Diabetes as a "hero journey"

Share thoughts and ideas regarding what can be done to meet contemporary humanity's need for rites of initiation and passage.

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creekmary
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Post by creekmary »

Oh yea. It progresses. It can. It's got nothing to do necessarily with how good you are or not. It's the nature of the disease. Sometimes it will get to the point the insulin won't work. That's when you're headed for kidney failure and coma and so forth. I forget the term, when you have to cleanse your blood...dialysis! That's the word. That's when it gets bad. I've seen families go through that, and it's hard. Physically, emotionally, financially. There's a lot of that going on too.

Sounds like you're a long way from dialysis though. You've pulled yourself back from the needle and back on the diet phase. That's easy. Not that easy, but easier. Kinda like Jenny Craig with teeth. But if you've managed to do that, you've got it in you to maintain. You've already got that self control and determination.

Just another pain in the butt....lets you know you're alive.

Susan

cosmolew
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Post by cosmolew »

Facing the Abyss or Climax

Yes, the disease tends to progress. Mine did. As it progressed, diabetes brought me (at least figuratively) to another stage of the hero journey, an abyss or climax. It frequently happens when one encounters a dramatic event, packed with danger. Campbell explains that at this juncture, "The hero's ego is disintegrated in a breakthrough expansion of consciousness...the idea of reality is changed...the hero may find the ability to do new things or see a larger point of view."

Emergency hospitalization, surgery, dialysis or going on insulin for the first time might represent a climax in the journey.

An "awakening" or expansion of consciousness during such a climax is not automatic, but can occur under the right conditions. Emotional support and hopeful encouragement for the person facing a climax or abyss is vital to lessen or ward off depression. Sometimes, one truly sees the stars only when the sky is at its darkest. We have come face-to-face with our greatest fears--amputations, loss of vision, kidney failure, impotence, stroke, heart attack. These are the dragons that persons with diabetes face.

creekmary
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Post by creekmary »

I think it just brings you face to face with death. That happens all kinds of ways. My brother and father have both had to face death a couple of times running poachers off our land with loaded guns. Dad faced war.

I remember a scene in Clavel's Shogun, the English character was preparing for ritual suicide and was suddenly pulled from the brink. It described his clarity and calm and awareness of detail around him, his own heart beating, the stars above. Sort of a dissolution between "him" and "it". "It" was all "him", and vice-versa.\

I think an awareness of death does it. "The gift of another breath of life." Your next breath is a gift. Makes you face a lot of things, if you're inclined.

Susan

cosmolew
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Post by cosmolew »

Transformation and Revelation

Yes, the journey with diabetes may bring the person into an unknown territory, where the person comes face-to-face with her or his greatest fears of diabetic complications and even death itself. This is the abyss or climax stage of the hero journey.

But transformation and revelation are not automatic outcomes. A person still may choose to run away from fears, and block one's feelings to create a more comfortable zone of denial. To transform truly, one must learn somehow to "surrender" to these fears mindfully, with the clarity and calm of the character in Shogun. Fear must die to make way for heroic courage.

How is it that a person can be strengthened by an encounter with one's deepest fears? What are the conditions? Inspiration from other heros who faced their deepest fears might help a person prepare for just such an encounter.

Either the person with diabetes can learn to face and mindfully surrender to the greatest fears, or she or he may retreat to gain more strength to face these dragons another day.

creekmary
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Post by creekmary »

How can you be strengthened by encounters with your deepest fears? You can't overcome them if you don't encounter them.

Fears are crippling and rob you of your life because you don't live it fully, pulled short by fears. ("He has no fear!") Fears are sometimes self-imposed limitations. Start with little fears and face them. They will probably be easy to overcome. Self-examine to find out what your big fears really are, what is really behind them, and work your way up to them.

Examine your fears. Make them your friend. :lol:

"Know yourself"

Dying is probably the biggest fear. A friend who has died by drowning and came back isn't afraid. He knows what it's like. It isn't unknown any more.

Susan

cosmolew
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Post by cosmolew »

Revelation

If one faces squarely his or her fears as a person with diabetes, an inner transformation may take place. When my doctors told me that I should go on insulin, it took me another 6-8 months before I listened to their advice. I was running from my fear of death. I had a grandmother who was on insulin when she died, and wrongly associated insulin with a "death sentence." I sought out a therapist to help me face my fears. I wasn't able to do it alone. I needed a guardian. It turned out that, in my case, avoiding insulin was going to bring me closer to death. Insulin was going to help me live longer. Once I faced my fears and named them, I began to think more clearly. It was the beginning of a revelation for me that continues to this day.

cosmolew
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Post by cosmolew »

The Return

Some persons who have diabetes may discover the "inner gift" of the disease, and find a pathway to become stronger, healthier and more hopeful--in spite of the challenges. I'm not sure how rare or common this experience is. Through a spiraling journey, it is as though he or she becomes a new person. Here's where the mythic return comes to mind. Campbell characterizes the underlying message of the return: "...you've got to bring out again that which you went to recover, the unrealized, unutilized potential in yourself..."

The person with diabetes may now be ready to apply new and even radical treatment approaches in diet, medication or exercise that have profound effects on glucose control and weight loss. In his or her jubilation, however, the person may encounter a lack of support or understanding from others. Others might reject the message of finding new pathways to health. Nevertheless, the inspired and tested hero may now be able to share with other persons who have the disease the self-knowledge and mastery gleaned from the mythic journey.

cosmolew
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Post by cosmolew »

Being diagnosed with diabetes becomes a kind of rite of initiation for a person. The person who has diabetes suddenly or gradually becomes a "stranger in a strange land," where even food can appear in fearful or dangerous forms. Health professionals concentrate on what can be measured to assess their patient's condition. But the person's "inner world" cannot be comprehended by quantifying body mass, blood glucose and lipid levels, eating habits, excercise routine and alcohol and tobacco consumption. The person with diabetes enters on a new journey into this inner world, where their are few maps. It is this inner world of the person who lives with the disease that ultimately will determine his or her adherence to diet, exercise and self-care regimen.

The mythological hero journey may present an engaging, hopeful and motivating framework for some persons, particularly those who are having great difficulty managing the disease. The hero journey may be a universal map that a person (and his or her therapist) might use to explore the deeply personal features of this interior landscape.

cosmolew
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Post by cosmolew »

Questions

So what do you think?

Would using the hero journey be helpful for persons with diabetes or for those who support them? Currently, diabtes educators rely most on "Motivational Interviewing" to uncover, in a gradual, non-threatneing and non-judgemental way, what is really blocking the person from taking better care of himself or herself. Could using the hero's journey as a guide open a "Pandora's Box," and reveal too much at once for some persons?

creekmary
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Post by creekmary »

I think it would at the very least get people started on some inner exploration. I'm a big believer in the mind's power to make you sick or well. I don't think many people think like that, and I believe it can make an impact. I think a lot of people just live "on the surface" and don't go inside themselves very much. I do think it would at the very least be an introduction to self-examination, which could lead to behavior modification.

Susan

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Post by Neoplato »

I think it would at the very least get people started on some inner exploration. I'm a big believer in the mind's power to make you sick or well. I don't think many people think like that, and I believe it can make an impact. I think a lot of people just live "on the surface" and don't go inside themselves very much. I do think it would at the very least be an introduction to self-examination, which could lead to behavior modification.
I'm a firm believer that a healthy mind will lead to a healthy body. Considering that the body is nothing more than a form of energy, the ability to flow the energy in positive ways, should lead to more well being (IMHO).
Infinite moment, grants freedom of winter death, allows life to dawn.

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