XPost: alt.support.depression, sci.med.psychobiology   
   From: laidlaws@hotkey.net.au   
      
   On 28/02/17 17:56, David wrote:   
   > wasn't like I said   
      
   The latest is Ketamine for depression.  In larger quantities, it is a   
   street drug.  Administered in hospital, it is said to banish depression   
   in half an hour.  My pdoc says that the depression comes back within   
   about the same time-span, but trials are continuing.   
      
   When people start talking about a psychedelic experience as an "open   
   mind" or a "religious experience," they remind me of the Hippie days.   
   An open mind is part of the meditation idea, looking at parts of oneself   
   that were ignored before.  But hallucinations are very different from   
   awareness.  They are practically opposites.  In my view, having   
   "experiences" is not what religion is all about.  Jesus kept saying "An   
   evil and adulterous generation looks for a sign."  And those experiences   
   are only signs, evidence that your religion is working.  They are   
   inwards-looking.  Religion turns a person's perspective from looking   
   inwards, to looking outwards.  The girl who fought for equality for   
   women in Asia, almost at the cost of her life, and refused to let strong   
   opposition stop her, is a devout Buddhist.  Her religion means a lot to   
   her, and it translates into action.  She is like the Good Samaritan, who   
   came to the help of a man in need when a priest and a Levite hadn't done   
   anything.   
      
   I read a book called "Prayer can Change your Life."  There were 3 groups   
   in a controlled experiment:   
      
   -Those who thought that they already knew how to pray, and were left to   
   their own resources.  They showed no improvement.   
      
   -Those who were given psychotherapy with no mention of religion: 65%   
   improvement.   
      
   -Those who were given inputs about their problems from initial   
   profiling, and helped to "pray them away":  72% improvement.   
      
   And while the psychotherapy group were happy to go their own way, the   
   last group wanted to help others.  That is what religion means to me.   
      
   The Google doodle today is about a Pakistani Moslem who set up a   
   volunteer ambulance service available to all.  When he was asked why he   
   helped "infidels," not just Moslems, he replied "Because I am a better   
   Moslem than you."  In the Christian Bible, there is "There shall be   
   neither black nor white, bond nor free."  This man saw Mahommedan   
   doctrine as saying the same.   
      
   Doug.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)