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What is Suffering?

My Challenges with the Mental Health System.

When I was diagnosed with a severe mental health diagnosis in 1999, the way people were treated was radically different than the way we are treated now. I'm starting to remember the crisis that I was going through, and what made it terribly difficult was that I always treated my body, and my mind like a temple. I was 25, and I knew what was happening to me would radically change the outcome of my life. I have had an awareness up until even now, that the mind can heal itself, if given the right treatment and support. One doctor told me there was no cure for what I had, but I had enough faith at that time to not fall into despair, knowing that all ailments of the mind and body are treatable and when diagnosed properly can be lived with, with grace and dignity.

I believe that each person regardless of who they are, or what they are suffering with in life, has an inherent dignity given to them, not because we are something grand, but because life has made us this way. Of course there are some conditions that can't be treated, but even in those cases the human doesn't loose his inherent right to happiness and to live the rest of his or her life with dignity. I believe we all have a soul, and that our soul can be at peace, or feel suffering. Anguish of the soul is very bitter because even if you have your physical health, the soul or mind can suffer.

How to relate this to some religions of our day reminds me of those who throughout history have showed us how to suffer with dignity. I am reminded of the needless suffering of the the holocaust, and many other crimes against humanity that are perpetrated every day in this big world. The bible teaches we are blessed when we make peace, but in order to make peace with our fellow human beings we must be at peace with God, and at peace with ourselves. When my mind is afflicted it creates a sense of disharmony in my thinking, and the way I perceive the world becomes distorted until I correct my thinking.

I am not saying you can bring world peace by just changing your thinking process, but by replacing all the negativity in your own mind, you become a product of positivity which can create more harmony in the world which is directly affected by you. We all have a service to humanity and our fellow man or woman, by treating our bodies with the respect they deserve. The soul is not separate from the body, we live with our bodies so that when our bodies feel pain the soul suffers. God can heal the suffering soul through His Grace, and it is a mystery how He does this. To feel detached from your body is an indication that the soul wants to be free from suffering.

God gives us His grace not to end the pain the soul feels, but to transform that pain into something that gives us hope. Suffering is redeemable only as long as the person acknowledges why they are suffering. Suffering has a purpose and that purpose should lead us into a closer relationship with our Creator. I don't like to suffer, but I also don't like to feel separated from my God. When I suffer, I feel that God is somehow punishing me for my sins. Lastly, one of the things that needs to be corrected is our view of God. In our view of God we must see Him as Love, as the bible shows us and tells us. ( 1 John 4:7-21) When we start seeing Him as he really is our suffering will end. This is Mike.

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