DEPRESSION - THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSIONS

There are tons of writings on the subject of depression. However, only very few of them manage to scratch the root cause which is spiritual imbalance. Indeed, many of the woes afflicting mankind from ages, even especially at the present-day, which is epochal by the quantum of crisis building up, are traceable to this very same root of spiritual imbalance.

Described as a mental state characterized by disproportionate feeling of extreme sadness, pessimism, helplessness, low esteem, and despair, depression torments many a man who otherwise is primarily preoccupied with the pursuit of happiness. The striking irony of sadness whilst heedlessly gunning for happiness should not be lost, and this perhaps presents the key to clearing up the confused state.

Looking at professional efforts, which include the medical, psychological, religious, traditional and other methods that constitute the endeavors to proffer cure and solutions, one observes acute shortcomings regarding the proper recognition as to the spiritual dimensions.

The already well-researched and correctly accepted understanding that depression has diverse, almost limitless number of causes is in itself a recognition that underlines the basic spiritual attribute of the human spirit; because, since each is travelling alone on his path (although regularly crossing some other paths here and there), it is logical that the causative factors will differ accordingly even as well as the severity of manifestations which differ with individual capacities.

One of the most familiar pithy descriptions is one that says that ‘depression is your mind telling your body it is tired’. It goes further to opine that this happens when we feel world-weary and somewhat abandoned such that it looks like no one cares, or can share in whatever oppressive burden. Now this is essentially a feeling, as far as modern medical science is concerned; otherwise efforts to apply orthodox drugs would be unjustifiable. 

But those approaching depression from the point of view of psychology, religion and others concentrate on correctional efforts hinged on providing emotional comfort, in recognizing that the victim’s world is crazy, badly broken and/or damaged, necessitating therefore the imperative of amendment or repairs. This later view would be closer to the truth, except that, as already postulated in the first paragraph herein, it does not go back further to unearth the root and history of this damage and brokenness.

In the first place one does not need to suffer depression to appreciate that our world is crazy and broken. It is a self-evident fact on which we need not waste arguments. Why then would a depression patient not ignore this fact or take it in his/her strides like the rest of us, continuing without trammels, as it were? 

This is simply because, travelling on his peculiar path, the lack of spiritual balance has overreached towards the tip at which point (in the victim’s circumstance) sanity can only be possible by retracing one’s steps towards restoration of spiritual balance. It is only the patient who is in a position to make the necessary corrections in this quest for balance which is altogether personal; because this perceived brokenness is embedded in the individual spiritual core.

In The Grail Message, the Lecture BEHOLD, MAN, HOW YOU SHOULD WONDER THROUGH THIS CREATION SO THAT THREADS OF FATE WILL NOT HINDER BUT FURTHER YOUR ASCENT, we are admonished succinctly thus: ‘You may enjoy everything in Creation, you may taste of everything, but it must not bring harm to your fellow-man! Again, this only occurs if you become a slave to your desires!’ (Volume 3, Lecture 16).The ramifications of desires and of enslavement to them as well as the consequences thereof are what we need to widely explore and evaluate properly aided by the knowledge available to us.

THE USE OF DRUGS

This is prevalent with orthodox methods. In the management of cases, this method may be useful, with severe limitations. However, correctional treatment seeking more enduring stability and restoration will have to go beyond drugs. In fact, the use of hard drugs to simulate emotional balance or to get ‘high’ as it is colloquially expressed brings to the fore the futility of the generality of drug-based solutions: the matter is fundamentally spiritual! 

Codeine drug abuse in Nigeria

Any unnatural attempt to forcefully achieve an emotional balance will ultimately dissipate when the influence wears down. It then further leads to increased emotional imbalance beyond the original crisis-point. Further attempts to artificially regain the lost balance can only deteriorate to dependency and increased use, and then, ultimately, to abuse.

As it is with drugs, so also with other myriad indulgences to which many people have developed various degrees of cravings, addictions, and propensities, this time not necessarily as a cure to anything. It is one’s duty to check and rid himself of untoward tendencies and proclivities to which he is habituated in order to always avoid getting to the dangerous tip at which point sanity and spiritual balance is lost. It bears repetition to say that this duty is sacred and personal and can only be fulfilled likewise.

In particular, as human spirits in material creation in the time of judgment, we are exposed to the danger of continuing to think and believe that so much of the problems facing us can be resolved materially. Indeed, material solutions are possible, even important, and often inevitable. But the spiritual dimensions must be recognized in all things if the solutions can be wholesomely complete. 

Having left paradise in quest of development in this part of Creation, the knowledge, understanding, and recognition of our origins and nature, the obligations we have in Creation, our goals therein, and the Laws that must guide us towards fulfillment are important ingredients that we need to keep in view at all times in order to avoid gliding to the precipice and losing our precarious balance altogether. 

In the pursuit of material every day care, one must never lose sight of the spiritual connections which deeply lie in the ability to refrain from unnecessarily harming others and keeping to the Laws of Creation so as to remain on even keel and spiritually stable. This equilibrium is of utmost necessity.

Therefore, when we are upset or feel down, we are being compelled in the circumstance of our excesses to unconsciously grope for balance, having been overwhelmed by some one-sidedness. Take heed that this can happen even in the apparently innocuous quest to satisfy earthly needs and trifles.

Let us, in conclusion, draw from the experience in Zoroaster, where Saadi’s heedless pursuit of a gazelle led to an avoidable accident. Yes, one must exert himself in order to receive. In spite of this validity, the clarification was also given to Saadi: ‘… to exert himself does not mean to pursue something impetuously, trying to force the fulfillment of a wish at all costs. When the wish will be fulfilled, when the harvest is ripe, is dependent upon the Will of Ahuramazda.’

Source: Mike Orjiakor