Seeking healing through godly means rather than the world’s deceptive systems

We review ‘Get Real’ by John Gordon (Philadelphia Books, 2019)

Catharine Pakington reviews ‘Dementia: Frank and Linda’s Story’ by Louise Morse (2010, Monarch Books).

I was introduced to this book through the inspiring website of Dr Jennifer Bute, whose GP career was curtailed by early onset Alzheimer’s Disease:

Since then it has become my passion to try and help people understand about it, because I do believe it is a great opportunity, a God-given unexpected gift in order to understand this hurt section of society.

Dr Bute’s website offers resources giving an insider’s view of Alzheimer’s, to help doctors, relatives and carers respond positively.

Louise Morse takes up this theme of new understanding bringing new hope, especially for Christians who are pilgrims on a journey to Heaven. She co-authored an earlier book, ‘Could It Be Dementia? Losing Your Mind Doesn’t Mean Losing Your Soul’, which emphasised that people do not become worthless when they lose ability to remember or reason.

A former journalist, Louise is Media and Communications Manager with the Pilgrims’ Friend Society and also a counsellor and cognitive behavioural therapist. From her own experience, and that of others, she challenges readers to see that a person with dementia has not disintegrated, but is simply overshadowed. With understanding and support, the journey can even become a positive one as the individual continues to be recognised.

Based on a True Story

The author uses a narrative form, taking us through the true story of ‘Frank and Linda’, from the point at which Frank’s dementia is diagnosed and Linda adjusts to becoming his carer after many years of marriage. Morse depicts Linda using her knowledge of Frank to manage situations to maintain his contentment, avoiding triggers to anxiety or anger.

We follow the changes in their lives and how those around them cope and support – or do not. Their experiences are compared with those of others and we see how attitudes to dementia have changed in recent years.

Morse challenges readers to see that a person with dementia has not disintegrated.

From the outside it can seem that those with dementia are acting irrationally or living in imaginary worlds. Knowing a person’s history can help us recognise that what they are doing is consistent with the reality in which they are living, but it may be based on memories from the past.

Clattering from the kitchen prompted one man to hide under the table because it sounded like war-time bombing. A resident of a care home may say that they want to go home because something has happened that makes them feel unsafe. The approach encouraged by Morse is to “go with the flow” and to “get into their world”. We may think of doing that with children - but are we willing to seek the same understanding of the elderly?

Examples are given of long-established habits continuing and the calming effect of familiar words and songs. When other words may have been lost, a faithful Christian may still be able to quote Scripture, join in singing hymns or, in one example, repeat the names of those on her prayer list. I wonder what we are storing up that might come out of us when other abilities fail?

Challenge to Listen

Morse challenges us to listen to what patients are really trying to communicate, because it might not be what the words seem to say. As the numbers with dementia continue to increase we do not know who we might need to care for, or if we ourselves will one day be affected.

I used to take schoolchildren to visit a home specialising in dementia care. It was helpful to have resources to encourage the children to respect the residents with some understanding. Residents might not remember that we had been, but happy feelings could remain if we visited (and left) in the right way.

Uplifting and Practical

There are many uplifting stories in this book, but also much practical advice, including how to negotiate care homes, once residential care becomes necessary for the sake of the carer and the wellbeing of the one with dementia.

Each chapter ends with a summary of key ‘Points to Ponder’, which makes it easy to review sections, and a short section of devotions. It is a readable, accessible and practical book coming from a Christian perspective, that really does encourage hope.

Dementia: Frank and Linda’s Story (256pp, paperback and e-book) is available widely online, including on Amazon for £7.30.

Also by Louise Morse: Worshipping with Dementia: Meditations, Scriptures and Prayers for Sufferers and Carers (2010, Monarch Books) and Dementia: Pathways to Hope: Spiritual Insights and Practical Hope for Carers (2015, Monarch Books).

The real reason why our NHS is in dire straits.

The New Year headlines and editorials around Britain are filled with crisis in the NHS, with the Government insisting that there is no crisis.

They say that the postponement of 12,000 operations and the appeals to the public not to go to A&E unless it is a real emergency are simply the result of careful planning. There’s nothing wrong with the NHS: all arrangements are in hand to get our health and care services through the winter.

The Government hopes that we will all be reassured by these statements; but still the reports persist of overcrowded hospitals, patients left on corridors for hours, ambulances queueing up outside A&E departments (for which the PM has now apologised) and elderly patients blocking beds because there is no place for them to go in the community.

Facing Up to Reality

So, what is the truth? Every year more and more money is poured into the NHS, more doctors and nurses are recruited, more operations are carried out, medical science advances, more diseases are being successfully treated, more and more people are living longer. But still the demands upon the NHS increase year on year and – as always – we have the usual New Year outbursts of anger that our great National Health Service, the pride of the nation, is not performing as well as we would like.

Without disputing the incredible work done by our health professionals, it is not excessive these days to suggest that the NHS is fast becoming the golden calf at the centre of our national religion, before which we bow our heads and worship.

Without disputing the incredible work of our health professionals, it is not excessive to suggest that the NHS is becoming the golden calf at the centre of our national religion.

We sacrifice our wealth at the NHS altar and in return we receive multitudes of pills and potions to satisfy our cravings and ward off the consequences of over-indulgence. We replace parts of our bodies in our search for eternal life hoping that they will never wear out. The noble origins of our tremendous health service are being augmented and warped beyond recognition to gratify our lust for physical wellbeing, long life and free promiscuity.

It is little wonder that despite everything we do to improve our great NHS, the demands upon it grow steadily year upon year.

Why is this? Why do we never stop to ask fundamental questions about the NHS and the health of the nation?

Ambulance waiting area outside St Thomas's Hospital, central London. See Photo Credits.

The Real Trouble

What is the real trouble with the NHS? It all comes down to 2 words – family breakdown!

Why are so many elderly patients bed-blocking in hospital because there’s no one to care for them in the community? The answer is – family breakdown.

Why are so many beds in our hospitals occupied by mental health patients? The answer is – family breakdown.

Why are so many people going to their GPs with depression? The answer is – family breakdown.

Why are our care facilities in the community under such strain? The answer is – family breakdown.

Why are there so many long-term people off work? The answer is – family breakdown.

Surely it’s time we recognised that the nation is sick! Why is the nation sick? The answer is – family breakdown.

What is Driving This?

Is there a simple reason why this is happening? There certainly is! We have abandoned our Judeo-Christian value system, which put family and community at the heart of the nation.

Former generations did not have everything right; there was plenty of evidence of injustice and an unequal distribution of resources. But there was one thing they did get right – faithful commitment in marriage, with love and care in the community at the very centre of national life – thanks to the efforts of evangelists and intercessors down the ages who helped establish the Bible as the moral foundation of British society.

Our nation is sick because of family breakdown – which has happened as we have abandoned our Judeo-Christian value system.

Happy, faithful, loving family life produces happy, stable, loving and healthy children. It is in the family where children are taught the basic values of community, of love for one another, of respect, of recognition of the rights of others, of dealing with disagreements in a non-violent manner, of finding pleasure in making others happy and of caring for one another.

All these things are a normal part of family life in a nation whose values are drawn from the Judeo-Christian heritage of the Bible. The Bible is the only blueprint in the world for marriage and the family that really works and leads to blessing – based as it is on God’s good design for humanity.

The Biblical Model

The teaching given by St Paul to the Christians in Corinth was brilliant. He based his teaching on Christian family and community upon the illustration of a body – a healthy body in which each of the parts performed their function. Each part was equally essential to the health, vitality and right functioning of the whole. He said “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable” (1 Cor 12:21).

The Christians in Corinth were living in a hostile social environment with paganism all around them and increasing pressure from the government in Rome who hated Judeo-Christianity and tried to force everyone to worship the Emperor.

Our situation today is not very different and it is likely to get more difficult for Christians to witness to the truth in an increasingly hostile, secular humanist environment. It is essential, if our faith is to survive, that we not only teach the faith within our families, but in our community life we demonstrate the practical worth of biblical principles.

We have something of immense value to communicate here in the West, to nations that have had the truth for centuries but are now deliberately turning to false gods like Darwinism and Epicureanism, which deceive with their material trinkets and Godless hedonism. The West is totally neglecting – even denying - the fundamental values that lead to true health and well-being of both individuals and communities.

If our faith is to survive, we must not only teach the faith within our families, but in our community life demonstrate the practical worth of biblical principles.

Our Task

The New Year message that we need to convey to the world is to show the essential nature of biblical family and community, where love and respect for one another – putting others ahead of self – and finding true fulfilment in service become part of our nature. Only then will others begin to listen to the Gospel we preach.

Paul’s teaching on family and community defines the essence of love that needs to be taught and demonstrated by Christians today. He says:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Cor 13. 4-8)

This kind of love cannot be taught in the classroom or studied in a university library. It must be lived out and conveyed in family life by those who have come to a personal knowledge of the love of God our Father through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord of all.

There is a new well-being fad taking the Western world by storm. Though it has been part of mainstream psychological practice since the late 1970s, it has recently enjoyed a remarkable surge of popularity, sweeping into boardrooms, prisons, hospitals and schools all around the UK, the US and Europe. Yet, it remains poorly understood by most people. The trend is mindfulness.

The mindfulness tide

Mindfulness is a meditation practice which, instead of focusing on emptying the mind, encourages people to focus on ‘the present moment’.¹ It is being extolled as a scientifically provable pathway² to health and well-being, acting to soothe stress and restore peace to busy lives.

Unlike many alternative well-being practices, mindfulness is not merely the domain of specialist health shops. Since being exported to the USA in the 1960s and 1970s through the immigration of Buddhist monks, proponents like Jon Kabat-Zinn have helped to mainstream mindfulness in medical and academic spheres.³ From here it has been promoted to a mass audience and popularised across a variety of sectors, with the help of the internet as well as top-down endorsement from business executives, celebrities and government officials.

In the USA, a pro-mindfulness business culture is spreading thanks to its promotion by giants like Apple and Google, with immense pressure on employees to participate.⁴ This year at Davos, the six mindfulness seminars laid on for global economic leaders were “packed to capacity”.⁵

Nearer home, mindfulness is being promoted everywhere from Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council⁶, to the NHS⁷ and HM prisons⁸. It is being embraced by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Home Office and Transport for London,⁹ whilst the University of Oxford has its own Mindfulness Centre. Enthusiastic independent schools (e.g. Tonbridge, Hampton, Charterhouse) are installing mindfulness programmes and there is currently a campaign for its adoption into the national curriculum.¹⁰

Celebrities are endorsing it (e.g. Ruby Wax, Goldie Hawn, Oprah Winfrey), investigative journalists are raving about it¹¹, mindfulness mobile apps have gone viral, and courses, retreats and themed holidays are widely available. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find an untouched sector or region in the UK.

Finally, an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on mindfulness launched in May 2014 and is currently investigating the possibilities of rolling mindfulness out across “a range of policy areas”¹², with a report on its legislative efficacy due out in June 2015¹³.

Despite all this recent popularity, and freely available information, few ordinary people are really aware of what it is, or where it comes from.

Being mindful: the realities behind the practice

To the unwary, mindfulness seems harmless and uncontroversial. The very name connotes care and thoughtfulness, and it is often couched in descriptive terms like 'clarity', 'awareness', 'acceptance' and 'compassion'. Beneath these comforting descriptions, mindfulness is a deeply spiritual activity: it is actually a Buddhist practice of trying to attain nirvana, or spiritual enlightenment and liberation.

"Beneath these comforting descriptions, mindfulness is a deeply spiritual activity: it is actually a Buddhist practice of trying to attain nirvana, or spiritual enlightenment and liberation."

Despite claims of the easy removal of its religious strings, most mindfulness practitioners openly acknowledge its Buddhist core and its built-in sense of spiritual progression. Mindfulness is often intertwined with practices such as yoga, Tai-chi and Zen, and the more involved you become in mindfulness circles, the more overtly religious it becomes.

However, mindfulness is being carefully dressed and presented in secular clothing to appease Western mind-sets. This is not the hippie-driven New Age of the 1970s and 1980s, but a more subtle, palatable, postmodern update, appearing as one option among many to satisfy 21st century self-help consumers. The result, according to Melanie McDonagh of The Spectator, is a “wildly popular pseudo-religion; a religion tailor-made for the secular West”, encouraging self-centred navel-gazing and introspection.¹⁴ In her view, mindfulness is potentially dangerous because it encourages people to face the darkness of their own souls, without offering any hope of redemption.

The practical, political reality of mindfulness is that it is not a solution to the endemic problems facing UK society; it seems to be more of a narcissistic sticking plaster which appeals to a stressed-out, self-absorbed i-culture. It has nothing to say about injustice or the root causes of mental health problems.

"The message of mindfulness is that the remedy for suffering and evil lies inside yourself, not in the goodness and intervention of God. It erases the need for the Cross."

The message of mindfulness is that the remedy for suffering and evil lies inside yourself, not in the goodness and intervention of God. It erases the need for redemption from the brokenness and sinfulness of human nature (and therefore erases the need for the Cross) and encourages people to look inward, not upward.

Mindfulness should not, therefore, be an option for Bible-believing Christians, despite all that you’ll hear about courses and resources with no Buddhist elements. Whilst the Bible encourages meditation on the rich truths of God's word and character under the leading of the Holy Spirit, this should never be mixed with meditation practices derived from, and rooted in, Eastern religion. God has always made it very clear that he views such mixture as spiritual idolatry, deeply hurtful to him and dangerous for us.

If you are unconvinced about the spiritual dangers of practices like mindfulness, look at some more in-depth coverage of 'alternative' therapies from a Biblical perspective, such as The Dangers of Alternative Ways to Healing by David Cross and John Berry.¹⁵ As living temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19), we should be jealously protecting the spiritual purity of his chosen and beloved dwelling-places, not grieving him by engaging in a spiritual pic-n-mix.

Looking up and out, not in

It should be a cause for deep concern amongst Christians that in an era of global uncertainty, so many are seeking peace, self-control and direction from Buddhist meditation. In business, it represents an earnest search for release from the frenzy of modern Western culture. In the NHS, it represents a subtle recognition that our best medical professionals cannot address endemic problems of depression, anxiety and fear. In Parliament, it is an acknowledgement that our uppermost echelons of leadership lack peace and direction.

Driving the popularity of mindfulness practices are spiritual cries for salvation and freedom: this should be a heart-breaking wake-up call for the Church! Christians should be pointing people to the Solution for whom they are searching: Jesus Christ, who sets the captives free (Luke 4:18) and promises to lovingly shepherd us (John 10:11) and guard us with his divine peace (Phil 4:7), if only we accept him as Lord and Saviour.

Sadly, the mindfulness phenomenon simply highlights that the majority of people in Britain are searching elsewhere to have their psychological and spiritual needs met. This is a terrible indictment of the Church's ineffectualness in offering solutions to modern pressures and problems (if the Church leaves a vacuum, something else will always move to fill it). Christianity is no longer considered even a viable option for personal healing, wholeness and freedom, let alone the only way.

"The mindfulness phenomenon simply highlights that the majority of people in Britain are searching elsewhere to have their psychological and spiritual needs met. Christianity is no longer considered even a viable option."

The Church should also beware the stealth and speed with which mindfulness practices are spreading across the nation. It could easily mean the further incursion of Eastern religious practices into church territory, as groups ask to meet on church premises. We need to equip and support Christian professionals to refuse to participate in company mindfulness sessions, as well as Christian schools that refuse to force children and teachers into daily meditations.

Perhaps the Christian response to mindfulness, therefore, should be watchfulness: instead of focusing inward, we should be looking outward to discern the signs of the times. “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes” (Luke 12:37).

References

1 Kabat-Zinn, J, 2006. Mindfulness for Beginners, Sounds True Inc, CO.

2 Eg see here and here.

3 Wilson, J, 2014. Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation and American Culture, OUP.

4 Scharmer, O. Davos: Mindfulness, Hostpots and Sleepwalkers, Huffington Post Online, 26 January 2014.

5 Gelles, D. Amid the Chattering of a Global Elite, a Silent Interlude, NY Times, 21 January 2015.

6 Eg http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/libraryservices/newsandevents/healthevents.aspx

7 Eg http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/wellbeing/10694775/Why-does-the-Government-want-to-teach-mindfulness-in-schools.html

8 Eg http://www.prisonmindfulness.org/projects/network-directory/wpbdm-category/u-k/

9 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/wellbeing/10694775/Why-does-the-Government-want-to-teach-mindfulness-in-schools.html

10 http://www.mindfulnessfoundation.org.uk/

11 Eg http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-health/11161367/Mindfulness-does-it-really-live-up-to-the-hype.html

12 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/mindfulness.htm

13 See http://www.themindfulnessinitiative.org.uk/ for an interim report published in January 2015.

14 McDonagh, M, 2014. Mindfulness is something worse than just a smug middle class trend, Spectator Online, 1 November.

15 Sovereign World Ltd, 2010.