Friends and the mind
George Macpherson writes about a continuing concern
Why have ‘mental health’ issues become so prominent in government and media spheres? Individuals, families, communities, nations and, indeed, populations can be seen to be behaving strangely, becoming depressed, irrational, deranged, even violent or self-destructive. Observers have recorded this through the millennia of written and oral history.
Philosophy and science have analysed the root causes of what boils down to living in ‘a state of hell’. Some of them are genetic and physical. Defining ‘normal’, however, is just as difficult as defining ‘God’ or ‘spiritual’. Some causes of mental dysfunction are environmental, where generation after generation of a family has lived in poverty, ignorance and deprivation because nothing and no one has intervened to break this negative cycle – even though the child is born with all the same potential for reasoning, love and social cohesion as the majority of the population.
Why should mental health have become such an important part of Britain’s national health? Politicians are reluctantly steeling themselves to spend more of the national income on treating an increasing number of people stressed by work or study, while others suffer from drugs or alcohol abuse. Many sufferers from ‘breakdown’ finish up in prison, where some are released in a worse condition than before.
It could be argued that the human brain, like the rest of nature, can only be subjected to certain levels of stress before something malfunctions. Like nature, like the universe, it has its limits of performance and overload can disrupt its function. Yet our society bombards us relentlessly with fast-moving images and exhortation in the quest for ‘growth’: higher output, higher profits, higher achievements, novelty, winning, security, physical perfection and proud self-image. These are constant reminders of what we could have, what everyone must have.
Children’s programmes on television and those on smartphones and tablets are so fast, I fear, that the brains of young people develop reaction speeds that were almost unimaginable fifty years ago. Society is producing generations of high-performance brains that are expected to maintain maximum output almost without rest. In America, most people can only count on two weeks holiday a year. Many in Britain find it difficult to take proper days off.
Yet, we must all acknowledge that miracles do happen. People are ‘saved’ – sometimes by chemical or surgical treatment; sometimes by verbal untangling; and some in the sense of ‘baptism’ by washing away their environmental heritage and finding a way of life surrounded by love and mental support, such as is offered by Pentecostal church communities or Islamic disciplines, in which clear rules take over life, allowing the development of knowledge and self-regulation. Some people find peace by participating in Christian liturgy and song. Jewish people, perhaps, go further, and help each other with questions and analysis, humour and the rails of rigid timelines. We Quakers like to think we share the Light within.
Each of these roads out of a state of hell has something different to offer to suit individuals. The most obvious respite that Quakers have to offer is reflective silence – quiet, in which the light of love, with which we are all born, can help guide us through the coming days and decades. How often do we hear ‘I wish I’d known that this kind of religion was there’? Why didn’t they? Perhaps it’s because as individual Friends we hide our lights under the bushels of self-defence. By ‘coming out’ as Quakers and ‘sticking our heads above the parapet’ we lay ourselves open to being expected to behave like Quakers, which can add to remorse about our own weaknesses and failures.
We should take heart from a Roman Catholic tradition that too much self-criticism is also ‘a sin’ – the sin of self-indulgence. Jesus said love your neighbour as much as you love yourself – forgiveness all round. It is much more to the point to get out there and offer refuge for those whose minds are in turmoil and in need of peace and reflection. We, as Quakers, have so much to offer – especially at this time!
