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Wednesday, February 04, 2009 Soul Loss Reading a book now on the cultural complication of the new lives of the refugee Hmong people, who immigrated to the US from Thailand after being forced to leave their homeland in Laos. These fierce, proud people truly come from a different world with mindsets that, as far as I can tell, run literally opposite to those of their new American neighbors. The book is called The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, which is a description for the way the Hmong translate epilepsy, as they literally believe that epilepsy is the result of a malevolent spirit called a "dab" coming and kidnapping the soul from a person, causing them to fall down. One part that caught my attention in particular was the following description of "soul loss": Your soul is like your shadow. Sometimes it just wanders off like a butterfly, and that is when you are sad and that is when you get sick, and if it comes back to you, that is when you are happy and you are well again. I like this understanding, and it seems to be more true than we Americans allow ourselves to acknowledge. Medicine and clinical objectivity do not and can not bring happiness or fullness into a person's life without that person injecting their own soul with a necessary thrust of humanity. We overmedicate our society and rely too much on other people and other factors beyond what lies within ourselves to find happiness and fulfillment (let alone "good health"). It's worth remembering that there is not a person alive on this planet who is above learning new lessons from any other person--there is no limit to our infinite levels of inexperience. Open minds and open hearts are the surest paths to continued physical, mental, and emotional freedom. Also: the Hmong people have a phrase for "the truth eventually comes to light," called "yuav paim quav," which literally means "feces will be excreted." Labels: books, junkjunk, thoughts posted by Nihilist Loves Hate, Hates Everything at 2/04/2009 01:43:00 AM 1 comments |
GET BEHIND ME DEAD MAN
sorry to be a dick, but these two last statements contradict each other.
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