“what should not be” as the foundation of distress and mental illness

English: Maj. Gen. Mark Graham speaks openly about mental health and his family’s personal experience with suicide. Calling it a sign of strength, Graham encourages Soldiers and families to seek help with mental illness. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The foundation of your persona is the idea of “my belief system.” That belief system may be that there are two isolated realms in life: right and wrong, or good and evil or what should be and what should not be. That belief system is what humans are warned about in the oral tradition of the ancient Hebrews, which was recorded in to the book of Genesis (and included in the Christian Bible)-  the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Rethink Mental Illness (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

However, what if there is not two isolated realities but fundamentally only “one reality?” We can label “the mechanism of perception” as neuro-chemistry or in many other ways, but are there really two fundamentally isolated realities or instead is there clearly a singularity to the universe which includes all of reality (all “realities”)- whether we divide the collective road infrastructure in to 2 or 10 or 2000 subcatogories?

You may be familiar with a kind of thinking (or a “belief system”) that some people call dualism. Within the belief system of dualism, there is a logical meaning to “what should be” and “what should not be.” It can form, in its extremes, in to a rather schizophrenic (broken) belief system. Over here is good and way over there is evil. Or, over here is right and way over there is wrong. Or, over here is what should be and way over there is what should not be.

In contrast, there is the realization that there is only “what is.” Even the “mentally ill” language of “what should not be” is a valid structure of language. “What is” includes all language, all dualistic belief systems, all delusion, all mental illness, all cognitive dissonance, and so on.

English: Man in Distress (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Is there value in a dualistic linguistic model of exclusive right and exclusive wrong? Of course! Parents will value indoctrinating their small children to totally refrain from certain dangerous activities like playing with burning matches, talking to strangers, or experimenting with electrical outlets and electricity. Likewise, employers value clear models of acceptable behavior and unacceptable behavior- plus a “grey area” in between the two that may or may not be supported or punished.

The Madhouse (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So, “good and evil” are functional distinctions in language. However, there is NO behavior that is inherently evil. This is the idea referenced in scriptures like “to the pure, all things are pure, but, to the one who is corrupt,” anything could be vilified as threatening.

Thus, it is not inherently wrong for ANYONE to use matches. Adults who appreciate the danger of matches have matches around (that children could find) because those adults use the matches safely (most of the time at least).

So, in the scripture of Ecclesiastes, we read that there is a time for all purposes created by god: a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for treaties, a time to sow seeds and a time to reap, and so on. The belief in “what should not be” is the foundation of distress, guilt, shame, depression, animosity, and all forms of mental illness, also known as “madness,” due to the extreme emotional state that can arise during terror or panic in which someone becomes disturbed or crazy or mad… or “goes mad.”

The loss of connection to reality can be restored, but that can require a relaxing of the hysterical belief that there is any such thing fundamentally that “just should not be.” The idea of an Almighty Creator is a social tool for suggesting that all things come from a common source.

Reality (Photo credit: Beatnic)

There is no “good source” and “evil source.” There is just one source. Any “devil” that might be blamed and hated for creating “evil” is not a threat to an Almighty God. An Almighty God is the creator of any devil (and all mental illness and so on) as instruments of God or acts of God.

Thank God for Mental Illness (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is nothing outside of the unity of the Almighty “Reality.” Reality includes all things, and any thing is subject to being labeled “what should not be” or “evil” or “wrong” by someone eventually!

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Tags: distress, knowledge good evil, mental illness, should be, should not, tree good evil