~Rabindranath Tagore
Mental illness is tied intimately to suffering. This is because we live through our minds and our thoughts. It is one of our most important tools. It is our interface to everything that we experience. It is the battlefield of suffering. It is the veritable, "ground-zero", if you will. It is the epicenter of the struggle for those with a mental illness.
This battle begins with your strongest weapon broken. From the beginning there is a problem something is broken. Why it is broken, really does not matter. Sometimes broken is just simply broken. It is not a moral matter. There is something far more basic and fundamentally practical about the situation. It is something that has to be dealt with no matter why.
The flaws that you that you see may not be motivating the odd behaviors and thoughts. It won't help you put into context what you may see and hear from that person. Research suggests there is usually a lot to it. It is a disease of the mind, body and spirit. There are many things that seem to contribute to what is going on.
It seems that chemistry, genes, and social factors are all likely contributors to the list. Truthfully, in many cases I don't think we really know many of the reasons why. Many of the providers of care are pretty removed from the lives of the people who need the care. It is very hard to provide comprehensive care for people out in the community. While we have some institutional care, we need more care where the people are. Out in the actual community, and not held up and controlled in the institutions. We are not reaching people. If we spent more time out in the community with these people and got to know more about them we would learn more about the real reasons why that people are sick. Maybe then we can head some of the problems off at the pass. It would probably be more cost effective too. Institutions are expensive. Although I will acknowledge some that there are some truly, incredibly talented, and motivated people in some of those institutions.
So while you may find it easy to blame a character flaw; it really has not been easy to find out why people have mental illness. For some people, their level of sickness, some seem to have no reasonable explanations at all. I deal with some of those people. Some are just more sick than we can explain. Perhaps the simple explanation is that life is very hard.
We have come into this world, equipped with the hand we were dealt with. It is all that we can bring to bear. It is what we can use to contend with what gets thrown at us. No matter if we are strong in one, many or few areas of life. We must still try to deal with it all. Because of this pressure on everyone seems to be intense. If we are wise, we can try to remain conscience and hopefully sane while doing so. The choices we make about how humbly and bravely we face our life, -- that defines our character. Consider this, we are all frail beings. There are many more powerful animals out there. Yet we have adapted, improvised and overcome most of this planet. There is hope. The same can also be said for mental illness. You can do a lot to adapt, improvise, and overcome. It takes someone of character do anything in this life.
Whether or not someone has a mental illness or cancer, either fight for them or at least get out of their way. The greatest moral and spiritual truth, practice, and social philosophy that I have come to realize is -- don't be a jerk".
I encourage you to this resolve because; you know what your own suffering is like. How much do you really need to know about anyone else's life, to know that it probably sucks for them too? If you know pain sucks for you, then you understand it can for them too right? Don't we all seek hope that things will be okay? This makes us all common. This can and should be the basis for our common pursuit of character.
Finding character can actually happen from having a mental illness. It grants a series of collegiate tests of the spirit and soul. Actually I am finding it to be one of the most important parts of my life's curriculum. It has taught me most of what I consider to be worth knowing. Going out of my mind has been the sanest thing that I have ever done.
I wish you wellness always. Though, if you feel that mental illness is a flawed character, that I take issue with that belief. Mental illness is just that, an illness and not a flaw Find your path. Don't be a jerk. If you can't help an other find their path, then for your own sake, don't get in their way. Hopefully someone won't get in yours. While life is not easy, mental illness is a not character flaw!
