Anyone for Psychiatry?

 

Just to add my own thoughts, as I'm once again in McDonalds where I tend to ramble and waffle, which I find therapeutic for myself (if not for others......)

As far as looking towards the "ancient wisdom", rather than psychiatry, a good guide is Karen Armstrong. Sadly today, many associate religion purely with what I would see as Fundamentalism, i.e. belief systems rather that Faith systems.

Here is Karen Armstrong on revelation:-

"There is much to be learned from older ways of thinking about religion. We have seen that far from regarding revelation as static, fixed and unchanging, Jews, Christians and Muslims all knew that revealed truth was symbolic, that scripture could not be interpreted literally, and that sacred texts had multiple meaning and could lead to entirely fresh insights. Revelation was not an event that had happened once in the distant past, but was an ongoing, creative process that required human ingenuity. They understood that revelation did not provide us with infallible information about the divine, because this would always remain beyond our ken."

Ms Armstrong is not making this up! She provides deep analysis and relates this to the long history of all our world's religions. The key is "creative process", this for anyone seeking some degree of insight into the human condition, their own condition, rather than simply learning some creedal formula by rote.

Psychiatry itself is a very mixed field. My actual knowledge is limited, but I have followed more the leanings of Carl Jung, who split from Freud very early on. He saw Freud's ideas as basically reductionist. Jung was more into psyche and soul, the universal unconscious - which itself was a way of bringing in the ancient wisdom, the universal, yet applied to himself/ourselves as unique individuals. Jung spoke of the "spirit of the age" (the conditioning we soak up and breathe in purely by being born in a particular time and place and virtually assume before we actually begin to think for ourselves) and contrasted it with the "spirit of the depths" which we have to seek* and explore for ourselves.

(*I tend to think that "it" seeks us, but that is me)

I lean more towards the "east" and Buddhism (the Dharma) and have found that a lot of western seekers decry "faith" (as virtually "belief"), this possibly because many are on the run from a lot of Western religion, which has been rejected - possibly as factually unbelievable.

Yet going to the heart of the Dharma, no one there is afraid of the word "faith", and informed commentators insist that zazen meditation, for instance "cannot be fully understood apart from consideration of faith.” Dogen, the great zen master, spoke constantly of Faith. Trust. In reality.

Again, this from "Visions of Awakening, Time and Space" by Taigen Dan Leighton:-

"Contrary to present conventions, Zen Buddhism developed and cannot be fully understood outside of a worldview that sees reality as a vital, ephemeral agent of awareness and healing."

I have heard many say "I believe there is a reason for everything" and I see faith, trust, that "all things" work towards the restoration and reconciliation of "all things", is the heart of all genuine spirituality; more a letting go of our preconceptions rather than any clinging to belief.

Yet it is ALL things - both what we see as good and what we see as bad, and our experiences also, good AND bad.

"Flowers fade even though we love them, weeds grow even though we dislike them" 

(Dogen, from his "Genjokoan", the actualisation of Reality)

But what are flowers and what are weeds? Can we ever know? Perhaps with hindsight!

Sadly, still I grasp the flowers! Faith is thus lacking, but I stumble on.

Anyway, I have rambled on a bit. I am having a bit of a rough time mental health wise, good times come and go. I wish you all well.

May true Dharma continue.
No blame. Be kind. Love everything.

Just to finish:-

"In the old city
at the head of Grafton Street
a busker plays his fiddle.
First Brahms, then Bach
and a little Paganini for fun.
Fingers run up and down strings.
Is it the vibrating air,
his skill, or the old melodies
that bring tears to my eyes?
Tell me, I need to know."

(A modern response - Terrance Keenan - to an ancient Koan found in "The Blue Cliff Record" - Case 2, "The Real Way is Not Difficult")