Sensitive souls

Sensitive Souls

Great geniuses have the shortest biographies. Their cousins can tell you nothing about them. -James Thurber

In a college psychology class, I was required to read a book subtitled The Mental Institution as a Last Resort. The book's thesis

was that many people in mental institutions are not crazy, but just more sensitive than most people in the society. The authors suggested that many mental patents are simply too finely strung to fit into the mainstream, and an institution is a safe place-similar to an ashram or monasterywhere they can be who they are without having to adapt to a society that is in many ways more insane than they are.

Hilda Charlton noted that souls who are particularly fine-tuned emotionally, artistically, or spiritually are often unable to cope with the heaviness of the world, and so they turn to various addictions to escape. Alcoholics, drug addicts, and many mental patients are highly evolved souls who cannot find comfort, acceptance, or a forum for expression in their worldly circles, so they sedate their sense of homelessness with chemicals or insanity. Indeed, many great artists, musicians, thinkers, inventors, and visionaries have sought to take refuge in addiction or illusion.

A Course in Miracles confirms that we do need to escape from the world we see, for it is not a place of truth or Godliness. But, the Course asserts, we will not find refuge if we follow the promptings of fear; if you must escape, then escape into truth.

In the Hindu culture, holy men and women are revered and cared for by the society. Saints and mystics are not tested, prodded, poked, crossexamined, rationalized, written off, and shunned as they are in the West. In that culture, genuine visionaries are supported to do their spiritual work while people care for their worldly needs and responsibilities.

Let us honor our sensitivity and create a supportive space for talented souls to express our true self.

I pray to create a world in which the gifts of God are respected and empowered.

I express my artistic nature with courage and confidence.~Alan Cohen A Deep Breath Of Life