House of Thrones or Game of Cards? Either way, dream show!

http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com

Bird of Sorrow

Even if a day feels to long 

You feel like you can wait another one 

And you've slowly given up on everything 

Love is gonna find you again 

Love is gonna find you, you better be ready then 

Well you been kneeling in the dark for far too long 

You've been waiting for that spark but it hasn't come 

I'm calling to you please get off the floor 

A good heart will find you again 

A good heart will find you just be ready then 

Tethered to a bird of sorrow 

A voice that's buried in the hollow 

You've given over to self-deceiving 

You prostrate bow but not believing 

You've squandered more than you could borrow 

You bet your joy on all tomorrows for the hope of some returning 

While everything around you is burning 

Come on we gotta get out get out of this mess we've made 

And still for all our talk we're both so afraid 

But will we leave this up to chance like we do everything 

Love is gonna find us again 

Love is gonna find us you gotta be ready then 

Tethered to a bird of sorrow 

A voice that's buried in the hollow 

You've given over the self- deceiving 

You prostrate bow but not believing 

You've squandered more than you could borrow 

You bet your joy on all tomorrows for the hope of some returning 

While everything around you is burning 

But I'm not leaving yet 

I'm not leaving yet 

I'm not leaving yet 

I'm not leaving yet 

Yeah I'm hanging on 

I'm hanging on 

Oh what's gonna come 

Oh I'm hangin on 

And the fateful 

with the faithful 

I'm hanging on 

The Pale Blue Dot - Carl Sagan

From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known, so far, to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com

A Thousand Kisses Deep - Redux

You came to me this morning 

and you handled me like meat

You would have to be a man to know how good that feels, 

how sweet

My mirrored twin, my next of kin, 

I'd know you in my sleep

And who but you would take me in 

a thousand kisses deep

I loved you when you opened 

like a Lilly to the heat

You see I'm just another snowman standing in the rain and sleet

Who loved you with his frozen love 

his secondhand physique

With all he is and all he was 

a thousand kisses deep

I know you had to lie to me, 

I know you had to cheat

To pose all hot and high behind the veils of pure deceit

Our perfect poor aristocrat 

so elegant and cheap

I'm old but I'm still into that 

a thousand kisses deep

I'm good at love, I'm good at hate 

it's in between I freeze

I've been working out but it's too late, 

it's been too late for years

But you look good, you really do, 

they love you on the street

If I could move I'd kneel for you 

a thousand kisses deep

The Autumn moved across your lips, 

I got something in my eye

A light that doesn't need to live and doesn't need to die

A riddle in the book of love 

obscure and obsolete

'til witnessed here in time and blood 

a thousand kisses deep

And I'm still working with the wine 

still dancing cheek to cheek

The band is playing Old Lang Syne but the heart will not retreat

I jammed with Dizz, I sang with Ray, 

I never had their sweep

But once or twice they let me play 

a thousand kisses deep

I loved you when you opened 

like a Lilly to the heat

You see I'm just another snowman, 

standing in the rain and sleet

Who loved you with his frozen love 

his secondhand physique

With all he is and all he was 

a thousand kisses deep

But you don't need to hear me now 

and every word I speak

Counts against me anyhow, 

a thousand kisses deep

A Thousand Kisses Deep - Leonard Cohen

1. You came to me this morning

And you handled me like meat.

You´d have to live alone to know

How good that feels, how sweet.

My mirror twin, my next of kin,

I´d know you in my sleep.

And who but you would take me in

A thousand kisses deep?

2. I loved you when you opened

Like a lily to the heat.

I´m just another snowman

Standing in the rain and sleet,

Who loved you with his frozen love

His second-hand physique -

With all he is, and all he was

A thousand kisses deep.

3. All soaked in sex, and pressed against

The limits of the sea:

I saw there were no oceans left

For scavengers like me.

We made it to the forward deck

I blessed our remnant fleet -

And then consented to be wrecked

A thousand kisses deep.

4. I know you had to lie to me,

I know you had to cheat.

But the Means no longer guarantee

The Virtue in Deceit.

That truth is bent, that beauty spent,

That style is obsolete -

Ever since the Holy Spirit went

A thousand kisses deep.

5. (So what about this Inner Light

That´s boundless and unique?

I´m slouching through another night

A thousand kisses deep.)

6. I´m turning tricks; I´m getting fixed,

I´m back on Boogie Street.

I tried to quit the business -

Hey, I´m lazy and I´m weak.

But sometimes when the night is slow,

The wretched and the meek,

We gather up our hearts and go

A thousand kisses deep.

7. (And fragrant is the thought of you,

The file on you complete -

Except what we forgot to do

A thousand kisses deep.)

8. The ponies run, the girls are young,

The odds are there to beat.

You win a while, and then it´s done -

Your little winning streak.

And summoned now to deal

With your invincible defeat,

You live your life as if it´s real

A thousand kisses deep.

9. (I jammed with Diz and Dante -

I did not have their sweep -

But once or twice, they let me play

A thousand kisses deep.)

10. And I´m still working with the wine,

Still dancing cheek to cheek.

The band is playing "Auld Lang Syne" -

The heart will not retreat.

And maybe I had miles to drive,

And promises to keep -

You ditch it all to stay alive

A thousand kisses deep.

11. And now you are the Angel Death

And now the Paraclete;

And now you are the Savior's Breath

And now the Belsen heap.

No turning from the threat of love,

No transcendental leap -

As witnessed here in time and blood

A thousand kisses deep.

September 21, 1998

Man In The Arena - Roosevelt

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat".

- "The Man in the Arena", a notable passage on page seven of the 35-page speech entitled Citizenship in a Republic given by the former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne in Paris, France on April 23, 1910.

Max Ehrmann - Desiderata

"Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy".

Max Ehrmann - Desiderata

If - Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too:

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;

If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same:.

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings,

And never breathe a word about your loss:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much:

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

Not the Wind, Not the Flag

Two monks were arguing about a flag. One said: "The flag is moving."

The other said: "The wind is moving."

The sixth patriarch happened to be passing by. He told them: "Not the wind, not the flag; mind is moving."

Mumon's comment: The sixth patriarch said: "The wind is not moving, the flag is not moving. Mind is moving." What did he mean? If you understand this intimately, you will see the two monks there trying to buy iron and gaining gold. The sixth patriarch could not bear to see those two dull heads, so he made such a bargain.

Wind, flag, mind moves,

The same understanding.

When the mouth opens

All are wrong.

Creativity

"It appears that creative individuals have a remarkable affinity for what in most of us is unconscious and preconscious ... to find hints of emerging form in the developmentally more primitive and less reasonable structured aspects of his own mental functions. ... The creative person is both more primitive and more cultivated, more destructive and more constructed, occasionally crazier and yet adamantly saner, than the average person."

- Frank Barron

http://geniusrevive.com/en/geniuses.html?pid=55&sid=474%3AFrank-Barron-Pioneer-in-the-Psychology-of-Creativity

Do the Work

Nice little reminder passage I read today. Although it's in the context of exercise training, it neatly applies across the board. Nothing you haven't heard before, but refreshing nonetheless.

On the far side of complexity, after all the tips, tricks and methods have lost their luster, there remains one blatant truth: Do the Work.

Simple, basic, actions repeated religiously is the non-secret to all success. Do the work until your own resistance breaks down, until you peel away enough layers of story and suffering to recognize that it is not work at all but an expression of joy, a transcendent love of life itself.

When the barbell squat, the biceps curl or the kettlebell swing transforms from agony to ecstasy, know you have arrived--or are on the path that can continue to evolve.

Houses and Books - William Morris

http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com

the crunch - Charles Bukowski

too much too little

too fat

too thin

or nobody. 

laughter or tears 

haters

lovers 

strangers with faces like

the backs of 

thumb tacks 

armies running through

streets of blood

waving winebottles

bayoneting and fucking

virgins. 

an old guy in a cheap room

with a photograph of M. Monroe. 

there is a loneliness in this world so great

that you can see it in the slow movement of

the hands of a clock 

people so tired

mutilated

either by love or no love. 

people just are not good to each other

one on one. 

the rich are not good to the rich

the poor are not good to the poor. 

we are afraid. 

our educational system tells us

that we can all be

big-ass winners 

it hasn't told us

about the gutters

or the suicides. 

or the terror of one person

aching in one place

alone 

untouched

unspoken to 

watering a plant. 

people are not good to each other.

people are not good to each other.

people are not good to each other. 

I suppose they never will be.

I don't ask them to be. 

but sometimes I think about 

it. 

the beads will swing

the clouds will cloud

and the killer will behead the child

like taking a bite out of an ice cream cone. 

too much

too little 

too fat

too thin

or nobody 

more haters than lovers. 

people are not good to each other.

perhaps if they were

our deaths would not be so sad. 

meanwhile I look at young girls

stems

flowers of chance. 

there must be a way. 

surely there must be a way that we have not yet

thought of. 

who put this brain inside of me? 

it cries

it demands

it says that there is a chance. 

it will not say "no." 

The Real Work

It may be that when we no longer

know what to do

we have come to our real work.

When we no longer know

which way to go

we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled

is not employed.

The impeded stream

is the one that sings.

Wendell Berry - (Collected Poems)

xx

http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com

No Walls

"They say there is a doorway from heart to heart, but what is the use of a door when there are no walls?"
— Rumi

http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com

Hannah Ardent's insight on gun violence (and perhaps a sneaky détournement of libertarian politics too?)...

This from a recent New York Times opinion:

"In her book "The Human Condition," the philosopher Hannah Arendt states that "violence is mute." According to Arendt, speech dominates and distinguishes the polis, the highest form of human association, which is devoted to the freedom and equality of its component members. Violence — and the threat of it — is a pre-political manner of communication and control, characteristic of undemocratic organizations and hierarchical relationships. For the ancient Athenians who practiced an incipient, albeit limited form of democracy (one that we surely aim to surpass), violence was characteristic of the master-slave relationship, not that of free citizens. Arendt offers two points that are salient to our thinking about guns: for one, they insert a hierarchy of some kind, but fundamental nonetheless, and thereby undermine equality. But furthermore, guns pose a monumental challenge to freedom, and particular, the liberty that is the hallmark of any democracy worthy of the name — that is, freedom of speech. Guns do communicate, after all, but in a way that is contrary to free speech aspirations: for, guns chasten speech".

Lines of Flight - Deleuze and Guattari

"This is how it should be done: Lodge yourself on a stratum, experiment with the opportunities it offers, find an advantageous place on it, find potential movements of deterritorialization, possible lines of flight, experience them, produce flow conjunctions here and there, try out continuums of intensities segment by segment, have a small plot of new land at all times. It is through a meticulous relation with the strata that one succeeds in freeing lines of flight..." 

As a Child Enters the World - John O'Donohue

As I enter my new family,

May they be delighted

At how their kindness

Comes into blossom.

Unknown to me and them,

May I be exactly the one

To restore in their forlorn places

New vitality and promise.

May the hearts of others

Hear again the music

In the lost echoes

Of their neglected wonder.

If my destiny is sheltered,

May the grace of this privilege

Reach and bless the other infants

Who are destined for torn places.

If my destiny is bleak,

May I find in myself

A secret stillness

And tranquility

Beneath the turmoil.

May my eyes never lose sight

Of why I have come here,

That I never be claimed

By the falsity of fear

Or eat the bread of bitterness.

In everything I do, think,

Feel, and say,

May I allow the light

Of the world I am leaving

To shine through and carry me home.

School of Life - Alain De Botton's Ten Virtures

I read these today on the wall for Melbourne's School of Life, and they struck me as incisive reflections on what can otherwise be kind of banal givens of good character and mature outlook these days. The freshness had me double-take, triple-take...

1.Resilience: Keeping going even when things are looking dark.

2.Empathy: The capacity to connect imaginatively with the sufferings and unique experiences of another person.

3.Patience: We should grow calmer and more forgiving by being more realistic about how things actually happen.

4.Sacrifice: We won't ever manage to raise a family, love someone else or save the planet if we don't keep up with the art of sacrifice.

5.Politeness: Politeness is closely linked to tolerance, the capacity to live alongside people whom one will never agree with, but at the same time, cannot avoid.

6.Humour: Like anger, humour springs from disappointment, but it is disappointment optimally channelled.

7.Self-awareness: To know oneself is to try not to blame others for one's troubles and moods; to have a sense of what's going on inside oneself, and what actually belongs to the world.

8.Forgiveness: It's recognising that living with others is not possible without excusing errors.

9.Hope: Pessimism is not necessarily deep, nor optimism shallow.

10.Confidence: Confidence is not arrogance - rather, it is based on a constant awareness of how short life is and how little we will ultimately lose from risking everything.

Khiḍr

Khiḍr is known as the “green prophet” or the ‘green one.” Khiḍr is said to appear to individuals and initiate them into the mystical path. While most people seek to learn religious truths from another human being– a master, guru, or teacher. Khiḍr would come in the form of illumination and initiate individuals directly into the deep truth. Cobb (1992) tells us “One’s Khiḍr is, for the Sufis, the angel of one’s being, the person-archetype who initiates into archetypal awareness, by instilling ‘an aptitude for theophanic vision’. Khiḍr frees the individual from literal religion and literal psychology.”

Carl Jung spoke of Khiḍr in The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. He tells a story of meeting a Sufi man in Kenya, who spoke of Khiḍr:

“During my trip through Kenya, the headman of our safari was a Somali who had been brought up in the Sufi faith. To him Khiḍr was in every way a living person, and he assured me that I, might at any time meet Khiḍr …He told me I might meet Khiḍr in the street in the shape of a man, or he might appear to me during the night as a pure white light, or-he smilingly picked a blade of grass-the Verdant One might even look like that.”

Khiḍr can be seen as an archetype of immanence. He is the “green one”, the “verdant one”. He is the divine as it appears within a blade of grass or within the mind of a mystic. Nothing is more simple than this and nothing is more profound; the divine is all around us and within us. Khiḍr is the angel of our being, awaiting to “initiate’ us into this simple and beautiful truth.

http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com

The Overview Effect - Former Astronauts Recounting Profound Worldview Shifts After Space Travel

On the 40th anniversary of the famous ‘Blue Marble’ photograph taken of Earth from space, Planetary Collective presents a short film documenting astronauts’ life-changing stories of seeing the Earth from the outside – a perspective-altering experience often described as the Overview Effect.

The Overview Effect, first described by author Frank White in 1987, is an experience that transforms astronauts’ perspective of the planet and mankind’s place upon it. Common features of the experience are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.

‘Overview’ is a short film that explores this phenomenon through interviews with five astronauts who have experienced the Overview Effect. The film also features insights from commentators and thinkers on the wider implications and importance of this understanding for society, and our relationship to the environment.




Main Links
Planetary Collective: planetarycollective.com/
Overview Microsite: overviewthemovie.com/
Human Suits (original score): humansuits.com/
The Overview Institute: overviewinstitute.org/
Fragile Oasis: fragileoasis.org/


Further Links
The Earth from Space:
First image of Earth from space (October 24th 1946):
- http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/FEATURE-FirstPhoto.html
- http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/08/the-first-image-of-earth-taken-from-space-its-not-what-you-think/260755/
Apollo 8 Earthrise photo (December 24th 1968):
- http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_102.html
Blue Marble photograph (December 27th 1972):
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Marble
Robert Poole’s ‘Earthrise’:
- http://www.earthrise.org/

Links related to the interviewees
The Overview Institute (Frank White / David Beaver):
- http://www.overviewinstitute.org/
Frank White’s book – The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution:
- http://tinyurl.com/ar6pevs
Fragile Oasis (Ron Garan / Nicole Stott):
- http://www.fragileoasis.org/
The Institute of Noetic Sciences (Edgar Mitchell):
- http://noetic.org/
David Loy:
- http://www.davidloy.org/

Planetary Collective
Homepage:
- http://www.planetarycollective.com/
‘Continuum’:
- http://www.planetarycollective.com/continuum/
Human Suits (original soundtrack):
- http://www.humansuits.com/
Download and listen to the original Overview score
- https://soundcloud.com/humansuits/sets/overview-ost


http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com

A Meta-Narrative of Spiritual Awakening - Christopher Bache

A Meta-Narrative of Spiritual Awakening

(excerpts from Christopher Bache, Dark Night, Early Dawn: Steps to a Deep Ecology of Mind).

The metanarrative of spiritual awakening must be broadened. Transpersonal thinkers must extend their analysis beyond individual persons and begin to address the larger systems that persons are part of. We must learn to think in terms of the encompassing patterns that emerge in transpersonal experience itself. We must find our way to a new vocabulary that allows us to describe the dynamic of spiritual awakening from the perspective of the unified reality that is awakening, while note losing sight of the individual. To address the issue of karma and the species-mind is, I hope, one step in this process.

Karma is the generic name given to the conditioning of our mind-stream, and I propose that we distinguish between the temporal and spatial aspects of this conditioning. For this purpose, let us think of ourselves as existing at the intersection of time and space, conditioned by forces that reach us through both these dimensions. Thought completely integrated in reality, they can be isolated conceptually in order to articulate more precisely our inner experience. Thus I will speak of the temporal and spatial vectors of our mind, by which I mean the temporal and spatial conditioning of our mindstream. "Mindstream" is itself a metaphor that reflects a bias toward the temporal vector, for the term emphasizes movement in time. The term "mindfield" might be a more suitable metaphor for the spatial vector as it suggests omnidirectional spatial extension.

I believe that most transpersonally informed persons today are reasonably familiar with the workings of the temporal vector of mind. Because of the growing acceptance of Eastern thought, many of us have grown accustomed to thinking of ourselves as life forms that exist across enormous tracts of time. Indeed, what most people mean by "karma" is precisely the conditioning that reaches us through the vector of time.

But there is a second mode of karmic conditioning that reaches us not through time but through space. To see it we need to look not "vertically" through time, but "horizontally" through space, at life as it is spread out around us. As we turn in this direction, we begin to recognize that our minds are part of an extended web or field of consciousness composed of all the beings who are simultaneously sharing this present moment. Less recognized than temporal karma, the karmic conditioning that reaches us through this spatial vector is just as real and just as important to understanding the human condition.

Another way to make the distinction between temporal and spatial karma is to say that the concept of the soul that often accompanies reincarnation theory, especially in popular thought, heals the fragmentation created by time but perpetuates the fragmentation created by space. With the concept of rebirth [or persistence of the soul] our sense of identity is enormously expanded in time, with our egoic identity yielding to an encompassing soul-identity that integrates all our incarnations. If we stop here, however, we will not have escaped the conditioning of spacetime. We will simply have taken the experience of spatial discreteness into transpersonal theory and created the myth of the individual soul, a temporally extended but spatially constricted reality. We will still be caught in the astral mirror that is simply reflecting back to us the spatial dualism of physical existence.

 

The Temporal Vector:

Whatever position we take toward future lives, as we open to the temporal depth of our being, we cannot help but become more sensitive to the paradoxical both/and quality of our present condition.  We are both our present incarnation and, in a less obvious but just as real sense, we are also the former lives that have given this life its shape and content. We are who our body and personal history tell us we are, and yet we are also more, because the significance of this body and its history only comes into view when we place it in the larger context of our extended existence. Our sense of identity thus stretches to include both these aspects of our being. our present form emerges out of the karmic momentum of our mindstream, which defines the challenges our life was designed to embody and which will receive our efforts when we are finished with this life.

Because of the both/and nature of our being, dialogue is the fundamental rhythm of our inner life. The more conscious we become of our historical depth, the more we begin to recognize that there is a subtle inner dialogue constantly taking place within us. This dialogue is the breathing in and breathing out of soul, a continuous trafficking between our present awareness and the historical depth of our being.

The more keenly we discern the depth of history behind our every thought, the more paradoxical becomes our immediate condition. Our distant past impinges continuously on our present. The less conscious we are of its influence, the more it tends to structure our awareness automatically. Conversely, the more conscious we are of it, the more a sense of dialogue replaces linear conditioning, opening the way to the exercise of greater freedom in the present. Dialogue encourages communication, differentiation, integration, and greater freedom of choice. Attending carefully to our stream of consciousness sets in motion a process that slowly frees us from blindly repeating the patterns of the past.

In general, then, learning to live consciously in a reincarnating universe involves opening to a multitiered sense of identity that develops into a temporally expanded sense of self. The words "I" and "my" begin to take on an expanded temporal reference as we stretch language to describe the multiple levels found to be operating within our moment to moment experience. Careful distinctions between the present personality and the temporally encompassing soul-identity allow us to articulate inner processes so subtle as to usually escape detection. All the while our sense of identity is becoming increasingly porous. It does not become mushy or lose its shape, but rather is experienced as a transparent reality in continuous exchange with a larger field of awareness created by previous life experiences. As our sensitivity to this exchange increases, our basic sense of identity shifts, becoming progressively deeper. While the danger of ego-inflation is always present, the ego claiming more and more experiences as its own, this is transpersonal pathology pure and simple. When contract with one's deeper path is healthily integrated, the ego is deflated, not inflated, because things that we had initially thought of as being "me" are now recognized as being merely a karmic inheritance. As with inherited money, it would be foolish to mistake our inherited traits as personal accomplishments, however much we are entitled to enjoy them. Rather than grow larger, our sense of self becomes "lighter."

In this way, reincarnation deepens our sense of identity by shattering the temporal boundaries of the self, and yet there is a distinct narrowness to this self. In this model, one's karmic lineage is the trajectory of a single entity moving in and out of time. If there were a dozen people in a room, there would be twelve distinct lineages present, perhaps intersecting at different points in history but always representing the evolutionary development of twelve separate beings. The concept of  rebirth opens us to our historical depth, but to the extent that the reincarnating soul remains a solitary individual, it remains inevitably a small thing. However hoary with age the soul may be, it is a cell devoid of a larger organ.

 

The  Spatial Vector:

Thus we make the transition to the spatial vector, but this transition has not been easy for me personally to make. The habits of atomistic thinking were so deeply ingrained in me that when I first tried to describe the spatial vector of karma, I found it difficult even to say the words. It kept feeling as though I were speaking either heresy or sheer confusion. As we let go and experientially open to the spatial breadth of our being, a breadth that includes everything that we see around us, it feels like we are shattering out last piece of privacy. It is one thing to open to time which we can't see, but another thing entirely to open to the full complexity of space which we can see. At least the concepts of reincarnation and personal karma allow us the privacy of individual progress. If we open to the whole of humanity, it initially seems that we will lose ourselves entirely in the developmental currents of our species.

And yet something like this surrender is demanded by the collective experiences that regularly emerge in [non-ordinary] states. Long before it is extinguished in Causal Oneness, the ontologically separate self is challenged by being repeatedly immersed in many permutations of collective awareness … . What needs to be emphasized here is that these collective or transpatial experiences are not simply temporary states but rather are profound encounters with the being one always is. These glimpses awaken us to the larger being we are at this and every moment. After the shock wears off that contact with such collective fields or awareness is possible, the greater shock settles in as we realize that this contract is taking place continuously beneath our conscious awareness. The interlaced quality of our existence may move in and out of our attention, but it never ceases for a moment to be our functioning reality.

We can begin our exploration of the spatial dimension of karma by expanding the earlier picture of the temporal vector. Now the vertical line of time is intersected by the horizontal line of space. The dots of our past and future lives are now complemented by dots representing other members of our species, sharing the present moment (and by extension other life forms as well). The lines of causal influence that enter our present awareness through time are now complemented by lines of influence that reach us through space, from the human species as a whole and from specific subgroups to which we are particularly connected. When one's present awareness is penetrated deeply in [non-ordinary] states, both these vectors of influence eventually come into view and are seen to contribute to our moment-to-moment awareness. Similarly, by reversing these arrows, we can represent the continuous flow of the karmic effects of our individual decision-making back into these fields.

The same both/and quality that we saw operating in the temporal vector of mind also characterizes the spatial vector. The same dialectic, the same intimate and subtle dialogue between our present consciousness and a deeper subjective ground emerges. now, however, the dialogue is taking place not between the individual and his or her former lives but between the individual and the species. The expansion of one's sense of identity beyond egoic time into deep time repeats itself in the expansion of one's sense of identity beyond egoic space into deep space of the species-mind. As we come to recognize the subtle patterns of interaction constantly taking place between ourselves and our kind, our sense of self again becomes more porous, but in a different direction. Our individuality does not become mushy, but rather transparent to the vast and subtle field of the species-[body]-mind, and what lies beyond the species [body]-mind. And of course, this does not stop with our species, but extends to include the entire cosmological life process and all the life forms it has birthed.

It is not just experiencing the species-mind from many different angles that forces one to redraw the boundaries of one's identity, but experiencing the detail of one's placement in that mind and the precise and subtle ways that one's individual life reflects this larger field. The conventional exposition of karma emphasizes individual agency exercised over time. It stresses the fact that our present form emerges causally our of our deep past and that we alone are responsible for our condition. By emphasizing the temporal vector and individual agency, however, this account leaves out of the picture and equally important facet of karma, namely, that our individual choices take place within and reflect the general condition of the species-mind as well.

Our choices derive from and feed back into not only our individual soul's evolutionary trajectory, but the evolutionary trajectory of our species via Shedrake's principle of formative causation. The evolution of the individual is part and parcel of the evolution of the group and cannot be meaningfully isolated from it. Though we can appreciate the pastoral intent of spiritual traditions that emphasize individual responsibility and the refining fo individual capacity over time, we must also recognize the imbalance created by any presentation of cause and effect that diminishes the lateral web of causal relationships that weave all of us into an integrated whole. A more rounded discussion of karma will seek to remove this imbalance by emphasizing the intimate participation of the species in the life of the individual, and the individual in the life of the species.

The karmic challenges we face and the blessings we inherit can be described from within both the temporal and spatial frames of reference, for these two perspectives are complementary. If described within the temporal frame of reference, the story of karma is one in which the individual inherits and advances the derivatives of choices made in his or her previous lifetimes. If described within the spatial frame of reference, however, the story becomes the story of the individual inheriting and advancing the derivatives of his or her species' previous choices. Viewed from this perspective, the individual appears to be a distillation of collective karmic currents. this is not an either/or choice, for both these perspectives are true. The collective norms of the group become the karmic context of our individual decision-making. The species-mind is the matrix within which our individualized agendas unfold. As karmic cause and effect crystallize in our lives, therefore, it can be as seen as being both individual and collective, as simultaneously reflecting both the temporal and spatial dimensions of mind. Similarly, our responses to our karmic challenges generate an energy which flows into both vectors, echoing through time and space, affecting both our individual future and the future of our species.

Rilke - The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge

It is ridiculous. Here I sit in my little room, I, Brigge, who have grown to be twenty-eight years old and of whom no one knows. I sit here and am nothing. And nevertheless this nothing begins to think and thinks, five flights up, on a grey Parisian afternoon, these thoughts:

Is it possible, it thinks, that one has not yet seen, known and said anything real or important? Is it possible that one has had millennia of time to observe, reflect and note down, and that one has let those millennia slip away like a recess interval at school in which one eats one's sandwich and an apple?

Yes, it is possible.

Is it possible that despite discoveries and progress, despite culture, religion and world-wisdom, one has remained on the surface of life? Is it possible that one has even covered this surface, which might still have been something, with and incredibly uninteresting stuff which makes it look like the drawing-room furniture during summer holidays?

Yes, it is possible.

Is it possible that the whole history of the world has been misunderstood? Is it possible that the past is false, because one has always spoken of its masses just as though one were telling of a coming together of many human beings, instead of speaking of the individual around whom they stood because he was a stranger and was dying?

Yes, it is possible.

Is it possible that one believed it necessary to retrieve what happened before one was born? Is it possible that one would have to remind every individual that he is indeed sprung from all who have gone before, has known this therefore and should not let himself be persuaded by others who knew otherwise?

Yes, it is possible.

Is it possible that all these people know with perfect accuracy a past that has never existed? Is it possible that all realities are nothing to them; that their life is running down, unconnected with anything, like a clock in an empty room – ?

Yes, it is possible.

Is it possible that one know nothing of young girls, who nevertheless live? Is it possible that one says "women", "children", "boys", not guessing (despite all one's cultural, not guessing) that these words have long since had no plural, but only countless singulars?

Yes, it is possible.

Is it possible that there are people who say "God" and mean that this is something they have in common? – Just take a couple of schoolboys: one buys a pocket knife and his companion buys another exactly like it on the same day. And after a week they compare knives and it turns out that there is now only a very distant resemblance between the two—so differently have they developed in different hands. ("Well", says the mother of one, "if you always must wear everything out immediately__ ") Ah, so: Is it possible to believe one could have a God without using him?

Yes it is possible.

But if all this is possible—has even no more than a semblance of possibility—then surely, for all the world's sake, something must happen. The first comer, he who has had this disturbing thought, must begin to do some of the the things that have been neglected; even if he is just anybody, by no means the most suitable person: there is no one else at hand. This young, insignificant foreigner, Brigge, will have to sit down in his room five flights up and write, day and night: yes he will have to write; that is how it will end.

- Rilke - The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge

The Secrets - Samantha Reynolds

I whisper nonsense

into your feet

and it makes you laugh

so that you can barely stand it

but you kick at the air again

wanting more.

They say you won't remember this

but the mind is not the only scribe

I tell your feet to hold onto these kisses

same with your belly

and the fattest spot on your cheeks

just in case there comes a day

when you are older

when you are hurting

your limbs will release the secrets

I buried into them

and you will wonder

why you suddenly feel

so strong.


(a personal gift for Leo from Thomas Arthur).

Pablo

http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com

.

http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com

Ontic and Epistemic Fallacies

"In the epistemic fallacy, statements about being are to be interpreted as statements about knowledge. Basically, being is understood as perceived being, something that is unperceived being a thing-in-itself at best (and neither real nor actual at worst). In the ontic fallacy, knowledge is analyzed as a direct, unmediated relation between a subject and being. The ontic fallacy ignores the cognitive and social mechanisms by which knowledge is produced from antecedent knowledge, leaving an ontology of empirical knowledge events (raw perceptions) and a de-socialized epistemology.

Bhaskar sees a close relation between these two fallacies, especially in relation to classical empiricism. The epistemic fallacy first projects the external world onto a subjective phenomenal map, then the ontic fallacy projects the phenomenal entities of that subjective map back out on the world as objective sense data, of which we have direct perceptual knowledge. So reality independent of thought is first subjectified, then the subjectified elements are objectified to explain and justify our knowledge".

Louis Irwin, from an entry on Epistemic and Ontic Fallacies in the online Critical Realism database: www.criticalrealism.com

Along the run... Existential Phenomenological Ontology

A point in reclaiming the existstential dilemma at the level of the phenomenology of being. Seemed to have wound up around this point, rather than through it. Cheers Spark Notes! :-)

"To escape its own nothingness, the for-itself strives to absorb the in-itself, or even, in more profane terms, to consume it. Ultimately, however, the in-itself can never be possessed. Just as the for-itself will never realize the union of for-itself and in-itself, neither will it succeed in apprehending or devouring the alien object. Thus, at the summation of Sartre's polemic, an incredible sense of hopelessness dominates the discussion: I am a nothingness, a lack, dehumanized by the other and deceived even by myself. Yet, as Sartre continually emphasizes, I am free, I am transcendent, I am consciousness, and I make the world. 

How to reconcile these two ostensibly unreconcilable descriptions of human ontology is a question Sartre does not attempt to definitively answer. This avoidance of reaching a definitive point of philosophic conclusion is in many ways intentional, however, in keeping with both Sartre's personal style and the existentialist maxim that there are no theories that can make a claim to universality".

Beyond

"…it is possible that there are situations that exist beyond your logic, beyond your system of thinking. That is not an impossibility. In fact it is quite possible."

—Chögyam Trungpa

Bhairava Tantra

"If your own mind-itself, the root of all phenomena,

Is not realized,

Even if you train well in hearing, thinking, and meditating,

The result will not be achieved.

You will be like a blind man without a guide.

So realize your own mind."

—The Glorious Bhairava Tantra (translated by B. Alan Wallace)

Nature as Self and Societal Shadow

"The deeper layers of the psyche lose their individual uniqueness as they retreat farther into the darkness... Here they become increasingly collective until they are universalized, merging with the body's instinctual and biological functions and eventually with nature itself" 

- Carl Jung

(via Bonnitta Roy). 

(hello) cloud mountain - sleepmakeswaves

Emerson

http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com

Key factors impacting on the mental health and well-being of refugees and asylum seekers in the resettlement context. - Luke Fullagar

Key factors impacting on the mental health and well-being of refugees and asylum seekers in the resettlement context.

Luke Fullagar

RMIT University 

 

Both refugees and asylum seekers in the resettlement context encounter a complex array of pre- and post-displacement factors that coalesce to affect their mental health and well-being (Porter & Haslam, 2005; Fernando, Miller & Berger, 2010).  Contemporary psychological research has sought to integrate an understanding of the range of crisis-related and daily stressors refugees and asylum seekers encounter at each stage in their journey toward safe and just living conditions (Miller & Rassmussen, 2010), and to study both the direct of these stressors as well as their unique interaction effects (Fernando, Miller & Berger, 2010). 

Early trauma-focused research assumed refugee psychopathology to directly result from pre-displacement exposure to pervasive, organised violence and persecution (Porter & Haslam, 2005). While accounting for a significant proportion of psychopathology and diminished well-being in a swathe of studies (e.g. Fox & Tang, 2000; Lopes Cardozo, et al., 2004; Neuner, Karunakara & Elbert, 2004), this direct-effects model has nevertheless been challenged by large variances in the degree to which disaster-related exposure accounts for PTSD symptom levels (3% to 99%) and depression symptom levels (3% to 86%) (Silove, 2009). While it is clear that pre-migration stress and trauma makes an important contribution to diminished mental health and well-being in refugee and asylum seeker populations, these results have prompted critiques that the direct-effects trauma-focussed model fails to adequately account for all dimensions of the refugee experience, typified by a diversity of persistent events across manifold dimensions of experience and which accumulate over pre-flight, flight, exile and resettlement situations (Porter & Haslam, 2005; Martin, 1994).

Counterbalancing the direct-effects model, psychosocial frameworks have sought to additionally offer perspectives on the contribution of 'daily' stressors that endure post-displacement (Miller & Rassmussen, 2010). These stressors include: in the pre-arrival phase; dangerous flight (e.g. dangerous terrain in unroadworthy vehicles or unseaworthy vessels), unsanitary temporary settlements, exposure to disease and poor access to healthcare, and the absence of privacy; and in the post-arrival phase; marginalisation, racism, socioeconomic disparity and disadvantage, inadequate housing, restrictions to labour market participation and access to capital, acculturation challenges including language inadequacies, loss of social and cultural supports, family disruption, isolation and separation anxieties, diminished social status, and cultural bereavement for loss of one's identified culture of origin (Eisenbruch, 1991; Porter & Haslam, 2005; Coffey, Kaplan, Sampson & Tucci, 2010; Sztompka, 2000; Silove, 1999; Birman et al., 2005).  In the Australian setting, these 'daily' stressors can also accumulate in long-term immigration detention – a situation which has been shown to participate in inducing and exacerbating extant distress, including depression, anxiety, demoralisation, low-concentration and memory disturbances (Coffey, Kaplan, Sampson & Tucci, 2010).  

Contemporary studies which have added these post-displacement concerns to pre-displacement trauma-exposure have repeatedly found that post-migration stressors account for equal, and at times greater, variance in depression; and significant, yet typically lesser, variance in PTSD symptoms (Ellis, MacDonald, Lincoln & Cabral, 2008; Gorst-Unsworth & Goldenberg, 1998; Montgomery, 2008; Miller & Rassumssen, 2010; cf Panter-Brick, et al., 2008). Moreover, these effects have been shown to interact – for example, in a study of Darfur refugees residing in Chad (Rassmussen et al., 2010), daily stressors of lacking basic needs and safety fully mediated the relationship between crisis-exposure and PTSD, and perceived safety mediated the relationship between crisis-exposure and functional impairment. In a study of internally displaced Sri-Lankans, (Fernando, Miller & Berger, 2010), evidence for a three-way mediation model was advanced – demonstrating direct effects of crisis-trauma on psychopathology, partial mediation whereby acute 'daily' stressors implicated in psychopathogy were exacerbated by crises, and further, a direct effect of daily stressors unrelated to the relevant crisis – together suggesting a complex arrangement of direct and interactional effects between crises and daily stressors which demand a multimodal treatment approach.

Taken together, the above trauma-focussed and psychosocial results also suggest that post-traumatic stress, while to be taken seriously, is not in all cases a predominant, or perhaps even inevitable, consequence of acute exposure to humanitarian crises, and that material and psychosocial support to remediate acute daily stressors may significantly assist resilient individuals regain psychological equilibrium in due course (Foa & Rothbaum, 2001; Bonanno, 2004; Miller & Rassumssen, 2010).  This has been used to inform integrated psychological therapies, and should inform future research in both repatriation and resettlement contexts (Miller & Rassumssen, 2010). Moreover, the role of material support, from government or private-sector social programs should not be underestimated in the design of integrated social policies complimenting these contemporary therapies. Indeed, Porter & Haslam's (2005) meta-analysis highlighted that in addition to personal factors, post-displacement material conditions moderated mental health outcomes, and that materially secure conditions, exemplified by permanent individual accommodation and economic opportunities, were significantly positively associated with enhanced psychological outcomes. Trans-disciplinary research into the psychological correlates of these sociological issues will remain a fruitful line of inquiry into key factors impacting refugees and asylum seeker mental health and well-being.

 

References

Birman, D., Ho, J., Pulley, E., Batia, K., Everson, M. L., Ellis, H., et al. (2005). Mental health interventions for refugee children in resettlement: white paper II. National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Retrieved on 20 October, 2012, from http://www.nctsnet.org/nctsn_assets/pdfs/promising_practices/ MH_Interventions_for_Refugee_Children.pdf. 

Bonanno, G. (2004). Loss, trauma, and human resilience: have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events? American Psychologist, 59, 202–208. 

Coffey, G., Kaplan, I., Sampson, R. & Tucci, M. (2010) 'The meaning and consequences of long-term immigration detention for people seeking asylum'. Social Sciences Australia, 70(12), 2070-2079.

Ellis, H., MacDonald, H., Lincoln, A., & Cabral, H. (2008). Mental health of Somali adolescent refugees: the role of trauma, stress, and perceived discrimination. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76, 184–193.

Eisenbruch M. (1991). From post-traumatic stress disorder to cultural bereavement: diagnosis of Southeast Asian refugees. Social Science and Medicine. 33, 673-679

Fernando, G., Miller, K., & Berger, D. (2010). Growing pains: the impact of disaster-relted and daily stressors on the psychological and psychosocial functioning of youth in Sri-Lanka. Child Development, 81(4), 1192-1210.

Foa, E., & Rothbaum, B. (2001). Treating the trauma of rape. New York: The Guildford Press.

Fox, S., & Tang, S. (2000). The Sierra Leonean refugee experience: traumatic events and psychiatric sequelae. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 188, 490–495. 

Gorst-Unsworth, C., & Goldenberg, E. (1998). Psychological sequelae of torture and organized violence suffered by refugees from Iraq: trauma-related factors compared with social factors in exile. British Journal of Psychiatry, 172, 90–94.

Lopes Cardozo, B., Bilukha, O., Gotway Crawford, C., Shaikh, I., Wolfe, M., Gerber, M., et al. (2004). Mental health, social functioning, and disability in postwar Afghanistan. Journal of the American Medical Association, 292, 575–584.

Martin, S.F. A policy perspective on the mental health and psychosocial needs of refugees. In: Marsella, A.J., Bornemann, T.H., Ekblad, S., Orley, J., eds. Amidst Peril and Pain: The Mental Health and Well-Being of the World's Refugees. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 1994: pp 69-80.

Miller, K.E., & Rassumussen, A. (2010). War exposure, daily stressors and mental health in conflict and post-conflict settings: bridging the divide between trauma-focussed and psychosocial frameworks. Social Science and Medicine, 70, 7-16.

Montgomery, E. (2008). Long-term effects of organized violence on young Middle Eastern refugees' mental health. Social Science & Medicine, 67, 1596–1603.

Neuner, F., Karunakara, U., & Elbert, T. (2004). A comparison of narrative exposure therapy, supportive counseling, and psychoeducation for treating posttraumatic stress disorder in an African refugee settlement. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72, 579–587.

Panter-Brick, C., Eggerman, M., Mojadidi, A., & McDade, T. (2008). Social stressors, mental health, and physiological stress in an urban elite of young Afghans in Kabul. American Journal of Human Biology, 20, 627–641.

Porter, M. & Haslam, N. (2005). Predisplacment and postdisplacement factors associated with mental health of refugees and internally displaced persons. Journal of the American Medical Association. 294, 602-612.

Rasmussen, A., Nguyen, L., Wilkinson, J., Vundla, S., Raghavan, S., Miller, K.E., & Keller, A.S. (2010). Rates and impact of trauma and current stressors among Darfuri refugees in Eastern Chad. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 80(2), 227-236.

Silove, D. (1999). The psychosocial effects of torture, mass human rights violations, and refugee trauma. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 187, 200–207. 

Sztompka, P. (2000) 'Cultural Trauma: The Other Face of Social Change', The European Journal of Social Theory, 4, 449-466

Early Monitoring of Prodromal Symptoms in Bipolar Disorder

Early Monitoring of Prodromal Symptoms in Bipolar Disorder

Luke Fullagar

RMIT University

Early monitoring of prodromal symptoms has been included in numerous efficacious adjunctive psychosocial approaches to the treatment of bipolar disorders (e.g.  Family Focused Treatment (FFT) (Simoneau et al., 1999); Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) (Lam et al., 2000) (in both one-on-one (Lam et al., 2000; 2003; 2005) and group settings (Castle et al., 1997)); Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy (IPSRT) (Frank et al., 1999); and Psychoeducation (Colom et al., 2003).

Prodromal symptoms emerge during the time between when symptoms are first recognised and when they reach an apex of severity (Molinar et al., 1988).  Because bipolar disorders involve a characteristic fluctuation in mood, behavior, and cognition, detecting and managing these symptoms during the early prodromal phase is critical and has been shown to assist in both preventing and reducing the severity of bipolar episodes (Joyce, 1985; Perry et al., 1999).  Moreover, psychosocial interventions that include early symptom monitoring have also been shown to positively assist in: relapse prevention, increasing time to relapse, decreasing rate of hospitalisation, lowering symptom severity and episode length, and enhancing quality of life (Gitlin et al., 1995; Lam et al., 2003; Morriss et al., 2002; Scott et al., 2001).

Patients with chronic conditions including bipolar disorders report a need for both self-help and psychosocial treatments in conjunction with pharmacotherapy (Hill, Hardy & Shepard, 1996; Lish et al., 1994), in which they are an active partner in the management of their condition. Psychosocial interventions that include early monitoring of prodromal symptoms meet this need by assisting patients to become aware of symptomatic changes in mood, cognition and behavior; to categorise these symptoms and processes with their clinicians and to use this information and skill set to develop coping strategies for prodromal symptoms (e.g. strategic and responsive lifestyle alterations, behavioral modification or seeking assistance) (Lam et al., 1999).  Research has demonstrated that patients with bipolar disorders can effectively recognise and report prodromal symptoms of a behavioral, mood and cognitive nature (Lam et al., 2001; Mantere et al., 2008) and can distinguish between both elevated and depressed symptoms (Jackson et al., 2003) – findings which lend weight to the appropriateness of this approach in treating bipolar patients in active and remission phases.

The Early Symptom Monitoring Inventory provides a simple, low time investment method for patients to report daily mood states (both high and low, and with a measure of severity) and critical preventative behaviors (sleep, exercise, medication adherence and existence of life stress). It is tailored to be a general inventory, and is therefore able to be usilied in any of the relevant therapies noted above where early monitoring of prodromal symptoms is prescribed by the treating clinician.

Why complete the Early Symptom Monitoring Inventory (ESMI)?

Early symptom monitoring and management is an important part of many collaborative psychological treatments for bipolar disorders. It has been shown to be beneficial in preventing relapse.

Bipolar symptoms fluctuate, and early recognition of their direction, their severity, their cycle and their relationship to other factors like medication levels and life stress, is essential in accurately diagnosing and successfully treating the disorder.  

Regularly completing the ESMI lets you monitor your symptoms and warning signs over time. The ESMI collates daily information of your moods, medication, sleep patterns and stressful events, and produces a chart which you and your clinician can use to monitor whether you are recovering or whether you are experiencing a worsening of symptoms which require early action to reduce the chance of relapse.  Attempting to remember this information over time can be difficult, and especially when you are unwell. Understanding this information can help you see important relationships and patterns that could otherwise be undetected.

How do I complete the ESMI?

The ESMI is conveniently contains a whole month on one sheet.  You can print it out and complete by hand, or complete the file electronically.

After entering your name and the relevant month and year, complete the form each day as follows:

• Mood: At the same time each day tick the column for that day twice – one for the highest elevation of mood, and one for the lowest dip in mood for that day. 

o If you experienced a particular symptom you believe important to record in detail, additionally enter the date and details of that symptom in the Detailed Notes sheet.

• Sleep: At the same time each day enter the length of time you slept in that day in hours. 

• Medication: 

o Medication Name: Enter the name of each of your medications at each line in the document provided.

o Daily Medication Dose Taken: At the same time each day enter in the column for that day the dose in mg of the medication you have used.

• Stressful Life Event: If you have experienced a stressful life event in a particular day, tick the box for that day, and then enter the date and details of that event in the Detailed Notes sheet.

• Exercise: At the same time each day tick the column for that day if you have exercised in a way that you believe reflects the exercise discussed in your treatment sessions.

What should I do if I notice an increase in symptom severity?

To ensure the best chances of avoiding relapse, it is important that you contact people in your designated support network and your psychologist if you notice any increase in symptom severity.

References

Castle, D., Berk, M., Berk, L., Lauder, S., Chamberlain, J. & Gilbert, M. (2007).

Pilot of group intervention for bipolar disorder. International Journal of Psychiatry in

Clinical Practice, 11 (4), 279-284.

Colom, F., Vieta, E., Reinares, M., Marinez-Aran, Torrent, C., Goikolea, J.M. &

Frank, E., Swartz, H.A. & Kupfer, D.J. (1999).  Interpersonal and Social Rhythm

therapy: managing the chaos of bipolar disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 48 (6), 593-60

Gasto, C. (2003). Psychoeducation efficacy in bipolar disorders: Beyond compliance

enhancement. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 64 (9), 1101- 110

Gitlin,  M.J.,  Swendsen,  J.,  Heller,  T.L.  &  Hammen,  C.  (1995).  Relapse  and

impairment in bipolar disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry. 152, 1635-1640.

Hill, R., Hardy, P. & Shepherd, G. (1996). Perspectives on manic depression: A

survey of the manic depression fellowship. London: The Sainsbury Centre  for Mental

Health.

Jackson, A., Cavanagh, J. & Scott, J. (2003). A systematic review of manic and

depressive prodromes. Journal of Affective Disorders, 74, 209-217.

Joyce, P.R.  (1985).  Illness behaviour and  rehospitalisation in bipolar affective

disorder. Psychological Medicine, 15, 521-525.

Lam, D.H., Jones, S.H., Hayward, P. & Bright, J.A.  (1999). Cognitive therapy

for bipolar disorder: A therapist's guide to concepts, methods & practice. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Chichester.

Lam, D.H., Bright, J., Jones, S., Hayward, P., Schuck, N., Chisholm, D. & Sham,

P.  (2000). Cognitive therapy  for bipolar illness – A pilot study of  relapse prevention.

Cognitive Therapy and Research, 24 (5), 503-520.

Lam, D.H., Watkins, E.R., Hayward, P., Bright, J., Wright, K., Kerr, N. et al.

(2003). A randomized controlled study of cognitive therapy for relapse prevention for

bipolar affective disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 145- 15.

Lam,  D.H.,  Hayward,  P.,  Watkins,  E.R.,  Wright,  B.A.,  &  Sham,  P.  (2005).

Relapse prevention in patients with bipolar disorder: Cognitive therapy outcome after 2 years. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162 (2), 324-329.

Lish,  J.D.,  Dime-Meenan,  S.,  Whybrow,  P.C.,  Price,  R.A.,  Hirshfield,  R.M.

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