In Part One, Sadhguru examines the roots of mental illness. In Part Two below, read more as Sadhguru describes how we can structure our atmosphere and society towards health.
Structuring a Society of Heath
Sadhguru: We need to build structures in society where the margin for mental illness is very low. Why I go back pining for the culture that existed in this land is because about 200 to 300 years ago, there were hardly any mentally ill people in this country simply because of certain structures in the society. Slowly, without awareness, we are pulling it down. Today, even in villages, there are psychologically broken people, which was never so in the past. If it happened, it was an extremely negligible percentage of people. The percentage is increasing. You can distinctly see that in so-called “affluent” societies, the percentage is becoming quite high. This is because a human being is a social animal unless he transcends certain things. Either we should work for transcendence or we should create a society which is supportive, which is not demanding. Right now, the social structures that we have created are horribly demanding.
This is happening to urban India, but it has happened even more so in the West. If you want to live in America, even if you fast for the next 30 days, your bills will still add up to 3,000 dollars. The society is structured in such a way that it is very demanding on the individual person – someone cannot take a break and just sit down. Not everyone may be capable of continually being on. A whole lot of people need to withdraw from certain things. If there is sufficient sadhana in their life, then you can drive them 24 hours, 365 days because life is brief and we don’t want to sit back. But if there is no sadhana, it is very important that people have space and time.
We have created societies which are a constant challenge to live in, always in a mode of competition. There is something called “fight and flight” response within the human being. Irresponsibly, people are using the words, “I like the adrenaline.” You do not understand what adrenaline is. Adrenaline is an emergency device in the system. If a tiger comes at you, adrenaline pumps so that you can escape. But if you simply pump adrenaline and go walking in New York City, you will burst. You are not supposed to be in that state all the time. If you do not die, you will break.
Our education systems are horribly demanding. Not everyone is geared for it. For someone, it may be a cakewalk. For somebody else, they may read one sentence 25 times and not get it, but they may be capable of doing something else. “No, we don’t allow them to do something else. They must do this first.” There are so many horribly cruel structures – these are not structures for the well-being of the human being. We are trying to manufacture cogs for a larger machine we have built. We want the machine to live; we do not care what happens to the individual human being. We need to produce parts for that big machine we have built which is fake; it may collapse any time. If you are not made of the material to make a proper part for that big machine, you will break in so many ways.
A Space for Nurture
A human being needs a certain level of psychological, emotional, and physical space, and a certain atmosphere for him to be nurtured. Those atmospheres are missing right from day one; even an infant is not getting it anymore. There was a time when the mother held the infant to her breast and was not bothered by the time. Now she looks at her watch, “Why don’t you drink fast? I have to go!” One week after her delivery, she is back in the workspace. I am not saying women should not work. I am saying human beings should live well. If human beings have to live well, there are certain inner realities. A child should grow up without concern about what will happen to him. But from the first day of school, he is worried about getting two marks less than the neighbor’s child. This is all rubbish. This will destroy human beings and we think this is performance, well-being and efficiency – no. If you break the human being, what is the purpose of the rubbish that you have created?
There are some who have come with pathological situations within themselves which may naturally occur, but that is a small percentage. We are responsible for breaking the rest of them. But what is the way out for the person who is already there? If they have crossed a certain line, medicine is a must. Over a period of time, if we work with some sadhana in parallel, it could work better; the dependence on the chemical medicine could be lowered.
Above all, each individual is not the same in the body, and even more so in the mind. There is no particular way; it is difficult. If you want to create a healthy atmosphere to take care of such people, it will take a whole lot of infrastructure – both material and human infrastructure. Unfortunately, I do not think anyone is willing to invest so much material and people towards that.
It will take a lot of expertise, caring, and a certain level of involvement to bring them out of that. Even then, you may not totally bring them out. Within their limitations, you could make them comfortable so that they are not suffering. But it needs a lot of dedicated attention to that and a certain level of expertise and empathy.
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