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Essential Secrets of Psychotherapy: The Healing Power of Clinical Wisdom (Part One)

Essential Secrets of Psychotherapy: The Healing Power of Clinical Wisdom (Part One)
Secrets psychotherapy patients hear that you haven't--but need to.
What really happens in psychotherapy? The answer to that question is complex. And depends in part on the particular type of psychotherapy one seeks. But one thing that psychotherapy can, in my experience, convey to patients are certain tried and true, essential secrets to living a more rich, fulfilling, meaningful, contented, creative, balanced and psychologically healthy life. What are some of these well-kept secrets of psychotherapy?

For more than a century now, psychotherapists have been ministering to our psychological, existential and spiritual suffering with considerable success. Psychotherapy has deep roots in many fields, including medicine, psychiatry, psychology, biology, neurology, as well as philosophy, sociology and theology. Starting with and subsequently building upon the depth psychology ofFreud and Jung, psychotherapy patients have been privy to a treasure trove of traditional psychological, philosophical and spiritual secrets that help make sense of and navigate safely through life's inevitable traumas, crises and suffering, setting them on the path toward healing and wholeness. In the psychotherapy world, we refer to such secrets as "clinicalwisdom."

Clinical wisdom is an archetypal collection of accumulated and hard-won psychological, philosophical, existential and spiritual knowledge collectively drawn and distilled from psychotherapeutic practice or research, as well as other healing traditions. (In the field of psychopathology, for instance, despite its drawbacks, the DSM-lV-TR is a contemporary cornucopia of immense and invaluable clinical wisdom regarding the descriptive symptomatology, typical course, demographics, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.) This precious clinical wisdom has been handed down from master psychotherapist to apprentice or disciple, from training analyst to trainee, from professor to pupil, from supervisor to supervisee, from author to student, growing more refined, developing, evolving and transmuting over time. Some of this time-honored clinical wisdom is common-sensical, pragmatic, concrete and mundane, while some may seem more esoteric, arcane, spiritual or philosophical. Reading about such secrets is certainly no substitute for real psychotherapy. But each of these essential secrets contains powerful, potentially helpful clinical wisdom for those receptive to it. And, hopefully, these randomly selected seven secrets (the first of several planned postings in this series) can stimulate interest in what, for many, is the obscure, intimidating, mysterious process of psychotherapy.

For example, in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, probably the most popular psychological treatment today, patients are taught that how we think influences how we feel and how we behave.That is very valuable clinical wisdom of which we all need to partake and apply in our daily lives. But it is certainly not novel. Nor is it unique to CBT. Psychodynamicpsychotherapy has long known the power of unconscious cognitions, distortions of reality, or "guiding fictions" as Alfred Adler called them. So has philosophy. As the first-century A.D. Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus said, "Men are not influenced by things, but by their thoughts about things." Or later, as Shakespeare has Hamlet muse, "For there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so." We are responsible for monitoring and restructuring our irrational or distorted cognitions. Changing how we think about things, how we interpret events, counteracting the automatic narratives, schemata or "tapes" that constantly run in our heads, can change how we feel about ourselves, others, and how we perceive and respond to life's difficulties. Are they daunting difficulties, or creative challenges? But first, we must somehow become more aware or conscious of our own habitual thought patterns. (See my prior post.)

Here, then, in no special order, are six additional highly distilled secrets, potent little therapeutic capsules of clinical wisdom, which, when willingly swallowed, digested and psychologically assimilated, can help you create a more conscious, satisfying life in the New Year--and beyond.

What we don't know can hurt us. The "unconscious," as Sigmund Freud professed, is the "unknown" or "not known." That portion of subjective experience which is obscured, invisible to consciousness, at least "at the moment." It consists largely of the parts of ourselves we deny, dissociate, despise, denigrate, dread and generally repress. What we repress comes back to haunt us with a vengeance. Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche spoke of this phenomenon as "the return of the repressed." Denial or dissociation are repressive defense mechanisms, and serve some necessary function in terms of preserving mental health. But when some significant aspect of ourselves is chronically denied or dissociated (i.e., repressed and made unconscious), the proverbial chickens eventually come home to roost. If, for instance, someone always denies their anger, these feelings will some day resurface tenfold, especially under stress, though the reason for and intensity of their rage may be unclear and inappropriate to the current circumstances. This dark and treacherous territory to which these repressed "chickens"--or, more descriptively, "demons" are banished--is what Jung referred to as the "shadow." It is related also to what Rollo May called the "daimonic." The daimonic, according to May, "is any natural function which has the power to take over the whole person. Sex and eros, anger and rage, and the craving for power are examples." The daimonic, can, by definition, be both destructive and creative. When the daimonic is habitually denied, it becomes more negative and dangerous. But when we acknowledge its presence and reality, it can be the life-giving source of energy, strength, power, spiritualityand creativity. This can be said of the unconscious in general. So it is vitally important to learn to listen to one's unconscious carefully, and to what it has to say about what's happening in the psyche now and what needs to happen if the future, both inwardly and outwardly.Meditation, mindfulness and dream work are all methods of listening to and discerning the unconscious.The secret is to take the unconscious (and its complexes) seriously, treating it with the respect and sense of mystery, awe and wonder it deserves. And to recognize the ultimate futility of repression, rather allowing one's self to consciously experience emotions as they arise, while at the same time learning to pause between stimulus and response rather than reflexively acting on them. We have both the freedom and responsibility to choose how we respond to our feelings. But that, like any other skill, takes practice.

Life is not necessarily fair. This is something clinical psychologist Albert Ellis, creator of Rational Emotive Therapy (RET), Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and one of the founders of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, made painfully clear to his patients.This is also something the Buddha talked about millennia ago: To the extent we expect (or demand) life to always be fair, for example, we are unwittingly setting ourselves up for frustration, anger and disappointment. Buddha's solution--and Buddhism can be seen as both a spiritual and psychotherapeutic system--was to become less "attached" to or "desirous" of life being fair--or any other way, for that matter. Life is as it is. It's best to take life as it comes, without too many expectations or preconceptions. Life may sometimes be fair, and at others, unfair. Good and evil. Joyous or tragic. Meaningful or meaningless. The naive, misconceived New Age notion of karma--what goes around comes around--doesn't always play out in reality as we believe it should. Much as we may wish it did. (See my prior post.)

Suffering is part of living. C.G. Jung once wrote that "Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering." We tend to try to avoid pain and suffering however we can. And see suffering as something that shouldn't be part of life. But it is, and always will be. The secret to dealing with suffering or pain is being willing to courageously accept and experience it rather than constantly avoiding it, which only creates additional suffering in the form of variouspsychiatric symptoms. As in the case of addiction, for instance. So accept suffering when it comes your way, and see what it has to teach you about yourself, others and life. Feel it. Medically manage it appropriately when necessary, as in the case of chronic physical pain, panic attacks or severe depression. There is no need to masochistically create suffering, since life provides plenty to go around for each of us. The secret is to choose to suffer consciously. Courageously. Willingly. The more suffering we can accept and tolerate, the more compassion we become capable of, and the stronger we internally become. To cite Nietzsche, "What does not destroy me makes me stronger." (See my prior post.)

Anxiety is not always neurotic. Mental health is not defined by the absence of anxiety. The experience of anxiety is universal. No one is immune to it. Anxiety is an inevitable part of the human condition. As anthropologist Ernest Becker proposes in The Denial of Death (1973), the fear of death is archetypal and pervasive, and underlies, either literally or symbolically, directly or indirectly, all other forms of anxiety. While there is much truth to Becker's thesis, I disagree that all anxiety can or should be reduced to "death anxiety." In any case, the key is how we deal with anxiety, or what existential therapists call "existential anxiety." Trying to run from the experience of anxiety hinders growth, retards development, limits intimacy, stifles creativity, and is typically what addiction and phobic behavior are about. Chronically avoiding or repressing existential anxiety gives rise to neurotic or pathological anxiety, such as phobias and panic attacks. The secret to dealing positively with anxiety is to accept it, tolerate it, listen to its message, and learn to channel it's immense energy constructively. Anxiety can, when correctly utilized, motivate, energize, invigorate and vitalize. And it is closely connected with creativity of all kinds. As philosopher Soren Kierkegaard recognized, "Anxiety is our greatest teacher." He also called anxiety "the dizziness of freedom." The trick is first to transform your negative attitude toward anxiety. To normalize rather than pathologize it. To welcome rather than run from it. To, whenever practically possible, tolerate rather than medicate it. To embrace rather than escape from it. To try to understand rather than dismiss out of hand its psychobiological, spiritual and existential significance. That can make all the difference in dealing with both "normal" and "neurotic" anxiety. (See my prior post here.)

There is a difference between fate and destiny. Personal responsibility is something psychotherapy patients struggle with daily. How much of what happens in my life am I responsible for? Some take on too much responsibility. Others too little. For example, allparents have flaws, shortcomings, weaknesses. As well as strengths. Some are more flawed than others. That is the luck of the draw, or what I call one's fate. We don't choose our parents. Or siblings. Nor do we choose to be born. We are, as existentialists say, "thrown" into the world, and have no choice or responsibility in the matter. The parents and family we are born to comprise part of our fate. As does our genetics, gender, temperament, talents, limitations, vulnerabilities, etc. Fate consists of the immutable givens with which we are born--and the fact of being born itself, in a particular place at a particular point in history. As well as the inescapability of death. But destiny is different. Destiny is what we do with our fate. Destiny is how we play the cards we were dealt. Our parents bring us into this world. Our genes determine much about us. But who we have become by the time we leave this world is up to us. We are not responsible for our fate. But we are responsible for our destiny. (See my prior post.)

We can't get water from the moon. This is an old Japanese saying. The moon, so far as we know, is an arid desert, a lifeless (albeit beautiful) ball of dusty rock orbiting around the Earth. To try to extract water from the moon would be folly. In much the same way trying to get "blood from a stone" is foolish and futile. But this is exactly what many of us do when it comes to intimate relationships. We try to force others to give us love. We manipulate. We pretend. Or we beg. And demand. Or we patiently wait, desperately hoping that some day, the love we thirst for will be provided. Meanwhile, we frequently settle for crumbs. In the language of Behavior Therapy, when such persistent seeking behavior is reinforced randomly and intermittently, it becomes highly resistant to extinction. (Conversely, the clinical wisdom ofbehavior modification tells us that to get someone to stop pestering you, you must stop all random and intermittent reinforcement of their unwanted behavior, e.g., sometimes answering the telephone.) What we often don't realize is that this individual from whom we seek love and support is, for some reason or other, emotionally unavailable, and will never consistently give us what we want. This is typically what occurs when emotionally crippled or uncaring parents are unable or unwilling to give their children the love they need and deserve. These love-starved kids compulsively keep trying to get "water from the moon." If one is truly looking for a drink of water, the moon is probably not the place to go. No matter how deep one drills and searches, there is simply no water to be found there. Better to look elsewhere for the water of life. No matter how hard we try, whether in matters of the heart or other pursuits, often our very best efforts, patience, kindness and perseverance never pay off. Other times, it can. As one psychiatrist put it pithily in discussing his love-sick patient's persistent pursuit of a woman despite her long-standing rejection: "Sometimes you put your quarter in the machine, and nothing comes out." Or as the old Kenny Rogers country-western tune The Gambler goes, "You got to know when to hold 'em. Know when to fold 'em. Know when to walk away. And know when to run."

--
jagadeesh krishnan
Psychologist and International Author
Mobile:+91-9841121780, 9543187772

Essential Secrets of Psychotherapy: The Healing Power of Clinical Wisdom (Part Two)

Essential Secrets of Psychotherapy: The Healing Power of Clinical Wisdom (Part Two)
In my previous posting (Part One), I presented, in no particular order, seven secrets of psychotherapy based on what we call "clinical wisdom." For the field of psychotherapy, clinical wisdom consists of certain existential, archetypal and pragmatic truths concerning the human condition, the dilemmas most commonly presented by individuals seeking treatment--to which we are all more or less susceptible--and the various ways in which psychotherapy can meaningfully address and ameliorate them. Some of these secrets may seem obvious and mundane. Others subtle and esoteric. Hopefully, readers found at least one or two that resonate.

Here, in Part Two of this series, are seven more essential secrets of psychotherapy, condensed and diverse kernels of clinical wisdom. Again, the selection and order is more or less random. In this sense, these various secrets function as a psychological I Ching : Perhaps you will synchronistically stumble upon some particular secret that applies to your present situation or speaks to some personal, spiritual or existential issue you or someone you know struggle with. While reading these secrets is certainly no substitute for psychotherapy, such distilled clinical wisdom may be helpful in providing some new perspectives or possibly lead to deeper exploration through psychotherapy, philosophy orspirituality. Psychotherapists might also find this concise compendium of collective clinical wisdom worthwhile--even when not necessarily agreeing with all of it. And, in some cases, may want to add their own nuggets to this eclectic collection. Which I encourage.

Procrastination and the power of presence. Psychotherapy patients often report problems with procrastination. Avoiding doing what needs to be done. Putting off till tomorrow what can and should be accomplished today. One aspect of procrastination is what I call the Sisyphus syndrome. As punishment by the gods for trying to eradicate and evade death, Sisyphus was fated to eternally roll a massive rock up a hill each day, only to have it roll back down just as he neared the top. We all share a similar existential fate. We are each required to routinely roll our metaphorical rock--whatever that may be--uphill every day, only to do it all over again tomorrow. It is arduous, difficult, tedious, boring and laborious work. But Sisyphus must do it. And so must we. This tedious aspect of life is something many people try to avoid via procrastination. Like children, we would much rather play games than do our math or history homework, or clean up our room. Who wants to wash dishes? Vacuum? Clean the bathroom? Do their taxes? Study for exams? Write their dissertation? We refuse to accept the difficult, dirty, tedious tasks in life, distracting ourselves instead with more amusing activities so as to avoid them. We resist and avoid shouldering the boulder. But it should be remembered that for philosopher Albert Camus, in his famous little book The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), Sisyphus found meaning, contentment and even happiness in accepting his fate. As must we all. As Friedrich Nietzsche put it : amor fati. Love your fate. Tedium is an inescapable part of our fate. And part of becoming an adult, of growing up, is accepting that life will at times be tedious. One secret to accepting the existential fact of tedium is to assert depth psychologist Otto Rank's therapeutic mental maneuver he referred to as "the willing affirmation of the must." We cannot totally eliminate tedium from our lives, but we can consciously will it by choosing to actively engage it. To throw ourselves into the tedious task fully and wholeheartedly, rather than resisting it. This shift in attitude toward tedium can, paradoxically, transform it. Another mythological metaphor for procrastination can be found in one of the Twelve Labors of the Greek hero Hercules. Hercules was assigned the seemingly impossible task of cleaning the Augean stables--where the droppings of hundreds of huge oxen had accumulated over forty years--in just one day. The nasty task had been avoided for decades. Procrastination, when unchecked, creates one's own personal Augean stable. Perhaps you know the feeling. Hercules, using both brain and brawn, cleverly diverts two rivers to get the daunting, dirty job done. What secrets can we learn from mighty Hercules about conquering procrastination? One secret has to do with the conscious channeling and focusing of life force into the immediate task at hand. Another secret is related to the practice of mindfulness. As the old Zen proverb tells us: Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. Even spiritual enlightenment can't eliminate life's tedious tasks. The tasks always remain the same. What changes is the attitude taken toward these tasks. And the mindful presence with which they are quite deliberately performed. Even banal activities like sweeping or mopping the floor can be enriched, enlivened and made more interesting (therefore, less tedious) by a more mindful approach. Finally, since so much procrastination boils down to anxiety avoidance, overcoming procrastination requires a willingness to tolerate the experience of anxiety-evoking tasks. Not merely commonplace procrastination, but many psychiatric symptoms stem from or are amplified by a lack of presence. So-called ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) symptoms like distractibility and lack of focus are but one example. In our efforts to avoidanger, pain, boredom or anxiety, we avoid being fully present in the moment. But this avoidance of what we feel in the present actually exacerbates symptoms and diminishes our quality of life. Consider the following traditional tale: When a Buddhist monk's contemplative walk in the woods is rudely interrupted by a ferocious tiger ready to make a meal of him, he runs for his life, the tiger in hot and hungry pursuit. Racing through the treees, the terrified monk comes upon a clearing, and then stops dead in his tracks. He stands teetering at the edge of a precipice, hundreds of feet deep. Still trying frantically to escape the tiger's teeth and claws, the monk hurriedly climbs several feet down the sheer cliff, clinging precariously only to a protruding tree root. The starving tiger looms above him, snarling, salivating and pawing at his potential prey. The slender root to which the frightened monk desperately clings starts to snap. Before it is about to break, in that very moment, he spies a wild strawberry plant growing from the cliffside, just within arm's reach. With his one free hand he immediately plucks the ripest, reddest, juiciest strawberry and very slowly places it in his mouth, savoring the intense aroma, texture and exquisite taste. This is a classic depiction of mindfulness: complete presence, even in the face of imminent annihilation. The secret is to savor each moment as though it will be our last. Like it is all we have. Because, existentially speaking, it may be. Death is an ever-present possibility. There are a thousand ways to die. But we can also learn from the monk the importance of remaining as present as possible in the face of life's constant distractions, demands and crises. Being mindful of what we are doing and how we are feeling or thinking at all times. Cooking. Eating. Exercising. Driving. Making love. Of course, this is much easier said than done. Mindfulness, like meditation, is a skill. And like any other skill, it must be practiced in order to get good at it. So don't expect instant results. Stay with it, however, and soon you too will be savoring strawberries. And doing that next thing that needs to be done. No matter what it may be.

We all have a little boy or girl living within. Not literally, but psychologically. This is something most grown ups never realize. Or lose touch with when becoming "adults." Commonly, destructive behavior in adults bears the impetuous, impulsive quality of childish petulance or narcissistic temper tantrums. Or an infantile neediness, dependency and dread of abandonment. Or an irresponsiblity and angry refusal to be an adult: the "Peter Pan syndrome," or what Jungians refer to as a puer or puella (aeternus) complex. When we ignore, reject or remain unconscious of our inner child, he or she is unhappy, resentful and influences our lives in negative and significant ways. But becoming conscious of and better relating to this same sad, neglected inner child can turn this all around. The secret is to cultivate and maintain an ongoing dialogue and parental relationship between one's adult self and this needy inner child, with the adult taking charge, being the good "boss" and accepting responsibility for taking care of and loving this inner child. Though our inner child is not literal, not physical, it can behave as an entity, at times taking over or posessing the entirepersonality. Indeed, this is frequently the case with many psychotherapy patients. And sometimes the source of their psychiatric symptoms. But they don't know what exactly is going on within them. Once they can conceptualize the problem in terms of a conflict between the little one within and the often underdeveloped or absentee adult self, some reconciliation, negotiation and cooperation between the two can be established. Then the adult self can deal with adult things, and the valuable and lovable inner child, no longer needing to be in control of the personality or trying to do adult things it cannot, can happily contribute to our playfulness, creativity and innate capacity for wonder, awe and joy. The secret is to spend some quality time each day together, much like a good parent does with their outer child.

Humans have limitations. Most of us hate to admit this. To do so is experienced as an insult to our narcissism. A blow to our egos. Limitations are for others. Not ourselves. Like the now famous "Energizer Bunny," we believe we can "just keep going and going and going." But we can't. There is only so much energy we have to expend. And so much time to expend it. Each day has only twenty-four hours. Each lifetime has some final limitation we call death. The human psyche and physiology requires sleep on a regular basis. Psychotherapy patients often wrestle with this existential question of finitude or limitedness. In a culture that worshipsproductivity, that tells its children that there are no limits to what can be accomplished by just putting one's mind to it, the notion of having limitations seems anathema and antithetical to the American "can do" attitude and self-identity. We delude ourselves into believing life is unlimited. But, obviously, it is not. Death, of course, is the most glaring evidence. But, then, we tend to also ignore the reality and finality of death, either through repression or, in some cases, religion and so-called spirituality. We wish to be as gods: limitless and immortal. AsFreud once said, unconsciously, everyone believes they are immortal. But we are mere mortals. Like Icarus, who upon flying too close to the sun on wings fashioned of wax and feathers, tragically crashes and burns into the sea, we continually overextend ourselves in dangerous ways: sleep deprivation, overwork, stress, spending, and sometimes by giving too much of ourselves to others. All because we refuse to accept our limitations. To take the counsel of Clint Eastwood's Inspector "Dirty Harrry" Callahan in Magnum Force: "A man's got to know his limitations." We fear that if we stop constantly pushing ourselves to be more and more productive, successful, active, ambitious, etc., that we will turn into lazy, sedentary, self-centered slugs. The secret is that the opposite is true: One is more likely to break down,burn out, become physically ill, profoundly depressed, debilitatingly anxious, or grandiosely narcissistic or even manic by chronically denying his or her human limitations. We are human beings. Not machines. Not computers, which can continually function without much down time. And as humans, we need regular down time, rest, weekends off, sufficient sleep, play, solitude, socializing, vacations, etc. Paradoxically, the more we respect our own limitations, honor our finitude, the more productive and efficient we become. The trick is to establish the right rhythm between down time and productivity. And to recognize that productivity and creativity can and do continue to occur, inwardly if not outwardly, even during down time. Even as we sleep, the unconscious keeps working, processing, creating and communicating via our dreams. Sure, we need at times to push ourselves past our own limitations. That promotes growth and self-confidence. But ultimately, we can push ourselves only so far before body and psyche start pushing back. As one of my former analysts once put it, "There's only so much tea you can pour into a tea cup."

Selfishness is not necessarily narcissistic. As children, we are taught that to be selfish is sinful, negative, evil. Psychotherapy patients struggle regularly with the issue of selfishness: both with the gluttonous narcissism of excessive selfishness and the soul-starving, saintly rejection of healthy selfishness. Often, they feel conflicted and guilt-stricken about acknowledging and asserting their own selfish needs, feelings, wishes and wants. Is nurturing one's own soul or sense of self selfish? Trying to attain one's innermost needs? Actualizing one's innate creative potential? Constructively expressing one's self and will in the world? And, if so, could this sort of selfishness be positive, beneficial or therapeutic? These are vital questions for both psychotherapy and spiritual development. Because the right kind of selfishness--an honoring of the true Self--is essential to emotional and spiritual healing. And to finding and fulfilling one's destiny. So what is the secret to being selfish in the right way, at the right time, and in the right measure? One of the most difficult tasks for psychotherapy patients is learning to be properly selfish. I call this spiritual selfishness. Becoming moreself-ish. Attentive to the self. Selfishness that centers around, attunes to, acknowledges and honors the needs of the self is what is required. Not the selfish, neurotic, childish demands of the ego. That would still be mundane greed, gluttony or narcissism. But the needs of whatC.G. Jung termed the Self(link is external): the complete person, the whole enchilada, of which ego is only part. The self represents both the center and totality of the personality. Honoring the self is not simple. It requires persistence, patience, humility, courage and commitment. But learning to listen to and obey the needs of the self rather than ignoring or running from it is the key to becoming a more balanced, whole and happy individual.

The importance of knowing your psychological type. And your partner's. Depth psychology, and Jungian analysis(link is external) specifically, emphasize the importance of understanding, accepting and honoring one's own psychological typology. It can also be helpful to consider the typology of significant others too: spouses, lovers, friends, parents, siblings, co-workers, etc. Jung's central point about typology is that our particular psychological type is a lens through which we view life, and determines how we see, relate to, and interpret reality.What happens when someone either doesn't know what their own typology is, or rejects it? Here is a super quick, easy and, in my view, fairly accurate way to determine your own basic typology: When you're down, stressed, burnt-out, overwhelmed, drained or exhausted, what do you want to do to feel better? What works best to recharge your battery? Typically, there are two kinds of responses to this question. What's yours? Note it now. We'll come back to this shortly. For Jung, there were essentially two types of people; introverts and extraverts. These were Carl Jung's terms, for which he gives specific definitions. While his termintroversion is today widely used as a synonym for shyness, introversion is not necessarily shyness. But there is a close relationship between shyness and introversion, which Jung felt (and I fully agree) is largely an innate tendency. (This strongly contradicts a recent post here on shyness claiming little or no congenital influence at all! ) Introversion is a turning inward toward the interior world of ideas, feelings, fantasies, intuitions, sensations, and other facets of subjective experience. The introverted type finds most of his or her meaning and satisfaction not in the outer world of people, objects, things, accomplishments, but rather in the interior life, the inner world. Extraverts, on the other hand, live almost exclusively in and for the exterior world, deriving fulfillment from regular interaction with outer reality. Of course, no person is completely introverted or extraverted. These are two extreme poles on a continuum which we all occupy. A majority of us lean toward the extraverted orientation, placing true introverted types in the statistical minority in most westernized cultures. Indeed, introversion tends to be stigmatized in our culture, pathologized, and deemed abnormal. When introversion is extremely one-sided, it can become pathological shyness, social phobia,schizoid personality, autism or even psychosis: a total detachment from outer reality. Extreme extraversion can manifest in compulsive activity, workaholism, mania and addictive behaviors (e.g., sex addiction) serving the purpose of avoiding introversion or self-reflection at any cost. One secret is that some rhythmic balance between introversion and extraversionis essential for mental health. Introversion and extraversion appear to be innate temperaments or personality traits which can be and are, however, influenced byenvironment. For example, in a highly extraverted society like the United States, or an extraverted family, introversion is often discouraged starting in childhood, with extraversion being encouraged as the social norm. As a result, many naturally introverted types strive to become extraverts, developing an extraverted persona, but inexplicably, feel chronically anxious, fatigued or depressed. This could also occur when an extraverted type is constrained by a socially or religiously imposed façade of introversion. Sometimes, extreme extraversion or introversion can stem from too much of its opposite, a compensatory reaction of the psyche. Introverts tend to have trouble dealing with the outer world in general. Extraverts have equal trouble dealing with the inner world. And both resist doing so, in what frequently becomes a habitual pattern of avoidant behavior. What is so mind-boggling is how dramatically different extraverted and introverted types truly are! By their very nature, these are radically divergent modes of being-in-the-world, antithetical attitudes toward life. For example, a wife might be an extraverted type, wanting constantly to go out into the world, have adventures, meet people, etc. Her husband, on the other hand, is an introvert, for whom none of that holds much fascination. He wants nothing more than to stay home and think, read, contemplate, dream. His introverted attitude values the inner life over the outer; hers the outer over the inner. You see how this can wreak serious havoc and conflict in relationships? Particularly when neither party understands where the other is coming from, typologically speaking.

Now, to return to the little test you took earlier. If you responded that all you want to do to nurture yourself and recharge your spiritual battery is to stay at home, read a book, take a bath, meditate, listen to music, and to do so mainly solo, you probably tend toward the introverted pole. You are likely at least fifty-one percent an introvert. What do you think the extraverted type says? You are probably extraverted if you gave this classic response: "I want to go out and be with people, go to a party, do something exciting." You see, this is what fills the extravert's tank when its on empty. But for the introvert, this sort of extraverted activity, especially when depleted, is a repugnant prospect. As is the prospect of introspection and solitude for the extravert. Why? Because to rejuvenate themselves, to replenish their energy, the introvert must introvert. And the extravert must extravert. It's in their nature. What if you weren't able to answer the above query because you don't yet know how to recharge your battery, haven't found what works for you? When introverted types try to live like extraverts, they have problems, because they have lost connection to their true introverted selves, the re-energizing ground of their being. The same can be said about extraverted types who, wanting to be more "spiritual" or contemplative, cut themselves off from the material world. They have each lost their touchstone. It is quite true that Jung's idea of individuation--the process of becoming more whole--requires introverted types to develop and integrate what he called their "inferior function," their extraversion; and for extraverted types to cultivate their capacity for introversion. For both types, this is exceedingly difficult work. What comes naturally to the extravert, requires enormous effort for the introvert. And vice-versa. But it cannot be accomplished by denying one's innate typology and attempting to replace it with its opposite. (Though in the individuation process, the pendulum may sometimes swing from one extreme to the other before finding balance.) The introverted type must learn to extravert, honing his or her extraverted skills, but will always remain an introvert. Just as extraverted types need to learn to introvert but will always be extraverts. Balance is the secret: learning to accept and take care of oneself, and recognizing that refusing to honor one's typology--and that of others--is ultimately self-defeating and destructive.

Stress management and the unsung virtues of sleep. Sleep is a highly underrated activity. Sleep is the primal form of introversion (see above), a state in which we temporarily but regularly withdraw almost totally from the external world. (See my previous post on introversion and extraversion.) Living as we do in such an extraverted society, most suffer from a chronic insufficiency of sleep. Some studies indicate that people today are sleepingless than they did several decade ago, and that sleep deprivation is a possible risk factor for serious physical conditions including heart disease, atherosclerosis, obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, and suppression of the immune system. In addition, sleep deprivation and resulting sleepiness play a part in traffic accidents and other mishaps involving human error. Moreover, lack of sleep can lead to a transitory mental state known as abaissement du niveau mental: a temporary reduction of consciousness, in which ego defenses are weakened, rendering us more susceptible to the unconscious. Sleep deprivation induces this state, sometimes causing or exacerbating symptoms like anxiety, depression, mania,paranoia, irritability, anger and rage(link is external). Hence the value, even for hardcore extraverts, of getting enough of the compensatory, restorative introversion sleep provides--especially during times of intense stress. While each person differs in the amount of sleep needed for replenishment, eight hours being about average, it is crucial to get sufficient amounts and adequate quality of sleep, and to do so on a regular schedule. Sleep heals the body, clears the mind, and restores the soul. Recent studies(link is external) indicate that getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep nightly leads to losing excess pounds. In patients suffering from insomnia orhypersomnia--sometimes secondary symptoms of anxiety and depression--regulating sleep pharmacologically or otherwise can be crucial to successful psychotherapy. Sometimes simply getting sufficient regular sleep can diminish symptoms, stabilize mood, increase resiliency and improve attitude. When it comes to stress management, sleep--along with proper diet, daily physical exercise and some type of meditation--can do wonders.

"Not out, but through." C.G. Jung (see my prior posts) recounts one of his patient's dreams in which he played a central part: There was a very dangerous-looking circle of lions. In the middle there was a pit that was filled with something hot. She knew that she had to go down into the pit and dive into it. So she went in and was somehow burned in the fire. Just one shoulder of her jutted out. I pressed her down and said: "Not out, but through it!"When patients come for therapy, what they typically want is for the doctor to extricate them from some problematic situation, symptom or state of mind. To alleviate their suffering as quickly as possible. To swiftly solve their problem. That is understandable. And this is exactly what contemporary treatment approaches like psychopharmacology, CBT and even DBT (see my prior post) attempt to provide. Symptomatic relief. But these are all forms of what I would call "suppressive therapy." The truth is that, psychologically speaking, suppressing symptoms without addressing the underlying problem is only a temporary fix. Eventually, they return with a vengeance. Or else require stronger and stronger suppression over time. More medication. More treatment. The secret, as Jung (and, unconsciously, his patient) understood, is not to suppress or escape the problem, but being willing to go through it. Not around it. Not over or under it. But right through it. What would that look like? This theme comes up quite often in treatment, especially when patients are feeling resistant to confronting their deepest fears, agonies or concerns. To facing the unconscioius. They instinctively want out. Out of the fire or proverbial "frying pan." Or the "hotseat" of psychotherapy. But it is the therapist's job, like Jung in his patient's dream (and in reality), or like Virgil in Dante, to carefully and compassionately guide and facilitate the patient's full immersion into the flames. Down into their personal inferno. Gradually. In measured, titrated doses. And, finally, through it. Then, and only then, suppression will no longer be necessary. As the ancient alchemists suggested: "Into the destructive element immerse yourself." Only then can you be creatively transformed.

--
jagadeesh krishnan
Psychologist and International Author
Mobile:+91-9841121780, 9543187772

Essential Secrets of Psychotherapy: The Healing Power of Clinical Wisdom (Part Three)

Essential Secrets of Psychotherapy: The Healing Power of Clinical Wisdom (Part Three)
What really happens in psychotherapy? The answer to that question is complex. And depends in part on the type of psychotherapy one seeks. And who provides it. But one thing psychotherapy can convey to patients are certain essential secrets to living a more rich, meaningful, creative, balanced life. What are some of these traditional, time-honored secrets? Here, in Part Three (see One and Two) ofEssential Secrets of Psychotherapy, are, in no special order, seven more highly distilled offerings of powerful clinicalwisdom for your consideration. I hope readers find one or two that synchronistically speak to them and their own specific concerns.

Forgiveness cannot be forced. Giving someone your forgiveness prematurely, prior to really feeling it, is not in your best interest. Yes, it's good and spiritually "correct" to forgive those who have hurt us or somehow negatively impacted our lives. It may make those receiving your forgiveness feel better about themselves and less guilty. But it is not natural. Not at first. And, frequently, not for some time. Forgiveness is a basic psychological process, and the process must be honored and slowly worked through in order for forgiveness to occur. When we are ready, forgiveness seems to happen. And not a moment sooner. But, at the right time, forgiveness is fundamentally an existential choice: to hang on to anger, resentment, hatred and rage or to finally let it go. And perhaps harness or redirect that rage for productive purposes. Forgiveness can, in a sense, be considered a constructively selfish choice, since it is ultimately psychologically beneficial to relinquish toxic resentment and embitterment. (See my prior post.) But to feel angry or resentful about having been insulted, violated, abandoned, abused or victimized is natural, totally normal, and must be where the forgiveness process starts. Where we are. Not where we would like to or feel we should be, spiritually or philosophically speaking. In this sense, being righteously angry, properly pissed-off, accepting and honoring rather than minimizing one's rage and inherent right to be furious, is the first courageous step on the sometimes long and painful path toward forgiveness. Forgiveness, of course, is not the same as forgetting. We can, in due time, forgive even those who refuse to acknowledge their injurious actions--though this makes forgiveness exceedingly more difficult than granting it to those who do. But to forget bad behavior is foolish. And dangerous. Forgiveness is fundamentally an expression of spiritual compassion for the evil deeds of our fellow humans, malicious or unintentional, and an acceptance of the hidden shadow in us all. But it must never become a naive, blind denial of the deep-seated and pervasive human capacity for evil. Forgiveness, like charity, at best, begins at home: Learning to forgive ourselves for our own mistakes and misdemeanors can help to feel more compassion and forgiveness toward others. In turn, practicing forgiveness of others can make us more forgiving of our own frailties, weaknesses and missteps.

Anger is your ally. Anger is one of the most maligned human emotions. This demonization of anger is manifest in many spiritual or religious traditions. And even, or perhaps especially, in mental health professionals, who typically vilify and misperceive anger or rage as purely negative, destructive, dangerous and irrational, and therefore seek to suppress it in their patients and themselves psychopharmacologically and/or psychotherapeutically. That is an immense mistake. You have a right to your anger. You need it. Anger, when properly related to, is a vital source of strength, energy and empowerment. Yes, of course, anger can be devastatingly destructive and dangerous. And frequently pathological. But, while it may sometimes require psychiatric intervention such as medication or hospitalization to control runaway rage and prevent violence, suppressing one's anger over time rather than addressing it makes it even more dangerous. What is needed is a recognition and validation of our anger and some means of expressing or redirecting it constructively rather than destructively. Being able to verbally express one's rage and connect it consciously to its true source, rather than unconsciously acting it out, is an important aspect of any worthwhile "anger management" program. Anger, is not, as many believe, antithetical to spirituality. Nor to mental health. On the contrary, accepting one's anger is the start of spiritual wisdom, as well as a key to therapeutic progress. And, paradoxically, increased creativity. Here is a secret that psychotherapy patients and many artists come to know: Anger is closely correlated with creativity: As Rollo May wrote, "Our culture requires that we repress most of our anger, and, therefore, we are repressing most of our creativity." So the secret is in finding ways to use one's anger or rage creatively rather than suppressing or expressing it destructively. (See my prior post.)

Love always hurts. We like to think of love as a joyful, uplifting, experience. And it can be. But love also has a dark side. Opening oneself up to love is risky and dangerous business. Many psychotherapy patients intuitively know this, which is why they resist doing so. (See myprior post on "love phobia." ) Almost always, they have been previously burned, by parents or friends or lovers. Some defend against love consciously, others unconsciously. But, at the same time, they know they are missing out on something vitally important, primal and meaningful in their lives. Something that can serve to assuage and transcend at least part of our existential loneliness. Falling in love is like being infected: We have been deeply and irrevocably affected by encountering another, and are made aware of a powerful, unbidden, irrational process being, for better or worse, inexorably set into motion within us. There are archetypal symptoms of "love infection," as with influenza, for example. And, when one's love is unreciprocated, taken for granted or rejected, the pain and suffering is excruciating. The secret about love is that such suffering can teach us much about ourselves and life if we learn to see it psychologically and utilize it productively: Love is a two-edged sword. It can hurt. But it can also heal. (See my prior post on the "love cure.") Being willing to love despite love's dark side is a courageous affirmation of life.

Swallowing the "bitter pill." We can't change the past. There are no magic bullets for undoing what has been done. No therapeutic techniques for permanently erasing trauma frommemory. No way to unring a bell. This is one of the hardest and most painful facts of life for psychotherapy patients to come to terms with. They have been trying all their lives to run away from or deny the reality of what took place during childhood, be it physical, emotional or sexual abuse, literal or emotional abandonment, rejection or neglect. Perhaps the most painful, poignant and pivotal point during psychotherapy comes when, much like Oedipus, one confronts the true facts of one's own history. Some childhood wounding or trauma is inevitable in this imperfect world. In order to survive, both physically and psychologically, such trauma is often defended against in the form of childhood amnesia. In adulthood, emotional laceration may be recognized, made conscious, placed in a wider perspective, and, sometimes, even healed. But "healing" (like forgiveness) does not mean forgetting, for to become conscious is to remember and to know. Healing entails the mature acceptance of the traumatic facts of one's emotional mortification, the causes and the consequences, as well as a resolute willingness to swallow the following "bitter pill" : We cannot change the past nor undo the wound. Nor can we realistically hope as adults to now magically receive that which, in so many cases, brought about the original wounding by dint of its absence during infancy, childhood or adolescence. We can never return to undo what was done to us. To receive what we never received from parents or caretakers. We can, nonetheless, allow ourselves to feel our rage and grief over this irretrievable loss. We have the power to decide our attitude toward the past. We may even--with good fortune, time and grace--find within ourselves the capacity to forgive those who we feel inflicted our agonizing injuries. But we cannot expect to totally exorcise such "demons." They have taken up permanent residence. Become an integral part of us. Molded our personality. Made us who we are today. Partaking of the "bitter pill"--which includes admitting embitterment about childhood history--is typically the true turning point in therapy, as patient's start to move toward accepting the past rather than trying to forget, distort or change it, living more in the present, and looking ahead toward the as yet undetermined future. The empowering secret psychotherapy patients discover is that though the unpalatable "bitter pill" may taste terrible and feel toxic at first, it unexpectedly turns out to be emotionally medicinal and healing.

Even victims are responsible for their attitude and actions. This is one of the most controversial (and politically incorrect) secrets of psychotherapy. It is commonly angrily misunderstood as "blaming the victim." But it is far from that. Still, patients who have been victimized in some way or another tend at times to fall into what psychologist Martin Seligman called "learned helplessness" : An embittered, defeated feeling of being victimized by fate and powerless to determine our own destiny. We are all victims of life. Of events--sometimes random or unintentional, others malicious and evil-- we did not choose and over which we had no control. Nor responsibility. But we are responsible for how we deal with such events. It is always much easier and more convenient to blame our problems on others than to accept responsibility for our personal response to victimization. Existentially speaking, like it or not, we are responsible for how we cope with our victimhood, how we interpret it, and how we learn from it. In addition, there are countless evils beyond our control that can befall us at any time. There are others which we sometimes unwittingly (i.e., unconsciously) invite or make more likely by our own attitudes and actions. We, as adults, must continually grapple with the question of whether "unconsciousness"--that is, not knowing what one is doing, or why--automatically exculpates. Christ's famous biblical cry from the cross, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34 AV), appears at first to condone exoneration for "not knowing" the full implications of one's actions. But, as existential analyst Rollo May (1972) points out, " We are responsible for the effect of our actions, and we are also responsible for becoming as aware as we can of these effects." Psychotherapy patients discover how to differentiate between being purely a victim of fate, an unconscious but still at least partly responsible participant in victimhood, and what it means to consciously find and fulfill one's own destiny. The secret, as existential psychiatrist Viktor Frankl suggested, is to see how our often unconscious "schema" (CBT), "guiding fiction" (Adler) or "myth" (May) and conscious attitude taken toward being a victim can perpetuate feelings of powerless victimhood rather than empowering us to transcend it. Victim mentality fosters a vicious cycle of further victimhood. Disidentifying with the victim role helps to break that vicious cycle.

The wisdom of insecurity. When our most disturbing fears and worries are carefully examined and carried out to their logical conclusions, death and death anxiety is often (but not always) what we find lurking there. Fear of death. Fear of Hell. Fear of reincarnation. Fear of nothingness, the void or oblivion. Fear of physically suffering. As Woody Allen once put it, "I'm not afraid of death. I just don't want to be there when it happens." Ernest Becker, in The Denial of Death (1973), counsels wisely that one must "consent daily to die, to give oneself up to the risks and dangers of the world, allow oneself to be engulfed and used up. Otherwise one ends up as though dead in trying to avoid life and death." True enough. But what happens when we no longer dread death, but rather accept it as merely the necessary counterpart to life, as darkness is the counterpart to light? When we embrace suffering as the necessary counterpart to joy, pleasure and happiness? Opposite poles of the same existence. And when we see that there really is no such thing as security in life. Except for that sense of security that originates within. A spiritual rather than physical or material security. An internal rather than external source of security. We arrive at an essential secret, what philosopher and theologian Alan Watts called the "wisdom of insecurity." We realize that our constant worrying was always a way of denying these fundamental facts. Of escaping the present. Of avoiding our existential anxiety. Of trying to convince ourselves that we can have more control over life than we actually do. Relinquishing our illusions of control, accepting our relative powerlessness over life and death, and accepting ourselves as we are--including ouranxiety and life's utter unpredictability--can be extremely liberating. It can allow us to stop worrying so much, and get on with living. The mysterious future will unfold soon enough. Make necessary plans and decisions. But don't dwell on them or be overly attached to their desired outcomes. Focus instead on what's happening right now, this very moment, however anxiety-provoking, painful, tedious or infuriating rather than anxiously anticipating what may or may not happen next. The future is never guaranteed, one way or another. It may or may not ever arrive. Something bad could happen. But, then, so could something good. Rather than hopeless pessimism or grandiose expectation, consider adopting an attitude of "benignoptimism" (or at least neutrality) toward the potential but never promised future.

The paradoxical power of No. For many psychotherapy patients, saying No is one of the hardest things to do. They don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. They don't want anyone to be angry with them. They don't want to disturb the status quo. They don't want to be rejected or abandoned. They don't want to be perceived as being negative, rigid, selfish, difficult, stubborn or uncooperative. But what they don't realize is that saying No is an essential assertion of one's will in the world. To say No is to express one's existence. And one's personal power to assert and defend one's being. We see such necessary self-assertion developmentally in toddlers during the "terrrible two's." To say No is to differentiate oneself from others and a manifestation of our existential freedom. Sadly, saying No is often met withpunishment and negative consequences, during childhood and later, which gradually leads to a loss of self and self-esteem. We then feel we haven't the right to say No. This incapacity to say No is at the core of what today is called "co-dependency." And it insidiously contributes to the passivity, hopelessness and helplessness of depression and other mental disorders. Psychotherapy patients tend to see saying No as an expression of both selfishness (see my prior post) and negativity. Yet, the secret is that one is not truly capable of fully saying Yes to something or someone if he or she cannot first say No. How can one freely choose something or someone for themselves when unable to freely decline that choice? Certainly saying No can, and often is, a negativistic expression of will, what depth psychologist Otto Rank called "counterwill." For some, such pervasive negativism or oppositional behavior (seen, for instance in the adolescent's Oppositional Defiant Disorder), has become the only way they know how to assert themselves and their will in the world. But to oppose something can be a form of empowerment, as, for instance, in the case of the Occupy Wall Street protest movement today. The same is true in romantic relationships. One cannot fully say Yes to a love relationship without first being able to say No to it. Real intimacy requires the tension and interplay between two independent wills. Without the ability to say No, to set boundaries and limits (see my prior post) in relationship, there can be no genuine intimacy or commitment. Only chronic acquiescence and, consequentially, underlying, typically unconscious resentment and bitterness. As well as constant fear and dread of being engulfed, overpowered, controlled, smothered or even annihilated by the other. Then No tends to take the form of passive-aggressive behaviors, neurosis and, in some cases, psychosis or suicide: the ultimate refusal to participate in and total rejection of external reality. But, paradoxically, knowing that we possess the power to say No to life can encourage us to embrace it. Saying No at times to others and the world takes tremendous courage. But it is a crucial prerequiste to discovering one's true self. To finding and fulfilling one's destiny. And to ultimately being able to say Yes to love and to life.

--
jagadeesh krishnan
Psychologist and International Author
Mobile:+91-9841121780, 9543187772

Ex-Muslim: “Islam is Worse Than Nazism”

 

Islam is Worse Than Nazism
by Serkan Engin

I am an atheist author and poet, who had lived as a Sunni Muslim for 23 years from birth, and I am still living in a Muslim country, Turkey. Also, my parents and all of my relatives are still Muslim. So, my critics about Islam can be easily consider this an inside view.

I know that the title of this essay seems assertive, but I will explain the rightness of this title step-by-step in this essay.

First of all, you have to learn about Islam that if you are an “outsider”, a non-Muslim, for example, a Christian, an atheist, a Buddhist, a Jew or whatever else, all Muslims have the “right” of killing and raping you, grabbing all your properties, your country, land, money and anything else. They take this “right” from the book of their belief, the Quran. In other words, they take this “right” from their belief’s core, the theology of Islam.

Here are some examples of this in verses from Quran.

This verse of Quran is about “all non-Muslims”, all “heretics”! — Christians, Buddhists, atheists, Jews, etc. — describing them “who wage war against Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad)”

Surat Al-Ma’idah (5.33)

http://quran.com/5/33

“Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment.”

And this verse of the Quran is about the order to kill the humans who left Islam, the apostates:

Surat An-Nisa’ (4.89)

http://quran.com/4/89

“They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for the cause of Allah. But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them and take not from among them any ally or helper.”

Look at the current situation in Syria. How can Islamist terrorists slaughter Alawite people or rape Christian women so easily? Because they take this “right” from their belief and they believe that they will go to the heaven because of these vandalistic actions against “outsiders”, who are out of Islam, who don’t believe the same religious tenets — in other words, those who are the “heretics” according to their belief. Some Muslims say, “But they are not the real Muslims.” That is a big lie; that is the exact form of real Islam, because these vandalistic actions are in accord with the orders of Quran.

You have heard many times that “Islam is a tolerant religion”. That is the biggest lie that you can hear all over the World, and this lie is used as a mask to hide the terrible face of Islam. There is NO difference between Islam and Islamism. This is the main error that the modern world make about Islam. There are not different forms as Islam and Islamism, they are the same thing, and they have the same content. This separation is just only an illusion, and it is used by Muslims to hide the brutal, hateful, oppressive,murderous, genocidal face of Islam.

Islamic theology is based on the verses of the Quran and Hadith. Hadiths are the words and actions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and all Muslims must follow these words and actions in addition to the orders of Quran. For example, you have to defecate as Muhammad did, and you have to clean yourself as he did, or you can rape and enslave a “heretic” woman in a war as a sex slave as Muhammad did, or you can torture your enemy in a war to learn the place of his hidden money, as Muhammad did.

You “must” cut the hand of a thief as Muhammad did, not give him any prison sentence as do the modern laws.

You must stone a woman to death as Muhammad did, because she had sex outside of the rules of Islam (but you must only whip her partner a hundred times). If you are a Muslim, you can never set them free while considering that their sexual actions are about their own personal relations and freedom, in accord with modern laws. You must definitely apply the punishments of Muhammad such as stoning the woman to the death and whipping her partner a hundred times if you want to be a good Muslim.

You must kill the man who left the belief of Islam, as Muhammad did. You can’t say “This is his own choice and he has the freedom of thought and belief”, because it is an order of the Quran that you “must” kill the persons who were Muslim before and then left the Islamic religion.

You must kill all homosexuals according to the orders of Islam. No Muslims can say according to Islam that their sexual orientation is their own natural right, in accord with the human rights norms of our age.

You have the “right” to marry a little girl at 9 years old, as Muhammad did. In other words, you can rape a little child legally in Islam and make her a sex slave, and also a domestic slave till the end of her life.

You can lie alongside of your dead wife for 6 hours, as Muhammad did. In other words, you can rape the dead body of your wife for 6 hours after her death.

Here is Islam…Here is the “tolerant religion”…Here is the right way to the heaven…Here are the orders of Allah…Here are the actions of Muhammad…

You can easily see how civilized the Muslim countries of the world are because of Islam, such as Afghanistan, Nigeria, Turkey, Iran, Sudan and the others. You can see how much they have contributed to the history of philosophy, the history of art, and the history of science of the whole world. You can see how respectful they are to human rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, the freedom of expression and thought, the freedom of the press, the freedom of belief, etc.

The first genocide wave of 20th century, the Armenian Genocide, the Assyrian Genocide and the Pontic Greek Genocide, was perpetrated by Turkish and Kurdish people of the Ottoman Empire and the new Turkish Republic, getting motivation from the “rights” that they had because of Islam: the “rights” of killing and raping the non-Muslims, enslaving their women and little girls as sex slaves and also domestic slaves, and grabbing their money, houses and lands. However, “The Committee of Union and Progress” (CUP) (Turkish: İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti) was based on Turkish nationalism; they used Turkish and Kurdish people easily for these genocides because of the Islamic religion’s content about non-Muslims. All the Turkish and Kurdish Muslims believed that they would go to the heaven if they killed more non-Muslims, as do today’s Islamist terrorists.

The owners of the second genocide wave of 20th century were Nazis, as you know. They took the genocides of the Turks as a sample. It is know that Adolf Hitler said to his military commanders,“Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?,” while they were talking about the reaction of the world about the genocides that they were planning to perpetrate.

Nazism was considered a legal and respectable ideology at the beginning of the 1930s, and then the world saw how dangerous Nazism was. Millions of people died because of Nazism, and today it is illegal to support Nazism in any civilized country. You can never make propaganda about Nazism legally. Today, Nazism is not considered as a genuine thought alternative, and it is not included in the freedom of thought and expression.

As I have detailed above, Islam is against the human rights norms of our age, and it has more dangerous content than Nazism. Islam is not a belief alternative, it is just a crime against humanity, and any crime shouldn’t have freedom in our modern world. So, Islam must be declared illegal all over the world, as is Nazism, because of its vandal content and commands that are against human rights. All actions about Islam must be forbidden and the propagandists of Islam must be judged because of instigating to the crimes of murder, rape, grab and crimes against humanity. Otherwise, the world will meet with a big tragedy when the Islamists will get more power, as the world suffered because of Nazism.

by

k.jagadeesh