The Price of Guilt

 Some religious concepts promote the experience of guilt that lead to emotional and cognitive suffering. The ideal of sacrificing yourself in order to save someone else is widely accepted for instance in Christianity. However, what good does this really do for us, especially if we are raising a sensitive, young mind, hungry for answers and guidance?

What can a youthful, receptive and curious individual take from the Example of the death of Christ? You may say – this is an example of unselfishness, the best way to teach altruism. Achieving freedom trough sacrifice, suffering and death – there are many examples of Saints and “Holy individuals” –  strengthens the believe and create the hope, that it is possible for  someone to “save” his family or loved ones by taking responsibility from them, for them. The child or adult may be convinced that he is able to “accept” the death, disease or any other misfortune from his family and die, suffer instead of them. The believe that you can “pay” God for something that you believe is sin, which also belongs to someone else by being sick, unhappy and dying is still common today. Nevertheless, we have to realize that this prejudice does not serve us; it can only harm the people we love and care about. The fact that we think it is enough to suffer and get sick and die in order to save someone may be seen as a lack of respect and confidence in the other’s person ability to take responsibility and restore the harmony. It can also be escape from the current situation or dynamic, which we do not know how to deal with.

 

This redemption is actually showing our natural predisposition to balance and harmony. It is unconscious. It can take the joy from your life; it can freeze you, living you passive and angry. Often a woman who loses her child, in any circumstances, is trying to “punish” herself by developing a deadly disease or by ending the relationship with the father, her partner or avoid any future relationships. Another example of “paying for the sins of others” is the following, which unfortunately is not so rare. A woman puts her mother in an institution instead of taking care of her. After a few days, one of her daughters develops anorexia and starts to volunteer in those same types of institutions, taking care of seniors. What is interesting is that nobody in the family, including the daughter saw a connection between the two events. One of the siblings is born with serious facial deformations and living her life joyfully, happily married with kids. The other sibling ca not escape the guilt of “being normal”, going trough life, destroying marriage after marriage, afraid to be parent, trying to “fill the gap” with pills and alcohol. Rejecting your own parents, not knowing how to forgive, opens the way to serous diseases, painful addictions and self-distraction.

There are countless examples of how our bodies and family systems react to everyday events and give us signs of our imbalanced living.

The only way to restore the harmony is realizing the gift of life. Appreciating and accepting the miracle of existence.  The guilt is not in the now. It is associated with the past. It is an illusion. It cannot live without your energy and constant attention. Nobody is perfect. We learn trough our mistakes, we evolve by doing better, when we know better.  Forgiveness is the best gift you can give yourself. A blissful You is your best gift to the world.

 

Mental – Psychological Health

Mental Health is more than just an absence of psychological symptoms or fitting within some statistical norms. It is being in harmony with your physical environment, family, colleagues, friends and one’s inner-self or spirituality. When we describe issues in those areas, we use the terms psychological and mental interchangeably. These terms are often perceived differently from different people and can determine how an individual is treated.

Our society holds the prejudices that psychological problems are results of environmental factors or social circumstances and mental challenges on the other hand are seen as genetic faults or individual weaknesses. This puts stress/blame on the individual and points to inner responsibility for the problem. Farther more it suggests chronic state that is constant and cannot be “cured or improved”, just controlled, readily with medications.

 

Cautious is required when we categorize people for research and insurance purposes, but let us remember that the DSM is not a sacred text and it is meant to help in making treatment decisions, but not to dictate them. Approaching this issue asks for sensitivity, meeting the individual where he is, respecting of each person’s uniqueness, individuality and culture.

Identifying psychological challenges, the clinician examines the social environment that is affecting the patient and builds his hypothesis on the socio-personal model. The treatment is based than on correcting, improving, or integrating missing skills in the family system, or any other existential area – friends, colleagues, or inner self. Mental problems are identified by observation of symptoms and experiences that culminate in the psychiatric diagnosis.

The facts:

  1. Every one’s well-being is affected by the harmful influence of the environment. Social, moral, political, changes and distress in the society are often at the root of the “symptoms” and do not have individual solutions and are outside of the individuals control.
  2. The researches expose that the individual is better able to make positive changes in himself and his environment when he understands that there is nothing inherently wrong with him. The change is initiated when the symptoms are re-framed or not placed at all in the frame of “pathology”.
  3. A “therapeutic” relationship can be established only when the individual realizes his personal power, strengthened by the equal respect. This is achieved by actively involving the person in defining the challenges and conceptualizing the treatment strategy.
  4. The individual regains his power when his values and his views of the world are given priority.
  5. Meditation, yoga and variety of relaxation techniques are showing remarkable results in influencing the biochemistry and work of the brain and the whole body.
  6. The Bio-Psycho-Social model is commonly accepted today, but there are many areas of research that require reconsideration, dialog in regards to the focus and the nature of change and direction we want to go.

Our own personal experiences and thousands of clinical observations convince us that the traditional academic theories fail to answer basic questions about our psyche or soul and human consciousness. The main consequence from that is that many states or “disorders” accepted by the modern psychiatry as pathology, and treated with suppressive medications, in reality are “psychological/spiritual complications”, soul’s crisis, that holds healing and transformational potential, when used and guided accordingly.

The research of the nature and origin of consciousness and the dimensions of the human psyche/soul crashes the common myth of the materialistic science that consciousness is epiphenomenon of matter, product of neurophysiologic processes, happening in the brain. The research reveals that consciousness is the original undivided property of the living, able to perform variety of actions, which the brain itself cannot complete. According to these modern researches, human consciousness is implicated and is part of the absolute field of universal consciousness, sustaining all that is.

The established academic psychology and psychiatry use the model of the psyche/soul, which is limited by the biology, the biography after birth, and the Freudian individual unconsciousness. However, if we really want to explain all of the phenomenon of the consciousness, our understanding of human psyche/soul should be deepened and expanded.

Mental or psychological symptoms or simply any emotional discomfort is just a response to our imbalanced understanding of our inner and outer environment.  Every one can easily identify, in his own context, which social messages and pressures are contributing to the symptoms or problems. When we silence the outer noise, we all can hear our inside voice, our true inner self, which if given a chance will grow stronger, clearer, louder, giving us confidence and guidance in our path to balance/happiness.

 

Being Balanced/Healthy

All ancient scripts from around the world provide guidance and suggestions on how to keep our bodies healthy. Happiness is revealed as a natural state of being in response to healthy living.   We already know that our body is a sophisticated device; lets investigate what keeps it full of energy and life.

Our “soul level or body” is strengthened by everything positive we experience – from the miracle of a newborn life to the delightful observation of a gorgeous flower. The focus on the beauty of Life, on the amazing wonders of Nature gives us the highest feelings of admiration. Realizing and being part of the Universal harmony and Perfection fills our beings with love and gratitude.

Our “conscious level or body” is maintained by our creativity and constructive aim. According to Carl Jung, human beings are able to tap into the “Collective unconsciousness” or the unconscious mind. He believed that this is the source of art and it is the deep memory of human kind. Transpersonal psychologists see direct connection between the individual development and the evolution of human kind. The fetus progresses through a single-celled organism to a multicellular organism, fish, amphibian, animal, taking finally human form. The followers of the transpersonal psychology find answers beyond the individual memories after the birth event. Experiments point out that on a deep level, there is undoubtful connection between people, connection that cannot be explained if limited only to the knowledge of the afterbirth individual biography.

This level of consciousness is not only a deep source of memories and life paths, it is an engine that powers our ambitions and makes our goals come true. The role of the environment on this level is huge. The scientist know that the frog egg that falls on the algae  will develop into frog, but the one that falls on the bottom, will give live to the algae. Environment determines the dysfunctions in the conscious level. Miraculous recoveries from deadly illnesses show the unlimited possibilities of our conscious level, when we focus and align ourselves with the Universal balance.

Our “thought level or body” is strengthened by the absence of strong emotions and stress. Relaxation, meditation, sleep, spending time with friends and loved ones, visiting beautiful places and healthy diet sustain this level.

Our “subtle body or plasma level” is connected with our breathing, energy and biofields.  Active lifestyle – outdoor activities, (energy exchange with the Earth and all living), moving is direct interaction with the energy, which is charging us. Consistence and systematically increasing the intensity of the exercises create strong subtle body. It should become a lifestyle, because it quickly dissipates if not charged.

Our “physical body or level” is maintained by everything that makes strong the rest of the levels. Food has critical part – the quality of eating – following the physiological mechanisms of digestion and absorption.

This is a simplistic take on the sophisticated mechanism, which is the physical body. It 99 % of the mass is from the following biogenic elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, calcium, nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, sulfur, chlorine, sodium. The slightest change (especially oxygen) in their intertwinement leads to imbalances in the body and susceptibility to illness.

It is obvious that in order to possess absolute health, all levels of the human body should be kept operating properly. One of the reasons why medications do not work is because they target only the physical body and leaving residue in the organs, interfering even farther with the natural balance of the body, the diseases develop into a chronic illness. Positive attitude towards life is not only something we may accept or not – it is required for a long healthy living. Honest, clean thoughts, combined with a noble goals and aspirations, being close to our natural environment – Nature and all living, will give us the most precious gift – healthy, fulfilling life.