Ralph rode past the mental health facility on his bike and looked over at the people inside and yelled, “STILL CRAZY!” It had been several long months and he had finally managed to wean himself off his obligations to counseling and medication. There was an enormous personal satisfaction in getting off the medication, because the meds tended to make him really depressed and suicidal. Now his life was finally getting back on track since the latest hospitalization.

The hospital was actually kind of nice. The staff there was very helpful in getting him back on track. It was incidentally the same place they had filmed, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Fortunately Nurse Ratched was not on staff and there was an outdoor area that was very important to Ralph in his personal recovery. The patients were all so helpful, many of them had been there before and most figured they might possibly be there again.

Direct experiences like vision quests were nothing to be taken lightly and one does not seek them out but sometimes they just happen. The medical communities pharmaceuticals were helpful to come back especially if you had flown so high that you crashed into the lower realms. What was really important though, was the ability to ground into the earth reality and being able to go outside was so important for this. Struggling with the doctor’s was not really helpful and just prolonged the time it took to get over their strong medications.

After he was released from the hospital, he was required to go to the mental health facility as an outpatient, but this was not much fun. Counseling sessions left him feeling sick and apathetic. But he had gone through this many times and knew what to expect. The consolers were there to tell him that, “He was permanently damaged and had a chemical brain imbalance that required lifetime medication.”

This was just professional level crazy talk. If you break your arm you don’t put on a cast and leave it on for the rest of your life right? Why would you do that to your brain? There is no way to explain this simple fact to most medical professionals and unfortunately most friends and family find it easier to side with them.

He remembered the first time he met Grunhilda in a counseling session. The small dimly lit room, the fan blowing constantly, and the giant computer monitor that Grunhilda focused most of her attention on. He waited patiently while Grunhilda input various data into the computer for the longest time.

Finally she looked up. “So are you taking your meds?” Grunhilda asked.

“Yes, but I don’t like too, they make me depressed. The first time this happened I almost killed myself after I was medicated for years,” Ralph replied.

“Well, you need to take your meds. I take my meds,” she said.

“Sorry to hear that, it is no way to live. But I’m glad they work for you,” said Ralph.

“I’m not here to make you ‘better’ I’m just filling the government contract. I’m kind of behind, so if it works for you lets schedule this time next week,” she said pointing at a time slot on the monitor.

“Okay,” said Ralph wondering why he spent all this effort to get down there today. Grunhilda hastily ushered him out of the office and walked him out of the facility.

Ralph thought to himself. Make friends with your demons, if you try to fight with them they are going to win. Don’t sit in the field of bliss for too long, no one can do this without strong support from their friends. He remembered the unbearable beauty, the heightened awareness of smell, taste, touch and feelings. The direct experience of being an insect, a planet, a star… A billion years of beaming love out into the universe only to explode in a brief instant. (More happens in two beats of an insects wings)

To exist at such a level one can’t even sleep and fear can bring one in an instant into the darkest of places.

Sure they can cure ‘mental illness’ but I think the cure will involve removing creativity, art, poetry, and the glorious feelings of wonder. A straight jacket for the brain and an end to free will. This is no way to live.

Whatever happens, be love. One does not need a target for that love. Nobody can ever fully experience the reality of anyone else. Be love.

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Thanks for reading! The story is fictional and original material written for Steemit. The photo was taken by me with my Galaxy S7. The YouTube video is not my work but fits with the idea of the story.