“What are we doing at a lumberyard?”, I wondered to myself. Shortly after we received a hasty tour of the facility, Devin’s father had fetched a couple of lengthy black boxes. He laid them out before us on a stack of grimy wooden boards and began to unlatch the first box. As the contents of the package were about to be unveiled, the bitterness of salt began to scale my mouth as sweat dripped upon my lips. The scraping of the metal hinge produced echoes that rattled my mind. I dropped my eyes to admire the tool that we were about to be entrusted with.

“This here is a pellet gun.”, Devin’s father stated. “I want you two to help out around the yard and get rid of these pesky pigeons.”, Devin’s dad then demonstrated. He calmly yet firmly hoisted the rickety rifle from its container and inspected the hardware. After acquiring a target, he was sure to switch the safety off and proceeded to point the tip of the rifle in the direction of one of these so-called pesky pigeons. 

Unbeknownst to the bird of its last moments of life, it held a few splinters of wood in its beak. The bird began tucking these tiny fragments of wood into its half-finished nest as Devin’s father let out an exasperating sigh. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something vile was about to transpire. Bang! The bird dropped to the ground below, motionless, its life disappeared in an instant.

Scott brought out a small glass pipe and started to fill it with leaves as he prepares to inhale the substance. Scott carried the flame of his lighter to the pipe and started to burn through the plant matter. As quickly as he inhaled, the man’s consciousness escapes him, and he was nothing but a soulless shell. In only a matter of minutes, the effects fade away. Shae took his turn, and I was the last to go.

Shae hands me a pipe as I sparked a flame. On the stage of life, all eyes are upon me. I exhale, squeezing all the air out of my lungs, and touch the pipe against my lips. My eyes wandered downward as I start to inhale the thick, rough smoke. The pressure building in my chest feels like snakes constricting around my entire torso. The world around me starts to dissolve into darkness as my consciousness oscillates toward uncharted waters. 

Blinded, I lose what little control I have over my body. A firm grip grabs the back of my head as my face slams against the stained carpet. I start to hear whispers, but I cannot understand the language spoken. I start to hallucinate scripture, but the text starts to fall off the pages. The presence of absolute authority engulfs me as I am brought to my knees, and I begin to see the lights emitting from the apartment fixtures. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This experience made me question my believes as I was an atheist prior to this. I started to believe that there are higher powers and that I might actually have a soul. It made me curious as to what I had just experienced and why do these types of psychoactive substances have such profound effects. Why are these types of experiences quickly dismissed and seemingly forbidden to talk about?

In the dimly lit hall of justice, my mother accompanied me. The echoes of lawyers gossiping, and footsteps filled the mostly empty foyer. After passing through security, we arrived at the courtroom where I was to receive a harsh lecture from a judge. We entered quietly and sat in the back of the room. My eyes started to scan the room and discovered there were plenty of other delinquents among us. It didn’t take too long for my name to be called, and my mother and I approached the stand.

Immediately, I had already offended the honorable judge. “Take off that hat!” The judge snapped at me. My mother tugged my beanie off my head and my dreadful hat hair arose. I looked like I’ve been homeless for a few weeks. “Do you not want to graduate from school, Mr. Council?” The judge probed. “No,” I rebutted. This response vibrated across the court as the judge looked in disbelief. “How does community service sound then?” The judge pressed. “That’s cool with me,” I said unprofessionally. I turned to look back at my mother to see tears rolling down her cheek.

A sense of guilt started to overwhelm me. “Am I a bad person?” I started to ask myself. I was so far behind in school, I felt like I would never catch up. When I turned 16, I dropped out, only for Colorado to change the law to be 17 to drop out. I was sent back to school, only to drop out again and receive my GED a week later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I always wondered how I was able to attain my high school equivalency degree when I barely attended high school. How did I slip through the cracks of the education system? How many other people are being overlooked in school? Are public schools the right place for the intelligent? Why was I forced into community service for truancy? There's a lot of questions raised from this experience.

            Next, Eagleman justifies this concept by analyzing how the brain functions and how it manipulates digitized signals sent from a device as information to utilize. Additionally, Eagleman gives examples of current substitution sensory devices such as artificial hearing devices that insert an electrode strip in a person’s ear and retinal implants where a signal is transmitted through the optic nerve. Given these points, Eagleman refers to a subject who is deaf and their experiments with a sensory device he is developing that translates sounds into vibrations in effort to allow a deaf person to understand speech and their surroundings. Eagleman explains that in an experiment, his deaf subject wearing a vest with the device built into it was capable of understanding words being spoken. In addition to this, Eagleman describes another experiment where his vest can improve the ability of a pilot to fly by streaming pitch, yaw, roll, and orientation to the device. Overall, Eagleman speculates if we could deliver real-time internet data or other types of information directly into a person’s brain if they could perceive the input by the use of a peripheral device.  

https://www.ted.com/talks/david_eagleman_can_we_create_new_senses_for_humans

Word Count: 162 words.

Secondly, I decided to research more on the shamanic traditions and ceremonies involving salvia divinorum. I found that it has historical usage for spiritual and religious purposes. The primary purpose is for divination and healing of the spirit. This made me more curious about the “healing of the spirit”, so I decided to investigate it.

Finally, I stumbled upon something known as “spiritual illness” or “spiritual diseases”. This makes me more curious if spiritual illness is a real thing and if it’s related to mental health. Can one be born spiritual ill? 

Word Count: 177 Words.

Links: 
https://erowid.org/library/books_online/salvinorin/hist.shtml

https://www.lakeforest.edu/news/a-comparison-of-historical-and-current-use-of-salvia-divinorum-in-the-united-states-and-mexico

https://geriatrics.stanford.edu/ethnomed/hmong/fund/spiritual_illnesses.html

        In the Big Think talk, “6 Ways to Heal Trauma Without Medication,” Bessel van der Kolk discusses various successful methods for treating trauma without the use of conventional drugs. First, Kolk explains the nature of trauma and the challenge of treating trauma. Kolk recalls his time working in a clinic when his colleagues started performing a study about eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. Kolk further explains the EMDR is a “crazy” method where the patient with trauma is asked to envision the memory that is the source of the trauma in their mind. Next, the patient is directed to follow the movement of the fingers of the person performing EMDR. According to the study, EDMR effectively reprocessed how the patient interprets their reality and helped the trauma go away.

        Additionally, Kolk’s clinic also studied how yoga can treat a patient suffering from PTSD. Kolk emphasized that performing yoga can help develop a deeper connection to an individual’s internal sensory system. According to another study about juvenile delinquents performing in theater as condemnation for a crime, delinquents were helped immensely by changing the perception of themselves in different roles. Next, Kolk talks about a method of placing electrodes on the skull and stimulating the brain when it’s calm and focused. Kolk concludes with an explanation on the use of MDMA for trauma with a high degree of success.

        After watching the source, I wonder how a deeper connection with my internal sensory system would benefit my mental and spiritual wellbeing. For instance, when Kolk said that yoga can “form a deep relationship with your internal sensory system,” it made me ponder how strong my relationship is and what happens if it was stronger. When I started my origin story, I didn’t think that it could be a source of trauma for myself or if it was the start of my healing journey. The source made me wonder if mental health might be affected by spiritual illness or vice versa. I agree with Kolk when he mentions that when people “see themselves with compassion,” and have more self-perception and self-awareness, they are more open to acceptance of their trauma and healing. In conclusion, I agree with one of the statements that Kolk closed with, “Different people need very different things.“

        I decided on watching this video to find information on what spiritual illness and spiritual healing is. I found that there is a connection between yoga, self-awareness, and psychoactive substances in treating mental health and trauma. I was reminded that everyone is different, and we all need something different in our lives to help us cope with whatever illness may be plaguing us.

          What kind of methods do indigenous tribes perform to treat mental health?

          What is the source of negativity on mental health?

          Can a traumatic experience shadow your whole life and what can you do to cope with the trauma?

Citation:
Kolk, Bessel van der. “6 Ways to Heal Trauma without Medication, from the Author of ‘the Body Keeps the Score.’” Big Think, 19 Sept. 2021, https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/heal-trauma/. 

        In the article, “Spirit Journey,” Laura Fraser analyzes shamanic healing and her experience with a shamanic practitioner. First, Fraser recalls a conversation she had in Mexico with a shamanic healer that sparked her curiosity in the practice. Next, Fraser explains that shamanism is the ancient practice of spiritual healing where the shaman works within the spirit realm. Fraser added that the physical reality people see shares its existence with other invisible realities. Fraser describes that these other realities are inhabited with various types of spirits such as plant and animal spirits. 

        Fraser illustrates that the shamanic practitioner calls upon the spirits of the other realms to help and heal a person’s soul by restoring their spiritual energy. In addition, Fraser explains that people experience “soul loss” due to trauma or addiction and that helping spirits can restore some of their souls. Fraser concludes by sharing her experience with a shamanic practitioner where through drumming, chanting and the healing hand of the spirits, she was restored with a new sense of wellbeing and a positive outlook in life.  

        Although surrounded by mystery, I wonder how old shamanism is. The article mentions that it is an “ancient practice,” so it has existed longer than most modern forms of therapy and health practices. I like how the author uses personal stories and experiences to add to the subject of shamanism. I wonder how small of a negative experience call result in “soul loss.” I wonder how many other realities there are. I wonder why drumming and chanting can call the aid of the spirits. After reading the source, I wonder if a shaman has lots of helping spirits that they can lend to heal a person. I wonder if a shaman has an immensely strong internal sensory system to make them more aware of other realities. I also wonder what kind of stuff happens in a “shamanic workshop.” The source mentions that shamanism is "well outside of evidence-based medicine," but why aren’t there more studies or evidence supporting shamanistic practices. Overall, shamanism is such a strange phenomenon that ignites my curiosity.

          Connecting to my last research post about healing trauma, this article mentions that trauma is related to “soul loss.” If shamanic healing can heal “soul loss,” that means it can be another method of healing trauma. Overall, it seems that there’s a common theme emerging with spiritual illness and that it revolves around addiction, depression, trauma, and lack of self-awareness/self-love. My overall question so far is “Is spiritual illness a real and can it affect your mental health?” So, I’ll include the information about the different types of spiritual illness and how a person experiences “soul loss.”

          Can someone feel “soul loss”?

          What kinds of experiences cause trauma?

          How can being more self-aware benefit someone’s quality of life?

FRASER, LAURA. “Spirit Journey.” Prevention, vol. 66, no. 2, Feb. 2014, pp. 122–129. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com.frccwc.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eih&AN=93878344&site=eds-live.

 

        In the article, “Effects of Spiritual Well-being on Subsequent Happiness, Psychological Well-Being, and Stress,” Jens Rowold introduces spiritual well-being and the effects it has on a person’s emotional and physical well-being. First, Rowold tells of the different “facets” of well-being such as mental, physical, and emotional. Next, Rowold presents that spiritual well-being is held within ancient philosophies such as that of native American tribes. Rowold adds that spiritual well-being is vital to humanity’s understanding of happiness. In addition to this, Rowold explains that spiritual well-being relates to positive self-esteem and negatively with loneliness. 

          Second, Rowold explains a recent conceptualization of the four aspects of spiritual well-being. Rowold breaks down these aspects into personal, communal, environmental, and transcendental. Next, Rowold further emphasizes each aspect such as that the personal dimension touches on a person relates themselves with purpose, and values in their life. Rowold adds that the communal dimension refers to quality of friendship, faith in humanity, and love a person holds in their life. Then Rowold explains that the environmental dimension involves the care for a person’s physical world. Finally, Rowold explains the transcendental dimension and how it relates to a person’s relationship with some apparition beyond the human scope, such as (a) God or even a higher reality. 

 

         I find it quite intriguing to learn about spiritual well-being. Rowold states that “…spirituality can be explicit in the form of a certain religion, or more implicit, in the form of an inner attitude towards God, the divine, higher reasons or principles.” (950) I agree with this statement, but I’m unsure if I would call a form of a certain religion spiritual. I suppose it depends on the religion of course. There are so many religions in the world, and plenty I don’t know about, so I can’t just make assumptions. I’m fascinated by the correlation between happiness and spiritual well-being. Rowold said, “Spiritual well-being is related to subsequent happiness.” (953) I believe if somebody wanted to strengthen their spiritual well-being, that they would make it happen. Does this mean that happiness is self-manifested? Although most of the studies were performed via questionnaire, I wonder if there are any different ways to study an individual's well-being.
 

          It appears that there is relation between spiritual well-being and happiness. Rowold mentioned that the personal dimension reacts positively with self-esteem, so if an individual is more self-aware and self-loving does that increase their overall spiritual well-being? There is more connections with the spiritual aspect such as spiritual well-being being held within the ancient philosophies of native American tribes. I suppose these tribes may practice a form of shamanism.
 

          Do you believe that spiritual well-being can affect a person’s happiness?

 

          Are there more than just four “facets” of well-being, such as spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional?

 

          What do you think affects your spiritual well-being? Positively or negatively?

          

Rowold, Jens. “Effects of Spiritual Well-Being on Subsequent Happiness, Psychological Well-Being, and Stress.” Journal of Religion & Health, vol. 50, no. 4, Dec. 2011, pp. 950–963. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10943-009-9316-0.

 

             In a later segment of, “Spirituality and the Brain: Is God a Figment of the Imagination,” Michelle Martin observes the scientific side of spiritual activity, and how it links to health, the brain, and consciousness. First, Martin investigates Buddhism and meditation. Neuroradiologist Andrew Newberg demonstrates research on how brain activity looks during meditation and prayer. Newberg states that he is trying to witness the brain in the act of a spiritual experience. Newberg adds that a lot is going on in a person’s brain and that certain areas of the brain are involved to create powerful cognitive and emotional experiences that are labeled as spiritual. Martin asks Newberg if meditation and prayer have similar results in their lab and he confirms that they do.

             Second, Newberg their interest in spiritual practices and how it affects psychological and physical health. In addition to this, Newberg states that when a person prays or meditates that it affects their immune system and lowers their blood pressure. Next, Martin and Newberg discuss speculation about methods to induce spiritual experiences for beneficial effects such as stimulating a person with a particular experience in a clinic setting. Newberg suggests that his research doesn’t support stimulating certain religious experiences and states that the experiences are extremely complex and go beyond inducing such an experience with just magnetic electrodes or a type of psychoactive. 

 

           This segment of the video, “Spirituality and the Brain: Is God a Figment of the Imagination,” is unbiased in the way the information is presented. I chose to do the third segment because the first 2 segments were missing pieces of information, or the person being interviewed didn’t was one-sided in their presentation. The first neuroscientist, Michael Persinger, doesn’t explain what a religious experience is although he claimed to know. Persinger simply explains that he has a way to generate these experiences using “complex magnetic fields, generated through the computer, over the right hemisphere, in a certain pattern.” Which is interesting but fails to explain what the person is experiencing. Although Persinger did say, “certain patterns, predictable patterns that imitate what the brain normally does during a visitation experience or sense-present experience that generate these feelings.“ How does he know the patterns and what is the evidence behind them? I can understand when Newberg mentions taking photographs of the brain while a person is meditating, but what type of imagery device is used? The video segment failed to mention this exactly. I’m sure that they could recognize the patterns through the imagery taken from the meditation and use it to apply to the generated magnetic fields. There’s still a lot left uncovered here in the video but it’s going in the right direction.

 

             I’m finding more evidence relating to spiritual well-being from meditation and praying. Newberg mentioned that meditating and praying to affect blood pressure and the immune system. I wonder what evidence there is to back that statement? I’m starting to wonder if good well-being or happiness can be self-manifested. There’s still not a whole lot of information on spiritual illness however, there seems to be a correlation with spiritual well-being.
  

Does meditating make you feel physically better?

 

Do you believe magnetic waves can stimulate the brain to induce a spiritual experience?

 

Is happiness self-manifested?

          

“Spirituality and the Brain: Is God a Figment of the Imagination?” Films On Demand, Films Media Group, 2001, fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=98858&xtid=29955. Accessed 8 Oct. 2021.

      In the article, “Leaving My Religion: How Ex-Fundamentalists Reconstruct Identity Related to Well-Being,” Andreea Nica constructs that a nonreligious identity contributes to an individuals’ greater well-being. First, Nica explains how scientific knowledge, rationalization, values of individualism, and logical transformations are contributing to an increase in religious disaffiliation. Next, Nica talks about the “costs” of leaving religious groups such as challenges from backlash from other religious ideologies in their society.  Additionally, Nica labels a religious disaffiliate as an “exiter” and questions how “exiters” reconstruct their identity and how their reconstruction impacts their well-being.

      Second, Nica investigates a group of “exiters” and how the participants reconstruct their forms of self-concept such as self-worth, self-esteem, and personal mastery. Nica emphasizes that these forms of self-concept reinforce a person’s well-being. In addition, Nica explains how religious groups maintain a strict culture and social normality which restricts ties outside of their group. Nica adds that the consequences of these strict tendencies leave people with an experience of emotional suffering and hardship. Overall, Nica argues that religious characteristics of conformity and absolution keep an individuals’ identity from fully flourishing, resulting in even negative mental health consequences as a person would fake their character to conform to the religion.

      First, with my previous research of spirituality and religion contributing to well-being, I was blinded to opposing views. Looking up religious disaffiliation has opened my viewpoint to even more possibilities. Nica states that “prior to leaving the religious network many exiters reported experiencing an identity-role conflict, whereby the exiter felt that the meaning of their identity (self-concept) no longer aligned with the meaning of the role tied to religion.”(2122) I can see how this could cause some mental health problems if not addressed and when a person leaves their religion, there could be backlash from family members which might cause more negativity in a person's life. However, I suppose that the benefits of leaving outweigh any benefits of staying to one's religion. “In the exiting process, many experiences the loss of friendship and family, a sense of meaning and purpose, social security, rituals, and sense of belonging, all of which enhances sense of identity and well-being.”(2123) Despite this, after one reconstructs their self they end up with a greater sense of well-being. This says a lot about how religion affects a person.

      I can find plenty of connections from this article such as the self-concepts of self-worth, self-esteem and personal mastery being linked to overall well-being. Religious or not religious, spiritual, or not spiritual, it seems that an individuals’ sense of well-being comes from themselves. Also, the research from the article demonstrates that there are emotional effects of disaffiliating from their religion such as, fear, anger, guilt, confusion, depression, suffering and rejection. This is rather the opposite of well-being but is labeled as a critical step in the self-reconstruction process. 

Do you believe religion can hold back a person’s potential and well-being?

What other kinds of events in life can lead a person to desire reconstructing their life?

Nica, Andreea A. “Leaving My Religion: How Ex-Fundamentalists Reconstruct Identity Related to Well-Being.” Journal of Religion & Health, vol. 59, no. 4, Aug. 2020, pp. 2120–2134. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10943-019-00975-8.

      For example, I found that the use of salvia was originally used by shamans for divination and the healing of the spirit. I was curious and started to investigate the healing of the spirit, which took me into trauma and a person’s overall well-being.

I still need to find more evidence about the soul and evidence of spiritual illness. I want to investigate into a person’s internal sensory system and how self-content can manifest happiness and life satisfaction. I still need to look if death satisfaction is a concept that has been explored.

I want to get others to think about how their self-worth and self-content affects their overall well-being because most people seem to look outward for happiness and not inward for peace.

      If somewhere to ask about what I learned about research in college I would respond by telling them about all the active reading skills I learned about such as activating my schema and deep reading. I would also tell them about my experience with academic databases, citing and formatting my academic summaries. 

         The connecting theme that ties together each narrative element. 

         Find out as much as you can about your target audience. “Who are they?”, “What do they care about?”, “What are their expectations”

         Try to encapsulate your throughline in no more than fifteen words. All the pieces need to connect. The throughline traces the path that the journey takes.

        “Saying it out loud often crystallizes for the speaker what is clear, what is missing, and how to sharpen in.”

         “Great writing is all about the power of the deleted word.”

         Think of throughline as a strong core or rope, onto which you will attach all the elements that are part of the idea you’re building.

        The topic is the main point of a talk where the throughline relates to the theme of the topic.

        A thesis statement is different than a throughline because it tends to stick to one main argument or point. Throughlines cover multiple elements to support a main idea.

        A throughline requires you to first identify an idea that can be properly unpacked in the time you have available. You should then build a structure so that every element in your talk is somehow linked to this idea.

        “Plan your talk. Then cut it by half. Once you’ve grieved the loss of half of your talk, cut it another 50 percent. It’s seductive to think about how much you can fit into 18 minutes. The better questions for me is, ‘What can you unpack in a meaningful way in 18 minutes?’”

         An issue is something problematic in which can be emotionally provoked and can be exhausting for audiences. An issue exposes a problem. An idea proposes a solution. 

“An issue-based talk leads with morality. An idea-based talk leads with curiosity.” 

        After your throughline, you will want to decide what to attach to it. There are five core tools that are available such as: connection, narration, explanation, persuasion, and revelation.

Anderson, Chris. TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking. First Mariner, 2017.