What an adventure! I feel such joy, gratitude, and humility standing before you today. It has been quite a journey getting to this place: perhaps a little like Alice in Wonderland falling through the rabbit hole, finding herself suddenly at CHI—or "God Camp," as I like to call it.
The underlying, driving force all along has been suffering itself (can anyone here relate to that?) and my longing to transcend it by nurturing an inner state of grace. Only in this way could I ever hope to meet the challenges of life with equanimity, graciousness, and compassion. Ultimately this is what I want to share with others as a spiritually-oriented psychiatrist.
Previously, you see, I was a pain addict, married to misery and almost proud of it; compelled like a harried hamster to spin tenaciously in circles forever, going nowhere, wallowing in suffering of all kinds, and armed with the self-righteous indignation that comes with identifying as the archetypal victim. After thirty-seven years of endless kinds of psychotherapies, I had become a veritable virtuoso on the subject of my own tragedies. I was dying to find a way out of the hell that I had created for myself.
So how, you might wonder, does one rise out of a living hell, both through and above the suffering of a wounded body and ego, and discover, at last, one's Higher Self? Well, at CHI I had an epiphany on this very subject! I suddenly realized that if one followed all the major religions beyond their different dogmas and cultural trimmings, down, down, down to their essential mystical essences, they all seemed to arrive at a common truth.
Whether one exalts in the whirling dances of the Sufi dervishes, studies the Jewish Kabbalstic Tree of Life, or surrenders to metaphysical Christ consciousness: at the core of each one is a sacred, psychological roadmap to the same hidden Holy Treasure. This is also the same pathway of the mythological Hero's Journey, in which each human has an opportunity to mature beyond her eco-centered self, rise up and face the dragons and giants along the way, and see these obstacles not as punishments from some wrathful deith, but as sacred opportunities to reach her fullest potential. At this point, the heroine is rewarded with the treasure chest, Holy Grail, prince (or perhaps princess), otherwise known as enlightenment. Moving through agony, she at last becomes ecstatic!!!!!
Listen, my friends, this journey of spiritual and psychological evolution is our greatest challenge and destiny as human beings. It is also, I believe, the hope and salvation, not only for our own species, but for our planet. May we see one another, at last, as parts of one single creative energy that delights in manifesting itself in infinite astonishing ways, each one a unique jewel on the same precious divine crown.
And may we all find the strength and courage to use life's hardships for this purpose, so that ultimately all the challenged beings of our world can thrive beautifully, and so that all the ridiculous wars can finally become obsolete forever, and hell at last turn to heaven—not somewhere later up in the sky, but here and now while we still live on this magnificent earth!! The time is now, and we can do it!!
May it be so, and God bless all of you!
