Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit

A week or so ago I heard a piece on a radio show called "Tell Me More" about a boy with schizophrenia and drug addiction. This guy was apparently a good swimmer, he had been on a swim team, but he drowned in only four feet of water, presumably on purpose. He had attempted suicide a number of times before. The show host was interviewing his mother and asking about his story. The mom said that when she took him to drug rehab they said he had to be treated for his mental illness before they could help him. And when she took him to mental health professionals they said he needed to get off drugs before their treatments could be effective. For a long time they did not realize that he had both problems, they thought he was only a drug addict, but then he continued having symptoms - being depressed, hearing voices, wanting to kill himself, etc. - even when he was off drugs for a while. That's when they diagnosed him with schizophrenia.

This conversation reminded me of a question that has interested me for many years, even before David's problems became serious. The conversation highlighted our society's failure to understand what I believe is a fundamental question regarding human beings.

What is the relationship between our physical body and our spirit? This is the question, as far as I'm concerned. Your answer to this question will determine whether or not you assign personal responsibility to someone with mental illness and what treatment you pursue. I believe that any system of thought that attempts to solve human psychological problems without addressing spiritual issues is doomed to only achieve partial success at best.

In raising this point I am not suggesting that anyone can necessarily explain how the spirit and body interact with each other, though some forms of mysticism (particularly hindu/yoga guys) attempt to do so. But I am suggesting that principles can be discovered from Scripture and science that will guide us in the process of diagnosing problems accurately and addressing them effectively.

I have only read a little bit in this area. I'm no expert and I have no authoritative answers on the question, but I think it is incredibly important. Someone needs to research this and it is astounding to me that there is almost nothing written on this topic. The problem is that it is difficult, if not impossible, to do research on the spirit. Unless of course, we are willing to recognize every attitude and behavior as inherently spiritual in that every attitude and action arises from some spiritual state within the individual (whether consciously or unconsciously), and they all have spiritual consequences in that they propel the individual along a trajectory - either closer to, or farther from relationship with God. This applies to every thought, every small deed, even something as mundane as brushing your teeth. The important thing is not only what you do, but why you do what you do, and with what internal manner (gratitude or complaining, love or selfishness) you do what you do.

Many people assume that if symptoms go away when medication is administered to a mentally ill person, this must mean that the problem is only physical and not spiritual at all. For instance the professor of my counseling class in seminary told us of his experience working at a walk-in clinic in New York City. He said they had all kinds of wierdos walk in off of the street. He said it was not uncommon for people to be brought in by family members or friends, displaying symptoms that looked like demon possession. He said there were a few instances in which the family members told them that the sick person had been into occult activities. He said they would administer a drug called Adavan (sp?) and the demon possession symptoms would go away. Once the patient was calm and in his or her right mind, they could counsel them. His point was that not every thing that looks like demon possession necessarily is possession. He told us that our Biblical training was not enough for us to deal with problems of mental illness, and that we had to refer seriously troubled people to a qualified professional.

I think he was partly right, but missed the most logical conclusion in light of the evidence. Our culture is blind to spiritual things because we distinguish too sharply between the physical and the spiritual. If one assumes that there is a sharp division between the spiritual and the physical realms, where the physical is testable and observable and the spiritual is not, you will miss the truth. It seems to me that the physical and the spiritual realms interact with each other in a dynamic way. The boundary line is fluid and movable, yet real. It is more like gasses or liquids mixing than it is like a solid wall. Thus, everything I do physically has an effect on my spiritual state and vice versa. For instance, I know that if I do not get enough sleep for a period of time, I will get depressed, have negative thoughts and be much more likely to be mean and irritable - lack of sleep influences my personal holiness. If I overeat, I have noticed that I do not feel like praying, or I do not pray with the same level of focus as when I eat slightly less. If I watch a lot of movies or TV (even if the content is innocent), I am less inclined to focus in prayer. My mind is in a very different state as a result of these things, though I have to slow down the pace of life in general to notice the changes. It has also been documented numerous times that people who pray are generally happier and also heal more quickly from illness.

If the spiritual and physical parts of a human being are not so sharply divided, then the use of drugs to suppress the symptoms of demonic possession does not automatically rule out the possibility that the individual is in fact, demon possessed. On this point, it is incredible interesting to me that the Greek word which is translated "sorcery" in our English Bibles is the word "Pharmakeia" from which we get the words, pharmacy and pharmaceutical, etc. This is because in ancient times, as well as today, people used drugs to enter the spirit world and interact with other beings. This is common in many animistic tribal religions and witchcraft, as well as in Hinduism. I remember in India, seeing the Sadhus (holy men who have renounced the world) walking down the street, dishevelled and filthy, absolutely stoned out of their minds. Many of these guys also manifest supernatural powers and symptoms of demonic possession. So it is not at all surprising to me that if some drugs have the capacity to move your consciousness into the spiritual realm, making you aware of what you could not otherwise see and hear, there might also be drugs that have the capacity to move your conscious mind out of that realm. Enter, Adavan. What does all this mean? To me, it means that the starting point in any counseling situation needs to be a careful assessment of the spiritual condition of the individual. How do they describe their relationship to God? how do they describe their relationship to other people? If these primary relationships are characterized by anything other than love, as the Bible defines it, this is a clue. It tells us that something is wrong, though there may be many layers of issues between the root sin, and the presenting problem.

But, if one arrogantly assumes that science has explained away the spiritual realm, and treats a schizophrenic only on the physical level, the symptoms may be suppressed, even for extended periods of time, but the underlying root cause will never be addressed. This is why they cannot ever take a schizophrenic off of their medication without the symptoms recurring. They have not healed anything. It is only a suppressive thing, not a final solution. (I realize that sometimes there are physical root causes too, it can go either way). I do believe that medication is a gift from God to be used wisely and carefully. But it is not to be used as a replacement for God.

When Paul contrasts the filling of the Spirit with drunkenness, I do not think we should understand this to be a contrast of category. That is to say, he is not contrasting a purely physical thing with a purely spiritual thing. Rather, he is contrasting two things that can control a person, which are both fully physical and fully spiritual at the same time. Note, in the following verses, the effects (or causes, depending on how you take the participles) of the filling of the Spirit - "Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ."
- Ephesians 5:18-21

Are not these "spiritual" things also physical?

It seems to me that if one has the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control - that person will be mentally healthy.