What's up Hive!
Well the shaman vs mental illness dilemma seems to have opened a few thoughts to reflect back over the last little bit, every topic I explore I tend to pick apart and reconstruct, look in places I didn't look before, remember things of the past I once thought irrelevant. Maybe some link, maybe some don't but despite just being a regular person, I do have a mind to get to the bottom of things in unconventional ways. Where does one develop that as a child? It doesn't hurt to take notes for things to reflect back at a later point. We all know how it is, writing tends to pull stuff pout of us we didn't even know was there. Lets dive in.
Despite not being an expert, various forms of complex psychology dynamics came into play at various points into my life. Not necessarily old enough to understand them yet at the time I was still at the mercy of it's various aspects so I had to try to understand for my personal benefit, potentially survival overall. After WW2, my gramps went to work at what we referred to as "Provincial hospital" aka the provincial mental asylum facility, the only one in the province but the term was more tasteful for the residents.
The photos are left over from my Whyte ave mural walk, where much of the downtown homeless population can be found hiding in the back alleys from public view. It's a whole different parallel world back there. Looking for these little gems is also an eye opening experience on city and growing homelessness issues.
Like many traditions, the French were no different in the sense that the kids are likely to carry family traditions and my step dad had a career of his own continuing in the family footsteps, my grams worked at the blood lab that served both the Emergency hospital and the asylum facility. That is also where he and my mom met when I was little, she had just gotten a job in residence there. I was the first baby to live in residence that served both hospitals and their dedicated staff members, well in that specific one. Generally children are not allowed to live there but they made an exception for me. More on that later maybe in another post, It did a few funny things strait out of left field for me. 🤣
Obviously by default, various aspects of psychology was already prominent in the environment growing up. From hearing the dinner table talk or hearing late night frustrations being vented after work, patient rights, proper care along with various personality type. Naturally if I went to career day stuff or to visit relatives at work I wasn't brought into the facility rather than met in the neutral zone that connects to the emergency room. My parents having their own deep rooted un-addressed psychological issues that everyone else ignored for one reason or another.
Most days, home felt like constantly dodging bullets or walking on eggshells with ever changing by the minute triggers of how my existence alone was a trigger to both even if I didn't do anything. It was hard stuff to comprehend as a kid. I don't think anyone knew much about narcissism the mental illness and their projection on a specific target and it was mostly understood as bad personality traits or rebel instead. Today the perspective seems to be researched and addressed better. It needs treatment like any other physical illness.
Part of the "mummy dearest" type situations, these women use the medical system and all they have at their disposal to harm their child and manipulate perception of others for various self serving illogical reasons. Part of it is attention seeking martyr syndrome for accolades to the point of creating situations with covert harm to later appear as the hero or martyr publicly when the issue arises, parts of it could have just been her hatred for me, I don't know so much I'll never understand of the situation. If you want to learn more, the Gypsy Rose story is eye opening on the personality type.
To top it off, she used to complain of pain and took 2/22 like they were smarties for at least a decade maybe even 15 years. Great a long term Codeine dependence aka mild opiates. Much of the symptoms she took them for after my own research were actually symptoms of codeine over-use. Did it start innocently as pain being the legitimate reason for taking them. Probably yes as many addictions start in the same innocent way but it obviously got out of hand and unchecked for a long time aggravating an already complex situation for a 7 yr old to comprehend.
As a small child, she had an obsession with making me out to be a troubled rebellious demon child when I was just trying to stand up to her abuses, the weird ghosts I didn't like that I could see also had me questioning, what if she was right? To be fair, without me telling my sister about any of the apparitions, she saw and described them to me too? So yeah, my rebellion would appear troublesome to her delusions but her constant illogical attacks were the reason.
She was trying to prove me as crazy and have me committed to the asylum and talking about a 7 year old having a psychosis and stuff was her narrative to others about me and her way to try to do that was to drag me to a series of psychologists several times per week. The minute one would become suspicious of her own mental health and projections unto her own child and suggesting family therapy, she would freak out find a reason to discredit the worker and drag me somewhere else where she could control the narrative. Over and over again for years. That in itself was damaging. She did that with social workers and foster care as well.
As a result, I didn't really talk to the therapists because it was always weird topics that were irrelevant to me and the questions they were asking me didn't paint me so who knows what she was telling them. I knew tho, I lived with her and that was my every day life, constant character assassination just for existing, both stressful and exhausting. With that being said, I also learned to psycho analyze them as they were doing to me to determine if I could trust them or not with my family difficulties or if I would face more repercussions as a result of speaking out which was more often the case.
It did mess with my own perspective of myself and a lot there to decipher, was I or was it a distorted projection from her mind? As a kid, I can't say I knew either way or what projection even was besides something didn't feel right someplace, just not sure what it was or why, since none of the other adults paid it any mind, it left me questioning my own sanity for some time while I grew up and gained my own perspective to compare notes to her claims.
The point of this so far, she was in the perfect environment to get diagnosed and being brought to the help she needed to get back to a proper balanced mental health state but every other adult ignored it. She was still pretty functional overall, just really mean, harmful and vindictive in indirect ways to some people she didn't like and some of these acts were certainly not ok by any means. Largely why I left my family without ever looking back. She probably had a troubled upbringing of her own that I don't know about that caused her trauma, maybe it was an actual brain disorder. I knew something was wrong but for some reason I was the only one to see it, I don't know why.
Parts of me thinks clinical level narcissism complexes may also be synonymous with a manifestation of PTSD went undiagnosed and it continues to get triggered until it is addressed. PTSD isn't just for the battlefield and first responders. What if PTSD was an element responsible for both scenarios. PTSD is a triggered subconscious response to a stimuli that the conscious mind needs to control. The shaman is known for being in control of the subconscious mind in the conscious state aka taming and understanding the subconscious mind and how it interacts and being able to consciously override it before it reacts or being able to recognize the why it did. PTSD created a necessity? Like a natural patch to override a glitchy code to make it function creating an additional layer of perception better then it was before?
How much of that is currently going on hidden in society across many families that get normalized instead of looked upon and improved? If we observe the possibility of natural family extra sensory perceptions potentially being passed down via genetics since I did observe it in other family members, because they didn't believe in them didn't mean they didn't have them, they just practiced mindfulness in the time I knew them in their more seasoned years and perhaps more mentally balanced. I know for a fact based on shared dreams with my grampa on the same nights and other strange distance shared connection at the very least keep me open minded to extra possibilities.
Could the mental illness type symptoms and long term depression simply been unknown shamanic capabilities in detecting others creating extreme mood swings type events? If you have some abilities and you are unaware, it can be bothersome. In our society at the time, it would have been a huge taboo to openly admit something like that so nobody but the bold dared have such thoughts in the first place let alone discuss any of it. So many questions that will never be answered.
Since I was always discredited and discounted, nobody would ever listen. Perhaps that help could have changed our entire family dynamics for the better. It wasn't my issue to deal with, it never should have been in the first place. I understand that now but the constant repercussions and set backs their behavior was causing on me were not fair so sitting around the campfire signing kumbaya like nothing ever happened over and over is not an option. Building a new life rebuking the fuckery was my most common sense approach to a probably unsolvable situation despite how heartbreaking it was. I deserved better and since we can't agree on that, well I guess I don't have to be there. doesn't mean I wasn't intrigued with investigating and understanding from afar. Use the experience to gain understanding where so little is. Maybe in time it can help others or lead a great mind to a new discovery. Probably not tho! 😂
I suppose some of this stuff is being dug up currently because a week ago or so I got news that my Grams was in palliative care with breathing difficulties and low heartbeat. She's pretty old and she's lived a good life that she had much control over shaping her own identity compared to other women of her time despite holding some other traditions dear. Of course family friends are reaching out to do just that, by gones be by gones but they are also guilty of normalizing so much insanity and other vile acts against another human that shouldn't be accepted ever within their own families under the guise of every family has it's disfunctions and we all just ignore it.
Clearly normalizing shitty behavior is also a trend. That brings a new layer of perspective to some of my upbringing and how people miss such obvious signs. I guess it turns out they see, they just don't want to. Turning a blind eye. I guess that's where I'm like trying to squeeze a square peg in a round hole on that front, I call that enabling bad behavior. Society as a whole, we are guilty of normalizing things that we shouldn't.
Despite our differences, I did learn a lot from her and I did always admire many things about her but because of the above normalizing bad behavior mixed with outdated beliefs, I thought less offensive to everyone to just let it all go. I tried to maintain relationships with her but her lack of understanding and me not wanting to argue with my grandma in order to stand up for my rights as a human, as a person, I just cut that too. I don't think anyone understands the complexity of what was going on to be honest, just like they didn't want to touch it with a 10 foot pole to address it, neither did I. I would have liked to have a relationship with her tho. Obviously the current news did kick up some dust in that department. Because I don't attend doesn't mean it doesn't weigh heavily on me when these moments come around.
Now I'm left pondering what to do. Should I visit? Should I not? She's on morphine and probably wont know any different and I have spent most of my life estranged anyway. I probably would struggle to recognize some of them if I met them at random in the street. I was a late teen when I last saw most of them. I probably wont go to avoid drama and carry on with my original choice. I wish them all the best nonetheless. I keep her in my thoughts I guess. I always did, I still have the cat-teddy thing she got me when she met me at one year old. She tried throwing it in the trash several time growing up because it was old and raggedy but I always found it and dug it out. Are you estranged from your family? What would you do in this position?
As a teen, I had to understand a new layer of the psychology family biz besides the dynamics, now to some funny but not funny experiences based on the hospital care of the patients that were considered the "ward of the province". The situation isn't funny but my introduction to it was strait out of left field, not stuff I saw coming to say the least. Being forced to be an adult young woman that should a been a child making my way in the world at 15 and 16 years old, that meant walking to and from work and other mundane tasks on the streets alone. Sometimes late at night since I held 2 low paying jobs to make ends meet. Finding employment in a small town at 16, the choices are limited. Gotta take what you can get sadly.
That leads me to Spring Man. Who is Spring Man and why was it his local name? I was walking late at night when I was first out on my own having to absorb the WTF's about my new surroundings and keeping myself safe. It was pass 11 pm and I was already pretty nervous but I had no choice so the best thing to do is try not to think about it, try not to freak out. There is nothing to be scared of, it's just dark out, small town, no threats.
As I turned into the seemingly downtown stretch, this guy starts following me, yelling stuff loudly. Calling me the devil and I'm gonna get you...Leave me alone...jiberish...jiberish. He walked like he was on a mission and every step he took looked like he had springs under his sneakers and would bounce back up twice as much like maybe he was part kangaroo or something. He was a rather tall man probably around 6 feet. Scared me enough to run the fuck out of there like a bat out of hell. I didn't feel like I had time to question if I truly was the devil or not. Scared me. That experienced left me marked but not in ways most would expect.
As I settled into my new life and new obligations, walking at night was a must, no way around it. I could afford taxi's everywhere if I wanted to make rent or eat. I encountered him on my route night after night. did he see the devil in me? My family sure tried to paint that picture as a child, the catholic community beliefs of the same nature because of my untamable wilderness to not conform to absurdities I didn't agree with despite the traditions around them and everyone else complying without question. Maybe he had answers for me. As I kept encountering him, I got used to it somewhat.
One night, I put my big girl panties on and decided to turn around and face him head on. Why do you call me satan? Why do you think I want to harm you? What's your beef with me? What have I ever done to you, I'm just a young girl? Tell me, lets resolve this so you can stop stalking and yelling at me every night on my way home from work. It scares me. Nothing, no reaction. He kept looking ahead yelling at the devil and spring walking right passed me like I wasn't even there. Good to know...Perhaps I wasn't the devil, somewhat comforting but not really. Was he dangerous? Clearly he was living in another reality I really didn't understand. I was baffled. Since I saw apparitions as a child, did I understand more than I think? Maybe he saw apparitions and his mind couldn't handle it and it broke? Was he just born that way?
I tested it the next night with the same results. Again and again. Like I didn't exist at all. What was his story? Why is he out on the streets in a town where there is a facility to help people with deficiencies like that? The curious analytical mind had to try to understand. Both his state of mind and why he was somehow deemed able to care for himself. At the time, I still had dodgy relationships on shaky ground with my relatives but my stepdad didn't shield me from adult complexities if I went digging for truths that adults tend to shield kids from. He worked there for a long time, he was the best person to ask since he may have actually cared for him at some point.
Another extreme impactful example encounter to analyze, was the man on the bike. He was seemingly normal in his younger years until his mother passed away and had a mental breakdown, ended up institutionalized and since his release, drove on a bike in his mother's wig and wearing her bathing suits. Odd sport indecent attire to say the least. His cognitive senses of the real world were also completely detached. These were just a few of many strange cases. Was there something in the water? The real problem was lack of resources and the court mandates took priority for the criminally insane.
As the provincial funding was constantly cutting budget every year, that meant someone who was too crazy to take care of themselves but wasn't a danger to society was dumped into the streets to fend for themselves regardless if they had someplace to go or care takers or even the ability and cognitive functions to care for themselves. Some of them ended up homeless or just endlessly roaming the streets screaming at the devil night after night like being stuck in some unexplainable unconscious nightmare of his own. These people were let down by the system. That's where that concept was explained to me and I begun to understand how cold and uneducated society really was towards mental health. If they can't care for the serious apparent issues, how can they understand the hidden everyday ones.
When I was 15, I had no money no ID because it was being withheld from me out of spite so I couldn't access any local services of any kind or a job. The first few weeks while I tried to figure out what I was supposed to to about being homeless in winter and how to keep myself safe. At 5 am, Tim Horton's used to open up in the first town I was at and it was a good time to go warm up. the draw back is in order to be there, you have to consume something. I asked for a cup of hot water since that was free and all I could afford with no money. I was so hungry sometimes going a week without food, it helped fill the void for a bit to pass the cramps even if it was nothing. they worse they would say was no please leave. the results were 50/50 so I always tried my luck.
I always saw this small stature man dig in the garbage for cans day in and day out, then he would go park his grocery cart on the side of the building and come in for his morning coffee for a routine. He was generally the second one in the doors after me like clockwork. We didn't interreact but we both knew we were watching each other in some regards despite pretending not to.
One day we came in as usual and the staff that knew and was ok to bend the rules a bit to help me warm up wasn't there. UH-OH now we were back to the 50/50 odds of getting denied and kicked out from my anticipated warm-up break after a cold night outside. This was a 100% deny and I was crushed. Luckily, mr strange garbage digging man with the shopping cart saved the day and bought me a small coffee and a small box of Timbits all to myself. His small stature, closer to my size and appeared less threatening for it, enough for me to stay open minded and talk. I was thankful for his grace and kindness towards me, that little bit of food and warm up meant a great deal to me and we sat and learned about one another.
My naïve 15 year old mind and his shopping cart and can digging habit, I had concluded that he was homeless because that's the stereotype I suppose. After a few moments of conversation, it was clear that he had mental deficiencies and some disconnect with the real world to the point one would question his ability to care for himself yet the more I talked to him, the more I noticed his sense of social morality was IMPECABLE and I truly mean that. Despite his clear mental deficiencies, perhaps he was the right person to grill about making it in an environment restricted in helpful public services. He clearly fell in the cracks of the "system" in his own way and had adapted.
To go along with his impeccable sense of social morality and obligations as a human to human perspective, he also had a strong moral obligation to the planet to go along with incredible wisdom to be deciphered from the obvious insanity. He was well into his 40's and he survived this far. The reasons for us falling in the cracks might be different but here is one individual that thrived like a dandelion in concrete despite what life tried to tear him down with. Sometimes god sends us a blessings in disguise. This one certainly was in a strange form but actually helpful nonetheless. That's where I learned to not judge a book by it's cover.
Turns out yes, he couldn't hold a job and fell thru the cracks, had no one to look after him so instead of falling victim he went and started walking the entire highway between 2 small towns with his cart picking up recyclable trash people would dump along the highway and everyday, his cart would become overloaded and would sell his salvage and it was enough for him to rent himself a room and eat. He knew he would never be rich but to his perspective, God had appointed him the duty to help clean nature from human's ignorance and he would always be looked after. A simple minded perspective but he also wasn't wrong. He carried that on until his death. Not all of society was kind to him but he valued the ones that did and offered great smiles and compliments in return strong enough to penetrate anyone's heart and soul.
Later in my teen years, I was working at the Tim Horton's near the bottle exchange where he changed his loot for cash and his first stop would be to our store to brag how much he had earned and how hard he worked for it. I recognized him instantly. He was always in the back of my mind after my earlier encounters with him. his mind was still detached from reality but he was still alive and well and that made me smile internally. I remembered his gesture and I gave him his order for free and payed for it out of my tips. Even tho he didn't remember me, I wanted to return the kindness and simply said, thank you for your service to mother nature, god appreciates your commitment. It put the biggest smile on his face.
As gross as it was, his digging for recyclables moto was a band aid solution that did help buy me occasional food and other things I needed from time to time while I had no other way but it was an immediate solution to a problem until I could get ID and a job in a town that lacked services in the first place. It at the very least bought me food. To be realistic, I turned in a few dollars a day, 5 at the most so I understood how much work it must have been to actually collect enough to make rent and bills for his entire life, he had to pick up lots everyday to make that happen. It indeed was a service to nature and humanity. Most people would judge him, misunderstand him, he was sure of himself and his beliefs and that made him content. Despite his disconnect with reality his heart, acts and intentions were purer than gold. A rare traits in many humans. I always found that impressive of him, he will forever be in the back of my mind for it too.
At my other job at a pizza joint, we hated making the boxes and get ready for the weekend and we did have a progressive manager in some regards that valued helping those in need if capable of doing so especially to set an example towards human rights of job access for those with difficulties. Something that was rare back then. The reality most with any sort of physicals or mental deficiencies would be overlooked by the work market. Part of it is lack of perspective mixed in with, there was 10 ppl lined up for every job position so only the top wins.
The restaurant partnered up with social services to have some of their independent living patients that couldn't hold the responsibilities of a job on their own to come with the assistance of a social worker to do some of the easy mundane tasks we thought were redundant but they loved and made them feel like they had a purpose in society, A JOB and A PAYCHECK unreal paired up with the social interactions they had with us when we went for our breaks, their long term moods did improve. Some of them were pretty good at other more complex tasks and got hired full time thru the restaurant. Even if they just came in once a week and would never be fully independent, it did improve quality of life and help combat isolation and feeling like an outsider. They were now a contributing member of society and looked forward to going to work with us. A personal sense of pride.
Problem solved, even a blind man can fold pizza boxes, literally. Solving two birds with one stone, we always welcomed them even if it was just because we didn't have to do it. Some were repeats with each a story as unique as the next. Most of them each had a point in common with the rest, discards from the provincial hospital due to lack of room yet not mentally capable of living on their own but forced to. I thought it was a productive experience both for our own social sensitivities and getting to learn about things we wouldn't normally be exposed to.
Obviously, I could recognize that society itself has a huge shortage in understanding and appropriately funding of programs that help accommodated forms of self independence with individuals of various mental health issues especially the more severe. One thing I knew for sure, they deserved better than what they got. Not so much in the fact that they should be institutionalized all their life but maybe some form of semi institutionalized housing with care staff. Come and go as they please with curfew limits run similar as a permanent shelter for them. To know that the one town in the province that could facilitate and help understand and elevate public response to a real life problem was still falling short in social responsibility. That always bothered me but how do you solve such a complex situation.
Besides social obligations and questions of morality, they were good candidates to analyze different aspects of psychology on my own accord. That raised more questions than it answered for my curious mind. Despite my original naïve view that most of them were born with deficiencies, some of them were also normal until they just were not and never were after, induced by severe trauma. What if catching the trauma early and solving it adequately could have prevented further deterioration? Maybe it was just inevitable to end that way.
Leading to the deeper questioning of, why is it some come out on top from trauma and become stronger and resourceful , while others their mind no longer functions to the point of roaming the streets endlessly night after night unaware of people and objects in his surrounding? Who's more insane, the one who has no sense of awareness or the society/system that falls short into realizing that leaving them in the streets with no regards for their safety and well being normalizing it as acceptable treatment of another human. I personally find that cruel and insensitive. Because they don't know better doesn't mean they don't deserve better. That also leaves them more vulnerable to ill willed individuals to take advantage of the situation and harm them for no reason. society doesn't want to see or admit such...Heartbreaking.
The book on the psycho-analysis of the shaman mind vs mental illness, if there was a connection helped me gain perspective on the mental distinctions between the two at the very least. The connection that seemed to make sense to me based in his work that's where the convergence point might be between shaman and mentally ill. The road that may lead there could potentially be similar and both revolves around experiencing severe or repetitive traumas. One deteriorates while the other develop a different set of survival skills and extra sensory perceptions meanwhile turning their pain and suffering into solutions or some form of philosophy or learning experience.
Being able to look at the things that traumatize us in life to resolve is no easy task but necessary for growth and healing. Even with some form of explanation, it doesn't solve the dilemma of how some end up in one camp while others in the opposite, what are the contributing factors? Is it genetic predisposition? Is it environment? Nature VS nurture? Can early help prevent a situation from deteriorating to the point of a fractured mind? Similar analogy as the two sons grown from an alcoholic parent, one turns destructive in the same patterns while the other turns the opposite as dependence free and extra empathetic towards the need of others to bring a different level of understanding and awareness to his social circle.
Fast forwarding to later in life, after moving to Alberta, I got exposed to a new level of the same situation that equally shocked me as my first Spring Man encounter. Coming from a small town of a few thousands at the most, that was already an upgrade and large compared to my simple community parish upbringing. I now was in a city of over a million residents and the same problem was more prevalent with homelessness being a much bigger issue here. wasn't quite ready for this but like other situations where I had a chance to get more info to further ponder things. What would my observations be here?
As I did my post secondary education at a college near a downtown location, I would dissipate for lunch and go to the Nearest Tim Horton's (what is it with that place). I generally went alone, my time to myself to unwind. So I thought. The area had a lot of homeless. Most assume that it's fueled by a drug problem, in some regards yes an important contributing factor but not always. Others it was mental illness and no place to go with permanent disability and life long care and no family to help them just like my hometown. Tragic. Across the country in the richest province and the same issue persisted. To top it of, Indigenous females are 4 to 6 times more likely to experience sexual violence than most other demographics, this doesn't help the missing and murdered Indigenous Women situation we currently face in Canada. It's not just found on the Highway of Tears but a pretty wide spread issue even in urban centers like Winnipeg and Edmonton.
I first started to encounter them and have small chats while finishing a smoke outside since the walk there was fairly short and then I realized much like me, they were just looking for a place to warm up a little from the cold but the staff would deny them. Their mind didn't quite grasp the concept of must be a customer or it's loitering. At the same time why they didn't have a right to warm up a bit. When I saw one at the door, I would invite them to have lunch with me on my dime. I remembered from my past experience as a teen with the can man that with half hour to warm up and a bit of food to carry on the day is a huge difference maker.
I took the opportunity to ask them some personal questions on why they think they were in the position they were and what was their upbringing like. Many of them were Natives, why so many of one demographic? Well growing up witnessing some of the damage left behind by residential schools on some of my older community members and intergenerational trauma it was clear that perhaps this was the result of the traumatized minds that "broke down" and were never able to come back from it, some may have been born with certain predispositions and imbalances but I doubt they all were. Those were sad and enlightening conversations.
Before I wrote my first post on Shamanism, I shared the same Carl Jung video lecture as in the post for his opinion since he has an analytical mind like mine. He had an interesting question with the correlation with schizophrenia and shamanism is some could be potentially mislabeled as mentally ill when they might be experiencing unknown paranormal experiences or vice versa, shamans being on the schizophrenia spectrum based on an article he read on the question. I pondered the same for a long time, compiling each experience building my own perspective.
That was the strike of inspiration for this post but a valid dilemma for psychology to further explore, perhaps some of the broken minds is just a matter of untangling certain things most of us overlook. Could it fully fix them? Probably not but could they be functional enough to have more control over their own circumstances like the can man instead of falling on the outskirts of society forgotten or judged, insulted by many passer-by for their street loitering ways when it legitimately isn't exactly their own fault either.
Obviously, I'm not a professional but I have spent a considerable amount of time analyzing these details and taking the time to see the perspective of those living it meanwhile comparing it with my own journey always self analyzing, maybe I could someday understand. After 20 years of analyzing each encounter between severe mental illness and schizophrenia being prevalent with homeless populations meanwhile those with simple paranormal stories or extra sensory perceptions were clearly distinguishable from one another. The psychologist in the book came to the same conclusion of while society may sometimes confuse the two at first glance for the same out of lack of research and gross misunderstanding of the shamanic altered states of consciousness practices.
Schizophrenics often display wild temperamental tendencies out of nowhere that can come with their alternate perception where the Shaman is very temperate mannered and cool headed controlled in that regards. Could it be mis-diagnosed? Perhaps not to be ruled out completely but not very likely in my opinion, only society's view of mental illness rather than the clinical definition of it. Doubtful a Shaman would be institutionalized based on mistaken spiritual identity that's a bit wilder than the rest.
One has limited sense of reality and interpretation of it clearly impaired while shamanic capabilities is well connected to reality with a deep understanding with the ability to also detach at while when required so to "think outside the box" and bring the two together in one or keep them separate at will. In other words, deliberate and controlled along with hyper awareness of the self and surrounding environment, not a quality I have observed with my encounters with schizophrenics, generally struggle to distinguish social appropriateness and self regulation especially off their meds.
Does it put the concept to bed altogether? Of course not, there is so much about our own minds and the psychology humankind can't even begin to comprehend on a large scale. one thing is for sure, society does have certain moral obligations to come up with solutions to better care for those with mental challenges rather than dump them in the streets like animals. We frown upon it when a human does it to a cat or a dog because it severely impacts their abilities unable to provide for themselves fully. Why is it ok to do to a legitimately sick human without a second thought?
Obviously the concept of homelessness is a much bigger problem to tackle in itself meanwhile funding shortages and keeping them locked in an asylum for their entire life would also be detrimental to their human rights but if they can't care for themselves, that's also a human right's issue to just carelessly dump them. I like a newer concept of Tiny house villages that have been popping up across random US cities to help discarded homeless veterans live with dignity and a a semi-independent like minded community environment while having near-by resources to consult on the same premises or at the very least walking distance when required.
They seem to be doing well with many projects a few years in. Most of them are privately funded by donations and local foundations. Could it be a solution to tackle more than one problem? Would having a tiny home village on a parcel of land close-ish where they can work with case workers and resources to help them function mentally and keep an eye on them while not taking an excessive amount of nursing and other professionals like an asylum setting. Offering them both individual freedom in a semi controlled setting with basic rules of conduct to adhere to with trained staff able to help in an emergency setting.
Most I have talked to that went from asylum to the streets would have the basic mental capabilities to live like that on their own with a small kitchenette, in their own tiny space and be content, preventing deterioration from street environments along with making them less vulnerable to crimes and other unsafe conditions and injuries that may result from these incidents. Maybe a more compassionate humane solution to a hospital space issue. Like some form of assisted living for the mentally challenged that encourage independence as much as capably possible, maybe then some could actually find the healing and resources they need to not be dependent on a system at all with time and training but finding their own success story with a little hand up. human kindness can change the trajectory of a life forever.
As a society, we need to find better solutions when dealing with complicated situations instead of blindly lumping everything in one group or ignoring what we don't want to deal with like it doesn't exist or that it's not our problem. The more we ignore our world problems, the worst it gets. The world we live in today is a perfect reflection of our coldness towards other's in general as a species. Advocate faster for animal rights than we do for human rights. Strange.
Alright peace out gang. xox