Letter # 65: "Emotional Constipation"

In my work as a psychiatrist, I see a very common malady: “emotional constipation”. The sufferer of this malady brings it on himself by not heeding the emotional signals to speak up. It’s very much like not heeding nature’s call for a bowel motion. As you know, not heeding nature’s call can cause severe constipation, even obstipation, which might even land a person in a hospital.
Just as the body gives various signals, such as the desire to eat, drink, urinate and defecate, so does the mind with the basic emotions of happiness, sadness, fear, and anger. And just as ignoring the body’s signals can lead to ill health, so can ignoring the mind’s signals lead to mental ill health.
Mr. Spock, of Star Trek, is a prime fictional example of someone who can’t feel or express feelings. Such a condition has a medical name. It’s called alexithymia. Mr. Spock is not ill. He’s a Vulcan, and Vulcans don’t have emotions, only logic. He can’t understand human emotions for he’s not human. But I see that even humans, who are naturally endowed with emotion, often can’t feel their emotional signals. That is a malfunction. The cure for “emotional constipation” will often require the help of a healer of emotions – a therapist. The remedy lies in retraining ourselves to feel our emotions, respecting them as they are and not judging them prematurely, and allowing ourselves to speak of them.
We must remember that this is the way we were constructed as human beings. The ancient Vedic texts speak of human psychological architecture, and it’s proper utilization: “The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayan, expands Himself in His quadruple principles of Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha. In this way He remains near His devotees to accept their services.” SB C5:17:14.
Obvious, isn’t it? No? Let me explain. What Vyasa, the ancient age and documenter, is stating is this: The Lord, or Original Being, expands himself into four principles. These principles, in ordinary language, are: Thinking (personified as Vasudeva), Feeling (personified as Sankarsana), Willing (personified as Pradyumna), and Action (personified as Aniruddha).
Srila Prabhupada calls these four principles “Krishna’s quadruple psychic expansion” (thinking, feeling, willing, and action). C4:p347. It is by these four “expansions” that the Lord remains near His devotees, in order to accept their service.
So, use the principles of thinking, feeling, willing, and action in full capacity, in order to serve your mental health better, and to serve better your loved ones, humanity as a whole, and the Lord.
And remember Jesus always spoke up before he forgave.

God Bless; Allah Hu Akbar; May The Forces Of The Universe Bring You Harmony; Hare Krishna; Radha-Swami; and Nanak Naam Chardi Kala Tere Bhane Sarbat Dha Bhalla.
I wish to express my gratitude for your comments, which inspire me to carry on writing. Please forgive my fallibilities in presenting this material. Also, feel free to send this message on to someone that you might think would like to receive it. If you do send it on, my only request of you is that you send it as it is, in its entirety, and to not alter or modify any of the text, references or authorship information. Thus you will help to give credit or liability to where they are properly due.
Jas Bhopal
Copyright© 2008
References: "The Holy Bible" Online version; "The Koran" as translated by SV Mir Ahmed Ali 2005 ISBN 0-9761870-0-0); "The Bhagavad Gita As it Is" as translated by Srila Prabhupada ISBN 0-89213-268-X; The Srimad Bhagavatum as translated by Srila Prabhupada ISBN0-89213-259-0; "I Am That. Talks With Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj” ISBN 0-89386-022-0; The Dhammapada ISBN-10:1-84483-344-5; The Sacred Sukhmani ISBN 81-7205-098-4; Wikipedia.