Shadow"; they are a misperception of such, and as a misperception they are the enemy.
...a compromise with evil is not possible; evil must under all circumstances be openly discredited.
-The I Ching, Hexagram 43, Book One
-The I Ching, Hexagram 43, Book One
So your illness is not to be embraced; if it's an ally at all, it's one of those "difficult teachers" where you learn by vanquishing it or by recognizing it as an illusion. This is not the happy Trickster, but the Prince of Lies. When you are sick is not the time to go "embracing" anything.
So, if it's a battle, who are your allies? You have many. If you're not into "spiritual entities", you still have friends, family, good professionals, and well-meaning people everywhere. Some of these allies are more useful than others, depending on their strengths and flaws and limitations, and on how well you get along with them. The same applies to spiritual entities if you're into that. For both groups, you have to pick the ones you know and trust and get along with. Relationships like these are another thing you can work on when you're doing well, so that they're there when you're doing poorly.
For those that do wish to contact spiritual entities and concepts (I imagine among readers of this thread that will be the more popular alignment), prayer is another obvious option. If the idea works for you and you have some rote prayers stored up from your spiritual tradition, use them, but even so I recommend you try your hand at writing up your own prayers. Or wing it, and if you come up with a turn of phrase that you like during prayer, write it down or memorize it for re-use. If you don't have either turn to society's huge compendium of written sources from all manner of traditions. There are a gazillion Bibles out there for those who like that work (I find the primary benefit to the Bible is that as a resident of a modern Western nation I can rarely be indoors without one being available); the world's other "Great religions" have their own holy writ, also relatively easily available; for Pagans and Heathens, there are the Greek poets, the Eddas, and so forth. Try sacred-texts.com for some ideas.
I will say about prayer that you might want to avoid prayers that appear to put your success completely at the mercy of some external being. "God's Grace" or suchlike is a great concept in many situations, and not at all the simple abdication of personal ability that it might first appear, but when fighting depression you also need to feel empowered. You also are not expecting the entity to fix everything for you; that might sound convenient but in the long run it sends a terrible message to your heart. You're not going for learned helplessness. "I have the power to do the right thing, I want to do the right thing, and I am grateful for Your help, [Entity]" is a good starting mood.
You might note that these suggestions look remarkably familiar, as the same suggestions are often made to those pursuing a spiritual path who have not had a mental health diagnosis. That should not be surprising. They appear in one form or another in most guidebooks for being human, as everyone has good times and bad times. These things just have particular relevance in trying situations, or in preparing for possible same, and a psychiatric condition is a trying situation if there ever was one. Go ahead and use the tools at your disposal.
Somewhere else I have posted about the "all in your head" versus the "external reality" models for spiritual entities, processes, and concepts, and how it really doesn't matter when it's pudding-eating time which model is actually true. But that's not this post.
Feel free to read this, print it out if you like, and of course to reply and add more thoughts.
Edited to add the long post alert.