A recent article in both PLOS ONE and NEWSWEEK reported on a study, noting a correlation between political ideology and self-reported mental health. My 47 years of practicing medicine and surgery included only 3 months of formal psychiatric training as a medical student, but those 47 years did give me what I think is a unique insight into human nature and how different individuals react to circumstances—psychiatrists call them “externalities”, differently. At the end of both articles, there was a disclaimer stating that the way questions are asked, the events of a person’s life, the socio-economic context that informs everyone’s life, has probably more to do with how the study turned out, than one’s political persuasion. WELL, DUGHHHHHH! Where did those guys go to Journalism school—The University of Missouri?
We are all messy coagulated balls of DNA and life experiences that make us individually unique. We are all made in the image of God, that makes us with our own unique talents, abilities, intellect, and energies—special. I believe people of faith understand two very important things that help them get through the trials and tribulations of life. They know who made them—God, and to what purpose they were made—to love and be loved, by God and each other.
How people deal with their fears of events that are out of their own control—remembering that 90% of our fears are irrational—think COVID, Y—2K, Global Warming—Cooling—Warming again, is determined by how they deal with their own “internalities” not the externalities that they have no control over.
The great philosopher L. Marvin Moorehead called those who focused on the things that they can control, instead of worrying about the things they can’t control “MUD THINKERS”. Football teams playing in heavy rains, or cold weather should focus on the task at hand. Worry about your assignments and your commitments to your teammates. If the other team is worrying about the weather and not the things within themselves that they can control, then our side had the edge. Pray for heat and cold and rain and snow because our side will always be “MUD THINKERS”.
The studies reported on above, went deeper than the articles themselves. It didn’t matter what one’s ethnicity was, their income level, or their immigration status. If they were working and had a job the majority of people that felt they had good mental health was 15-20% higher no matter what their political affiliations. Those in both parties who seemed to feel that the political winds of the day would determine how happy they would be, were the most unhappy.
There is so much minutia in the world to worry about. Ken Fisher the CEO of the company that bears his name in his book DEBUNKARY, demonstrates that many of the thing’s investors worry about have absolutely no bearing on the market, because individually we have no insight on the economic signaling going on billions of times each day in thousands of markets. Tax cuts and raising taxes—no correlation to markets. Interest rates—rising or falling—no correlation to markets. Tariffs—high or low—no correlation to markets. Why? Because Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” has already identified the political and economic fallout before those events can occur or be implemented. PS This doesn’t actually hold 100% true for the converse situation when markets factor in an event and it doesn’t happen—as we might see today if the Big Beautiful Bill with the continuation of tax cuts doesn’t pass. Anyone who tries to “time” markets over a prolonged period of time knows what I say to be true. MUD THINKERS they are not.
Bishop Robert Barren opined recently that it is his belief that all mental illness, has its’ root in “spiritual disease”. I agree with that statement 90% of the time. I will even go further in the sense that I believe that trying to deal with mental illness without dealing with the spiritual elements that help form a mental illness, treats the symptoms of the disease and not the disease itself. I believe that is why so many programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and drug rehab programs that are spiritually oriented like at our own Boise Rescue Mission have much lower recidivism rates than those country club programs that cost five and six figures to get into.
I surely would have been sad if the past presidential election in the USA had gone differently—for no more than a couple of days. I would have made jokes about Kamala’s performance on the California Bar exam, she flunked it at least once, and how having a “special” friend like Willy Brown was more important than passing the bar if you wanted to be a prosecutor in Oakland, San Francisco, or California. Then I would have gotten on with my life and started looking to the future in a positive way. I would try to deal with the “internalities” and not the “externalities”. I would try to be a MUDDER. I would thank God for his many blessings and graces and ask for his guidance and forgiveness. With all that we have been given—every person in our country especially those who have just arrived, how can we ever feel sad when looking to the future?
We alone control the thoughts we think. To let others control our lives and actions is to become indentured to an “externality”.
THE FUTURE WILL ALWAYS BE BRIGHT—It is all in the eyes of the beholder.
