International mental health month, October 2020, will soon fade off into sunset but the sun of the enormously powerful human mind will keep shining for those who seek it. Read the sad story of Alias, who rejected the light and draw your own conclusions.
ALIAS
There was a man named Alias. His name allowed him to step into anyone’s boots and adopt their personality, gender, race, or ethnicity. The world lay at his feet. He was destined for a meaningful, exciting life of freedom, prosperity and all the good things the world has to offer, but Alias was a busy man.
Personally, he had no time to try anything outside the square of the daily routine. He was complacent, and had no time for truth because his world view, which he was busy guarding, served him ‘just fine’. He had neither the desire nor the time to try and understand the make-up of his world view, hence he didn’t realise it was actually created by other people’s interests and ambitions. He ignored the angel of truth, who came to visit regularly and vividly portrayed the real world right in front of Alias’s eyes. Alias had no opinion on most topics, but he enthusiastically supported those who did, without questioning their integrity. He even committed acts of violence on their behalf. After all, they seemed to know what they are doing, and their vociferous speeches and slogans conveyed a sense of competence, assurance, and self-righteousness. Alias was scared of freedom, because he didn’t like making his own decisions, except for election time, when he voted for the party that promised him the highest financial benefits. Alias felt secure and comfortable in groups of people no matter what their purpose of association was. He disliked challenges, and he only spoke up in support of and backed up his peer group. Alias began to experience re-occurring periods of unexplained sadness, but being the complacent man he was, he ignored what was happening within. As we know, he wasn’t interested in anything outside his world view’s curriculum, which did not cater for anything psychological, other than how to utilise your mind for academic and commercial success. At work, others got the job done while Alias sought success in self-promotion, an obsession he vigorously cultivated. He chose books by their cover but never read much of the content. According to his world view, reading was for wimps. Non-fiction was too scary for him. He found it more comforting to watch movies, mainly fantasy, because thinking wasn’t exactly his favourite activity.
His sadness worsened and occurred more frequently. His loved ones and acquaintances, some of whom had experienced and overcome depression themselves, noticed something wrong, offered advice and recommended beneficial literature, but he found it all too hard to follow. Alias wasn’t stupid. He understood that to solve a problem, you have to know, at least to some degree, the nature of the problem and it’s mechanisms, then take control of the situation at hand. His handicap was that he did not want to know how the human mind works and what was causing his depression. He believed that real men don’t get involved in those ‘girly things’. So he battled on, trying to escape his emotions, keeping busy ‘doing things’. The more things he did, the more drained and lonely he felt. He was afraid of going to sleep and the nightmares awaiting him. The days were no better. Nothing made sense and nothing was normal. There was only emptiness. After Alias survived a suicide attempt, he was treated for clinical depression. As part of the therapy, the psychologist introduced him to wonderful preventative methods for mental agony, such as change of life-style, relaxation, meditation techniques and education which Alias had previously heard of but fiercely rejected. Alias responded: ”If only I had known”.