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    %WILL MASOCHIST SELF PUNISH DISEASE HEAL HEALTH 921118

     Are there  people who punish  themselves?   Are there
people who   go  to  the  crazy  extreme  of   masochistic
self punishment? The answers are clearly yes.

     Are  there   people who on occasion  make  themselves
sick to achieve  some  conscious or subconscious  purpose;
e.g.,  children  who  do  not  want  to go  to  school  or
to   a relative's  house---or  adults  who  get  sick   to
punish  someone  who  is  thereby duty bound to take  care
of them? The answer is clearly yes.

     Are  there   people who on occasion  make  themselves
sick to punish  themselves;    because deep  down in their
innermost  being  they  believe that they  deserve  to  be
punished,     and  there  is  no  other  punishment  being
given   to   them  to fulfill their need  for  punishment?
The answer is probably yes.

     In the light  of  the above,     is  it reasonable to
entertain  the  hypothesis  that some  people  might  make
themselves  well upon having the burden of guilt and shame
lifted;    so  that they no longer feel the  necessity  of
punishing  themselves---because  of  a  deep  belief  that
they  deserve  to  be punished.   In  the  light  of  many
stories,     including  scriptural  stories  in  the   New
Testament,    the answer  is clearly yes.  If we refuse to
entertain such an hypothesis,  we  are clearly trapped  in
an  imprisoning  paradigm which may  lead  us   to  punish
ourselves by being  unwilling  to recognize  that  we  are
in   a prison  wherein  we  cannot entertain a  liberating
hypothesis.

     People    who   refuse  to  consider   a   reasonable
hypothesis  are not  likely to discover that it  is  true.
Only  people   who  are willing to consider  a  reasonable
hypothesis are likely to discover  that it is true.   Many
reasonable hypotheses are  not  discovered to be true in a
timely   way,    because many reasonable  people refuse to
consider the hypotheses as worthy of their attention.

     Is    it   reasonable   to   seek   ways   to    lift
burdens   of  disintegrative  guilt  and  shame,   to seek
ways     to    make   ourselves    well    again   through
reflexive/subjective  ways  which defy standard scientific
explanation?  The answer is clearly yes.

     Is   it   unreasonable    to   refuse   to   consider
hypotheses  regarding  the  possible  benefits of  lifting
burdens  of disintegrative guilt and shame,   to refuse to
seek   ways  to  make   ourselves   well  again    through
reflexive/subjective    ways    which     defy    standard
scientific   explanation?    The answer  is  clearly  yes.
We  do not make  ourselves  well,  whole,     healthy   or
integrative  by  refusing  to consider  hypotheses   which
transcend  the scientific  paradigm  and thereby point  to
human  fulfillment in ways which transcend the  scientific
paradigm.    The  scientific  paradigm is  not  worthy  of
worship  as if it were the True God.   The worship of  the
scientific  paradigm as if it were the True God may  often
make us sick and/or keep us sick.

                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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