A strange phenomenon that has been manifested by my most Gothic sister should be explored: weird diseases and accidents. We need a survey! Do people who let their inner lives play out publicly through costume or behaviour manifest or express more unusual physical phenomenon?
My sister’s physical freak-outs include: most of the skin falling off her hands (no recognised diagnosis or cure, Chinese doctor eventually sorted it), some kind of intense gluteal bum strain from stilt-walking (can’t remember the very long name, she just had to lie on her front for quite a while), strange and excruciating lumps and bumps that have been treated with nuclear-velocity medication, etc. etc. Despite this, or maybe partly because of it, she is a ludicrously attractive and talented artist who is driven by some kind of inner force to open herself, express herself and come into actualisation.
Stuff comes out in freaky ways! It busts its way out whether one likes it or not, and stuffing it down, in my opinion, eventually fuels mental illness. Better to have a strained backside than not be able to go out of the house at all! And mental illness itself is an expression that we can learn to live through and grow through, especially if we get access to the right support. If we see disease as a way of expressing stress, both ours and the stress of the outside world that we channel, it must be that there is ways to mitigate and help release it.
Jung might call it psychic energy. I might call it tension expressed physiologically. Perhaps it is an adjunct to dark lipstick and Gothic clothes. Why should the body not join in? We’d all like to get a bit of peace now and again, but as the activists of the world know, there is no peace without justice and it can even be fun and interesting to sit through the process.
So, do you have lots of weird things ‘wrong’ with you? Who has had the most bizarre accident or the most uncomfortable and embarrassing complaint? Please comment below!
