We generally refer to our relationship with the mind in terms of a duality of ‘out of your mind’ vs ‘in your senses’ which is supposed to correspond to insanity vs sanity. But the people we refer to as ‘out of their mind’ are actually much more entangled in their mind, aren’t they? However, if we acknowledge this, then it would mean that we, who are merely less entangled in the mind as compared to them, are not sane as such, but only less insane. To dodge this truth, we have created a dummy duality, and have labelled a mutually accepted level of mental-entanglement as normal, mutually accepted level of insanity as sanity. But the fact is that the insane and the sane are only at different levels of entanglement within the mind. If we acknowledge this, and that it is possible be less and less entangled in the mind, then it opens up the possibility of being disentangled from the mind altogether. It opens up the possibility of actually being out of your mind, of being unsane.
Our relationship with the psychological faculty is not comprised of a duality of sane vs insane, but it is a spectrum consisting of a triad. Initially there is a region of low aliveness where we are in stupor, and the mind is dormant and non-functional. Then there is a region of mediocre aliveness, which we refer to as wakefulness, where we are entangled in the mind and are at various levels of insanity (or of sanity, however you want to see it). And then there is a point where aliveness crosses the bounds of the mental faculty and you are out of it, so to speak. That is what is generally referred to as meditativeness.
But people mostly overlook this, and fabricate the dichotomy of sanity & insanity. When we live by that bluff, it gives rise to various implications. Most importantly, this has repercussions on how we, as a society, are addressing mental health and the stigma around it.
When we get into mental health issues, we tend to bottle it up and make it worse, as it is considered shameful to have such issues. But let us understand that as long as we are rooted in the mind, we are already mental. It is just waiting for enough opportunity to go to next gear. Simply labelling mutually accepted levels of thought-entanglement as normal is not going to avoid that possibility of aggravation. So, neither are we in some honorable state now, nor are we in some shameful state when it aggravates.
The solution to the stigma around mental health is in acknowledging this, and in everyone working towards becoming conscious enough to distance themselves from the mental drama. It is not just those who are medically diagnosed with some issue that need to work upon themselves, but everyone needs to take responsibility for themselves to avoid that possibility altogether. And the simplest step towards ensuring our own mental health is to take to Yoga practices.
But today, in retaliation to the stigma, we are just shouting about it publicly saying it is ok to have mental health issues. Instead of seeing “We are also not ok”, we are saying “That is also ok”. This is a devious move that will backfire. Because, after a while, it will be considered as ‘normal’ to have psychological issues. It will be considered similar to flu or fever. Common will be confused as normal. And when something is normalized, the keenness to assume responsibility to prevent it will gradually diminish in more and more people. These changes may not happen in one day, but in time, that is where it will go.
Secondly, in the long run, relying primarily on Psychiatry as an organized sector is not the right direction. I know that the field of psychiatry has contributed greatly, especially with pathological issues. But the very presence of such a huge organized place for this, coupled with ‘It is ok’ attitude, will subtly encourage the human mind to go in that direction. Instances which would otherwise be addressed with little awareness and sense of responsibility may be magnified by the individual, and left to aggravate. Body is simple, but mind is slippery. It can turn mere assurance into an encouragement. Why, it can even turn mere acknowledgement into an encouragement.
In the long run, the only efficient way to handle mental health issues in the society is by having a certain percentage of very conscious and stable people scattered across the population – people who are rooted in awareness, and not in their thought. This will informally but delicately handle the individual instances even before they aggravate and require medical intervention. Mental health requires such an organic system and not an organized system. Psychiatry as a field must be kept low key to care for only those who escape this organic system. And if we are to work towards preventing mental health issues altogether, then the first thing is to stop worshiping thought. Individually, and as a society, we must stop treating mind as the pinnacle of life.
You can see both these aspects in action in ancient India. There is no major text dedicated to Psychiatry (or even Psychology) in Indian literature, and it is just a portion within Ayurveda. To whatever extent mental health issues existed in those societies, it was organically handled by the presence of spiritual teachers and monks. Also, the culture as a whole never considered the psychological process as the pinnacle of life, but always emphasized distancing ourselves from it to use it better. It always emphasized that we are to be driven by awareness, and not thought. On the contrary, today we are trying to propel ourselves mainly with mental boosts and mollycoddling slogans like ‘Believe in yourself’ and ‘God loves you’. If we continue like this en masse, this is not going to end well. Some of the statistics that surveys are reporting on mental health is already appalling enough. For example, some studies are predicting that there is going to be a pandemic of mental illness in the U.S., followed by in the world.
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