St. Teresa of Avila
When you're a victim of genocide, and they've finally managed to get you checked into a mental hospital, they use your newly pronounced diagnosis against you to discredit you. NAMI, please take note.
I have bipolar disorder (it was 66 degrees today, what a good sign) but I usually say I have manic depression because I feel that it better explains my ordeal and "bipolar" has gotten such bad press (probably due to genocide) that I feel stigmatized by it. I'm a feeling person (noticed by my business class instructor, a pastor they call "Bishop."), and being manic depressive only accentuates these feelings. They call it "bipolar" because you fluctuate between the two polarities: extreme happiness or extreme sadness. Please note that these changes DO NOT occur in rapid succession. It is a cycling process: you're up for a while, you're down for a while. There's this stereotype out there propagated by either ignorant people or people who are promoting genocide, that your moods swing one minute to the next. NOT TRUE.
Let me tell you about St. Teresa of Avila. She said and did things in 16th century Spain that would have had any other woman killed (by virtue of being a woman, in 16th century Spain, with an opinion). She had attitude. SHE EVEN HAD ATTITUDE WITH GOD. There's this great story in Tessa Bielecki's "Wild At Heart," where she even tells God off. Let me tell you the story, it's been told to me two different ways A) the first way was she was riding a mule in a cart as she was touring Spain and it tipped over and God said to her "Teresa, this is how I treat my friends." To which she replied "Well, that's probably why you have so few!" B) she was in a boat that tipped over and the same thing happened. I'm not really sure, and it's hard to look up when it's in audiobook form, so this explanation will have to do. Anyway, she had the guts to speak her mind, AND GOD STILL LOVED HER, SHE WAS A SAINT.
She was a brilliant writer and theologian and it is of my informed opinion that she was even *gasp* bipolar. The only thing I've ever read of hers is the "Interior Castle," where I noticed many striking similarities of her "condition."
And, guess what? SHE WAS A DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH. Her writings influenced church doctrine.
I have bipolar disorder (it was 66 degrees today, what a good sign) but I usually say I have manic depression because I feel that it better explains my ordeal and "bipolar" has gotten such bad press (probably due to genocide) that I feel stigmatized by it. I'm a feeling person (noticed by my business class instructor, a pastor they call "Bishop."), and being manic depressive only accentuates these feelings. They call it "bipolar" because you fluctuate between the two polarities: extreme happiness or extreme sadness. Please note that these changes DO NOT occur in rapid succession. It is a cycling process: you're up for a while, you're down for a while. There's this stereotype out there propagated by either ignorant people or people who are promoting genocide, that your moods swing one minute to the next. NOT TRUE.
Let me tell you about St. Teresa of Avila. She said and did things in 16th century Spain that would have had any other woman killed (by virtue of being a woman, in 16th century Spain, with an opinion). She had attitude. SHE EVEN HAD ATTITUDE WITH GOD. There's this great story in Tessa Bielecki's "Wild At Heart," where she even tells God off. Let me tell you the story, it's been told to me two different ways A) the first way was she was riding a mule in a cart as she was touring Spain and it tipped over and God said to her "Teresa, this is how I treat my friends." To which she replied "Well, that's probably why you have so few!" B) she was in a boat that tipped over and the same thing happened. I'm not really sure, and it's hard to look up when it's in audiobook form, so this explanation will have to do. Anyway, she had the guts to speak her mind, AND GOD STILL LOVED HER, SHE WAS A SAINT.
She was a brilliant writer and theologian and it is of my informed opinion that she was even *gasp* bipolar. The only thing I've ever read of hers is the "Interior Castle," where I noticed many striking similarities of her "condition."
And, guess what? SHE WAS A DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH. Her writings influenced church doctrine.
posted by Nicole at
8:57 PM
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