Schizoaffective

Generally, I will only post in here on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays, but I'm feeling this today, so here goes! ____________________________ Yeah, I am stealing from Paul Simon, the songwriter, for my title today. I have been reflecting on the posts I write on this blog, and it occurred to me I am falling into one of the stereotypes about someone with schizoaffective: that we "struggle" all the time. I know I don't. I know many of my friends don't. In fact, I am part of a writing group with other diagnosed people, and the instructor once confessed, after she got to know us, that before she met with us she thought it would be something like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Instead, she said, it was just like anywhere else—just people with their usual joys and foibles. I am well aware that there are plenty of people with mental illness I don't see because they are shut-ins for one reason or another. And I can personally attest to the pain so-called me...

by Jay Paul They were volunteers for the day at a community center I go to for people with mental health issues. I was giving them a tour before they started their tasks. One woman seemed twitchy and nervous and looked at me with wide eyes. She knew I was a member, which meant she knew that I had a diagnosis of a mental illness. At the end of the tour, I asked if there were any questions. Apparently, her fear overcame her courtesy. She rudely asked me what my diagnosis was. I considered her for a second, and then decided to tell her, if for no other reason than to show her a schizophrenic can be calm, reasonable, and together. I told her. Then she continued to be rude. She asked about the threat of violence at the center. I considered going into a long-winded explanation about the harmful myths connecting mental illness and violence. But I decided a little shock would be best. I simply said, "Once, a few years ago, I saw someone give another member a little push. That's it....

  A friend of mine recently asked me what a post on this blog had to do with schizoaffective. The honest answer was, "Not much." What I am trying to present here on this blog is the full panoply of my thinking and feeling so that I am not reduced merely to being a man with a diagnosis, and to show some of the rich possibilities of a schizoaffective life. In two weeks, I will again address mental health directly. On April 22 I will post on "Mental Illness and the Myth of Violence" and in early May I will post on how happy I have been lately, to counter the stereotype that we with diagnoses are all miserable. This post today has little to do with schizoaffective, at least on the surface, and a lot to do with esoteric matters concerning Soto Zen. However, it addresses interesting issues about the relation of language to conception, perception, truth, and so on. So I assume it will be of interest to some of you. I recently wrote it for a Zen group I am a part of. It is ...

 I have been posting on this blog every Thursday at noon. From here on out, I will posting every second and fourth Thursday of the month at noon. I need some more time to dedicate to my other writing projects. See you on April 8.