Expert: Joe McSorley - 7/25/2007

Question
Joe,

I'm an MD in primary care.  As such I get to see a large variety of people of all walks and types.  As I hone my practice of medicine I'm increasingly convinced that so much disease and suffering is in fact as the Buddha said and that is the correct path to pursue.  

But I've made some observations that I'm not sure what to think about.  Most of the patients I've come across that are open to Buddhists ideas have a mental health history; usually anxiety or depression treatment at some point.  I've also noticed this with some famous persons such as Robert Pirsig that wrote "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" to name one specifically. Why do you think this is so?  It makes one a bit apprehensive about pursuing Zen don't you think?

Do you think it is just a symptom of being curious and questioning the world that one is bound to get frustrated which will stir up anxiety/depression?  Perhaps their more drawn than the average guy to Buddhism because of the suffering they've experienced. I'm not sure.  

My dad (the clueless man) always told me when I was a kid that:  "If you think too much you'll go crazy." I sure hope he wasn't right.

Thanks

Chuck

Answer
Hi Chuck,
  I am not sure I am reading you correctly but I don’t think that the historical Buddha ever said that suffering is the path to pursue but rather that (human) life if suffering at its base.  Recently someone in a Jungian group told me that suffering was exactly the path to pursue according to the Four Noble Truths and that you must meditate on suffering but the fourth truth says,” there is a path” (margo yoga) without referring to suffering.  The basic state of the human mind is anxiety, or at any moment, can be overthrown by anxiety.  No matter how happy we are one minute we realize that life is capricious and we can lose it all in a moment.
  Just two hours before I got your email I received word that a fellow that had contacted me for many years had died of a drug overdose.  He was brilliant, had a high IQ and was driven by his suffering and mental turmoil.  I suspect he was bipolar.  He, like many others I have spoken to, have this version of Zen or Buddhism that appeals to them and come to me with it.  It is a very conceptual system and not really Buddhism or the heart of it at all.  I find these folks are just as likely to quote the Egyptian Book of the Dead or the poet Blake as well and some how equate them all.  I do think it is an intellectual inquiry that takes them down these many roads in an attempt to somehow identify what the source of their problem is.  I think you are right that it is their suffering that heads them in this direction.   Many who come to Buddhism do not come to it to study Buddhism but to relieve a basic existential anxiety they have.  Zen disregards the traditions of Buddhism and tries to drive straight to the point, which is; what is the source of your suffering?  In the story of Bodhidharma and Hui ka, Bodhi does not tell him to follow, meditate or believe but asks ‘what is your problem’?  Hui Ka replies, “My heart/mind is not at ease’. (translated as anxiety) Bodhi replies,”Hand it to me that I may pacify it”.  This is an attempt to stop the self-reflection of the everyday mind and to realize the here and now.
  The folks that are caught in the matrix mental illness tend to be locked in an endless circle of thought that will never lead anywhere.  In the Eightfold Path one is ‘correct thinking’.  Correct thinking leads to the point where you realize you can’t settle it with thought, it becomes self-negating.  So your dad was right, too much thinking will drive you crazy but not enough thinking won’t help you either.  It’s like trying to think through a sport or playing piano. If you don’t overcome the thought process and just do it you will never master it.  This is a letting go of the self not a self centering.
  Being an MD I would think that you would see a higher percentage of folks with problems than the average person.  In retrospect in my life I would say that the vast majority of folks that speak to me about Buddhism do not have mental illness but there is certainly a recognizable percentage that do have it.  I find these people to be intensely driven and severely introspective but generally not really opened to letting go of their view of reality.  Having worked in the music and entertainment business for years I have seen a fairly large percentage of people driven by their egos to pursue a goal that an ego cannot fulfill and thus causing great anxiety.
  So I don’t think Buddhism creates the problem but it does reveal it, it’s a diner where a lot of people eat.  So basically, after all my blathering, it appears that we agree with each other.
 Take care,
        Joe