Modern Psychiatry and the Human Soul and Spirit: Is Our Freedom at Stake?

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In 1932, Brave New World was printed, and Aldous Huxley wrote:

“But I don’t want comfort. I want God. I want poetry. I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin. I want to know what passion is. I want to feel something strongly.”

Ninety-one years later in 2023, over 50,000 Americans died of suicide; more than any year on record. Today, 65 million Americans are on one or more prescribed psychiatric medications. The prescribing of medications to all ages has increased along with the suicide and homicide rate. Is it not our responsibility to look deeper and ask, “Why?” How many people do you know who hate the side effects of being medicated, and therefore, go on and off these addictive, mind-altering medications seeking their humanity?

People don’t feel heard or seen. “The System” allows for no time to explore the root of anxiety, shame, and fear. Why is this not a priority? How many people have chosen suicide because they cannot bear living a zombie-type existence devoid of clarity of thinking, heart-felt feelings or intentional willing? These three soul forces define being human. To be a doctor aiming to practice the art of healing is almost impossible today due to the power of big pharma and insurance companies. How many doctors have a clear conscience regarding their promise: “Do no Harm”?

Man with conceptual spiritual body art

No matter how psychiatrists try to frame it, human beings are complicated and unique. We’re not simply genes and hereditary forces. Our brain is not a computer, and our heart is not a pump, though the materialistic world view is pretty good at convincing us to believe we are devoid of Spirit, the divine creative part of us which is never wounded and if not eclipsed by legal or illegal substances, is able to always make a choice.

I believe that because we each have our own resilient Spirit, we are creators. Though, naturally, we can feel a victim. Our Spirit is also referred to as our “Witness”, “Charioteer”, or “Higher Self”. We’re born with intentions for this life, and typically we’ll meet challenges and blessings that guide us on our way to achieving our more or less conscious aims. Some even say we seek our challenges so that we will evolve!

Our challenges belong to us. We may have to stretch beyond our narrow confines and get out of our comfort zones: we are Creators. However, the inappropriate use of psychotropic medications and other substances, along with our unhealthy eating habits and lifestyles, disconnect us from our Spiritual Self and thereby interfere with and impede our abilities to embrace our challenges and experience the resilience of our Spirit.

Pushers are those who sell addictive substances to serve their own means, typically money. Doctors are beginning to recognize they also fall into the category of “pushers” who do it legally by getting their patients hooked on addictive medications. In an emergency, a medication may temporarily save a life, but typically, they’re used for far too long and become a way of simply “maintaining”, keeping a person on hold by inhibiting the growth opportunity of the healing journey. Psychiatric medications serve to suppress and disempower individuals from claiming and digesting their own traumas and global sufferings. Feeling the pain of others belongs to living fully. Without working through life experiences, no deep and lasting healing can happen.

Remember “soma” in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World? Soma was distributed by the government to maintain control over the population, ensuring their compliance and contentment. Soma was a means for an individual to escape or disconnect from their uniquely human soul forces: the ability to think clearly, to have heart-felt feelings and to intentionally “do”, thereby remaining content rather than conflicted by policies and daily happenings. However, while soma initially appeared to be an escape from the harsh realities of the world, it was also a tool for suppression and the relinquishment of true freedom.

Like soma, psychiatric drugs are suppressing these human soul forces and separating us from who we really are. In fact, if we really understood or remembered who the human being is, a spiritual being having an earth experience, we could never do what we’re doing to people today in all realms of life. The future is in our hands, and our clarity of consciousness will greatly influence what kind of future we create.

People are becoming conditioned by the spell of medication. Many high school students would rather take a pill than deal with the root of their anxiety. They have no awareness of the dormant forces within them awaiting recognition and activation, because the emphasis is to look outside of oneself for comfort and relief.

Yet, the human being is remarkable and incredibly resilient. Read biographies! Listen to peoples’ stories! At times we may certainly feel a victim, but we are creators because we are Human Beings with a Spirit (Charioteer, Witness, Higher Self…), Soul, and Physical Body. We’re free to embrace challenges as an opportunity for growth. And if the same challenges keep coming our way, we must be curious and think about what they are trying to teach us. Do not waste time and energy feeling “this shouldn’t happen to me”, because it is happening. Save your energy and say, “Yes” and embrace it, it belongs to you. Look for the opportunity in it. Then energy will shift, and circumstances will begin to move. Try it. See for yourself…

The Birth of Inner Fire

It was this belief that led to the opening of Inner Fire, Inc., a non-profit, year-long, residential, healing community in southern Vermont, in 2015. We wanted to respond to the many cries for help from struggling individuals who made the same statement and asked the same question. “I hate being medicated, isn’t there a choice?” Finding no options to the humiliating and disempowering side effects of psychotropic medications, many have chosen suicide. They were not prepared to live a zombie-type existence the rest of their lives disconnected from their soul forces of thinking, feeling and willing; the qualities which make us human. As one client said to me, “I have all these feelings inside me, but I can’t reach them, it is as if the medications are pushing who I really am under the table.”

Shocked and infuriated by former clients’ unnecessary suicides, knowing full well there was a choice from my twenty-five years working in Anthroposophical Medical and Therapeutic Centers in England and Holland where we never medicated anyone but used homeopathy and Anthroposophically inspired, proactive therapies, I chose not to hide my head in the sand but to see their suicides as a sacrifice and wake-up call.

The Inner Fire program, which works with all aspects of the human being, has supported people from various parts of the world and throughout the USA. Our mission:

“Inner Fire is a proactive, healing community in southern Vermont offering the choice to recover from debilitating and traumatic life experiences, which typically lead to addiction and mental/soul health challenges, while tapering slowly and carefully from their mind-altering, psychotropic medications and strengthening themselves on a deeper soul spiritual level.

We are not anti-medications but believe in the power of choice.

We support people who want to avoid medications in the first place, taper to a level which works for them, which could mean off, or who are reeling from the horrendous withdrawal symptoms of the benzodiazepines.”

We are not a medical facility. We are not interested in superficial diagnosis. We want to know who you are and what your aims are. When you treat people as human beings, with a body, soul and spirit, rather than as a diagnosis, then people can heal. Traumas and challenging life situations throw the Soul out of balance. All life experiences influence the soul and in turn, the soul informs our whole organism including the brain. At Inner Fire we support the striving individual to balance their soul through meaningful, practical and artistic, therapeutic activities. We recognize human beings are unique. We are all trying to manage during these very challenging, materialistic, alienating times.

As many readers are aware, tapering from these mind-altering, psychotropic medications is typically extremely challenging as during the process, our sense impressions can be overwhelmed. Feeling overwhelmed is not proof that we are ill and need to stay on medications. A key to successful tapering is to stay active and engaged with one’s hands (one’s “will”), as this way the horrendous withdrawal symptoms cannot monopolize. Every Seeker (resident of Inner Fire) is in charge of their own tapering process. The doctor listens to their experience and would only interfere if the Seeker wanted to taper too quickly, risking all the faithful and hard work they had thus far managed. Only when they firmly feel the earth beneath their feet do they taper minutely again.

For example, a former Seeker approached me one day and stated, “I’ve just been splitting wood for 2.5 hours and this is the first time in years I have not heard voices!” He was amazed as he had imagined he would hear horrific voices the rest of his life. He felt empowered! By engaging in such will-based activities, you cannot hear voices. Voices happen when we are excarnated, therefore losing our center.

We work consciously with the whole human being of Body, Soul and Spirit. The morning practical work helps strengthen the physical body, while also exposing individuals to meaningful activities. Biodynamic gardening offers the sowing and tending of seeds, harvesting, preserving and eating the results of one’s care. Clearing a wood for a goat pasture gives Seekers the chance to chop down trees and saw the trunks with a partner, then splitting the wood to heat the farmhouse for winter warmth. In the kitchen, learning to cook a delicious, gut-friendly, sugarless, gluten free, organic wholefoods diet, is empowering. Upon leaving, one can feel confident in their capacity to nourish themselves and friends. Housekeeping is all about learning to appreciate and mindfully care for one’s home environment. These and other will-based activities educate and empower individuals in ways that their self-respect, accountability, and autonomy grow.

Inner Fire’s Spiritual Basis

The morning ‘out-breath’ of working with community members and feeling a sense of purpose is then balanced in the afternoon by the deeper ‘in-breath’ of soul work through one-on-one artistic and movement therapy sessions. Soul balance is key to healing.

The core of Inner Fire’s mission comes from Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy.

Strengthening the etheric body via rhythm and order helps temper a chaotic life and supports reassurance and inner peace during the tapering process. Many a Seeker arrives having spent nights drinking and watching porn, sleeping during the day and unable to work or read. Everyone comes for a three-day visit, which allows them to step into the Inner Fire rhythm and realize an orderly outer life makes working with the neglected inner life more possible. They get a sense as to whether Inner Fire is a safe place, and if they can trust us. This visit gives them a chance to evaluate if they will be heard, seen and respected.

The astral body is the center of our sympathies and antipathies, our feelings. We are not our feelings, but our power lies in the choice following the moment we become aware of them. Claiming your feelings and then choosing what to do with them is empowering! Feelings are often eclipsed by the busy-ness of life. “Don’t feel, just get on with it,” is the typical message today. Seekers grow to recognize that their feelings are indications on a deeper soul level that all is not well, and a rebalancing is necessary to stay healthy.

Psychiatrists and other prescribing practitioners have ten minutes to diagnose and medicate or they do not get paid. There’s usually no time to listen to the story behind the anxiety or other symptoms. Psychiatrists and other health care practitioners are also suicidal. What thoughtful, sensitive and caring doctor would not be if they witnessed their patients disconnecting from their ability to express themselves or unable to bear side effects of medications they’re told they will be on for the rest of their lives?

A wonderful, empowering Inner Fire moment was when Seeker “J” came in one day for Hauschka Artistic therapy and straight away shared with me his fury aimed at a Guide. He raged on and on, stating he was not going to the gathering that evening organized by said Guide, giving example after example for his reasoning. Eventually, he paused, and I asked if there was anything else he wanted to share. Then with enthusiasm and respect I shared with him that he’d just spoken to me completely out of his passion, his Astrality. I admired his ‘fire’ which was dynamic, and then I asked him my question: “Do you want to go to the coffee house?” He paused and then responded positively. I encouraged him to go and have a good time, knowing that in the morning he, the Guide and I would meet, with him first expressing himself and then having the opportunity to listen to the Guide. The following morning this happened and the two were able to share, ultimately reaching a better understanding of each other. In any Community, interpersonal challenges are bound to arise. We see these moments as growth opportunities for claiming one’s voice and learning to communicate.

Most folks have not learned to hold their boundaries, and of course, survival can be seen as denying one’s own needs to please others. It’s beautiful to witness boundaries getting stronger as the individual begins to taper.

Anger is one of the first emotions to surface. Righteous rage is welcomed at Inner Fire, though our policy states “violence is not acceptable”. It’s been rare, but a few times years of suppressed anger has emerged as violence. We work with this, knowing it cannot become a habit. Occasionally, a Seeker tests us to see if they will get kicked out. Fortunately, I am the only one who’s been attacked, and just a few times. Such an action is also a cry for help, so: “Why attack?”

As tapering progresses, undigested soul experiences surface, colors become brighter, noises sharper and feelings more intense. Having been suppressed by a wet blanket of lithium for many years, sensory overload is common while tapering. In our nine years, three times a Seeker has requested the hospital to feel safe from themselves and from hurting others. (One of the side effects of Prozac is “danger to oneself or others”. Many medications indicate: Suicidal ideations!) I visit them daily, and the environment is like a prison: no fresh air, sugar laden food, jacked-up on medication and zombified again after all their hard work. So, taking Dr. John Weir Perry’s example from Diabasis House in San Francisco during the ‘70s, I long to create a “cocoon room” lined with mattresses and an unbreakable picture window looking into the woods where hawks fly, squirrels leap and leaves respond to the wind, allowing a struggling individual to be nourished by nature, while feeling safe and surrounded by the love of our Community, which understands that these withdrawal symptoms are simply part of the healing journey. They would continue being fed nutritious food and accompanied on daily walks until they feel ready to reconnect with the Community.

During our first decade, it’s become clear how humbling this work is. We can make no one do anything, nor should we. The program is excellent and respectful, and the Guides are loving, wise and open to learning. However, if someone does not engage, we can encourage, but our hands are tied honoring their choice. Only a few times have we asked a Seeker to leave. Their family members trust their loved one is engaging in the program, and it would be unethical to keep someone if indeed they choose not to engage thereby disrupting the constructive energy which nourishes the other Seekers.

During the tapering process, it’s a wonderful moment when someone states: “I am beginning to feel my Self again.” They’re cautioned “they’re not through it yet” and “to stay engaged”. However, even completing a successful slow, careful taper, if a fear or an undigested soul experience has been consciously avoided, there can be a backlash and psychosis can follow. Then unbridled emotions surface and newly discovered life dreams dissolve. The fear of having to be on medications the rest of one’s life, or fury at a system which did not listen but rather branded, disempowered and threatened, stating the lie that one’s brain chemistry is out of balance, and one will need to claim life-long disability can be overwhelming.

The human body and soul long to be whole: One. When we scratch ourselves, straight away the body starts to heal. When there is an undigested soul issue, like a tumor, it is autonomous and does not integrate into the rest of the organism. “Voices” reflect the presence of undigested soul experiences. Some voice hearers have expressed appreciation for the voices warning them regarding boundaries and encouraging the integration of undigested traumas. Our bodies are full of wisdom.

“You mean it is up to me?” In our present culture, such a question is not unusual for a Seeker to ask. Growing up in a world where one is told there’s a pill for everything, the opportunity to tap into the healer-within is eclipsed. Why bother to work through soul challenges when the pill is less work? Plus, many feel unprepared to work with soul issues, such skills have not been taught. For many, school itself is traumatizing. Materialistic forces, denying the Spirit, are rampant and getting still stronger. Many thoughtful, sensitive people know their thoughts and feelings matter, but they are not listened to or appreciated. In our society, the tendency is to homogenize, one size fits all. This is so far from the truth.

When an individual is labeled as “non-compliant”, what is really being said is they are not willing to suppress their inner fire and conform. They think differently and dare to speak up, and we all know what then can happen. The situation is serious, and we must wake up! We need to work together and speak out, because the emperor is stark naked, and we all know it. It’s time systems change, and humanity becomes the priority.

Inner Fire is forming an educational LLC and will be receiving accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) for offering continuing medical education (CME) hours training psychiatrists and other prescribing practitioners on how to safely support individuals to taper from their psychotropic medications. The first training will be the Spring of 2025.

Love, Wisdom and Humor are pillars in our efforts to protect and nurture the whole human being at Inner Fire. Time and again, when fully engaged in our empowering holistic program, the resilience of the human spirit gradually shines forth. Joy and awe touch all of us as we accompany each other. It is very clear to me that the medications are there to disconnect us from our divine, creative Self, the part of ourselves which has never been wounded. As individuals, we are courageous and powerful. Claim your inner fire and you will get well!

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Mad in America hosts blogs by a diverse group of writers. These posts are designed to serve as a public forum for a discussion—broadly speaking—of psychiatry and its treatments. The opinions expressed are the writers’ own.

66 COMMENTS

  1. Beatrice, Inner Fire sounds wonderful, I’m so glad you are forming an LLC and starting to educate ‘psychiatrists and other prescribing practitioners’ about your healing process, and how to wean people off the psych neurotoxins.

    I completely agree, anger is a justifiable emotion involved in psychiatric drug withdrawal, since we were systemically lied to by doctors, who’d promised to ‘first and foremost, do no harm’ – but did nothing, except defame and harm.

    I agree, art is a wonderfully healing activity – albeit my artwork is “too truthful” for those “mental health” workers who want to “maintain the status quo.” I also found biking and gardening in nature, to be very helpful during my healing journey.

    Dancing, too, was helpful when I was dealing with my drug withdrawal induced super sensitivity manic psychosis – since one’s gotta get that extra energy (‘Godspeed,’ as it felt to me) out, somehow … How insane it is for the psychiatrists to believe locking up a person who is manic in a windowless room, denying them water, and “snowing” them, is the best way to deal with a drug withdrawal induced mania. That’s the opposite of what’s helpful.

    And getting one’s legitimate anger, at the betrayal, out is also helped by journaling and sharing our healing journeys here on MiA. Please forgive my legitimate anger over the past years, MiA, but thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

    God bless in your endeavors, Beatrice, and I’d love to check Inner Fire out sometime. Do you ever look for like minded artists, with psych drug withdrawal experience, to help in your program? Perhaps having a visiting artist program might be an idea, given the high percentage of people, who are artists, that share their stories here on MiA?

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    • Thank you so much for sharing what was supportive for you. I have such admiration for you and so many others who have the courage, under such trying circumstances, to not succumb but rather strive to rekindle your lives.
      Please do be in touch. It would be an encouraging gift for you to visit and share your story with those in the early stages of their healing journey.
      Both art and gardening are part of the healing journey and we are clearing a wood for a goat pasture which means people, of course with guidance, are chopping down trees. I have never met anyone who does not love splitting wood which then heats the farmhouse!
      My email: [email protected].
      I look forward to meeting you!
      Gratefully,
      Beatrice

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  2. What you say has real validity in the sense that it is born of true insight, but the application of this insight in a social activity which is writing a public article is the thing that has to be questioned – I am not suggesting it is in anyway wrong: I am suggesting it is perfectly inadequate, because all public, social discussion of these issues still reinforces the authority of experts and ‘people who know’ which is incompatable with a truly enlightened society which would be each of us becoming lights unto ourselves, by understanding and transforming our lives through perception and understanding and the natural flowering of light and love that spring from it. This process is destroyed by the culture of experts and authorities, and no number of insightful articles are ever going to change that. And when you begin to understand this truth, you begin to understand the true gravity, complexity and apparent impossibility of the human condition today which is not separable from it’s complete and utter destruction of nature of which humanity is a mere part. But when one truly perceives this horror, gravity and complexity and apparent impossibility, in that very perception is transformation and therefore hope. So please do see this, that’s all. The seeing will act of it’s own accord and perhaps you will carry on writing articles, but they will not endeavour to become part of the total social group think – they will seek to open eyes and through opening these eyes, radicalize, which is what the simple conveyance of truth today does. Only the truth is so shocking and unbelievable we mistakenly imagine it cannot be so and retreat into our tunnel of theories, hopes and words.

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    • Thank you for your honesty and sharing from your core.
      I am well aware of your warnings and still choose to focus on the Creator within each of us. The truth is, we are not victims. Some people need to see the choice, the alternative, to realize they are not alone and then together we bring change. The beauty of Inner Fire and no doubt other choices is that they are not theory…people are actually reclaiming their lives once they connect with their Creator within and their fire is kindled. It is very powerful, and very encouraging. I believe in homeopathy and though we may be drops in the ocean, we are potentized and there are supportive forces out there waiting to be tapped and acknowledged. One can imagine it is a David and Goliath situation…
      Re the experts and authorities you refer to, remember it takes “2 to tango” and if you simply choose not to tango, and work not from a medical but rather a humane angle it is remarkable what can begin to happen. We don’t have to play the game and give them power. People have to continue to speak up; the tide is shifting. The beauty is, over the years we have learned we cannot always trust the experts in our capitalistic society. We need to be more responsible and proactive ourselves thereby also freeing the “experts” of their burden of being solely responsible. I have met folks from all walks of life, as well as medical directors of hospitals who state: ” the system is broken!” So, what do we do? Everyone knows someone over medicated or who has chosen suicide over living a zombie type existence…we have to be tenacious and patient and look for the changes…they are there. It is a battle for the Soul. Materialism would have us all mechanized…we need to work together and wake-up. Beatrice

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      • Thanks – I agree with what you say including your statement that it takes two to tango, and I know that. You are encouraging me to stop fighting useless fights and I recognize the truth of what you say, but most people will read what you say with regards the creator within and see it as a set of delusional beliefs. They are not beliefs. They are Beartrice’s attempt to put what she sees and understands into socially conditioned language in order to communicate something beyond words. But others will see just beliefs and words. I want to destroy that otherness within every natural human being, because the natural human being is freedom, is the bliss of existence, is the total unity of life like you and me can always ever be. You and I know this. Meanwhile, the world goes MAD and blames it on the brains of people who see that manifest reality.

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        • Thank you, Someone, for your understanding and feedback.
          As you are well aware, it is unprofitable for the medical world to acknowledge that human beings are unique. The powers of materialism are strong and to turn human beings into machines: computers, pumps, objects within to implant chips, well there seem to be no limits if it is good for business.
          These days, the human being is seen as an animal, but though we have the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms within us, we have the unique ability to make free choices, to think and to feel. There are 4 visible kingdoms of nature.
          For instance: If a piece of meat were dropped on the floor my dog would not walk past it having decided to be vegetarian for the next three weeks. But we as human beings can make such choices. We need not be controlled by instincts but rather guided by our developed thoughtful and heartfelt considerations. These human qualities create healthy boundaries.
          However, clarity of thinking is one of the first qualities to go when substances, legal and illegal, are introduced into our finely balanced Soul. Many of the Seekers at Inner Fire who are on medications, (not all come medicated) arrive unable to read and have lost connection with family and friends, they are lonely. As they engage in the proactive, daily communal activities balanced between meaningful physical work in the morning and one on one artistic therapies in the afternoon, while carefully tapering, they are able to read again and make choices. It is so heartening. For the past 9 years, (essentially 24-7) I have personally witnessed this blossoming, (kindling!) and I have no doubt whatsoever that within each of us there is a Creator, an inner fire which, if tended, can begin to burn as it was intended to burn before medications interfered. Our challenges belong to us! We simply evolve and grow as human beings by working through our challenges. (On a personal note: when I stop learning, then it is time for me to die…) Who said life was meant to be simple?!? Read biographies, listen to your neighbors’ stories and time and again you will hear examples how the individual Creator, Witness, Charioteer, call it what you will, shines forth. Once you claim your inner fire, then life becomes dynamic and worthwhile…this is contagious!

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          • You might like a Chagall inspired piece I did, or am trying to finish up. I painted myself and my children, escaping the insanity of the DSM deluded industries, in a chariot pulled by Jesus on a white horse. Chagall’s piece it was inspired by, was called “War.”

            Gotta love Chagall, his work paints my life, as if I were one of his muses. But, of course he and I would be great friends, if there is a “collective unconscious.”

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    • Thanks for your writing. While I agree that many people are improperly medicated. I don’t believe that medications are “the problem” but that mismanagement of medication is the problem, often at the hands of a prescriber who is either not experienced or not paying close attention to the person whom they are working with.

      I feel that while it is very important to pay attention to the serious issues that mismanagement of medication may create in a person’s life, it is equally important to underscore that medications used appropriately, patiently and intelligently, can be extremely useful for many people. I believe a useful argument concerning psychiatric medications would recognize the appropriate, useful, sometimes “life saving” application of meds as well as the very dangerous consequences of medication mismanagement.

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      • While medications can offer relief in the SHORT TERM, long-term use can lead to complex challenges. Even pharmaceutical companies, as required by law, acknowledge the limitations and risks of prolonged medication use.

        For those struggling with mental health conditions, we need to address the root causes of symptoms rather than relying solely on medications. Medications often serve to manage symptoms but doesnt lead to true healing. We need to move away from the corporate-greed driven mindset that medications are the only solution. This belief contributes to a range of other mental and physical health issues over time. Which leads to even more medications being utilized. Long-term use of chemical substances takes a toll on both the body and mind.

        Long-Term Effects:

        Bone Health: Medications like antipsychotics and SSRIs have been linked to decreased bone density, increasing the risk of fractures over time (osteoporosis)

        Emotional and Cognitive Blunting: So

        People feel emotionally numb and experience a decline in cognitive sharpness with prolonged medication use.
        Brain Structure: Research suggests that long-term use of certain medications, such as antipsychotics, affects brain volume or structure.

        Dependence and Tolerance: Many medications, particularly benzodiazepines, leads to tolerance, requiring higher doses over time, and increasing the risk of dependence.

        Cognitive Impairment: Long-term use impairs memory and cognitive function, leading to drowsiness or difficulty concentrating.

        Withdrawal Symptoms: rebound anxiety or insomnia, making discontinuation difficult.

        Physical Health: Long-term use of medications like lithium can lead to kidney and thyroid dysfunction, while antipsychotics increase the risk of weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome (elevated cholesterol and blood pressure), mouth sores, flue like symptoms, tremors, akathisia

        Movement Disorders: Prolonged use of antipsychotics cause tardive dyskinesia, a condition involving involuntary movements.

        Appetite and Weight Changes: Some medications can suppress appetite, leading to weight loss, while others can cause significant weight gain and digestive issues. Such as severe heartburn. Gastric issues.

        Medications can play a short term (limited) and important role in mental health treatment, but clinicians and patients need to explore alternative approaches and holistic care to support long-term healing and well-being.
        People can be set free from their mental disorders by addressing the root of the symptoms. Many mental disorders are NOT lifelong. We need to become holistically focused. Focused on the entire person.

        As someone who has had a niece attempt suicide twice on antidepressants. Who is now suffering from bone and muscle pain and utilizes a cane to move around when she is not in bed. I also have a step daughter (mid twenties) who is going thru the exact same battle due to long term usage of antidepressants and utilizes a walker. As far as Im concerned this is not a trival matter to be brushed aside and minimize.

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        • My issue here is with understanding that these meds “can” versus “will” cause long term problems. In your response, you write; “While medications can offer relief in the SHORT TERM, long-term use can lead to complex challenges.” I complete agree – and in describing all the long term possible side effects the word “can” is used. My point is that “can” is very different than “will” in this situation and this topic. The fact is; long term side effects don’t always happen! Many clients take psychiatric meds (prescribed responsibly) for decades and don’t experience any significant long term side effects and they even cite medications are vital to their recovery.
          We need to be careful about critiquing things in an accurate way because when we don’t we may actually (and I have seen this happen in my practice more than once) steer someone away from trying a medication at all because they are read about the awful side effects, without knowing that these effects actually don’t always happen at all.
          Every person is different, every client is different, every person reacts to medications (of any type – psychiatric or not) differently. Let’s remember these facts!!!

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      • I appreciate Shenera’s detailed response to Andrew’s sharing. In addition, I would add, Andrew, that at times the meds certainly can be lifesaving, but only if used for short periods of time for reasons Shenera described.

        However, we need to be as concerned with the insurance system in the back pocket of big pharma which together create a system within which psychiatrists and other prescribers are also suicidal or over medicated themselves!

        We have had graduates of Inner Fire come safely off their medications, then apply for unemployment looking for temporary support while they find work etc. who have been told they are not eligible unless on medications!

        In the spring of 2025, we will be launching our first training at Inner Fire for prescribers who want to support their patients to safely taper but do not “know” how. Imagine how it must be to be caught in an inhumane system where you have ten minutes to diagnose and then medicate (there is no time for the life story) or you do not get paid, so you watch your patients “disappear” while developing neurological symptoms. Our intention is to help them learn how to support struggling and striving, courageous individuals safely off their medications and reclaim their lives. Everyone is unique and so it is an art and also a science. No two people are alike due to how they digest their life experiences. At Inner Fire, we have been doing this for 9 years and have had many experiences and have a lot to share. Living full time with remarkable individuals and supporting their healing journey has been joyful, challenging and very rewarding. With our trainings we will be creating a support system with monthly follow-up zoom mtgs, so a prescriber does not feel alone in the guiding of de-prescribing.

        We need to look at and change the system and the pharmaceutical driven view of the human being: we are not machines and never will be. Human Beings are resilient, and the embers of the inner fire can be kindled…

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      • Again: This has to do with our most basic understandings of what the mind is and how best to treat it when it plays tricks on us.
        People have been using drugs to handle emotional / mental problems since booze was invented, along with all those other natural drugs, if not much longer ago. They sometimes “work” – kind of. If you want to put up with physical dependencies, side effects – some quite severe – and frankly questionable outcomes.
        For at least as long as we have been using drugs we have had the idea that we are more than just a body – that we can rise above all that. But the mind is one of the most difficult things to study, as it is a case of using a thing to study itself. Yet research in the past and this century has demonstrated quite clearly that the mind is indeed separable from the body and can be treated using processes that don’t much involve the body. Where is this data to be found? It has been largely relegated to the realm of religion, as “science” is unwilling to accept it. Ian Stevenson is one of a very few exceptions to this rule.
        Drugs will probably always be with us. Because of course when you do something to the body, it affects the mind and emotions. But now we have more tools, and they are being completely ignored by most people who step forward as knowing what they are talking about. And thus, I regard such people as not knowing what they are talking about, with their heads stuck in the past and for some reason unable to update their viewpoints to more modern and well-informed ones.

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        • “But the mind is one of the most difficult things to study, as it is a case of using a thing to study itself.”

          Larry, thank your for more very thought provoking comments.

          When you refer to “the mind” there, would you mind defining it for us, please, as I think this is crucial?

          My very best wishes, and more.

          Tom.

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          • The “mind” is what we use to think with!
            It is a concept we use to help us explain what happens when we reason, remember, evaluate.
            Technically, it seems to consist of an energetic structure composed mostly of “pictures” of experience. It may also contain “machines” or other mental inventions.
            Most people rely on it for a sense of identity, and use it to remember and to figure things out. A being can become more or less skilled at using their mind. Some can remember much better than others. Some can reason much better than others. But these skills can be improved with practice.
            There is no guarantee, I suppose, that all minds are built using the same basic pattern, though that seems to be true based on existing research.

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  3. This was beautiful to read, I wish something like this existed in NZ for us non-compliant ones.
    I had to wean myself off and it’s tough. I’m still so utterly terrified of coming in contact with the “mental health” system so that when I haven’t slept for 3 days I take a quarter of a tablet of olanzapine fearful they’ll lock me up again if I don’t sleep and get psychosis again. I’d rather be raped than be put on another compulsory treatment order.

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    • Thank you for sharing. You have been through so much…

      There could be something like Inner Fire in New Zealand. I have had many inquiries from your part of the world…Inner Fire is a non-profit, licensed therapeutic residential community in southern Vermont and I have been asked to start Inner Fires in Texas, Northern California, Michigan. Maine and the UK. My aim is to continue raising money to complete this Inner Fire Campus and then invite others who share the vision to come and live with us and engage in the program for at least 3 months so as to lean what, why and how we do what we do. Everyone is unique and therefore, there are no recipes, but indications. They would then return home and I and others with experience could come and support. They would have received an solid foundation.
      Keep the vision!
      Beatrice

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    • Same here. I was given three diagnosis and told I jeeded these medications for the rest of my life. Eventually the medications started deteroriting my mental and physical health. I took myself to a neurologist and weaned my self off of all pharmaceuticals. I became terrified of doctors and still leery of them. It took 2 years for my physical and mental health to return back to normal. I started seeing holistic doctors and was diagnosed with C-PTSD from childhood traumas and medical trauma. I’m finally able to sleep, work and was able to return to school last year and will be graduating this December with a Masters of Arts degree.

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  4. This is so well-written, thought out, and philosophically correct. I loved this whole article and passed it on to several others. I’m going to post it in the forums as well. I went through a horrific psychiatric drug withdrawal experience and this was a stand-out quote for me having been one of the “non-compliant” ones who suffered because of that non-compliance:

    “When an individual is labeled as ‘non-compliant’, what is really being said is they are not willing to suppress their inner fire and conform. They think differently and dare to speak up, and we all know what then can happen. The situation is serious, and we must wake up! We need to work together and speak out, because the emperor is stark naked, and we all know it. It’s time systems change, and humanity becomes the priority.”

    It’s time.

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  5. Thank you Beatrice. Amazing work. The challenge is replicating this approach in any way when there are absolutely no even vaguely similar options or alternatives where you live. What would be your advice in that situation? Thank you x

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  6. Your article is amazing and as a Christian. I must say you’re insights into the spirit and soul are correct. My overall goal is to work from a holistic perspective. If you have any training programs or books I can read as a recent graduate entering the counseling field. Please share.

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  7. When I see a drunk, homeless person ten years younger then me lying in the middle of the street passed out, in the middle of the day, with people walking past and ignoring him, this destroys the heart. I have sat with such people, I have helped them, but I can’t pick up a person like that and help them into a good social circumstance which includes support and love. But how easy it would be to help such a person. I know this. I’ve been an addict, homeless and alcoholic. I knew that if someone would care to listen to and understand me – just one single human being in the world – immediately this would be a boon to my recovery. My body and heart would relax just knowing one other person in the world could understand. And I have and still do live amongst such people, and really I am such a person, and I know that in their lives they have, none of them, a single person to understand, and generally they are so traumatised and unsupported and unsafe that they couldn’t talk about it at all, not safely, anyway. But I am understood by my OWN consciousness which heals even better then the understanding of another.

    What pains me is that these problems are so easy to solve, but it is an irony. We think only in terms of cost, even though economically and in every other way it is far less costly to give people this basic level of support, listening and compassion, and recognize that some children of this society are not loved, not understood, not supported, have had traumas and have had their whole lives collapsed, have become a self that is of no importance or value to any other self on Earth, and to merely perceive, acknowledge, understand this fact will transform your feelings and your energy and your action and you will effotlessly and happily give, do the right thing, and this is the action and wisdom born of compassion.

    But instead we chose a self-isolated, selfish existence concerned only with me and my little family, and avoid eye contact with such people, clutching our wallet or purse or phone a little more tightly as we walk past. This actually happens routinely. When I was sitting on a door way people would often tap their trousers to feel that their wallet was their, clutch their phone tightly, or even clutch their cup of coffee tightly. Some would scowl. In one of the most privillaged town in the UK, Cambridge, home of one of the top Universities in the world (I think it’s in the top three with Harvard and Oxford UK) was the most hostile and violent treatment I ever had as a homeless person. One very privilaged man just staired at me with hate and shouted “fuck off” for me just sitting there. People called me lazy, cock sucker, said ‘get a fucking job’, knowing nothing about me whatsoever. And in the end, after six weeks, and being threatened with violence multiple times, I finally was beaten up and they broke my hip and pubic bone, and there was an agonizing chest injury as well that meant I couldn’t cough and felt like I was suffocating constantly. And then the hospital were determined to put me back out as quickly as they could so after 2 weeks sent me to a place and then even though I couldn’t cook, look after myself, walk, do shopping or anything, I was left without any care and had, in the end, to throw my wheelchair down two flights of stairs, butt shuffle down them in great pain, then throw the wheel chair down the garden steps, then butt shuffle down etc, and the accomodation was on a massive and steep hill and I actually lost control the breaks would stop the wheel but it was so steep it still skidded down and was heading right for a big curb before someone darted across the road to rescue me. And they took me to the bottom of the hill.

    And every time I go to a hospital it still has homeless, addict, mentally ill on my notes and I never get anything like the respect or the listening ear then anybody else. They always assume my problem is drug related or that I’m trying to elicit drugs from them or that I’m in some way lying when I am consciously a radically honest person. They always infantalise and judge me and treat me as if I don’t know what I’m doing and that I’m stupid, but I am still much better off them most other addicts, criminals and people branded as mentally ill when actually they’ve been destroyed and confused and captured by a loveless and brutal society.

    But my point is if we cared about all of the children of our society, obviously, manifestly, clearly all our children would have security, and there is no reasonable or rational argument that trumps the obvious benefits of doing so. We know this but greed and selfishness is what we think we are, being conditioned and traumatised into this state, and this is at the cost of infinite suffering of the whole Earth. That is true insanity and honestly, given that we’ve conditioned ourselves to be 7 billion greed machines on a planet we’ve already destroyed, there is only one destination and that’s our complete and utter self-destruction, when simple caring and a bit of self-honesty would have saved us all and our beleaguered Mother Earth, and would have brought us back home to love.

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    • An absolutely wonderful, inspiring, encouraging and enlightening essay, No-one!

      Thanks a million for sharing all that!

      Did you ever encounter any humor, at all, while homeless, please?

      I think I read another thread where you said that “Jesus was not [or “was never,” was it?] wrong.”

      I wonder if you did and, if so, exactly what you meant by that, please?

      My own opinion is that it is entirely likely that Jesus would indeed have said something very much like Johnquotes him as having said in John 14:12-14:

      “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

      Accordingly, yes, indeed, I do believe that it is true what you say – that listening to a person like that, empathetically, perhaps even on just one, single occasion, can help them to utterly transform themselves, and so to transmute their suffering into the fire of joy-filled enlightenment.

      Sounds to me very much like this may be your own vocation?

      You didn’t happen to bump into a homeless Eckhart Tolle when you were homeless in Cambridge, did you?! He tells in “The Power of Now” of how, following his awakening, he sat around, homeless, on park benches for five months. I think that may possibly have been in Cambridge, England.

      “The human condition: lost in thought.” – Eckhart Tolle in “Stillness Speaks.”

      I also believe that, when this happens, transformation of their outer circumstances typically quickly follows, but is not always necessary…

      I loved Beatrice’s article, too, but wondered if Beatrice hesitated to refer to those psychotropic drugs prescribed for supposedly biological disorders/diseases of the brain as “medications”…I believe that doing so dignifies many neurotoxins and helps support the medicalization or pathologization of our human condition – about the last thing beatrix might wish to appear to do?!

      I also wondered if Beatrice considered offering us her definitions of “soul” and of “spirit,” or might do so, please?

      Heartfelt thanks, again, MIA No-one and Beatrice!

      Tom.

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  8. If you are going to focus your attention on past or present psychiatric patients, you are going to have your hands full with drug withdrawal, overwhelming feelings of invalidation, and all the other downsides of psychiatric treatment. Keeping in mind that Spirit exists is valuable, yet rehabilitating Spirit up to the point where it can assist in healing may prove elusive.

    It is common among people who are not totally rehabilitated to think of themselves as beings or bodies “with a spirit or soul.” Though this is a step forward, it expresses an unnatural separation. The creator-spirit IS you. Our environment wishes us to ignore this truth, and psychiatrists – by and large – assist that environment.

    The road back for someone who has fallen into the grips of psychiatry is long and arduous. But realize this: For those of us who have escaped psychiatry, the road forward remains quite long, and quite arduous. We are all in this trap together, and while we can be thankful for the few who are aware and trained in the real healing arts, they are still here with us and they also struggle. They stay partly because they care about the rest of us. Bless them.

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    • Hello Larry,
      I appreciate what you have shared and yet see it slightly differently.
      I agree we are all spirit beings but with an additional physical body and a soul (made up of a non-physical etheric and astral body). However, when under the influence of a substance: alcohol, crack…psychotropic medications, pain killers etc. we fall out of balance and get disconnected from our spirit self. By helping to reestablish a balance on the soul level, then the spirit self which is always there but unable to enter and guide, can re-enter. Then we are in a state of freedom.
      The animal kingdom has not the individual freedom human beings have. They do not have an individual higher ego, a Self…Humans can make unpredictable choices. Life is fascinating, and full of wonder because we all can always learn and grow….Anyone who is really living and growing from life is being challenged. We can choose to say “yes” and embrace our challenges and continue to grow…this is also our freedom, and honestly, there is no place for judgment. We all do what we do. Thank you!

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      • I can appreciate your beliefs regarding the spirit, soul and so forth. I don’t know where you got them from or how you arrived at them, but they are better than denying the existence of spirit, which is what we are regularly asked to do.

        I got my beliefs from a researcher who I respect for his work and his dedication to finding workable data that could be applied to real people in the real world. I have subsequently found the work of other researchers, but for the most part they only support Hubbard’s information.

        There have been many attempts to disconnect us from ourselves – from our “spirit self.” Humans have been the major targets of these attempts. Animals – who have remained largely disinterested in machines, electronics, computers and so forth – have largely escaped these attempts. Thus, they have retained their telepathic abilities and use those to communicate among themselves. If you doubt this talk to an animal communicator some day.

        On the other hand, spiritual abilities in the hands of humans are considered “dangerous” by the various individuals and groups who are trying to keep us under their control. And thus we are offered various substances – even entire belief systems – designed to “kill” us spiritually while we live on as bodies that can do “useful work.”

        Your concept that the being (spirit) becomes so traumatized that it is not even willing to be here (enter) is quite valid. As is your concept of re-establishing balance. And if these concepts are working for you in your work, I would certainly not abandon them. But I think it would simplify your approach to see the person you are working with as first a being, even though he or she presents as a body – often a quite sick body. The challenge then becomes to rehabilitate that being to the point where it can speak confidently for itself, keep its body at least somewhat healthy, and generally “run the show.”

        My point was that this is a huge challenge even for people who are “well.” People who have been badly hurt by drugs or psychiatry are an even bigger challenge. I admire you for what you are doing. But you are dealing with a problem that is universal. The people you work with struggle just to be seen as “normal.” While the “normal” also struggle with the pressures we are all under to deny ourselves and live only to serve The Machine.

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        • Hello Larry,
          I have always been interested in various ‘streams’ and cultures and have particularly found the work of Rudolf Steiner, a spiritual scientist very valuable and interesting…and ‘works in practice’ as reflected in Waldorf Education, bio-dynamic agriculture, medicine, social impulses, Camphill Communities, the arts and Goethean science…Steiner offers indications and does not dictate, leaving everyone free to think for themselves…which is what drew me to his work in the first place.

          Having a Spirit, Higher Self, Witness, Charioteer whatever one wants to call that divine creative part of each of us which is never wounded but ready to engage when possible, gives us the opportunity to rise above our feelings and choose freely how we want to work with those feelings we claim. We are more than our feelings. Feelings are simply feelings, not good or bad but rather indications of what’s happening on a deeper (soul) level, but they will control us if we do not lift them into the light of consciousness. Having a higher Self makes each of us unique. This uniqueness can leave us with feelings of loneliness. But out of our aloneness we can choose to then connect with others. This is our Freedom.
          Yes, of course, there is telepathy between animals and also between plants and also between some human and animals and plants…A peaceful dog may become anxious when meeting a fearful human being. I have picked blueberries with a bear, and it was a beautiful and peaceful experience. There was no reason to fear.
          I hear you re everyone has challenges…and everyone is also a creator…Yes, our challenges belong to us, and we can support each other but not take over and do for the other what belongs to them. The best definition I have heard for ‘normal’ came from a former Seeker: “Normal is a setting on a washing machine”.

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          • My teacher has reminded his students often that taking over control of someone who has fallen into a child-like state is a necessary part of helping them restore their self-control.

            Being willing to be controlled is a part of being able to accept help. Sharing control with another person is often necessary among humans and social animals. Good help does require that the helping person work on returning control to the person they are helping. Poor help refuses to relinquish control. And for someone who has lost their self-control enough to become addicted or whatever is going on with them, the road back can be very difficult.

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  9. I am a Spirit. I have a body. I have a mind which is a collection of: thoughts, ideas. memories, beliefs, decisions, mistakes etc most of which are trash. Having spent 40 years taking out the trash I can say it is an ongoing process but each day the load gets lighter and the sun gets brighter. There is hope and thanks for helping others.

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    • This is true self-insight and is what ‘mental illness’ (sic) can produce in you. Larry asks how did he learn this. It’s clear that he has been seeing and understanding the phenomena of his own mind and therefore exposing and clearing out the socially conditioned content as he says, which is trash. It may seem like a trivial achievement but it is the highest achievement possible for a socially conditioned human being to start to perceive and clear away this condition. Thanks to the grace of the attempted healing process that psychiatry calls ‘psychosis’, I threw the whole trash can over the wall and see that until you do this, and unless you do this, you’re brain’s as good as chopped liver really. It just becomes a self-punishing torcher instrument that destroys you, quickly or slowly.

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        • I don’t mind you caling me someone at all, but alas, there is already a Someone who writes comments here, and we have been acquainted. She also calls herself no-one and other people, and has granted me permission to use her psuedonyms, just as I have granted her permission for her to use my psuedonyms which include no-one, Zero, and Hairy Moses Cavoomber Extra-Terrestrial Bazooka Testicles. But no-one can touch Birdsong’s handle or else!

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          • Love Birdsong. Whenever I see her name I think of the Grateful Deads salute to Janis.

            I normally jusr use my given name but will also respond tto “the damn Scotsman” or even ” Scottish A**hole”. With names like these it is difficult to belittle me.

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  10. The promotion of Inner Fire as an alternative to conventional practices may initially seem appealing; however, closer examination reveals certain cult-like characteristics including isolation, dietary regulation, imposition of strict rules, indoctrination, use of manipulative language, and promotion of a modified identity referred to as a “seeker” (Hassan, S, 1988, Combatting Cult Mind Control, Freedom of Mind Press, MA).

    Furthermore, the widespread iatrogenic malpractice by psychiatrists and general practitioners has resulted in devastating consequences for billions of individuals globally. The article excuses their behaviour by stating that “Psychiatrists and other prescribing practitioners have ten minutes to diagnose and medicate or they do not get paid. There’s usually no time to listen to the story behind the anxiety or other symptoms.” It is imperative to acknowledge rather than forgive the reckless and often irreversible harm caused by their actions.

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    • Any theory, process or technology can be misused, even if, when used properly, it is very workable. I am also a student of electronics – at first look a rather benign technology that can be very helpful. But look at how it can be misused. We even had harmful x-rays coming out of our old TV sets. Workability only gives an idea or a technology power. How that power is used is still a human choice.

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      • Larry, thank you for your response about “mind,” far above.

        Hope you don’t mind my replying here, as I was unable to do so above.

        So, the “We” that can use our minds, is that also mind or is it other, please?

        I believe this is where Psychiatry and Psychology and Religion and Medicine and even Thomas Szasz (although he did once, at least, refer to MacBeth…)have very largely or entirely missed the point, so far, and that nothing could be more crucial, more fundamental.

        Thanks, again!

        Comfort and joy!

        Tom.

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        • “We” are immortal spiritual beings. This is a belief that most “educated” people see as superstition.
          Yet several tools (albeit all “esoteric” as far as traditional science is concerned) have been used to access human memory, and they have all found past life memories.
          Thus, the basic situation seems to be that you have a being with a mind and a body, and together they add up to a “human being” or a person. All real skill, ability to perceive, decide, evaluate, to learn, resides with the being itself. Though many of these abilities are reflected in the mind and body, as beings have learned to operate via minds and bodies, they ultimately reside with the being itself, according to this research.

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          • Continue, please, Larry…?

            For, if this is so,, and if Carl Jung is right that we are immensely ancient, or if we are indeed timeless, immortal and infinite, then our minds, those parts of us which can think and emote, represent at most an infinitesimally tiny part of our individual/universal consciousness – right?!

            If you haven’t watched this, you may really enjoy the ageless twinkle in Jung’s for er young eyes, and more:

            https://youtu.be/2AMu-G51yTY?si=u6o2fR0pWo71OcQ3

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        • #2: Our minds are full of “pictures” of our experiences (according to the research I have studied). And a few beings have been brought to “remember” all the way back to when they became individuals, which seems to have been trillions of years ago. But of course, all this information is just about the experience of that one individual. So, this record is only a tiny part of the “experience” of this universe, and of possible realms beyond this physical universe. (I use quotes a bit, as we have no really good English terms for some of these concepts.) Some of this is out on the edge of what could be considered useful knowledge. What can you do with ancient experience if you can’t remember it? But for those who can, it apparently can be quite informative regarding their particular current situation, as well as how things are going generally on Earth, in the solar system, in this galaxy, and beyond.

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          • Aaaah, NOW we are getting placed (“places”), thank you, Larry!

            PLEASE proceed, for nothing which has come before surely has been wasted by Nature, Whom anyone must concede is nothing if not infinitely parsimonious…

            More, please!

            And thank you!

            Tom.

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          • While working in a psychiatric hospital from 1979 to 1982 I violated the mores of the group by listening to the patients instead of listening to the staff. One thing I realized was that they were talking about past lives. I then discovered that hypnotherapists had made the same discovery and in some cases verified the data from their subjects. Once you accept past lives the next question is why should these be limited to this planet or for that matter this planet? Mind blowing.

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          • Tom and Eric, your proper source for more details on our very distant past is Hubbard’s books and lectures, the works of researchers who used hypnosis as their research tool (such as Dolores Cannon and many more…one of my early exposures to this group was “Passport to Past Lives” by Robert T. James), those using remote viewing as their research tool (Courtney Brown) and those who have directly contacted their own past life memories (Dena Merriam).
            One interesting bit that Courtney discovered was that the dinosaur extinction event of roughly 65 million years ago appears to have been caused by a war between a “reptilian” group that was running Earth and some other group that was more favorable to mammals. Very interesting project!
            The impact of past life recall on mental health can be quite amazing. I am surprised that happened to you, Eric, in a psychiatric hospital! If psychs really wanted well patients, they would have figured this out by now. It is obvious to me that they have some other purpose in mind.

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    • Thank you, Cat, for sharing your concerns about Inner Fire.

      First, Inner Fire is not a cult. The Inner Fire program is all about helping the individual to fulfill their dream of coming safely off their medications or avoid them all together by strengthening their boundaries and developing a deeper sense of their Self.

      Everyone comes first for a three-day visit to experience all aspects of the program to see if they feel safe and able to do the work which is needed to reclaim their lives. As Guides, this work is humbling for we can make no one do anything, nor should we. Healing only happens out of Freedom. But, when medicated and disconnected from their wiser Self, unable to think, feel or do out of their insights and freedom, it is hard to make safe decisions. So, there is order and rhythm, thereby strengthening the Etheric Body so that other soul matters can be freely worked with.
      We are not a locked facility, and anyone can leave if that is their wish. There is a phrase: “Out of form comes freedom.” One of the greatest gifts we can give a vulnerable person is our Love, reassurance and rhythmic form. We have never had a Seeker who has resisted the rhythm and form of the program, in fact, during the vulnerable withdrawal process, knowing the order and rhythm of the day is actually reassuring. Of course, there are times when exceptions are made.

      You might be interested in why we chose the term “Seeker”.
      For years I worked in maximum security prisons with Alternatives to Violence and also in a medium security prison with watercolor painting (which has all to do with our social life…). One day a young man who I had painted with for over a year, came to me and stated:” I was trying to write to a friend on the outside about this painting class…it is so hard to describe what happens here…eventually I wrote to my friend that it is a painting class but really a spiritual class.” Then he looked me straight in my eyes and stated: “This is what I was looking for on the outside, isn’t it strange that I had to come to prison to find it.” My inner voice responded: “Are you all seekers looking for more than this fast paced, superficial, materialistic life…?” So, when Inner Fire “came to me” and eventually I was wondering how to refer to those who come to Inner Fire to reclaim their lives, I did not want to refer to them as patients, clients, residents and I thought of this young man and realized that indeed, anyone who comes to Inner Fire is indeed a Seeker and not content to simply accept their situation. For me it is an admirable, respectful description and in a way a verb; to be a Seeker is to be active. I see this as a compliment. Of course, we address each other by our first names.

      Every Seeker has deeply appreciated the healing they find in nature. The location is remote, but not isolated. No one complains about getting away from computers and social media; in fact, it is a relief and gives a chance to strengthen oneself otherwise. Diet? Well, are you aware how essential diet is to health in general? No sugar which like coffee is inflammatory and therefore not gut friendly. Neither can you smoke at Inner Fire. Many see that indeed this is now the opportunity to finally stop smoking. It is not a holiday camp! We are serious about the healing process and therefore bring a consciousness to all aspects of being human. Individuals leave Inner Fire empowered and can cook properly. When they leave, they can cook however they choose but cannot say they do not know how to cook! They also appreciate the value of order and rhythm and intend to keep this practice.

      I hear you, Cat, regarding the malpractice and at Inner Fire we are working constructively to help bring change by also teaching practitioners about the tapering process. Certainly, they need to also speak up, but many are trapped and fearful and sadly so disconnected…Remember, we are all striving and struggling human beings; always learning.

      So, how are we all working to bring awareness and change? It takes each one of us to be creative…but pointing the finger will not get us very far unless followed by constructive action. Anger is powerful energy and can be transformed into creative acts! Beatrice

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  11. When I got to the part of my story where the ghost (well, ghost – or “ghost” but aren’t we all? -to US, at least) had come to – well, appeared, at least to – Maribel, artist Ilona Radelow told me that she had participated in a self-hypnosis class some 45 years previously when she “was 25, had a son and was drinking,” and that “Vincent came to me,”

    I asked,

    “Vincent van Goff?”

    and she replied,

    “Vincent van Gogh.”

    “Oh!?”

    “Yeah, he told me, ‘Don’t let them take away your colours! They took away mine!”

    Ilona promptly stopped her drinking and became a very successful artist and Tom Kelly went home and read about how to do self-hypnosis for past life regression – for free.

    Ever tried it?!

    Thank YOU, Larry!

    “Vincent van Gogh,”

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  12. Larry, the site I found did not seem to take itself or themselves or Life too terribly seriously (as, you know, politicians, pastors, priests, academics et al and I have tended to do), and warned anyone trying it that

    “You may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife, and you may ask yourself, how did I….?” and so I tended to trust them immediately not to mislead me and, in any case, they merely suggested that I lead myself (unlike, BTW, certain gurus who do NOT suggest “Hey, Mate, be your OWN freaking guru, but seek devotees, who may pay, and volunteers, who may support, I love Eckhart Tolle’s way of suggesting you may like to try X for yourself and to please remember that you, personally, have all the very same access to whatever is there, or out there, as Eckhart does…) down a long, long, long hallway, possibly one with nice, big, old flagstones, nd with enormous, arched, wooden doors on either side, possibly with mirrors or maybe not…

    Oh, first of all, though choose a time when you are particularly relaxed and alert, they suggested.

    “Easy,” I thought, I am always very alert+relaxed,” until, of course, I realized that I am not.

    So day after day followed when I was either relaxed or alert…until I finally spotted a relaxed+alert episode had come over me, and went for it.

    Sitting or lying comfortably, probably with eyes closed, one was to envision that long, long, long, long, long, long, long, flagged etc. hall…and to imagine oneself walking down it. On and on and on and on and on, still very relaxed and most alert, of course.

    FINALLY, one reaches another enormous, carved, arched, wooden doorway at the very end.

    It is made fast with a great black, metal bar and clasp.

    Slowly, you raise the bar and push open the double doors.

    You step inside.

    There, you MAY encounter one of your former selves.

    If you do not immediately recognize who this was, you may look down at your feet and see if they are bare or booted or have on sandals or moccasins or ballet shoes etc., and this may give you a clue.

    Well, Larry Cox, if you are still there, and alert, your present correspondent had gone no more than a few strides, if that, down said hall, and he had not yet even glimpsed any door at its end, when he felt a hood, a cowl, and knew (or imagined or both?) that he had on a flowing cassock of pale material and realized with a jolt,

    “OH, my GODDDD, that WOULD explain just about everything – if I was a trappist or Cistercian monk, a contemplative: ‘Twould explain all my obsessions, wouldn’t it – sex, religion, abstemiousness, alcohol phobia, drugs phobias, the lifelong preoccupation with the meaning, if any of life…E V E R Y T H I N G!!!!!!”

    Unlike most adventures, Larry, it can actually still be an adventure even if it cannot go horribly and hideously wrong, and, in any case, it may at least provide you with an interesting anecdote to share with this or any group…

    Now, I really must find out one day if I was that anonymous contemplative before or after I was Thomas Aquinas…and, of course, Thomas, the twin of Jesus…

    Larry, thank you for bringing me so much joy, so far, Brother.

    God rest you merrier and merrier.

    Oh, and I do have further evidence to substantiate my suspicions that I was here before, and learned phobias around booze and drugs before, too…but for now, now for the first time chez MIA, I do recommend some stimulating reading at

    https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/

    and particularly,

    https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/james-leininger-reincarnation-case

    and also

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjN6M7uIvSI – Thanatos TV

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RGizqsLumo – “Is There Life After Death?” moderated by John Cleese – 2018 Tom Tom Festival

    and

    https://youtu.be/Z_7ZijK4LzE?si=hatOvRQbWp1wWmsM

    and, of course, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hefh6OeSzs

    Larry, heartfelt thanks, again!

    Tom.

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  13. Thanks for sharing your story on YouTube. It was very enlightening. Like you I had a secular mystical experience after practicing self hypnosis. The highs were out of this world but the end was very traumatic. So I caution others when venturing into the depths of the mind to first find a guide. Someone who has lived experience. Subsequently I found the works of Hubbard very useful and helped me regain stability.

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  14. Eric, thanks very much indeed, yourself.

    I guess you know the meaning of your name?

    And, obviously, realize, too, that if nothing in our universe/s is truly, ultimately random, chaotic or gratuitous, then we can accept that we get all the names we are meant to, too…

    I’d be very, VERY much obliged, please, if you felt willing to share what that trauma was and how and why you believe the self-hypnosis released it?

    I try to view the current political etc..turmoil in the US and elsewhere as manifestations of the final writings of our individual and collective human egos, and to assure myself that any stuff/shi* or negativity or old, unprocessed traumas in our individual and collect psyches must be dealt with by us all before we can move beyond the levels of consciousness which some, such as, perhaps, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Malala Yousafzai, Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey, Eckhart Tolle and countless others, have shown us is possible for us all.

    In other words, did that trauma of your own not lie waiting for processing, for release, for alchemy, for transmutation from darkness to light, regardless?

    Thanks a million, Eric!

    Peace and joy!

    Tom.

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  15. Yes the self hypnosis combined with drug use resulted in regression into a deep part of the unconscious. The actual trauma was a state in which I was separate from the body and was being violently spun around. I finally got control by holding tightly onto the body. However the event left me in a very hyper state and unable to sleep. Fortunately the psychiatrist I saw was an old time psychoanalyst who treated me with a Valium type drug and told me I was unstable. After spending the weekend in the hospital I was discharged. Later I heard about regression and overnight I returned to the present. I spent the next 46 years studying and learning from my and others experiences. See my MAD in the UK blog. https://www.madintheuk.com/2024/08/rethinking-schizophrenia/

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  16. Golly, Eric, not only have you offered enough to write books in response, so much so that so that I scarcely know where to start, but I happen to feel so tired this evening that I’ve kind of forgotten what a sense of humor might be, and so know better than to try to think straight.

    While I play for time, could you please tell us

    1. which drug use (when you wrote “Yes the self hypnosis combined with drug use resulted in regression into a deep part of the unconscious”);

    2. if you’ve read the intro to Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now” – in which he describes being sucked into a vortex, as I recall;

    and

    3. if you regret that regression experience, at all, seeing as it seems to have propelled you into what proved to be inestimably valuable research work?

    Oh, and, while you’re at it, please, Eric,

    4. (the company here seems to have restored a smidgen of my memory of what humor might be), could you please, please say whether or not you agree that we can all grow at least exponentially more peaceful and joyful at every moment and that, if this is to be seen as the target of any therapy or “therapy,” then the restoration of Hope may be accelerated, well, exponentially, at least(!)?

    5. Once it is understood that “depression” IS hopelessness rather than some elusive thing which causes it, does this not explode all of contemporary psychiatry?

    6. Humor, itself, indefinable though it may remain, remains conspicuously lacking or entirely absent from theaters not just of war but also political, religious and scientific (even while speakers at scientific conferences may endlessly struggle to exhibit wit)….and most especially PSYCHIATRIC and PSYCHOLOGICAL. And yet The Holy Grail of all human endeavor might well be said to be the attainment of humor, rather than the “pursuit of happiness,” don’t you think?

    7. If, indeed, The Quest IS The Grail, and the only thing really stopping any of us from going to Our Happy Place at any moment is us, then are not all our discussions kind of out of kilter?

    Our Happy Place, Nirvana, Heaven, or Zen, or The Kingdom WithIN, etc., is surely no longer to be seen as a goal to be achieved, attained, or reached, and always in the indefinite future, but a state of consciousness to be discovered, realized….NOW?

    Eric, oh Eternal Ruler, I cannot thank you enough for all your wonderful, wonderful work, and, of course, for all the sufferings and sacrifices and travails which made that work not only possible, but inevitable.

    But thank you!

    Tom.

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