He’d tried to hang himself two weeks prior, to no avail.
He said it was his mind. He couldn’t stop the thoughts and the relentless depression. Finally, he devised a plan and called the police, saying that he was holding his mother hostage and threatened to blow up his home with the bomb he’d strapped to his chest.
When the police arrived, he was wearing a bulky black sweatshirt that looked as if he were concealing something, then ran towards the policemen with a knife in hand. There was a shot. He had no bomb, there wasn’t a hostage, it was suicide by cop. He was 15 years old.
Suicide is the number two killer of teenagers. But it’s not only teens who are killing themselves, adults too are depressed, mega-dosing opioids, drinking more than ever, and suffering from profound loneliness.
Acceptance Without Blame
I was depressed as a teenager and yes, I contemplated suicide. I was filled with self-loathing and I felt so overwhelmed, that I hated being me, I hated being alive. As a result, I tried to self-destruct by getting drunk (wasted), harming myself with bulimia, and choosing relationships that were abusive and demeaning.
I’ve also had an inexplicable illness come over me while I was pregnant, and I remember feeling betrayed by my body and very angry.
What I can tell you is that it is by the grace of God that I am healthy, happy, and whole. Literally, God has given me strength, wisdom, and has loved me when I didn’t have the capacity to love myself.
It didn’t happen all at once, my courtship with God/Universe/Spirit has been decades long but none-the-less miraculous. It is my mission to teach the Wholeness of God because there is peace there for you.
I’m sharing this because often in the New Thought community, there is a lot of discussion around personal responsibility, which depending on how it is taught, leaves many people feeling burdened and guilt-ridden.
If you are suffering from depression it’s not your fault. No one consciously chooses illness over life, fulfillment, plenty, and joy.
The 3 Underlying Causes of Depression, Sadness, Guilt, and Dis-ease
- Disconnection: There is no amount of money, food, good looks, loved ones, or even great health that will provide peace and joy for the Soul. We are a nation of abundance and yet so many of us are depressed, lonely, sad, angry, and suffering. Certainly, you know of one, two, or even three people who have everything, yet they have no peace or joy.
The world cannot solve a problem of “soul”, only a felt connection with God/Source/Spirit can provide lasting peace, joy, and true prosperity.
I’m not talking about a conceptual idea that maybe there is a God somewhere and that maybe there’s an afterlife. I’m talking about a felt certainty that the life you are is One with the Life of God. I’m talking about hearing the voice of God as it reverberates through your spiritual ears. I’m talking about feeling a love that never leaves you. I’m talking about claiming your birthright as a son or daughter of the Most-High.
- Lack of Self-Knowledge and Self-Trust: Through a felt connection to the Divine, you would begin to know yourself more fully. You’d discover what makes you unique, how your energy works, what types of relationships lift you up and which ones bring you down, and what your purpose is.
Self-awareness however must be strengthened through trusting yourself and your insights. Trial and error hones your attention on the inner-voice, allowing you to develop more faith in it and in you.
- Cultural Hypnotism and Manipulation: Without the connection to God/Universe/Source/Spirit and the self-trust that follows, you are open to the will and beliefs of others. If you don’t know your mind, what you stand for, what’s real and not real then you’ll believe what the marketers tell you about how much you should weigh, what’s beautiful, what’s moral, and what’s valuable.
Your natural human eagerness to belong to a community, will leave you open to hypnotism and manipulation because you don’t know or value our own mind.
I know of a woman, let’s call her Martha, who has been on opioids since her 20’s and she is now in her 60’s. The reason for her medication is due to severe rheumatoid arthritis. The disease, copious amounts of medication, and a toxic lifestyle have eroded her internal organs.
Today, she is suffering from extreme back pain, not from the arthritis but due to disuse and muscular atrophy. She lies in bed watching T.V. all day which fills her mind with advertisements for prescription drugs. She doesn’t know that the God within her and around her can heal, her faith is in the pill to help her escape. She told me that she doesn’t want to go for a walk, she wants the doctor to prescribe something.
Martha is one of the many millions who believe they are powerless over their circumstances. They have been hypnotized by wanting ease and oblivion rather than the beauty of a reality lived in Oneness with the Divine.