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Religion - any help?

From: Sachin from Indian Himalayas
Date: 16 Oct 2007
Time: 09:19:03 -0500
Remote Name: 220.226.53.233

Comments

This post is just to add one more facet to the ongoing discussion; I am a covert stutterer who recently came out of the closet. About 4 years ago, I consulted an SLP who explained to me what was happening in my head while talking. Just one session. Thereafter, I read a lot and tried to understand my problem and possible solutions. But no real progress. Then, one day I went to visit a holy man and said to him: “When I sit for meditation, I don’t see any light here (-pointing to heart); I see only shame and darkness. I have stammered since my childhood but have been hiding it all these years..” It took me LOT of courage to say this. I actually stumbled couple of times but somehow completed the thought. He has been observing silence for many years and therefore responds through gestures alone. He smiled gently and made a gesture with his hands- which, to me, meant: Never mind. Just carry on with meditation. On the surface, this was just a routine interaction between a man who had come to the end of his tether (rational mind) and a saintly man who was capable of accepting human beings as they are; But since then, I have been able to talk about “my stammer” to a variety of people in a variety of contexts. All the sense of shame and guilt seems to have left me for good. This has helped not just my emotional health but also my speech. Religion has been given up as a purely “personal and subjective issue” in academic circles. But should we not accept and acknowledge whatever good it has to offer? Every culture has similar traditions. Are we letting the PWS know that such other options also exist? Lastly, if cost effectiveness is a consideration in modern speech therapy (-in India, it is-), let me share- this “consultation” cost me absolutely nothing! Would love to know what professors think about it 


Last changed: 10/22/07