In search of evidence

I was not actually convinced that I was his soulmate until only recently after seeing the movie he wrote in the 1970's called Gas Pump Girls.  It shows a profile to me of his ideal woman, at least in terms of traits he values like willingness to go to any length necessary to meet a challenge. 

The women all had moxie and were savvy at devising counter offensive schemes against the competitor across the street who was using every devious means possible to try and put their uncle's gas station out of business.  

Since he wrote the film in the 70's, prior to feminism as a mainstream model, he chose to make the girls beautiful, sexy blondes in minimalist clothing with maximal exposure of T and A.  They successfully fight off multiple attacks planned by the devious competitor. They use their brains as well as sex appeal, like talking a biker gang into helping them because they knew they needed more strength. The girls with their own cleverness are able to defeat the competitor and his business closes.  The End.  It didn't win an Oscar but it does speak to the things he values.    Since I am probably the only person on the planet that got anything from Gas Pump Girls, it must have been written just for me.  :)

From Plato's Symposium - The lover now pursues his love. As he gets closer to his quarry, and the love is reciprocated, the opportunity for sexual contact again presents itself. If the lover and beloved surpass this desire they have won the "true Olympic Contests"; it is the perfect combination of human self control and divine madness, and after death, their souls return to heaven. Those who give in do not become weightless, but they are spared any punishment after their death, and will eventually grow wings together when the time comes.  A lover's friendship is divine, Socrates concludes.

Bashert, (Yiddish: באַשערט), is a Yiddish word that means "destiny".  It is often used in the context of one's divinely foreordained spouse or soulmate, who is called "basherte" (female) or "basherter" (male). It can also be used to express the seeming fate or destiny of an auspicious or important event, friendship, or happening.

The idea of soulmates comes from statements found in classical rabbinic literature. A proverb that "marriages are made in heaven" is illustrated by a story in a midrash collection:

A Roman matron, on being told by R. Jose ben Ḥalafta that God arranges all marriages, said that this was an easy matter, and boasted that she could do as much herself. Thereupon she assembled her male and female slaves and paired them off in couples; but on the morrow they all went to her with complaints. Then she admitted that divine intervention is necessary to suitable marriages.

Letter to President Obama

I messaged this to Van Jones on Facebook.  I consider him my inside the Administration man. At least, a person with Obama's ear and email address. I forward him relevant materials. Preserving Medicaid was the most recent issue that I asked for his help prior to the debt ceiling increase and the threats to funding.  

I kept him abreast of situations in different states with examples of individuals affected by State cuts already.  I asked Facebook and Twitter friends to message me their stories.  It is devastating in many cases.  Since Van is a civil/human rights attorney and advocate, I am hoping to elicit his support for our cause. We are denied our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness if we do not receive the accommodations as outlined by Federal law under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
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The massive mental health service sector cutbacks (most always the first thing to be cut when governmental budgetary problems arise) jeopardize not just our rights but our lives.  Many of the most vulnerable are already dying in the streets without needed help or medications.  Those of us with mental health disorders, especially the more serious disorders, are the American version of the East Indian, untouchable caste. Isolated, unwanted, underfunded, considered to hold no value to society.     

I asked Van to email this to President Obama.  That's audacity and hope, right?  

President Obama,

Aloha from Hawaii!! 

I have been an avid supporter since the start.  You showed the world that oppression is an option.  By becoming the first African-American President of the United States of America, with your message of audacity and hope, you proved that anything is possible.  

It is my belief that your influence and willingness to go around the globe delivering powerful speeches to different nations lead to an explosion that resulted in the global upheaval we have seen from oppressed people in Arab nations bonding together to seek freedom from tyranny so they, too, could be set free and rise up as you did.  I gain great inspiration from you.  Thank you. 

I have lived a surreal life. I am completely convinced that it was for a specific reason. My higher destiny is calling me loud and clear.

Socrates had obviously observed and identified people that seemed possessed or acted differently than others, yet did great things or had special gifts and talents beyond the norm.  He said, "In reality, our greatest blessings come to us by way of madness, which indeed is a divine gift." He also separated divine madness from diseased madness. In my case, it appears God gave me both.  I have also been able to turn my own madness from diseased into a more divine, or productive and functional, type madness.  I was considered hopeless in my 20's.  

Our Judeo-Christian tradition throughout the entire Western world is based on these brilliant observations from the Ancient Greek philosopher's finding as they identified the mysteries of their, not yet explained, new-found world.

Aristotle was the greatest and most prolific. From him we received the concept of "politic" or community and "ethics". He believed that they should be linked. He writes of it in the Nichomachean Creed.  Right now we are far away from what he thought should be the appropriate connection between the two.

In Washington D.C., ignorant and under-educated Tea Party congressional members have invaded the Republican party as you know only too well.  For purely selfish and political reasons they are intent on destroying the link that has always existed between the two concepts of the political and the ethical.  Those with mental health disorders, stand to lose the most because we have the least. It is a mass genocide that is proposed, with cuts in entitlements, rent subsidies and Medicaid that are all essential, for many people. 

I envision a movement of people with mental health disorders that rise up and show their value to society. It is possible for us to channel the gift of madness from the diseased to the divine as identified by Socrates long ago  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates   We can and will contribute more to the world while living more fulfilling lives simultaneous.  

My story has been written for me already by simply living a Master planned life. I have been a vehicle. Now, I am ready to tell my story with as much genuine authenticity as I can command.  To tell the world that there is a better way and we need help.

The last advocate for the mental health movement to impact social consciousness about mental health was in 1908. He witnessed a great deal of abuse while he was hospitalized multiple times for depression. He nearly committed suicide after graduating from Yale. Clifford Beers told the world when he wrote about it in A Mind that Found Itself. His legacy was great. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Whittingham_Beers

We need a new champion for our cause with an expansive reach to change fear that causes stigma and poor policy decisions into hope for outrageous possibility. We are your creatives. We are mad and possessed to serve a higher purpose. Our energy must me channeled.

New medications are needed with less restraint. I have some ideas on that as well. It will change the way the brain is understood thereby creating new research on the chemistry of the brain. Current medications hit receptor sites that suppress creativity, productivity and gifts.  

When you put it all together it is clear that a mental health revolution is about to take place. Of this I am certain. I have been to the mountaintop.  I have seen the dream. 

Best regards and Aloha,

Chrys Rosen, M.A.

A promise to my friends

Walking through your fear is possible when you want what is on the other side badly enough that the temporary discomfort of feeling insecure or doubtful is no big deal. ~Chrys Rosen

A Promise to my Friends

We are not monsters, baby eaters, untouchable or morally corrupt. Not lazy, untalented or devoid of ideas. We don’t want all of your limited resources or public funds. But we have to stand strong and we insist upon some. You won’t be sorry I will make sure they know that. I’ll show long lists from the arts, sciences and industry too that will surprise them, because they just never knew. They will leave wiser than they were before entering through the door. With mental pictures reframed from the insights they have gained.

But please don’t hold back your gifts until others come around, find a place where your passion is aroused and ride it around. Be true to yourself, even if you see yourself strange, to be different can also be reframed, with words like novel, innovative and new. Make 'don't hide' your motto and be willing to walk through your fear. We have to come out now without shame or fear. So, please don’t hide, cut, or otherwise abuse. The impulses and thoughts pass quickly just let them dash right through. Together or alone our strength can endure. Silenced by shame no more.

Chrys Rosen 5/11/2011