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multihomeostat image, putting psychiatrists and sufferers on a level playing
field. The Archway experiment went beyond that: psychiatrists became hang-
overs from the old days, and sufferers were treated as able, literally, to care for
themselves. We find here the possibility, at least, of a full reclamation of the
agency that traditional psychiatry had stripped from the schizophrenic.
Last, we could note that the Archway experiment converged on a position
where communication was itself marginalized—the detour through words
and other forms of interpersonal interaction receded into the background (at
least on Burns's account) in relation to what one might think of as performa-
tive adaptation
within a multiple self
—the body and mind as two poles of an
interactive “continuum.” The Archway residents thus themselves arrived at
a nonmodern ontology of the nondualist self: “In fact we [the Archway resi-
dents] gradually realized that much of what is called 'mental illness' is actually
physical suffering, whether it be skin rashes, insomnia, vomiting, constipa-
tion, or general anxiety-tension. The schizophrenic process is endurable and
can be meaningful in a context of minimal physical stress. . . . Zen and yoga
have traditionally been means toward physical health and inner illumination”
(Burns 2002, 28).
C O U P L E D B E C O M I N G S , I N N E R V O YA G E S , A F T E R M A T H
a change In one person changes the relatIon between that person and
others, and hence the others, unless they resIst change by InstItu-
tIonalIsIng themselves In a congealed professIonal posture. . . .
any transformatIon of one person InvItes accommodatIng transforma-
tIons In others.
r. D. lainG,
“metanoIa” (1972, 16)
no age In the hIstory of humanIty has perhaps so lost touch wIth thIs
natural
heaLinG
process that ImplIcates
Some
of the people whom we
label schIzophrenIc. no age has so devalued It, no age has Imposed
such prohIbItIons and deterrences agaInst It, as our own. Instead of
the mental hospItal, a sort of reservIcIng factory for human break-
downs, we need a place where people who have travelled further and,
consequently, may be more lost than psychIatrIsts and other sane
people, can fInd theIr way
further
Into Inner space and tIme, and
back agaIn. Instead of the
deGradation
ceremonIal of psychIatrIc
examInatIon . . . we need . . . an
initiation
ceremonIal, through
