this is great...is there a video of the kid giving his testimony? were you there? Are you in the US? or did you watch it live somehow? I'm confused :-)

oh...just saw it was an online stream...where was it?

thanks for sharing. great post.

right...it's great to respond to this where it's happening...like in the grocery store when people next to you in line are reading a headline or whatever...

this sort of "reporting" hardly needs to be responded to, not just because it's hysterical crap but also because anyone who would look at that headline and believe it isn't going to be reading this blog. All the speculation coming from all sides about why Steve Jobs died is pretty ridiculous though. Not just this.

You might be interested in David Lukoff's work, Matt. He looks at "spiritual emergencies" that outside of a sympathetic environment tends to get called bipolar or schizophrenia. He himself healed from such an episode. As far as I can tell if people labeled with these psychotic disorders get the proper nurturing attention most CAN integrate. The problem is we have an infrastructure of care for such people that only uses medications in such a way as to STOP any potential healing process at all. People really need understanding. As Jung said, "The schizophrenic ceases to be schizophrenic when he meets someone by whom he feels understood."

I've seen this to be true in my work.

The work you're talking about is happening, just not very systematically, by lots of individuals.

Agreed, Joel, all the rosy stuff is overhyped, indeed. All serious meditators must at least come in contact with tough stuff and for some it can last a while. Still, ultimately it leads to a more conscious life. The trick? Maybe not everyone wants that and often there is no going back!! Full-disclosure needed before taking on a meditative lifestyle?

I liked this article by Ed Haliwell

"Meditation is an emotional rollercoaster" http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/20... entitled

I think what needs to be understood is that meditation allows access to the full-spectrum of our humanity. And insight into all of that as well...that means shadow stuff as well as light stuff. It's a package deal. You can't have one without the other.

I want to say I agree with Duff, completely. I am a mental health advocate and a meditator and I've now seen hundreds of people (mostly outside of meditation circles) who come through crisis that get labeled mental illness who are able to shed the label completely and thrive.

The way they come through is by resisting conventional psychiatric treatment and finding their own way...often with meditation included, but not always. The fact is though that people come through very dark, scattered states and learn to thrive. If meditation centers can learn to competently help these folks perhaps more would make it rather than get lost to psychiatry. Overmedicating is a sure way to get stuck on the path. And the fact is most people are not able to move on an thrive on their own...we need supports for such people everywhere. I hope that perhaps meditation circles will become a safe place for such.

For now most of those who get labeled with mental illness are pathologized and become convinced they're sick and then it is for life once on longterm maintenance medications that are hugely neurotoxic. It needn't be that way.