Transformative CRAZYWISE Event

In a small town in the heart of the beautiful Brecon Beacons in Wales, UK, an event was held that had a transformative affect on many attendees. For a town that usually struggles to attract more than a dozen people to similar public events, we had an astounding attendance of thirty five to forty.

CRAZYWISE made by US Human Rights Photographer and Filmmaker Phil Borges and his colleague Kevin Tomlinson, explores alternative spiritual routes of healing, giving a fresh perspective to an age old issue in a modern world. It documents the journey of two individuals, Adam and Ekhaya through their severe mental illness crisis, showing interviews with their family and friends, as well as commentary from Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Spiritual and Buddhists Teachers and others.

We attracted a 50/50 mix of Mental Health Staff, Volunteers and clients using those services.  It was sadly, marked by an absence of Doctors and Psychiatrists, the very people whose attention is needed.  This was expressed during the discussion phase following the viewing.  “Where were the psychiatrists?  Where were the Doctors?  Where were key management from Mental Health Providers?”  We had one manager from our local Mental Health Hospital who attended the film but not the discussions.

The “Open Space” discussions following the film, was as fruitful for the participants as the film. In fact I was told “conversations were being held across toilet cubicles” and some said “This could have been a 2 day event.”

The event was successful, validating, and transformative for those attending and was summed up by a comment from a member of a local Mental Health Charity,

“I have been to many mental health conferences and this is the first event I have had the opportunity to talk about my own distress in a safe accepting environment.”  She added “I cannot find anyone to talk to in my work place.”

In the final Plenary it was agreed to take 3 initiatives forward.

1. To seek ways to show the film to Senior Medical Mental Health Practitioners through conferences and seminars to raise awareness.
2. The question of the power imbalances between those suffering mental distress and their Medical Practitioners and how to empower individuals to question their Doctors/Psychiatrist and other mental health support workers when necessary.
3. Question a lack of safe houses, guidance and programmes for those wishing to come off medications.

This event was initiated by Avril Meyler Emerging Paradigms and sponsored by PAVO a Voluntary Mental Health Organisation.

We need to see more of these initiatives to raise awareness of the often very real connections between Mental Crisis, Spiritual Awakenings and Shamanic Initiations.  They are happening across the globe and will only increase until we finally get the recognition needed from Mental Health Diagnosticians and professional treatment providers.

 

Schizophrenia and Mysticism

The recent celebrated Hay Festival has prompted this blog; having attended a total of 7 events all to a larger or lesser degree focusing on Mental Health Issues. For  a number of years, in fact since a catalytic period in my life from 1984 to 1993 I have been on a steep learning  curve. The start of which I began to doubt my own psyche and sanity in 1984 to understanding that a profound  change that had taken place within me during that 9 year period. Regular readers will have noted my “multidimensional awareness” with regards to perspectives on Mental Health, but what may be less known is the monumental struggle that followed the understanding of what had occurred.

In 1989 I had the unique experience of meeting and eventually living in the same house as the now famous and celebrated World Spiritual Guru Eckhart Tolle.   At the time of our meeting he was known only to a few spiritual seekers, and was in fact running A Course in Miracles and I was one of only 5 attendees.  His fortunes changed dramatically when we parted late 1993 and he became the celebrated author he is today and I began in earnest to develop multidimensional skills during which I underwent many powerful and sometimes traumatic experiences.   Now a Mental Health worker who had none or little understanding of “Spiritual Awakenings” “Dark Nights of The Soul” and Mystical Experiences” would readily have referred me for diagnosis and medication within the psychiatric model. In another reality I may have ended up medicated and labelled Schizophrenic

Fast forward to 2013 I became a member of our local MIND Mental Health Charity following an attempt to resolve an unresolveable family issue.  Far from benefiting from the counselling offered there I was stopped in my tracks by the systemic belief systems abounding in Mental Health Organisations where none or scant awareness is given to Psychic/Spiritual/Metaphysical perspectives, hence the medical/mental illness models prevail.  This was the beginning of another learning curve but one where I was in control on all levels as the preceding years had given me ample opportunity to practice the art of Self Will, when my being was being played around with by mischievous spiritual entities.  Or put it another way, parts of my psyche had split off and had become alienated from the wholeness of the ONE and therefore spent their dream time destructively creating and craving attention.  Only when I dedicated a period of two years self healing strategies by engaging these split off parts of me did I begin the journey through soul retrieval and eventually embraced, healed, accepted and owned those parts of myself, no longer seeing them as outer forces doing battle within me. Shamanism has much to teach our Mental Health teams.

I cannot stress enough the monumental amount of work this involved, and I was blessed to meet the occasional healer/shaman who far from considering my mental health as a problem, journeyed with me side by side and held out an invisible hand when I was forced to leap through the fires of hell to undertake this soul rescue.  It was a period not only filled with multidimensional parallel universe phenomena but also lucid clear dreaming that symbolically spoke to me far clearer than any well-trained counsellor.

Listening to the many lectures ranging from Ruby Wax on Mental Health and Mindfulness to a research group from Worcestor University on Bi-Polar I profoundly understand that we are largely still floundering around in the dark.  These issues cannot be adequately addressed without addressing the wholeness of what it is to be human leading to what it is to be a multidimensional spiritual conscious being experimenting within human development.  Whilst there are breakthroughs in Quantum Physics and on You Tube can be found a plethora of nuero scientific/brain/quantum resonances what is rarely heard is the real human story behind such abstract concepts. You Tube had not been created in 1984 (to my knowledge) and I believe my experiences somehow touched on and in these worlds without any understanding of the intelligence behind it.  For that I am deeply grateful to the Universal Guidance that I and others are receiving once they open their minds to embrace the unknown with trust in a Universal Intelligence some regard as GOD

Much of my “story” is related in A New Human  reviews can be found here.