Although the
material on that website is no longer my perspective on life, I have decided to leave it on the Internet, so that information that was important to me at certain times in my journey can still be accessed by others.
If you are feeling depressed this website is a profound resource.
The Chains of Depression (detail)
If you have been struggling ...
... with depression you may have been to countless therapists, psychiatrists and psychologists, ... and you may have read countless books. You may have taken up jogging, tried dieting, changed your relationships, tried to think positively, confronted your past ... and at times you may have felt you were finally getting better ... but then once again you have been thrust down into the pits of despair. You want to die. You wonder why it never gets any better. You wonder why you can't live your life like everyone else. And you wonder what the answer is ...
This site is dedicated to the countless people around the world, who unacknowledged, endure tremendous suffering and have the courage day-by-day to continue looking for the answers and for truth. It is owned, maintained and written by Marianne Broug.
This site ...
... is about understanding that when you're depressed it actually MEANS something ...
something that can never be reduced to a 'chemical imbalance' or a 'clinical condition' ... not even to 'this problem' or 'that problem'.
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This site understands that depression is at the same time both a natural response and a natural solution, not of some sort of biochemical machine in the shape of a human body, but of the human being, a being whose true home or 'identity' is Spirit, the wisdom, intelligence and depth of which speaks itself always into our flesh.
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This site asks:
What actually is 'depression'?
What actually is our true nature?
How can we find true healing if we don't even know what the 'self' we are trying to heal, actually is?
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When we feel depressed ...
... we are feeling the weight of our questions, both those we can articulate and those we can't. We're wondering who we are and how we can live in the world (an increasingly superficial world). It's message is that we need to take the time to go within, retreat, look at things from a new vantage point, listen to ourselves more deeply and digest our experience in new ways. Its message is that we are feeling adrift, unable to find within, a 'ground' or solidity that we can, above all else, rely on and listen to.
And the reality of depression is that it is pulling us into that ground. It is inviting us to sink and deepen, further and further into ourselves, moving us down and within, reconnecting us on ever deeper levels with WHAT we are - OUR TRUE NATURE ... Spirit, God, Presence, Awareness, Stillness, Silence, Consciousness ... for further on Spirit.
We only stay depressed ...
... caught in the mire of depression's misery and suffering, when we feel that the weight of those questions, the weight of our lives and the call of our deeper selves is something we must fight against at all costs.
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Depression is a call into
depth and into true healing.
Over the years I have received many many responses to this site from all around the globe. I have included (with permission) a selection of these in the hope that they might provide solace, understanding and encouragement to others.
Click here to read ...
There are so many paths, techniques, medicines and religions in this world but your happiness and sense of meaning cannot be found in them. Your path to your True Nature is as singular as you are, and no technique or medicine can possibly encompass that. If you do need the comfort, guidance or help of a person, therapy, philosophy or path, find one that above all values YOU, believes in YOU and acknowledges the profound Knowing, meaning and validity that YOU have within. THAT will be the sign of The Truest Path.
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This is a site about my journey to that understanding and that wisdom, my journey to a life that I can live: a life beyond depression, a life beyond 'ego', a life which is lived as True Nature. It is a site full of depth, art, reflection, wisdom, writing and spirit. Go to My Story or Quotes and Notes.
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Our society does not value depth. Our society has very little language for depth. Our society values an increasingly frantic movement over the surface - a horizontal gathering of faster, more exciting, more entertaining experiences - shopping, travel, latest gadgets, new lovers, spiritual highs etc. However, we are at our fundament, beings of profound depth and infinite vastness. In depth we find our Home, our source, our True Selves. And yet, how is depth supposed to make its presence felt in these frantic surface lives? If depression strikes us, inviting us to look or move more deeply within, we recoil. And yet what if depression, as the simple bodily feeling of movement downwards, is simply showing us the way into depth? Pulling us into depth? And yes, this can be painful, particularly if we believe ourselves to be a limited surface self or we have unresolved emotional wounds or trauma.
Understanding and embracing depression and the movement of descent has been pivotal in my journey out of suffering.
Deepening is a never-ending process. It is extraordinary and utterly worth it.
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An important note ...
The two most common misconceptions that people have had with regard to this site, is that I am outlining a new, once-off technique that will 'cure' them of depression forever more, and that depression will now no longer be painful or difficult. This site is not about a technique. It is about looking at who we are as human beings and what the actual lived and direct experience of depression is and the role it plays in our lives. Its understanding is that depression is not an illness that has to be cured, but rather that depression is felt as a deepening: an invitation into the depths and truth of who we are. That deepening may be felt in as many ways as there are people in the world - yes it may still be felt as discomfort, yes it may still open one to pain that is held within, yes we may still need to seek out help in order to transform and resolve our wounds, but the actual movement of depression, down and within, can also be followed with interest, with questioning and inquiry, with honesty, with vulnerability and with openness.
My book Seventeen Voices: Life and wisdom from inside 'mental illness' is available from various on-line sources, Wakefield Press, (type in 'Seventeen Voices' into the search bar), or you can contact me
.
Also see the Seventeen Voices page on this web site for further information and some excerpts.
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Here are the voices of the real experts
on 'mental illness' ...
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My latest book Suffering, Spirituality and the Inner Journey Home: walking the path from desperation and fear to the peace of lived awakening is available from True Home Books in June/July 2017.
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"Do you want to go Home? Do you want to be at Home? Come walk with me. Come walk in this field we call 'life'. Home is closer than you can possible imagine." - excerpt
Also see my website Marianne Broug: non-dual awakening, guidance, books, photography.
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Whether you wish to understand an authentic spirituality, seek awakening beyond the everyday mind and its stories, or whether you have awakened and wish to explore the terrain of awakened living, I can meet you wherever you are, and offer guidance for the path ahead.
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Connect with me
on Facebook
I do not maintain this site as a money-making venture. My simple wish is that people who are suffering will find the material helpful in some way. However, if you have found the site valuable and wish to support its ongoing maintenance, donations would be very much appreciated. With thanks, Marianne Broug.
​Disclaimer
The author of this site will not be liable for any loss or damage of any nature occasioned to or suffered by any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of reliance on the material contained in this web site. This site was written to compassionately inform its readers. While the reflections and suggestions in this site may work well for some people, they may not be appropriate for you. Contact your physician or mental health professional first. Neither the author of this site nor any associate shall be liable or responsible to any person or entity for any loss, damage, injury, or ailment caused, or alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly, by the information or lack of information contained in this site.