Shadows and Spirituality. As the day ends, I have a few hours of lightness. A burst of hope that carries me with a sense of meaning before the shadows return. There is an edge to it however or maybe a sensitivity. I can be rubbed raw by holding forth with people. There is a ninety minute limit in meetings. After that my voice becomes harsh and cutting. Too much longer and I will be writing notes of apology.
I have found a website to explore. A Google search of Spirituality and Mental Health. The review of a British book: Spirituality and Mental Health: Breakthrough was published in January 2004. http://www.tidal-model.co.uk/New%20extract%20from%20Spirituality.htm. Written by Phil Barker (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland) and Poppy Buchanan-Barker (Director, Clan Unity International, Scotland)
Below is the preface: In our original culture, Eliot’s turn for home echoes the symbolic searching embedded in Celtic knotwork, where each line threads its way outwards, as if seeking the ultimate Light, only to thread its way back to where it started. In Celtic spirituality this starting and endpoint is the hearth, where the spiritual traveller will not only find warmth and comfort, but will also experience, again, the Light that has always been shining (unrecognised) from within. If spirituality teaches us anything it is, as Buddha urged: Hold to the truth within yourselves the only lamp As to This book emphasises the need to turn inward, listening to the various messages that are channelled through our core being. Rather than dismiss these experiences as one form of ‘disorder’ or another, we invite the reader to recognise the various stories that are re-told here, as evidence of the difficult and often very messy soul-work, which people often are required to undertake; evidence of the spiritual quests that serendipity has organised for them; evidence of the abundant resourcefulness of the human being, when faced with the apparently ‘unintelligible’. As Frattaroli (2002) recently noted, psychiatric symptoms like anxiety and depression are not themselves diseases, but are evidence of the soul's attempt to resolve an inner conflict —by forcing us to pay attention to the unconscious dark side of ourselves that we would rather ignore. The people who have joined us on this attempt to ‘break through’ the contemporary opposition to understanding the spiritual dimensions of mental health and mental distress, have struggled long and hard to gain the wisdom that informs their writing. Although the authors are not united by any specific philosophical, religious or mystical tradition, they do share an appreciation that the various struggles, which Life scatters upon the Path, have been put there for a purpose. What exactly is the purpose is not often clear, but clearing the way, surmounting the obstacles and generally taking the next, painful step, appear to be what is asked of us. With each step, the point of our existence may become clearer, or it might become even more obscured. If the authors we have gathered together here are to be believed, the outcome is not as important as the simple fact that we have taken that next step. Knowing that we are ‘on the Path’ appears to be sufficient of itself
The book seems worth exploring.
You can order it from Amazon – only two months shipping.
In five days you can buy a book called Spirituality and Mental Health Care: Rediscovering a "Forgotten" Dimension which “Using a critical, evidence-based and interdisciplinary approach to contemporary mental health practice, the author explores the therapeutic significance of spirituality for clients in a number of different contexts with problems such as psychotic disorder, depression, Alzheimer's disease and AIDS, from the perspective of both carers and service-users”
Sounds comforting.
I think for now I will just explore the Clan Unity and links.
Nancy
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