James Ure from thebuddhistblog writes this:

Speaking to the quote I am reminded of the period in my life when I came to the sobering realization that I had a mental illness. I felt panic at first that I would totally go insane but not too long after I felt relief that finally I had a definition to my struggles. I was forced to come to terms that I had a disease and just knowing that information helped me adjust my focus and stop trying to fight it and embrace it.

And so it is with a mental condition that you have to remain ever mindful of your mental formations/suffering so that you know when to make a course correction in either medication, behavior and/or a general lifestyle change. I think that is part of what led me to Buddhism as in many ways Buddhism is very much a psychological path with it’s emphasis on the mind and being mindful so that we are aware of delusions and suffering that appear in our lives. And in that regard meditation is quite like a medication because it often brings the similar relief to our minds that prescription drugs do.

We are All Crazy

This strongly complements my views on the brain illnesses many of us may encounter. It is Buddhism (and mindfulness) which helps us recognize and understand the behaviour and the reasons behind that behaviour. It helps us to look as objective as possible at ourselves. Thus, if we take this one step further, buddhism might help us to control this behaviour as well.

The main issue I continue to have with mental illnesses is that I know what it might do to us but I am still unsure as to where it originates. Do you get these diseases by chance (=randomness) or are they consequences of our past when we could not deal with everything we embark ? This question, which may as well have some solutions in its answer, might be puzzling me for a while to come. Time to dig up some scientific papers.

1. James Says:
   July 20th, 2008 at 4:18 pm

   Well, I’m not expert but here’s my theory as to the origins of mental illness. I think mostly it is biological because there is a strong genetic marker for mental health issues. So if it was all just from karma then that would mean that in my case that I inherited my father’s “bad karma” which I reject outright. That being said, I do believe that karma does play a role as I believe it plays a role in everything that we do or not do since everything is so connected and interdependent.