As I have said
before on this blog, we do not have a mental health system. We have a mental illness system with people
being defined by their supposed illnesses rather than their obvious abilities. In
DSM-5 is a list of behaviors and reported occurrences when grouped together is
given a name and called an illness. If I tell a mental health professional that
I have had periods in my life when I really felt good about myself and had lots
of energy and did not need much sleep and that I was easily drawn off course during
these periods and maybe a tad irritable. However, I would always have high
goals, but some did not turn out so well and these periods of feeling on top of
the world were always followed by a drop into the depths of hell I would no
doubt be given a diagnosis of bipolar 1 disorder. None of the statements to the mental health
professional have to be true. The people
living with me may know more about the truth, but even they cannot say if I am
hearing voices or not. Psychiatry is not
based on science. Psychiatry is based on
the stories told to mental health professionals and what they think they can
observe. Defining mental health and
coming up with a “mental health” system based on human rights and the person’s
abilities is far from a reality no matter what words they use to describe the
system taxpayers are funding.
Healthy soul is
as hard to define as mental health. I
have put them together because it is my belief they are closely related, but
first let us deal with what a healthy soul is.
Dallas Willard (who died last year at 77) was a Professor in the School
of Philosophy at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. John Ortberg, Pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian
Church, reports that Professor Willard said, “When I die, I think it may be
some time before I realize it.” That may
sum it all up. A healthy soul can be defined as a soul so close to the Creator
that when the earthly body is shed the soul is not even aware of the
change. The transition is seamless. Professor Willard gave Pastor Ortberg a hint
at how one might be able to start getting their soul in such shape. Ortberg reports in an interview with Publishers Weekly that Dallas Willard responded
when asked how to have a healthy soul by simply saying, “You must ruthlessly
eliminate hurry in your life.”
Healthy soul and
mental health go together because we are more than simply a biological
being. We have an eternal living part of
us called a soul. Holistic health only
comes when we pay attention to the whole and part of our whole is holy. You don’t have to believe you have a soul to
have a soul. You simply have one and
your soul will live on after you shed the body your soul now dwells in. Holistic health is a healthy soul, mental
health and a healthy biological body.
Will we ever get it right?
Probably not because we always want to emphasis one part of ourselves more
than the other. If you make that
mistake, make it in favor of your soul because it lives the longest.
© Ed Cooper, 5/4/14,
Stoney Creek, Tennessee
All rights reserved
David Willard (1935-2013)
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