In the human mind the ?I? or ego is the sacred center around which everything must rotate.  Anything that threatens the ?I?/ego or its status as unique and special is instantly defended against. The constant vigilant defense of the ego is developmental and instinctive in all human beings.  The need for the ego to set itself apart from all other things creates a world of duality made of two aspects such as ?I? and ?you?, ?self? and ?other?.  The relative size of your basic duality is increased each time an ?other? is created.

            With duality as the ground, our ego looks everyday at an aging, impermanent physical body surrounded by a universe of ?others?. This situation is extremely anxiety provoking to an ?I? that is only interested in its own survival. To see the world in this truly human fashion is terrifying and it makes the construction of a confident, stable and secure ego impossible.

            The Western world has constructed two primary methods to address the constant insecurity that arises from its? lack of ego stability and these are religion and psychology. Both work toward the same goal but use very different means to achieve it. Here we will focus on psychology and we will start by admitting that it does not do its? job very well. Time and again research has shown that talking to a professional psychotherapist does not yield any better results for the individual than speaking with a para-professional or interested other. I believe that the reason this occurs is because our understanding of the mind and the origin of mental health problems is flawed.

            At the core of all western psychological theory is a construction we call the ego-self. From Freud?s psychosexual theory to Piaget?s cognitive stages the entire process of human development is focused on the growing ego-self and its? sufficiency. However, as we discussed above, the duality of existence makes the secure ego-self impossible to construct. Yet, we move forward and build an ego-self on the most tenuous of defense mechanisms such as denial, projection and repression.

Where there is no ground, we build one from what we wish were true and what our environment tells us is true. As always the anxiety will return. One look in the mirror or at another person is enough to remind us that the ego will never be confident and secure in itself. The ego becomes increasingly lame and soon needs help. Luckily, a powerful force stands ready to assist us in our stabilization. That force is culture.

Our culture, like our psychological functioning is devoted to the task of denying our groundlessness by becoming our own ground. This strategy is particularly appealing to the collective human ego of culture as nothing would feel better than being rescued by ourselves. If we successfully build a ground out of our agreed upon fantasies of what is real than we can collectively pretend that the ground is really there. Our collective attempt at this process will create some security for us through mechanisms such as identification and denial. Using group think and strongly rejecting all ??others? that disagree or deviate we can constantly reassure each other that ?I?m ok and you?re ok.?

            Again however, this supposed cure is in reality only a remission. The anxiety will return as soon as the ego-self is confronted with its impermanence. When this happens the individual circles their defensive wagons in an attempt to stabilize a fragmenting ego. If they are successful the confrontation with impermanence is put off another day. If they fail, they begin to exhibit phenomena that our culture calls symptoms of mental illness.

            Your particular symptoms and illness is unique to you but the most common definitions for this very human problem are anxiety and depression. If you are unable cope with these symptoms and chose to seek out help you will most often find yourself in the embrace of psychology where every attempt will be made to strengthen you ego until it can again stave of the threat of insecurity. As always, however, the project of psychotherapy is doomed to failure because the premise that it starts with is flawed.

            What contemporary mental health treatment needs is a conception of the human mind and the human life that is not plagued by the ego-self. If people are to be responsible for their mental health they need a theory and practice that will liberate them from the ego-self and help them see things as they truly are. The Vedic system as a whole and Ayurveda in particular offer just such a solution.

            The Vedic system suggests that the true nature of the ego-self is one of illusion.  The illusion originates in our individual and collective notion that our ?ego-self? is a real self existing thing.  The authors of the Vedas write that human suffering arises as soon as the illusion of ego-self tries to ground itself and become an autonomous real object. If an individual self wishes to become real, it can do so only by objectifying itself. It must become a functional, tangible ?thing?.

Once this project is underway the burgeoning ego-self is immediately aware of being surrounded by things it cannot entirely feel or understand. These things are sensed as not-self or not me and are quickly classified as ?other?.  In addition to this issue, once the ego-self becomes aware of its being, it has to address the threat of non-being or death. In order to experience security in a world of ?others? where one is constantly confronted with the threat of non-being the ego-self has to begin the development of boundaries that give it some level of containment and security.            

 As it cannot ground itself in an external reality, the ego-self has to become a mentally constructed object to be real. This objectification is a process of individual and social boundary construction that gives the ego-self an identity as a self-existing, self-sustaining and entirely isolated object in a world of objects. This process of construction is one of continually developing new and more detailed boundaries. The ego-self has to strengthen these boundaries by grasping at newly bounded objects to consistently give the illusion of a competent and strong ego-self. Ultimately our mind, the functional arm of the ego, will build a detailed illusion that we are the distinct, boundaries we grasp. But alas the ego is soon confronted with irrefutable evidence that it is not what it believes itself to be. This confrontation leaves us with a sense of emptiness.  

This emptiness is an ontological anxiety that gnaws at the core of the ego-self.  The remote areas of the conscious and unconscious will be troubled by the vague or not-so-vague idea that ?you are not safe?, ?you are not adequate? and/or ?you will not be fulfilled?. These ideas are like viruses that attach themselves to every aspect of ego functioning. If the ego cannot defend itself, it will soon be living with constant stench of anxiety, guilt, shame and fear.

The ego does not handle this type of existence very well and it is driven to go forward and make every effort to objectify its? experience. The ego will begin the search for objects to hold responsible for its? own anxiety, fear, guilt and shame. It will look to people, places and things for evidence of there responsibility which will soon be constructed if not found. With the inevitable discovery of the responsibility of the ?other?, new boundaries will be formed and old ones strengthened? for a time.        

The problem again is that this whole process is an illusion. The mentally constructed self, can no more objectify itself than the eye can see itself or the ear hear itself. It is a mentally and socially constructed game of boundary and object creation in the mind that can never fill the emptiness of the being with anything real. Since we do not understand what is happening to us, nor can we find a prescription for long term success, our only option is to become increasingly compulsive, inflexible, isolated and afraid.

             Western mental health responds to this dilemma by turning into the little Dutch boy who sticks his fingers into the holes in the dyke. Every time he plugs one hole another one forms. Soon, he has used all of his fingers and toes and the water continues to gush all around him as the illusion gives way.

Desperate in its attempts to stabilize our individual and collective ego-selves, mental health treatment has become increasingly more brief, shallow, and technical. The humanity it once contained disappears under the pressure of failure and finally it is reduced to an illusion itself. Everyone doing what they are supposed to do and saying what they are supposed to say, yet nothing changes. This is the reason that those who see a psychotherapist do just as well with a para-professional or interested other. The Mental Health field has become a socially constructed illusion in which all parties involved agree not to let on that nobody really knows what the problem is.

            This approach to mental health dictates that no actual health can take place. Even the slightest glance at a media source, or in many cases a look out the window, will verify this for you.  We are surrounded by violence. We have been at war almost constantly for the last decade. Depression and anxiety are quickly becoming one of the main reasons to see your family physician. Our cultures children are becoming less functional despite our best effort to help. Interpersonal and geo-political violence is ever present, and each day human beings seem to be less tolerant of each other than the day before.

In Ayurveda, the direction we need to go is toward Moksha. Moksha means liberation in Sanskrit. According to the Upanishads (Volume I, 101) ?the forgetfulness of one?s true Self is the greatest suffering for a man.? Moksha is liberation from this forgetfulness. It is liberation from the illusion that we are separate, independent, objective, real selves.

            The nature of divine consciousness in the cosmos is, according to the Upanishads (Vol. I), Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute.  A part of this consciousness dwells in every living thing. Illusion however, leaves us unaware of our true nature and often afraid of it. The Upanishads state that the only way to liberation is through knowledge of the true self. Self knowledge is the necessary condition for a being to realize Moksha.

            This self knowledge takes us not to a cognitive, ego-based understanding but to the knowledge that comes from an experience of our true selves as divine.  In reality, our true self is a present moment experience of union and/or connection with the divine consciousness of the universe. As you move toward this union you have the opportunity to be liberated from duality and all notions of life and death.

            A fundamental paradox of mans? condition is that he needs to be free of the anxiety arising from the threat of death but it is his life which awakens this anxiety. Each day of living reminds him/her of the inescapable fate that awaits. Therefore, s/he must shrink away from the life that awakens this anxiety. Moksha is the solution to this problem. Once you realize / experience your true nature as eternal, blissful, existence what threat does death hold for you.

            Western history has found no psycho-therapeutic or secular method to resolve this primal dilemma. Human beings have been in therapy in increasing numbers for over one hundred years. Theories and therapies of any orientation have been unable to solve this deeper issue of suffering and have instead altered their aims to simply reduce anxiety to a manageable level.

The Vedas suggest that with Moksha comes the realization that there is no ego-self alive right now and with this, the problem of duality is solved. Moksha, self-realization, nirvana and/or enlightenment is nothing other than liberation from the concepts of birth, life, death, I, you, us, them, etc. Moksha is liberation from the boundaries that you hold sacred. You no longer have to be separate from infinite, divine consciousness. You no longer have to be tormented by anxiety and then resist the life you live.

The real gift of Moksha is the end of the self-reflexivity that constitutes the ego. Again, the ego is not consciousness but the process by which consciousness tries to grasp itself only to end up paralyzed and mired in illusion and boundaries. By going to the ego directly and discovering that no boundaries actually exist, the problems of suffering can be resolved at the source.

I am not suggesting that the ego serves no function at all. It serves a very important developmental purpose over the lifespan. It is that which helps us to learn, adjust and socialize to this world. As infants and children it is the stabilizing structure of the self. As we mature however, it starts to become as much a hindrance to our mental health as it is a help.

Further, I don?t want to portray the idea that liberating yourself from the ego is easy. You will be giving up your most ingrained, automatic, cherished thoughts and feelings about yourself. These thoughts and feelings are what you think you are. Without this illusion, who are you?  What is your real self?  Ayurveda suggests that you ask yourself these questions.

            We must consider the idea that Mental Health and indeed any process of healing the human being will not become effective until it directly addresses the illusional ego-self and the emptiness within it. Ayurveda does exactly this. It starts with the assumption that we need to be liberated from the illusion of the ego-self. It goes on to offer a comprehensive and detailed theory of mind and how mental health problems arise.

            I do not want to address the Vedic theory of mind at this point. It requires much more attention than I can give it here. What I would like to address is the practice all of us can use to take control of our own experience of mental health. I would venture to say it is the foundation of mental health.  The practice is known as Sadhana.

            Sadhana or meditation can be a complicated subject. Many schools and styles exist not all of which agree with one another. I acknowledge the fact no one style of Sadhana is right for everyone and you will have to seek out what is best for you. Here I will present a brief description and rational for Sadhana as it was taught to me by Swami Sadashiva Tirtha.

            Sadhana is the practice that brings about stability of mind/body. The functioning of the ego and other aspects of being alive constitute a vibration in the mind/body. A moderate level of vibration is the voice of life. This moderate vibration is unique to the individual and it exists in harmony with the cosmos. This level of vibration is satvic and in this place the individual will be living in relationship with the world and God. A level of vibration that is to fast or harsh for the individual is rajasic and therefore unhealthy. In the same manner vibration that is too slow is tamasic and also unhealthy.  Sadhana is the tool you use to bring your level of vibration into union with the divine center of all life.

            Many practices of Sadhana exist and in this case most roads lead to Rome. As long as your practice is based in developing the concentration of the mind/body you will do fine. The style and method of practice are unimportant as long as you practice regularly The practice of Sadhana cultivates concentration of mind/body and in doing so liberates it from attachment to boundaries, objects and even its own ego self? and this is moksha It stills the mind/body and allows it to come in contact with the universal consciousness that runs through everything in the cosmos. I realize that this is a simplistic explanation but that is really all there is to it. You are free when you realize that inside, outside and in between are the same? infinite.

            It is the practice of Sadhana that heals. It nurtures unattachment to the self and the objects of this life. As these things fade away you are left with only what is real. All that remains is that larger Divine consciousness and you can fall into it as a raindrop falls into the ocean. Approaching Sadhana in this manner brings mental health not because your problems vanish but because when you rest in the Divine they simply don?t matter as much. When you rest in the divine you no longer need to craft and control your life.        

          It is the practice of unattachment from the ego self and the world we live in that brings true mental health. Here we can see our ego self, our experiences and our suffering for what they really are? Divine.