Rick Perry, Gays, and Global Warming

So I've been discovering the wonders of taking Zyprexa as a prn (in case you don't know a prn is a medication you take as needed). Actually, being Zyped isn't that wonderful (I made up the term Zyped), but it's not as bad as I thought it was before. One of the staff here told me that Zyprexa inhibits the reuptake of serotonin, which would mean that it should actually make you feel better. Knowing this makes the experience of being on Zyprexa more pleasant. It feels the same only now it's not bad. Yes, it's all mental. Zyprexa is an antipsychotic that is supposed to decrease psychosis and delusional thinking.

I was on the writer's forum that I go to, and someone posted a link to an article about people who think our acceptance of gays is causing natural disasters (and 9/11). Now, this wouldn't be a big deal if the people we were talking about were just the Westboro Baptist Church. But it's people associated with Rick Perry, one of the Republican forerunners. Which is freaking scary, because he could be our next president. I'm thinking that he could be worse than Bush.

Yeah, so apparently some people on the right have noticed the increase in natural disasters. Instead of the obvious culprit, global warming, they blame the gays. Why are some people so fucking stupid? I mean, I don't want to be a hater, but seriously.

So anyway, I start thinking about this and I go back to thinking about my delusions. These people can't use their own judgment to see that homosexuality is a victimless (non)crime, and therefore really isn't a problem. But since it says something in the bible about homosexuality, they blindly trust what the bible says. My delusions were about religious fundamentalists and global warming. Basically, one of the premises behind my delusions was that religious fundamentalism makes global warming worse, because of stupid god damn values voters, who vote the way they do because of issues like gay marriage. I remember the 2004 election well, and I'm of the opinion that Bush would not have been re-elected if it weren't for values voters and gay marriage. The idea behind my delusions was not that Democrats are right about every issue across the board, but they are right about the most important issue, which is global warming. And while I may have been delusional, I still believe this.

Anyway, I was thinking about some other things too, but I think I'll just leave it there. On a different but related note, I've decided to write another book where I reflect more on my delusions and the experience of being delusional. I feel this may be even more important than my first book, but my first book is necessary back story.

On Delusions and Being a Prophet

Delusions. Some people might wonder how people can believe them while still being functional human beings, like I was at one time. I don’t wonder, because I understand.

There are some things that I lived and I still don’t understand, like things I’ve done or believed and I can’t tell you now what I was thinking. No, actually I can tell you what I was thinking, but I can’t tell you why I was thinking it, because it was so crazy. But my delusions weren’t crazy. Different, yes. And sure, they sound crazy if you say them out loud. But when I became delusional, I developed a deep understanding of this situation. Here we get into book territory, this is not an excerpt but I am commenting on stuff from my book.

I had no religious background before I became delusional, in fact I was an atheist. But when I became delusional, I learned that God created the universe, and life on planet Earth. Then He sent prophets and whatnot to set up religion, and the idea is that the bible is supposed to be the word of God, or it was originally. Let me clarify that this is what I believed when I was delusional and not what I believe now. But then God noticed something. Whenever He spoke up, it seemed to cause more harm then good. So He stopped talking. And for years and years, He said nothing.

Well that’s all fine and good, except then He realized there was a problem: the world was going to be destroyed by the impending disaster of global warming. What to do? He’s been silent so long, how does He break the silence? That’s where I, Rachel, comes in, with my magical livejournal.

Keep in mind that I am being vague and keeping things short as to not give away very much from my book, this whole thing is actually pretty complicated. I wrote an entire book about it, and I was told that publishers might shy away from publishing a memoir as long as mine, me being a non-celebrity and all (at least I’m not a celebrity yet). This whole thing unfolded in a pretty convincing way, and I has some pretty intense experiences that are way beyond anything I’ve experienced on drugs. Keep in mind though, my drug experience is minimal, particularly with the hallucinogenic class of drugs. I should also mention that I was doing no recreational drugs whatsoever when this started, not even alcohol for six weeks prior to the onset of my delusions.

Being a prophet wasn’t something I accepted with open arms. I went through a phase of denial. But deep down I knew that this is what it meant, and I got used to the idea and accepted it. And when you learn you’re prophet, and that you are on a divine mission to save the world, it’s the kind of thing that affects you. It’s like something bigger than you ever dreamed was even possible has happened to you. I’m trying to think of a way to describe how deeply this changes you, but I am at a loss. I can’t think of a suitable description, because really it is beyond description.

So suddenly, you’re living in another universe where everything looks the same but nothing is the same. The thing is, everyone else is still living back in that other universe where you were before. If only I could open up my soul and show people what this is like!

My parents took me to a clinic where they did a brain scan (that’s the thing that’s even more infuriating than no one understanding, everything thinks you’ve lost your mind). And the people at the clinic are used to dealing with delusional people, and they asked me the same question they ask everyone who’s delusional, like this question is going to somehow show me that my delusions are false: Why you?

Well, I had a reason, and there was a lot of stuff going through my head, none of which I said out loud. Why NOT me? It makes sense. I am just that different.

Because, here’s the thing: it’s got to be somebody. So why not me? Whoever it has to be, that person has got to face the issues that come with the territory: people will think they’re crazy. But one of the things that happens when you accept that you are a prophet and that you are on a divine mission is that you find strength inside you. You find the strength to get through the obstacles that this divine mission throws at you, and it’s so fucking hard when everyone labels you as delusional and mentally ill and you don’t believe it one bit, but you’ve got to accept that people will think what they will think and you’ve got to hold your head up and hold onto the belief that in the end things will turn out for the better.

But it’s all over now. The thing is though, it’s never over. I’m not delusional now but this thing that started back in spring break of 2006 is far from over and may never be over. There are some people in this world who I have reason to believe know about me and my issue, and who I have reason to believe think negative things about me because of it (I’m purposely being vague). It upset me at first and made me suicidal (which might not be saying a lot because I get suicidal at the drop of a hat), but I’ve worked through it since then. It’s funny because I feel confident that I’m right but at the same time I am horribly insecure about what other people would think. Sometimes people do the smallest things that are almost harmless in themselves but are indicative of something not harmless. I didn’t choose this, it chose me, I did nothing to bring this on. It tore my life inside out, I have had to go through so much because of this and to this day I am living at a treatment center because of this. I have gone through quite a few ups but a great deal more downs. This isn’t some sort of joke, I don’t know if it seems like it but it’s not. And I’m purposely being vague so people won’t know what I’m talking about, because it is something I’m very angry about and want to vent about but at the same time I don’t want people to know about it. Urrgh.

Being delusional can be a mixed blessing. It’s like I said on my livejournal, “if this is just a mental illness, I reccomend mental illness!” Yeah it’s hard, but I would like to say that you haven’t truly lived until you’ve experienced that defining moment when you learn that you are a prophet on a divine mission. And you’ve spent nearly two years believing it. So if you are making a list of things to do before you die, there’s a good one for you.