I knew of a premie in Chicago who walked into the emergency room of a hospital, went to the bathroom, cut off his penis and then flushed it down the toilet.I've never told the story before because I didn't think it was all that relevant, but it is amazing that there are so many of these stories.
This person was a very mentally unhealthy person. He kept wanting to move into the ashram also. I think the point about this, if there is any, is that the promise of Knowledge provides a false alternative to getting the help they really needed.
The environment of a wacky cult, an ashram even, allows some people to continue a borderline relationship with reality that otherwise would be impossible to perpetuate. Let's face it, none of us were living in reality. It was even taught to us that the world is not real. A little extra room for someone's individual psychotic delusion was easy to find.
When I think about it, in every place where I lived, there were always a disproportionate percent of the population of premies who very likely would have been diagnosed as having a mental illness. The philosophical and social structure of the cult provided them with a way to indulge their illness and a tragic alternative to seeking real help.
