What is “Mental Health?”
As words, the ambiguous words “mental health” do not convey the productive articles of cognition, nor the obstacles and failings to observe reality. Yet using “mental health” to describe mental issues, is like using the term “sports scoring” to describe sports issues. That’s pretty useless.
Better terms, are more specific. Mental fitness is more appropriate, regarding health, not illness. To describe a fully realized and fit consciousness, spiritual fitness is the the term for that. If you are dealing with mental illness, then use “mental illness,” not” mental health”—as that term in practice, doesn’t mean anything. Confusion being profitable to exploitative people, the term “mental health” still gets used.
Mental Fitness is a much more useful term for me. It refers to health, not disease. Fitness, not infirmary. Mental fitness applies to acuity, memory, language skills, motor skills. These in turn, depend on physical health, chemical balance, rest and nutrition. We are building and securing mental abilities when describing mental fitness.
Spiritual Fitness is about your experience and understanding coinciding with reality itself. Being comfortable without pretending to know, being entitled, or in control of things. For me, the essence of spirituality is trusting beyond my ability to see and understand. Spiritual fitness is being comfortable with that. This is our best state of mind and productivity, because these things are true, we cannot “know,” we are not entitled, we do not control. In spiritual living, that does not slow us down, or keep us from what works.
Mental Illness is the term most people mean, when using in general parlance, the generic useless term “mental health.” Mental illness can be due to physiological causes, cognitive failures, or both. Without spiritual development, one is certainly cognitively ill. Ego driven ideology is cognitive illness. A perennial plague that continues to kill at large, un-recognized and without opposition. Until now. Quit using the term “mental health” when you mean “mental illness.”
People avoid using “mental illness” because they fear it. But calling mental illness, mental health, only makes things worse. Mental illness, like all illnesses, get better by acknowledgement, treatment and recovery. Not by pretending its something other than illness, so that WE can feel better.
HALT, hungry angry lonely tired. These are tied to physiological and cognitive causes of mental fatigue, which if pushed hard enough, become debilitating illnesses. Hungry and tired are physiological causes. Angry and lonely are cognitive causes. Eat, sleep, avoid and embrace.
Where society fails.
It sells drugs as a solution, knowing it is not. Society fails when it tries to treat physiological causes with cognitive solutions. And cognitive causes with physiological solutions. Why does this happen? Because bad exploitative people make money from pretending to care and fix things, rather than caring and fixing things. It pushes drugs. Broken stuff creates demand. Society sells drugs not to help, but to co-depend.
Look at pain. Pain is one of our best gifts in life. Pain warns us to stop doing a thing, as it is not good for us. And society treats it like a cognitive issue, fixed with a physiological “cure” no less, “pain killers.” Uh huh. The problem is that we are damaging ourselves physically, and need to stop. Not to take pills, “kill” the pain and hurt ourselves more.
Look at prestige. Prestige is a cognitive artifact, that we seek to “fix” with material-ism. More money, power, fame, prestige! The problem is the rejection of ourselves, trying instead to be someone, something, that we are not, and can never be. That’s why there’s always a cry for more. That’s what drives addictions, to alter how we feel, feeling terrible. But none of that works. Accepting ourselves as made by God, and loving ourselves for being who we are—that is what works. Once you’ve done that, concepts like prestige become nonsensical mental illnesses.
Look at general social values. From my earliest memories, I’ve always been pushed to “be the best,” “do better,” “you can do more.” Crap like that. The idea being that I’m not okay the way I am, and I have to be what someone else says is esteemable, in order to “make it.” “Be a success in life! Don’t you want to be successful?” Uh huh. No thanks. I’m fine being me, we disagree on what success is.
The actual solution?
For what? For mental illness? That’s complicated, but resolvable. Physiological causes have physiological solutions. Starting with diet and exercise, not drugs. Start there, also, stop taking drugs, alcohol too.
As for natures, these are not diseases. Schizophrenia and psychopathy are two examples that come to mind. These are natures, not illnesses. They are not curable, as they are not diseases. Disagreeable, maybe, less than ideal? Says who? Natures are not mistakes, but who we are. What we want, what we do for what we want, and very importantly—why, those are the questions, not our natures.
Cognitive illnesses, those have cognitive solutions, not drugs. Ego driven ideology is the primary cognitive illness that does affect each of us. These are not diseases in the physiological sense, but stunts in growth and understanding. Fear prevents exploration. Fear of failing. Fear of our own chosen lies. Lack of exploration limits the ability to to notice (intelligence). Low intelligence tends to keep us within self-limited psychological bounds. In order to “cure” that, “trauma” is necessary. Mind you, the “trauma” only seems traumatic to the person who fears doing anything. For a healthy person, said trauma’s are a joke.
Other things too. We are all short lived fragile critters. Our own parts of God’s creation. Life is short but exciting. There isn’t a fix for that, other than once dead, for our part, it is as if we never were. So far as I know, (and I don’t know) we cease to exist whatsoever once dead. Okay. That is not help-able. But past death, not existing, that’s where I was before I got here, and that didn’t bother me either. I believe, but do not know, that we are our own part of God’s existence, which precedes and succeeds our own. So perhaps we become our part of God’s self experience? My goal in life is to live back to God, each and every day. And should God find value in my being here, that I am remembered fondly.
Who knows? So what?
I’ve found sense in life, and call it Americanism. Spiritual living, the principles of freedom, and simple competence. The three pillars of my life are sincerity, goodwill and service. Americanism sustains me through the horrendous circumstances of my life, as they occur. Even allowing me to enjoy adversity, gaining value of life for want of it. Still a good person, a person I respect. That is lasting, meaningful wealth. Not money and accolades that only fuel self-doubt and bad behavior. Each day is my own.
Thank you for the visit. See you next time!
Clarity, unity, organization, action. Let’s not fail where it counts.
Be American. Stay American!
David Weeks, Information Developer, Tampa, Florida.
PS—sorry this is a day late. I started it yesterday, September 10th, but ran out of time and an energy. I choose not to finish it yesterday, wanting to better edit it.