perl 6
My first perl 6
program. Check it out.
MichaelCrawford, Ankh
As a devout Hindu, and someone who belongs to a very traditional part of
Indian society, I must warn you that the idea that mental health is better
in India because of "meditation and insight" is bullshit.
For most of the rural poor mental healthcare amounts to little more than
being locked away somewhere to rot. It just so happens that asylums are
often located near places of pilgrimage but this is more so the inmates
can find support through begging than any religious imperative.
Also there can be mental issues but taking different forms. Take for
example the condition of women. You cannot make a blanket statement about
the whole country but it is true that in many cases women are in a
subordinate position socially. But you have the phenomon of possession by
a Goddess. I've seen this in Temples in America too. During a festival,
with the premises packed, and after several hours of intense chanting and
praying, a women, typically middle-aged and married, will suddenly start
moving violently and speaking in a strange voice. People will say (in
Gujarati) "Mataji avya chhe." (Mother has come.) Through the woman the
Goddess will deliver some oracle. One way to look at this might be as
some kind of disorder but why not look at it as a culturally sanctioned
way of establishing womens worth? Men may be able to dismiss a silly girl
but they cannot argue with the Mother of the Universe!
Having said all that actually I do agree that mental health is overall
better in India and religion is the cause. But the reason is not that
individualistic meditation is taught. (That has tradionally been the
domain of solitary monks. If it has changed in resent times it is more
due to California than the Himalayas.) Rather the central value is Dharma
which is primarily about ritual acts and social obligations. One defines
oneself by ones network of social relationships ranging from in the family
to in the cosmos. Thus people feel secure knowing where they are in the
grand scheme of things. Of course it is not a panacea (in particular it
sucks if you are at the bottom of the social heap) but I think the lack of
community, real community not rhetoric, makes Westerners more vulnerable
to mental stress.