De Inspiratie van Catherine Penney

Mijn zoektocht naar een alternatieve weg in de GGZ leidde me in 2010 o.a. naar Catherine Penney. Haar herstelverhaal bewijst dat een leven zonder medicatie mogelijk is, zelfs na een zware diagnose. Dit proces is uitvoerig beschreven in het boek Dante's Cure – A Journey Out of Madness van psychiater Daniel Dorman, en prachtig in beeld gebracht in de documentaire Take These Broken Wings van voormalig psychotherapeut Daniel Mackler.

Voor mij was Catherine meer dan een voorbeeld; haar woorden werden mijn houvast. Haar gedichten — The Window, Morning Song en Emergence — werden mijn trouwe metgezellen. Zij brachten niet alleen hoop, maar gaven ook taal aan mijn eigen reis.

Met toestemming van Catherine deel ik deze gedichten hier met jou.

THE WINDOW

There exists within the soul of man within the torment of insanity that tries the human mind and lays to waste his humanity a window.

It is a window wherein the light can glow illuminating the entire wasteland

Making barren Deserts green, enriching the entire self

Planting a seed of awareness wherein blossoms a flower of hope

And grows a tree of understanding.

Preparing the way for transcendence and enlightenment

And grateful acceptance of the Path life's journey has chosen for the humble spirit, a once fearfully tormented soul.

No matter how lost, forsaken, physically or mentally incapacitated a person may appear

They have within them a window still intact.

It is to this window that I direct all my attention and love

Allowing for a light more radiant than the world knows of to shine.

The Window Music by Maudy Apon (2011)

MORNING SONG

I have ventured towards the light of a thousand dawns and plunged the depths

Of night-times eternal raging seas.

The hallowed shores of destiny's sweet embrace

Have thrown me into savage places, while lifting me up onto the most lofty of heights.

Where heaven and hell intermingle dissolving into foggy mists; and fierce fire-breathing

Dragons adorned with angels wings, whisper songs of enchantment, enticing me into

The lands that have no voice so cannot sing.

Untangling the wildness of mind your breath sent forth a gentle breeze and watching

A white-breasted bird sail across the grey ocean sky, I heard a sweet music and felt the

Freedom of unencumbered flight.

I Have Ventured Music by Anonymous, vocals by Katidjah, flute by Wu Wei

EMERGENCE

Dancing to escape the poverty of a future of broken dreams

Her childhood fantasies afire with glimmering fairies

Moving, swaying to the beat of an enchanted world unseen,

Unexplored, uncharted, insistent in its beckoning call to know

What is unknown. The spirit of one so drawn into the hidden

World of the soul's delight must with caution approach the mystery

Lest she descend back into mind's darker realms leaving her

Chosen path behind. Not shame nor fear of growth deters her

resolve nor determination to lay down ghosts of seasons past

Once kicking, fighting, resisting, to their well deserved eternal

Rest. With each awakening breath her heart quickens it's beat,

Quietness gives rise to chatter. The serpent emerges in full regalia

And the ancient dialogue begins again. Visions has she standing

Alone and naked bridging a landscape of the most treacherous terrain.

Navigating stormy waters, oceans and seas tumultuous rising,

Mountains and valleys blending into one. Elusive is the tranquility slumbering

Within the belly of the beast. Solitude once so invasive is now embraced

Giving voice to the song emerging from her depths.

The land of people, venturing into new territory, hidden once but not unseen

By the inner eye's curious glance; the child retreats the woman advances

And daybreak dawns casting it's light through the haunted Glen.

De Inspiratie van Catherine Penney

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THE WINDOW

MORNING SONG

EMERGENCE