Carl Jung said that neurosis comes from the avoidance of necessary suffering. I truer and more important word has never been spoken. Not just because mental health is important, but because everything and everyone is interconnected. My neurosis effects my family and friends, my customers, and the balance of the ecosystem.
It's not just a matter of "do no harm." That's mere moralism, which is a necessary limit, but it fails to appreciate the importance of our creative work towards the health and wholeness of the world over which we have influence, which includes future generations.
Neurosis is an anchor, a cloud, a kind of death. It limits the good of creativity, which is far more powerful than the bad that moralism seeks to limit. Neurosis is not just the domain of privileged people trying to maximize their happiness, it's the source of all the madness in the world, and the blockage of the questions and creative solutions that the world needs.
There's no space in a short blog to prove or detail the myriad ways that each of us avoid necessary suffering and how this leads, in the end, to poverty, war, and ecological ruin. (I know that neurosis is categorized as generally mild forms of mental illness and that I seem to be suggesting that it is the cause of great harm. Well, I guess I am. Consider the cumulative effect of billions of people clinging to lies and self protection. This is why Rabi Heschel said that some are guilty, but all are responsible.)
So, if we're all responsible, and this seems self evident, it begs the question: How can I choose to embrace the necessary suffering that leads to freedom and creativity if I'm always rushing from one thing to the next?
Just because busyness and distractedness are the way things are done doesn't mean I have to do likewise. Maybe the way things are is caused by the way things are done.
Slow down/Wake up
It's not just a matter of "do no harm." That's mere moralism, which is a necessary limit, but it fails to appreciate the importance of our creative work towards the health and wholeness of the world over which we have influence, which includes future generations.
Neurosis is an anchor, a cloud, a kind of death. It limits the good of creativity, which is far more powerful than the bad that moralism seeks to limit. Neurosis is not just the domain of privileged people trying to maximize their happiness, it's the source of all the madness in the world, and the blockage of the questions and creative solutions that the world needs.
There's no space in a short blog to prove or detail the myriad ways that each of us avoid necessary suffering and how this leads, in the end, to poverty, war, and ecological ruin. (I know that neurosis is categorized as generally mild forms of mental illness and that I seem to be suggesting that it is the cause of great harm. Well, I guess I am. Consider the cumulative effect of billions of people clinging to lies and self protection. This is why Rabi Heschel said that some are guilty, but all are responsible.)
So, if we're all responsible, and this seems self evident, it begs the question: How can I choose to embrace the necessary suffering that leads to freedom and creativity if I'm always rushing from one thing to the next?
Just because busyness and distractedness are the way things are done doesn't mean I have to do likewise. Maybe the way things are is caused by the way things are done.
Slow down/Wake up
