How Can We Help?
Mental Health
Mental health has always been a crucial issue for the Ruling Elite because anyone who challenges their rule is likely to be dismissed as mentally/emotionally unhealthy. The rise of the Ruling Elite’s New Age movement – and its’ embrace of the subconscious mind – means that acceptable mental health is being redefined to accommodate intuitive knowledge and altered states of awareness.
The WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION declared stress to be the health epidemic of the 21st century.
British high street banks have been participating in mental health awareness in the 21st century, e.g. LLOYDS BANK, in partnership with MENTAL HEALTH UK, ran adverts on British TV (2018) highlighting mental health prejudices.
Mental health is discussed in my article “The United Nations’ Fake Spirituality” in the Think Tanks section.
The MENTAL HEALTH FOUNDATION (MHF) is a British charity that has promoted mindfulness to treat depression. The MHF has numerous alliances with other mental health groups, e.g. it belonged to the MENTAL HEALTH ALLIANCE. The MHF was founded by one of the founding fathers of brain chemistry: DEREK RICHTER, who got a Rockefeller Foundation grant to set up a psychiatric lab.
The MHF President in 2018 (formerly it’s chairman of the trustees) was the WORLD PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION President, DINESH BHUGRA, who at the TAVISTOCK & PORTMAN NHS Foundation Trust was a Non-Executive Director. The latter Trust was a merger of the influential TAVISTOCK CLINIC with the PORTMAN CLINIC. The Portman Clinic in its early days attracted distinguished figures of the day – its early honorary vice-presidents included Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Havelock Ellis and HG Wells.
The MHF Chairman of the Trustees in 2018 was KEITH LESLIE who worked at ROYAL DUTCH SHELL; MCKINSEY; DELOITTE, and was a Fellow at WINDSOR LEADERSHIP, an educational trust originating with the Queen’s husband, The Duke of Edinburgh, and with the influential British management writer, Professor Charles Handy. Windsor Leadership used the teachings and ideologies of Professors Charles Handy and JOHN ADAIR, both regarded as pioneers of modern day leadership theory. Adair, also a Fellow at Windsor Leadership, worked at Windsor Castle at another Duke of Edinburgh inspiration: ST GEORGE’S HOUSE, where Charles Handy also worked. Adair served at a UN offshoot: the UNSSC, a UN college, where he was Chair of Strategic Leadership.
The MHF published a report on mindfulness in 2010, written by the British mindfulness ‘expert’ ED HALLIWELL, who was a co-chair of THE MINDFULNESS INITIATIVE, a policy institute that partnered with the MHF, and which supported the Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group (MAPPG) to develop mindfulness-based policies for the UK. Halliwell co-wrote and co-edited the MAPPG’s Mindful Nation UK report. Halliwell was part of the UK Parliamentary mindfulness teaching team, leading sessions for MPs and their staff.
The Mindfulness Initiative had partnerships with the four mindfulness training and research centres in Britain: at Oxford, Exeter, Bangor and Sussex. The Mindfulness Initiative’s patrons included the comedy actress and mental health campaigner, RUBY WAX, who endorsed Halliwell’s co-authored book “The Mindful Manifesto” (2010), written with the British TV presenter/commentator Dr JONTY HEAVERSEDGE (BBC1 and ITV). “The Mindful Manifesto” included a foreword by mindfulness leading light MARK WILLIAMS and an endorsement by the LSE economist BARON LAYARD (Richard Layard), an adviser to the Mindfulness Initiative.
Layard was an ‘expert’ on happiness (apparently), so was recruited by the UN for their annual WORLD HAPPINESS REPORT, co-edited by Layard and the UN Secretary-General special adviser JEFFREY SACHS and by JOHN HELLIWELL. Helliwell, a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, collaborated with the renowned psychologist DANIEL KAHNEMAN and with the renowned Harvard political scientist ROBERT PUTNAM (CFR, Trilateral Commission). Layard thanked Daniel Kahneman in his book “Happiness” (2011, second edition), writing that Kahneman had inspired him at some LSE lectures, then later invited Layard to Princeton University. For more on Kahneman, see my article on intuition. Layard promoted meditation and mindfulness in “Happiness”.
Layard, a Labour Party supporter, spent many years at the LSE where he founded and directed its’ CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, the latter financed for many years by the government-backed ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council).
Mindfulness guru Mark Williams (see above) advised The Mindfulness Initiative. At one of the aforementioned mindfulness centres (Oxford), Williams was the founding Director, having taught at Oxford University, which runs the Centre. Williams’ co-authored book “Mindfulness” (2011) was endorsed by Ruby Wax; comedy actress GOLDIE HAWN; and ’emotional intelligence’ promoter DANIEL GOLEMAN, whose uncle ALVIN WEINBERG was a top nuclear physicist involved in the American MANHATTAN PROJECT that produced nuclear weapons and nuclear energy.
Richard Layard’s happiness campaign took the form of a charity that he co-founded in 2010: ACTION FOR HAPPINESS, whose patron was the Buddhist leader, the DALAI LAMA. Other co-founders were the Senior Labour Party adviser and former Buddhist monk, GEOFF MULGAN (co-founder of the think tank DEMOS) and the historian SIR ANTHONY SELDON, the son of the right wing economist ARTHUR SELDON (co-founder of the influential right wing think tank, the IEA).
AFH (ACTION FOR HAPPINESS) included on its’ board JULIE MELLOR who – like Mulgan – worked at THE YOUNG FOUNDATION and at NESTA. An AFH expert adviser was the aforementioned Daniel Kahneman, and an AFH member was Goldie Hawn (see above). AFH had numerous partners, e.g. the mental health charity MIND. AFH’s public launch was hosted by the BBC TV news presenter SIAN WILLIAMS, and followed by a group meditation. Sian Williams recommended meditation and mindfulness in her 2016 book “Rise”.
Some members of The British Royal Family promoted mental health awareness in 2016 with their HEADS TOGETHER initiative, one of several mental health programmes rolled out by THE ROYAL FOUNDATION, the primary charitable vehicle of Prince William and Prince Harry and their wives (Kate and Megan). Heads Together partners included Richard Branson’s bank VIRGIN MONEY; UNILEVER (very big consumer goods company); BLACKROCK (one of the world’s largest asset managers); MIND.
The British government in 2017 ( the Conservative Party) announced a major plan for more spending (£1.3 billion) on mental health services (e.g. more psychiatrists) supplied predominantly by the NHS.
“Opening Up About Mental Health” was the topic discussed on the BBC News Channel programme “Victoria Derbyshire” (News and current affairs show) in 2017 (March 30th). Note the emphasis on ‘opening up’, which is all part of the Ruling Elite’s ‘open society’ where there are no secrets, except with the Ruling Elite themselves, obviously. Featured in the programme were the Royals’ Heads Together campaign and Ruby Wax.
Meditation and mindfulness are amongst numerous antidotes to too much thinking, according to the Yale University psychology professor Dr SUSAN NOLEN-HOEKSEMA, considered an expert in the study of women and emotion. Her book “Women Who Think Too Much” (2004) postulated that overthinking can lead to sadness, anxiety and depression. Her award-winning research was funded by major grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Science Foundation, and several private foundations.
Nolen-Hoeksema’s work on RUMINATION was cited by some researchers who proposed that intuition is impaired by depression. See “Losing Your Gut Feelings. Intuition in Depression” by Carina Remmers and Johannes Michalak.
A former Silicon Valley computer scientist – DAVID M. LEVY – wanted the fast paced world (led by computers, the Internet and high technology) to be balanced with the ‘slow world’ of contemplation (meditation, mindfulness, relaxation, emotional balance), hence his 2016 book “Mindful Tech”, endorsed by the New Age physicist ARTHUR ZAJONC, of whom the latter had dialogues with the Buddhist leader, the DALAI LAMA. Zajonc headed several New Age organisations:
THE LINDISFARNE ASSOCIATION (President);
MIND AND LIFE INSTITUTE (President);
the American branch of the ANTHROPOSOPHICAL SOCIETY (General Secretary), whose origins were with the renowned Theosophist RUDOLF STEINER.
David Levy worked as a researcher at the Silicon Valley R&D company, PARC (run by XEROX), which made major contributions to IT.
The well-known American TV News correspondent and anchor man for ABC NEWS, DAN HARRIS, promoted mindfulness and meditation in his co-written book on the subject: “Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics” (2017). Harris claimed that his interest had been prompted by an on-air panic attack. Harris had a Jewish background but became a Buddhist.
“Perception”, the American TV series (2012 –2015), revolves around a crime-solving doctor whose schizophrenia aids him in solving mysteries. One of his aids is Natalie Vincent, a hallucination manifested as a result of his schizophrenia, and who also serves as his best friend.
RUSSELL BRAND (the British comedian, actor, activist) and ARIANNA HUFFINGTON (media owner and political commentator) both endorsed a book on TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION called “Super Mind” (2016), about how to achieve ‘cosmic consciousness’. That book was by NORMAN ROSENTHAL, a psychiatry professor and Senior Researcher at the American government’s NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health).
One of Britain’s public service broadcasters – ITV – initiated their mental wellness campaign in 2019, dubbed “Get Britain Talking”, designed to “…help families get closer”. It first went public during a primetime ITV show, “Britain’s Got Talent” (Oct 5th 2019), when the show was briefly halted to announce the campaign, which involved numerous British TV celebrities. ITV advertised the campaign again during TV commercial breaks in 2019 and 2020. Their campaign was endorsed by 2 British mental health charities:- MIND and YOUNGMINDS.
The COVID-19 ‘pandemic’ and consequent lockdowns in 2020 created much stress, fear and anger, which inevitably led to New Age solutions. The BBC’s TV listings magazine “Radio Times” included a list of podcasts for boosting happiness and relaxation, “If you need to get away from it all” (see article “Oasis of Calm”, “Radio Times”, April 11 – 17th 2020). Those podcasts included one by TARA BRACH, a leading proponent of mindfulness.
More to come…