DAJ ONLINE/ JUNE 4 EDITION

[This Journal is posted at Project Dream Again’s web site, Google’s Dashboard, Yahoo’s 360 beta, MySpace, and 7villages an online community of the United Methodist Church. You can find the internet addresses at our homepage. The Journal is also sent out to an extensive e-list. To have someone added or taken off the lists simply make the request by using the email address found at the end of this Journal.]
NEXT JOURNAL COMING WEDNESDAY June 25, 2008
Dream Again Journal Online
June 4, 2008 EDITION
The next DAJ ONLINE will not come out until June 25th. I will be speaking at the national convention of the National Alliance on Mental Illness on Saturday the 14th of June during the FaithNet Special Interest Workshop which runs from 9:45 am – 12:00 noon. Patty and I are also making a vacation trip out of going down to Orlando from Glen Alpine, NC along with business stops coming and going.
One of the recommendations of at least one of the three work groups formed some months back by Secretary Dempsey Benton, Department of Health and Human Services, was adding trained investigators with law-enforcement experience to review complaints of abuse and neglect at the state psychiatric hospitals here in North Carolina. [Reported in THE NEWS OBSERVER May 31, 2008] I have debated this one in my head and discussed it with other consumers of mental health services. My first reaction was to agree because I truly do want the most professional investigation that can be done. Then I began to remember the treatment I have personally received at the hands of law-enforcement to say nothing of my fellow sojourners. Without committing a crime I have been treated in ways the two cats that live in our home are not treated. So now it comes down to a matter of trust. Yes we want professional investigations. Can we trust people who have worked in law-enforcement? Would it be simpler to train someone who knew something about us about how to do investigations than to train ex law-enforcement folks about us? You tell me.
There is an interesting question arising in the philosophy surrounding the brain sciences. Will the more we learn about the brain mean we can believe less in free will? The more they find out about my bipolar illness the better it is for me, but if I try to use it to excuse all my bad behaviors then I am the loser. I believe that neuroscience has made my life easier, but I don’t believe it will ever define me totally. Why? Because beyond my brain I believe is my mind which is more than mere brain and beyond that my eternal soul. You say well Ed you certainly have taken a leap of faith there. My reply is we both did when we believed the neuroscience neither of us understands. We operate on faith every day. If my belief in an eternal soul is merely a delusion then please don’t try and “fix” me. Leave me in my delusional state. Let me face this world each day with my faith and my science. I have a better chance of making it this way. Chat with you again on the 25th.
You can reach me directly at edcooper@projectdreamagain.com

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www.mentalhealthministries.net
www.pathways2promise.org
www.mentalhealthchaplain.org
www.annafoundation.org
www.ncmentalhope.org
www.faithnet.nami.org
www.ffcmh.org
www.miministry.org.