Touch Rock, Not Grass: The Mental Health of Heritage and Heresy

Heritage might not seem to offer a logical link to World Mental Health Day. Heresy certainly doesn't. But I'm someone who is actually diagnosed as "insane" - I have schizophrenia. That was diagnosed in 2007, and I had 12 years of various forms of prescription medication until, in 2019, circumstances saw me studying for a degree in naturopathy and natural medicine (which, like so many people with degrees, I have, but don't use); ever since, I've been managing my symptoms through naturopathy, up until the last year or so, when I've had to begin bringing prescription-equivalent over the counter medications into the mix, because the disturbing, problematic symptoms were significantly escalating.

Schizophrenia, for me, means I see patterns where, perhaps, they shouldn't be, rather than where they aren't. They're there, even if only because they're there for me. And I see links to mental health in both heritage and heresy, when the two are properly combined. Heritage places us in community. It shows us the pasts we've survived, explains what can be a very confusing present, and lays out pathways to possible futures. Heritage, done properly, helps us identify what elements of the past have earned a place in the future(s) we want for ourselves, our communities, and our world, and teaches us how to kindly and respectfully leave in the past the elements which cannot serve us in our chosen or needed future(s). All of that, especially the placement in community, and the explanation of the present, are vital for mental health. People need community; we are essentially tribal at heart, and that never shows more clearly than when we're breaking down, and reaching for exclusion, rather than greater community, and the inclusion of all possible elements. Heresy breaks the power of "should". I once realised, through a conversation with someone I'd literally only just met, that women teach men how to take responsibility, and men teach women how to release obligations. For that reason alone, we need each other, and we need to utter the heresy that says "men aren't toxic. Women aren't crazy. Neither sex is misguided, abusive, weak, or selfish inherently, although individuals within both certainly can be."

When we combine heresy and heritage - heritasy, if you will - we radicalise our relationship with our past - our global, national, regional, local, tribal past. We learn to let go of believing only clinging to literally everything we ever were can ensure we become any of the things we want and need to be. Letting go of "should", being able both to take responsibility and release obligation, is key to lifelong mental and emotional resilience, which gives the hope of overall "wellness", even if you have times of mental illness, as I absolutely do - as I am, right now, actually. Don't touch grass - grass is too recent, and too simplistic. It doesn't hold enough. Touch rock. Feel all the echoes of all the centuries that stone can hold. Listen to the voices that want to guide you. Notice the paths they're pointing you towards - but be able to discern when you're being led astray, as the past can lead us astray.