You Are Not Your Stuff

   I was listening to a speaker recently, who talked about how we are all Divine and have "god-like abilities."  And he said that we are not our stuff.  What he meant was that the limiting patterns of our lives are not a part of our identities. They're just...stuff.  Stuff that has gotten in the way of allowing us to express our Divine selves. In my case, the "stuff" that immediately came to mind was anxiety. When I think of my life and what makes me who I am, I tend to think of my struggle. It has become wound up in my identity, something that I'm almost proud of claiming. It makes me who I am, right? Well, it has played a significant role in my life, and it's probably my greatest impetus for change and growth. So I don't think it's necessarily bad that I see it as having been important. But if that identification with the struggle overtakes identification with who I am, then I need to get my self-image back on track. Anxiety is not so inextricably wound up in who I am that I am nothing without it. If I stop being anxious, I will still be the amazing person I already am...just free of anxiety. I have struggled, but that struggle is not who I am. Who I am is a being with the strength and power to overcome any struggle.

   And it's not just me. You're pretty freaking awesome, too. For me, it's anxiety, but I think we've all got that thing that gets us down that we get confused with who we are. It's easy to forget how beautiful and powerful we are, so it's a good thing you've got me to tell you. ;-) You're beautiful. And powerful.

   Don't forget it.

 

Dr. Victoria Sweet on "The Healing Power of Nature"

  As I continue to read God's Hotel by Victoria Sweet, an insightful investigation into the history of medicine, I keep coming across intriguing and thought-provoking nuggets. As I was reading recently, I came to a portion of the book which addressed vitalism. Oh, vitalism. While Dr. Sweet is a medical doctor and not a naturopathic one, her perspective was of particular interest to me because the philosophy of vitalism is usually the first objection critics of naturopathic medicine bring up. This is because one of the six naturopathic principles, as identified by the American Association of Naturopathic Medicine, is vis medicatrix naturae, which roughly translates in English to "the healing power of nature." The AANP's website offers a further description of this principle: "Naturopathic medicine recognizes an inherent self-healing process in the person which is ordered and intelligent. Naturopathic physicians act to identify and remove obstacles to healing and recovery, and to facilitate and augment this inherent self-healing process." Critics of naturopathic medicine mock the field for vitalism, never seeming to stop and consider that this very general principle could be interpreted in a wide variety of ways, quite possibly including interpretations that don't even involve vitalism. I'd like to share a short excerpt from Dr. Sweet's book, in which she describes the history of the schism between mechanists and vitalists and gives her perspective on the matter.

The mechanists believed that life was mechanical, simply a series of processes that science could eventually understand and duplicate; the body was a machine that could be fixed.  For the vitalists, the body was not a machine.  They believed that life had something special about it that science could never duplicate.  The vitalists were the romantics of medicine, and in the last decades of the nineteenth century they lost their battle with the mechanists.  By the early twentieth century, any reference to vitalism or the healing power of nature was considered heretical.  Yet vitalism did not diappear.  Instead, it dived down into the subterranean rivers of Western medicine and reappeared in the many side streams of alternative medicine.

Whether there is such a thing as the healing power of nature is, perhaps, beside the point.  What I do know for sure is that it is a useful way of looking at my patients' bodies; it gives me a way of imagining that the body's natural state is to be whole, perfect, and without blemish.  And it is what differentiates the living body from a machine: because if nothing interferes, the body, unlike a machine, will heal itself.

                                                                                                    God's Hotel, Victoria Sweet

Finding Passion

   I'm in school, studying biology. I first discovered that I might like biology when I dropped out of my last school's Education program. I was at a community college and they just didn't have that many options. So after finishing three years of an Education degree and deciding I didn't want to be a teacher, I dropped out of the program and switched to Nursing. I decided against nursing, too, but not before going through two Anatomy & Physiology classes. While in those classes, I recognized that some of the stuff we talked about was really fascinating.  To have the kind of complete understanding of the body's physiology that my professor did, I thought, would be pretty amazing. Those impressions stuck with me, so when I discovered naturopathic medicine about a year ago, things began to click. It seemed like a good fit. Damn, it seemed like a perfect fit.  My personality is such that I am drawn to careers that are full of idealism and purpose. One of my education professors once said that none of us would be there if we weren't idealists.  I can't justify going to a job every day and just working. It doesn't make sense to me, and I could never make myself do something I saw as menial and purposeless for the rest of my life. Which is why naturopathic medicine, which offers itself up as an alternative to the current flawed healthcare system, is great for me. It's the kind of career you go into to make a difference, making a statement in action.

   This is the first time I've felt this sort of passion for something, the first time I've sustained that passion and worked toward something for a substantial period of time. My passion for my original purpose when I chose to go back to school one year ago is no less now than it was then. The plan gives me purpose, a goal to work toward. And not just to get through school, but to really have an enduring knowledge of the human body, the human psyche; knowledge that can make a difference and that can help people.  This sort of knowledge isn't gained at once, or even entirely before you start working as a physician. I think it's an ongoing commitment and I don't think any patient deserves a physician who doesn't make such a commitment to learning.  

 Right now, in addition to studying for biology and chemistry, I'm reading God's Hotel by Victoria Sweet.  It's a memoir by a physician who worked in one of the nation's last almshouses before efficiency experts came in and began to dictate their practices and turn it into a modern healthcare facility. The reviews are amazing and it's very good so far.  It presents the idea that short-term efficiency equals poor-quality care and long-term inefficiency.  In other words, spending more time on patients is better in the long run (and definitely better for patients in the short run!).

   I love adding medical-related books to my Amazon wishlist, books that I'll hopefully one day be able to check off.  I get so excited (and impatient) when I think about going to graduate school, where I would finally get to do clinical work.  As a long-time dabbler, it's great to finally care about something so much, to have finally found something that I care enough about, and like learning about enough, that I will choose it over other things.  It just feels good.

The Broom Closet and Harassment

  The Wild Hunt recently reported that Kyrja Withers, author of the Rupert series of pagan children's books, had gun shots fired at her home after being the victim of prior incidents of harassment related to her pagan religion. (See the original story here.)  This news saddens me, but it doesn't make me regret my own choice to be "out of the broom closet."
   I was always taught that I should be careful what people think about me, that reputation is a powerful thing.  It's a viewpoint I've come to disagree with strongly, especially as I began to make controversial choices such as being a pagan.  I could hide the fact that I consider myself pagan, or I could let it be known in the same way I let other opinions and interests be known. Growing up in a generation of Facebook users who express their opinions loud and proud on the Internet, combined with the fact that we Americans tend to believe we have the right to be happy while being open about who we are, I can't bring myself to go to great lengths to keep my religion hidden. When I was a Christian, "Christian" was proudly displayed as my Facebook religion status. Now, it says "Pagan."  I don't tell everyone I meet that I'm a pagan.  It's just there on my Facebook to be found by curious profile-stalkers, and I'll mention it once in a while, if it comes up.  So it's not a choice to be in-your-face about my paganism. It's just a choice not to hide who I am and what I do.  There have been few negative implications of this choice in my own life, but we sadly live in a world where such consequences are clearly a possibility.  The choice to be open about paganism or not is a very personal one, and may take into account where you live, your professional life, etc.  In my current situation, I choose to be open and this news does not make me regret my choice.  But I'd love to hear your opinion.

Are you out of the broom closet?  And does this recent story influence how you feel about being an open pagan?

Have a Psychiatric Illness? You May Soon, Thanks to the new DSM-V

   After getting behind schedule, the DSM-V has hurried on to its original May 2013 publication date, deciding to skip a quality control review that many critics say it badly needs.  Allen Francis, who chaired the DSM-IV committee, is one of the book's most vocal opponents.  Francis argues that it contains many new diagnoses that have no scientific foundation, and which will increase the number of people facing ordinary challenges who are already massively over-diagnosed with psychiatric illnesses.  "Many millions of people with normal grief, gluttony, distractibility, worries, reactions to stress, the temper tantrums of childhood, the forgetting of old age, and 'behavioral addictions' will soon be mislabeled as psychiatrically sick and given inappropriate treatment," he says. Grieving over the loss of a loved one?  There's Major Depressive Disorder, a designation just for the grieving.  Have a hyper child?  No longer are you limited to ADHD; there's the all-new Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder.  Most of us could probably be diagnosed with Internet Addiction, according to this version, and overeating 12 times in 3 months qualifies us for Binge Eating Disorder.  If you're getting older and starting to forget things, you can be slapped with the diagnosis of Minor Neurocognitive Disorder, despite the fact that this forgetting is normal and despite the fact that dementia is untreatable.  Francis blames the APA for the book's rush, saying that the publication is an important source of expected income for the organization.  Many professionals in the field of psychology are protesting the new revisions, but it is uncertain whether these protests will make a difference in the situation's outcome.  Regardless, Francis identifies this as a low point for the field of psychiatry. "This is the saddest moment in my 45 year career of studying, practicing, and teaching psychiatry."

Learn More

DSM-5 Is a Guide, Not a Bible: Simply Ignore Its 10 Worst Changes by Francis Allen, at Huffington Post

The DSM-5 Controversy by Eric Maisel, at Psychology Today

Are We Over-Diagnosing Mental Illness? by Dr. Mercola

Earth Hour to Darken the Globe Tonight

  Earth Hour is tonight from 8:30-9:30 pm, a time when people and institutions all over the world will turn out their lights to raise awareness of climate change and the need for renewable energy sources. From individuals to the Eiffel Tower, this event that started in Australia in 2007 has spread the world over and will include hundreds of millions of people.  Learn more in this story by Aljazeera, and consider joining in by spending your evening in candlelight.

A Look at Avalon Within

Click the book to see it on Amazon.

  A couple years ago I bought the book Avalon Within by Jhenah Telyndru at a local metaphysical shop, where the owner informed me that the book's author was also the founder of a tradition called the Sisterhood of Avalon, a women's tradition which focuses on the Divine Feminine. At the time, I read a little and stopped, never getting back to it until recently, when I happened to think of it and went searching through my books.

   The book describes a way of working with the cycle of the year, which involves the mythical(or historical?) Avalon, a place of mystery and spirituality, a place where priestesses came into their own. These priestesses are the same as those portrayed in Marienne Zimmer Bradley's novel, The Mists of Avalon. The book is filled with "Imrans," or medititative journeys, to different places on the island. The process focuses on inner growth and the pursuit of wisdom, taking you through the five stages of Descent, Confrontation, Emergence, Resolution, and Integration. Each step in the process is one of coming to a better understanding of both your internal and external worlds, and each is connected to a location on the Isle of Avalon, as well as to one of five Celtic goddesses: Blodeuwedd, Rhiannon, Ceridwen, Arianrhod, and Branwen. By journeying to these spots on the Isle and working with the goddesses, you embark on a journey of growth, guided by one of the priestesses of the blessed land. The book also gives an in-depth description of how to perform a solitary Avalonian ritual.

  The book contains an intriguing method of interacting with the Wheel of the year, which will be of particular interest to women interested in Celtic paganism, and the Arthurian legends in particular. Pagans frequently mention the pursuit of wisdom and inner growth, but in many sources the topic doesn't seem to receive much more coverage than that. Avalon Within takes it further, offering up a way that we can come to that wisdom and growth. The book did leave me feeling like I had a somewhat vague understanding of the process, but that will probably improve as I work with the journeys and activities in the book. Also, any lack of knowledge and understanding could be filled in with other sources, including those on working with the spirituality of Avalon, those on Celtic spirituality, those on the five goddesses, and Bradley's The Mists of Avalon.

If this type of working resonates with you, you may wish to look into the Sisterhood of Avalon. You can visit their site by clicking here.