I agree with the basic idea that spiritual seekers are drive to seek peace in their lives because it is to some extent an absence in their lives. But I don’t think you have to be a train wreck to hit the books (or the blogs). Spiritual health is just like mental health is just like physical health. I feel that serious spiritual seekers are forced (or force themselves) to confront some serious questions in their lives by circumstance, crisis–just plain day to day living–and are the better for it. Someone may think everything is just fine with the way they are mentally or physically (and not need to think about such matters) but they too can be waylayed by circumstance and then have to confront 1) that their world wasn’t the way they thought it was and 2) they need to learn, change, grow in order to get on with life.
Some people may be born with better insight into the balance of how the world works, but I think for the most part true wisdom only comes from experience, reflecting upon experience, and accepting whatever change comes with it.
–Abergavenny (Sian)

If you’re really, really way-laid by illness, it’s just possible you won’t have the energy to pick up a self-help book. If it’s all you can do to practice breathing, you probably aren’t going to give conscious practice to spirituality. It’s when you’re broken beyond any known means of repair that you find out what your inner power is.
I just don’t recommend “going there” if you possibly can avoid it!
Maybe I’m too close to my own experiences. I hope this comment is understood and helpful. And if it isn’t, someone will come along and amplify.

—-But all the while, God, you are with us. Because, just like Jesus says in Matthew, we who live with illness, approach you with a humility or maybe a desperation, that You find refreshing, right? And so you are there.—–
THIS is exactly what I need to be reminded of daily (from others like you and from myself!!)
This is Psalm 51:16-17 from the Message:
Going through the motions doesn’t please you,
a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship
when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love
don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.

Dear God;
I recently met a man on the internet..That is VERY LONELY!!! My husband passed away 3 years ago and I am VERY LONELY TOO..Would it be Ok for us to have a relationship…WE need each other..
Sandra

Sandra…I want to respond to your prayer asking for God’s direction in relationship…in this case, internet relationship. I tried the internet way for about 4 years. Please, in advance of anything, know what you are willing to do and follow through with the boundaries you’ve set. Because of the anonymity the internet offers, I think we say things that we’d never say in person. And talk ourselves into actions that beg “What was I thinking?” Your expression of “We need each other” is your honest feeling of how it is…but please, please take it slowly. Ask for God’s guidance each step of the way.

Sandra:
While I don’t know your particular situation, I met my girlfriend here on Bnet, so don’t **necessarily** knock it …
On the main question:
I think those of us with depression, who have not come to some sort of peace with it (and I’m not saying I’m all the way there, yet), start on the question of “the purpose of our lives” with an overwhelming frustration that this disease is keeping us from getting there.
I’ve debated a lot on Beliefnet about the meaning of 2 Corinthians 12, the story of Paul and the thorn. Didn’t G-d, I asked, stick Paul with the thorn just to give him a hard time or punish him for something?
Well, maybe G-d did. The fact remains, as Paul slowly realized (and yours truly has over the last year as well), that you **still** have to live your life and find a purpose — and maybe the thorn itself is the purpose. “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me,” Paul said. “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
I was asked the purpose of my life today at a work retreat — a place a bit inappropriate to cite depression. (Though I was asked what I was grateful for and said simply, “The good people I meet, and my health.”)
Yet the answer to my purpose, just like the answer to what I could be thankful for (and I have met so many wonderful people in support groups on- and offline, including my dear girlfriend), was suffused with my experience with depression:
“To love and serve my fellow humans, using the gift of communication.”
And I have to acknowledge that my aptitude for words is a genuine gift from G-d — and thus, that I am blessed at least in some way. Even if I may always have a thorn to pick with one of His other “blessings.”

I’ts amazing that the same scripture lesson that I thought of today,is the subject of today’s article. In my opinion, we shouldn’t think about the saying that we’re known by the company we keep, but think of how Jesus associated with the worst of outcasts and was concerned about healing their spirits, minds and bodies. How can we help the less fortunate of society today?

I like what Larry said. I am glad that he can articulate his purpose so meaningfully. I know that comfort in himself (or any of us) is hard-won.
Also, I’ve given up on most formal beginnings and endings to my prayers. Even my moans and frustrations are heard by God. They’re all for God. When I pick up a leaf outside and wonder about it, I invite God into the conversation. The whole day is an open prayer.
I don’t think my mental illness (PTSD) makes me more spiritual. I think my spiritual needs make me more open to dealing with my “imperfections” or capacity for growth of all kinds.

I think that everyone is fighting with some kind of depression( whether is a weak or strong). sOME PEOPLE HAVE NO IDEA THAT THEY ARE DEPRESSED!I for 1 did not know that my whole life (since very young) I was depressed. I cam to find out about it a couple of years after my mom passed away. It did not hit me hard(my mom;s passing) until a couple of years later. I was feeling all alone and nowhere to go(kind of thing). My moms death has been almost 18 years and my depression is all about me coping with myself, self worth and many issues. I really do not discuss this with no one. I use to go to counseling and it was helping. Since I am on SSA, it makes it a little harder to find some one that is cheap. So I live day to day. Just talking to the lord all the time. My boyfriend of 4 years thinks that )well) I’m crazy. I tell him I am happy and that is the way it has been for the last 4 years with him. I am a mother of 4 GREAT kids and grandmother of 13 grandchildren. I am BLESSED. i THANK THE lORD FOR WHAT HE HAS GIVEN ME. You know what I was raised in a Catholic church and by age 10 was changed to a penticostal church. So That has a lot to do too. I was all confused during my high school years, that I barely remember them. My parents were very strict, just like their parents to them.
I believe that depressed people are more openmimded. I honestly believe that. I jusst came acroos this sirte and read some blogs and decided to write something that is on my mind. Depressed people are special. they tend to be loners. They do not trust to many people. God bless you

I think that we depressives sometimes APPEAR to be more spiritual because we know what it’s like to need a hand up and are therefore(many of us, anyway)more willing to offer that same assistance to someone else. Others see that as a sign of enlightenment, and so it is, I believe.Thus I think it’s that knowledge of angst that casts us in a more spiritual light; whatever it is, i’m thankful; some of my most precious relationships(both on and off line)have been born of a mutual need.and the willingness on the parts of both parties to give that succor. In many ways, it’s kind of like the chivalry code of knights of old: to find wrong and right it, to find weakness and offer strength, to find goodness and champion it. as Larry has often reminded us, the Man of LaMancha’s final song speaks volumes on this subject. Having struggled with so uch emtiness in our lives, we come to see, I think that some of those”unreachable stars” are anything but! And, I also claim that the world IS better for those of us who have striven with our last ounce of courage to prove just that! It encourages others to dig down deep for their OWN last ounce of courage to tilt at the windmills of depression–or just those of life period! In that sense, I think we are blessed to have faced our individual demons, no matter HOW torn and covered with scars we might feel at times!
IMHO, this was one of your best “Dear God” posts yet, Therese!(And that’s SAYING something!)

I think the reason depression and spiritual go hand in hand is because when we lose touch with our higher power we lose touch with how to enjoy the beauty around us and lose touch with being content with life in general.
As Eric said….why fix it when it isn’t broken.
When I “break” away from my higher power (stop noticing the beauty around me and being in touch with nature and talking to my higher power) it is guarenteed that I am going to become depressed about some little thing and before long I will be depressed about lots of little things and so forth.
This weekend I could feel it coming on for two days and immediately took action of ignoring the things bugging me and went out and played in the garden, went swimming, walked admiring the beauty around me.
Today…no longer tripping, falling, bumping into things and being in a ticked off mood but ready to take on the issues I had to avoid for 2 days.
Hugs
Sixlittlekitties