We Are All F%*king Crazy, Some More Than Others
Incessant thoughts are personalities trying to teach you, yearning to lead you back to wholeness
When I say we’re all crazy, I’m no exception. In fact, I might be the crazy train tour guide.
And a pause for a disclaimer: I am in no way making fun of mental health. I’m talking about all of the voices in our heads. We all have them.
I’ve taught yoga at university for the last ten years. Did you know that much of the practice is about getting out of thinking mind and into the body? Each semester I have students explore the contents of their minds and all of them journal about their inability to stop the incessant stream of thought. Most of us see it as that, but I’m learning that sometimes …
There are actually voices in our heads, individual personalities/archetypes within us, trying to teach us, yearning to lead us back to wholeness.
Jungian Archetype and Synchronicity Coaching are teaching me to listen and to dialogue with these voices, these varying parts of myself. Some are helpful, some are destructive, but all of them exist as clearly as you’re reading these words.
Many of the voices exist to help us align our physical being-ness into eternal alignment with our souls.
When I say we are all crazy, its because we live with these voices everyday, some of us completely unaware. They are so much a part of us that we’re oblivious to it. There’s a fine line between a healthy, functioning individual and someone with dissociative identity disorder.
What’s the difference between a psychotic and a genius? Strength of consciousness. You must not give your life over to the unconscious. The ill person has no choice, while a healthy ego chooses to listen to the unconscious and respond to it with values, morality, and ethical obligations. It is worth noting that in dissociative identity disorder (once called multiple personality disorder) there is typically no symbolic dialogue, only sequential monolgue. The person identifies with or is taken over by various characters in a sequential fashion. The ego is most often unaware of the other voices.
In highly disscociateve states there is an absense of reflecting ego.
As a yoga teacher, I’ve always taught students to observe the thoughts then let them go. Jungian Psychology adds a whole new layer to my experience and teaching. Instead of ignoring the thoughts, or brushing them off as nothing, working with them in an integral way may be a lot more healing.
I believe we are all here for a reason. We are all here to learn and grow — throughout our lives. I believe we go through cycles of destruction so new aspects of ourselves can emerge. I’m definitely in destruction phase, and everything is confusing. But I think that’s normal and, in fact, good.
Psyche is the eternal part of us. It’s the part that’s trying to lead us back to wholeness. Dialoging with the voices through Active Imagination is one way to integrate. It’s my current journey.
To learn more about Active Imagination, read Living Your Unlived Life, by Robert A. Johnson and Jerry M. Ruhl, PhD, which is where the excerpt above is from.
Thanks for reading! Connect with me online at heathersagechurch.me. Want to learn more about yoga philosophy, I’m offering a free e-book, Prelude to Yoga Prayers, the first 25 pages of a book I’m currently writing about the 8 limbs of yoga.
