u/astralpariah

Below is an excerpt (the majority) of a letter I'm sending to an inmate incarcerated in the state of Texas. His family posted last month to the community here asking if anyone would like to send correspondence to them.

"Hello,

In 2019 my voices began, they stole much from me. I lost track of reality, my mind was consumed by intelligent personalities who inflicted tremendous pain and anxiety, I lost weight, from 190lbs to around 140lbs, I slept for less than 8 hours a week as my voices raped me every night starting at sunset, this torment lasted for years and slowly faded out. My hair would fall out and grow back in phases. I lost my job, my home, my family cast me out, and for a time I lost touch with all reality.

Today things are very different for me. I know that over1/4 people alive report this phenomena to some degree. I assume everyone actually does have this experience and it is only a personal fluency or desire to discuss one’s own mind that separates those who say they do from those who don’t. It is so easy to find art about this phenomenon I would suggest it is more challenging to find widely acclaimed art that is not about this experience. I write this to assure you that you are not alone. Your loved one shared briefly about your situation in an online forum… it is a strange collection of people, many are effectively disabled by choice in my eyes, people who seek disability pay and medical labels in attempts to quell this burden. Other have a more supportive (deluding in my eyes) experience and spend their time entertaining spirituality (a cool thing to do) in much less than productive ways. Not making are or working on self improvement but instead spending great efforts simply complaining about the phenomena (yes it is a torture) or attempting to “preach” and twist other’s beliefs. I assume it to be a developmental phase weighing over the entire community. The HVN was not always like this.

I personally believe in magic and see its practice as a real and academically vetted thing. Authors like Jordan B Peterson’s Maps of Meaning talk at length about how the mind and all cultures form… yes how the mind forms… Jordan B Peterson is a tenured professor of Behavioral Psychology and has been all over the news in the last 15 years. His work has been highly politicized (he’s viewed as rather “right) but his work has nothing to do with American politics. I don’t know if you can request books, I’ll list a few you should check out.

1             Jordan B Peterson – Maps of Meaning

1.5        Jordan B Peterson – 12 Rules for Life

2             Joseph Campbell – The Hearo With A Thousand Faces

Julian Jaynes – The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

Elyn Saks – The Center Cannot Hold

Joanne Greenberg – I Never Promised You A Rose Garden

3             Marcus Aurelius – Meditations

4             Seneca – Letters from a Stoic

Most of #2 is going to be reiterated in #1, both are good and written by very successful people who heard voices. Largely the philosophy that guided these two people to wellness and power is detailed in #3, and #4. #5 (below) may interest you as it is written by a former slave, a stoic philosopher who lived at the time of Jesus Christ, in modern day Turkey

5             Epictetus – Enchiridon (The Handbook)

All three (3,4,5) of these “stoics” believed the mind to be “bicameral” and comprised both of us the human and of spirits that come and go from all of us. That all humans were like vessels that housed these spirits. They believed that through meditation and other spiritual practice a human could have sway over their mental company. If you read any memoirs of great leaders/thinkers you will see most all privately hold these beliefs to some degree.

I don’t want to tell you what to do or what to believe. But I would offer that there is little to do locked up other that sit with one’s own mind. I think it would be the most practical use of one’s own mind/time to meditate and hone the ancient skills of magic. When you close your eyes do you see images/colors? Wikipedia calls this phenomena “hypnogogic imagery” and offers the slang term “the prisoner’s cinema.” I have seen it since my voices began and have regularly seen images of future events, beautiful women who carry a personality and play over my mental faculties no human could ever compare to. The Greeks (ancient) called this “phantasia” and European mystics have always simply called this “second sight”… witchcraft. I believe it is simply what all people are capable of provided they desired to seek out the experience.

I have been told you have a short stay locked up. I would urge you to put your thought to what you can get out of your time there and what you can do once you get out. If you experience this and make art (your people say you do) you are well suited to a real adventure. The matter of your mental experience seems to be the crucial ingredient that leads all successful artists to acclaim. More power to you.

I know form personal experience that being confined can make this mental phenomena an ACTUAL HELL. If you are like me and other I know you are sure to be seasoned by this torture and made stronger by bouts you have no say in avoiding. I can’t tell you how sorry I am you’re going through what you’re surviving today. Please believe in yourself, know you are challenged by the voices and by the dim minds of this world because you are worthy, perhaps far more worthy that the voices will allow you to see for yourself.

I suspect you are here for a great purpose. I would urge you to get in touch with me once free. Your people will have my online info. I welcome you to see the world of the HVN, join us in becoming a facilitator (it’s a great thing to put on a resume and does pay some) it’s a great way to vanquish the hell in one’s own mind and in the minds of others. In the HVN we don’t tell others what to believe or what to do. If you mail Carolin Mazel-Carlton of the Wildflower Alliance I am sure she would send back to you.

Carolin Mazel-Carlton

Wildflower Alliance

PO BOX 893

Holyoke, MA 01041

I look forward to corresponding more and regularly with you. Please know you are not alone and your experience is real."

I write my name here at the conclusion of the letter. If you are interested in making a pen pal or would like to send information to this individual; their family can be reached at u/Thin_Consequence2276.

All the best!

Not sure if she ever really gives a health update for Jordan Peterson, and this is fairly tedious, but watching the entire video is enlightening about some permanent and severe effects from prescription ssris and benzodiazepines. Do I agree with the “ lion diet?” Maybe not, and maybe not even their politics but I have always found J Peterson to be talkative and interesting, and no one really deserves to suffer like this.

As I was watching all I could hope for is that her message reaches a wider audience. Something needs to be done about these dangerous drugs.