Have you learned anything new about yourself after you got Diagnosed? What is that? Show your support by Commenting!
My name is Jacob Reid and I am a spiritual warrior. It took me years of painstaking effort to get here. In 2011, I was diagnosed with “paranoid schizophrenia.” But what does a diagnosis say about a person’s pilgrimage? Maybe a diagnosis causes gnosis to die, gnosis meaning “wisdom” in Greek. I use the designation, as misleading and imprecise as it may be, because it is one of the few ways I can convey to a materialist society the extreme torment I suffered for years. While others my age were going to college and social gatherings, I spent my early twenties piecing my soul back together after veering too far into the occult territory and suffering a horrifying breakdown of my mind and personality.
I believe we have the wrong view entirely of “mental illness.” I prefer calling it “spiritual illness.” I believe the spiritually ill of our society are in fact some its most gifted members, though they lack proper ordination. In traditional cultures, it is understood that such illness is initiatory, the door through which sacred selfhood is realized, and therefore is worth being celebrated and, in fact, venerated.
Read more: My Values of Spirituality
As Terence McKenna once said, “In a traditional society, if you exhibit ‘schizophrenic tendencies,’ you are immediately drawn out of the pack and put under the care and tutelage of master shamans. You are told, ‘You are special. Your abilities are very central to the health of our society. You will cure. You will prophesy. You will guide our society in its most fundamental decisions.” These societies draw upon thousands of years of sanctioned ritual. There is no such thing in our Western culture, one reason it is so uncommon to find people who recover from the type of spiritual illness I underwent.
I believe I am here to help change that.
In 2014, I returned to the office of the psychiatrist who diagnosed me. He told me he’d “never seen this happen,” never seen the type of recovery I had made. My condition has improved substantially since then. I live an abundant life full of enchantment. As much as it frightens me, I realize I have a duty to share what I did over the last eight years, to share the tools I used to recover. It is time for me to give voice to the “psychiatric sacred,” to become a spokesperson for the spiritually ill.
Read more: Schizophrenia: From Darkness to Recovery
I woke up one morning recently with an enthralling vision that told me to attend a year-long mentorship called the Earth Angels Program, taught by Samantha Fe, Shauna Grace, and Elsie Mendez. It’s a professional development coaching program geared toward increasing one’s intuitive abilities and developing a soul-centered business. It is led by three dynamic, successful, spiritual woman who understands the nuances of establishing a thriving, mindful, healing profession.
The Earth Angels Program will help me turn my passion for healing into a successful career. I will get further clarity on my purpose. I will develop business skills that will aid me as I spread this message. I will learn how to construct an online community using social media and technology shortcuts. I will further develop my intuitive and creative abilities. The cost of the program is $26,000. That is a drop in the bucket compared to the number of resources it took me to get to this point, as well as the number of resources it will take to change our cultural perception of “mental illness.”
But I need your help to do this. If you are compelled by my vision, please donate to my cause. Or simply share my story with someone else. Please reach out if you’re curious about the journey I’ve been on or if you feel like sharing part of yours. This thing is barely beginning. We each hold a piece of this mind-bending puzzle.
Carl Jung once said, “The reason for evil in the world is that people are not able to tell their stories.” I spent years pretending mine didn’t exist. Now, I see the world needs it, needs whatever will help remove the toxic narratives we inherited.
Go and tell your story.
