Theos-Talk Archives (April 2005 Message tt01715)

At 15:17 26/04/2005, "thalprin" <thalprin@yahoo.com>wrote:

> Murray interesting rap I'm sure Mark and Cass will ejoy it -but- I
> have no mental illness, depression/anxiety/panic attacks -
I'm pleased to hear that you do not have any of these but in case you 
thought so, I was not making any such point. I became aware of this 
discussion only yesterday, so am not speaking to stages of it before then. 
However, things like EFT have had excellent results with depression, 
anxiety and panic attacks, as in the water phobia case in my last message.

> My opinion is, ifn you have a problem, fix it or -yup- you have a
> problem.
And that is one of the advantages of EFT etc - they can be used on oneself 
(at your own responsibility), though it sometimes pays to have an 
experienced practitioner because they can help in unearthing obscure or 
intense issues.

> I'm also not particularlly interested in discussing folks' mental
> health/illnesses as if it's Theosophy.
Suit yourself, but Theosophy (in a broad sense, not some one author's, 
necessarily) is a framework for approaching anything in this phenomenal 
world, because of its fundamental nature. IMO, mental health need not be 
excluded from discussion on this list as long as the Theosophical relevance 
is demonstrated.

This isn't hard; mental illness has a whole range of aspects that Theosophy 
embraces, eg karma, the different energy bodies and principles in the human 
constitution, the potential for healing, the opportunities for service that 
illness provides, the nature of incarnation and the limitations that it 
imposes along with the opportunities for self-expression.

I don't know where you're coming from, but part of the difficulty with 
modern Theosophy, IMO, is that it has distanced itself from psychology for 
reasons that were very good in the past, but are weaker today.

Psychology in a broad sense, would cross-fertilise magnificently with 
Theosophy if people who knew both would help it to happen. This doesn't 
have to be unscientific, either. Too many scientists, in my experience, 
fail in their adherence to scientific method by stating that if they can't 
observe something with the 5 physical senses or physical extensions of 
them, then it can't exist. Believe it or not, I've seen and heard this. 
It's scientific tribalism, comparable with the worst aspects of religion 
that they claim to have left behind. Thankfully, the bridge between science 
and spirituality is being built from both sides these days at an increasing 
rate. I have a degree in physics, but I see little need for the 
theoso-phobias (new word?!) that a lot of scientists still exhibit.

> I can say I'm not surprised
> that some of the folks who've expressed what I consider unrealistic
> idealisms to begin with are now confessing/conferring that they suffer
> from anxiety/depression, so on. These matters often walk hand in
> hand.
Indeed, and an awareness of the nature of the human shadow, in a Jungian 
kind of sense, would illuminate a lot of Theosophy and Theosophists if they 
would open themselves to the reality of it. It is an important aspect of 
the spiritual path, to encounter one's own dark side and discover how to 
release and heal it, as appropriate to each aspect. It's quite normal to 
have idealism as the lamp drawing one on, alongside with denser psychic 
accretions from the past of one kind or another. As the latter come into 
view - and often this is painful - it becomes possible to let them go or 
transmute them.

One way to describe the path is as an approach to integration, and this 
refers to a whole huge process of self-discovery, as well as discovery of 
what one is not. By integration, I mean a balanced activation of the 
different aspects of our being, which can be conveniently summarised as 
mental, emotional, spiritual and physical, in healthy relationship to each 
other.

I consider EFT and many of the other energy psychology tools to be 
efficient ways to release people from suffering and trauma and limiting 
patterns of the past, freeing the spirit within. This should appeal to 
anyone with a bit of Bodhisattva in them, to those who are tired of hurting 
themselves and others, and to those who might want to save a bit of money 
in the health system.

Murray