One of the serious afflictions of our times is what might be termed mind poisoning. There is no particular virus and the disease can be contracted even without contact with others. Sometimes one is found who has poisoned his own mind. Additional examples are those who have allowed others to do the job for them. The disease assumes many forms. Minds can be poisoned against individuals, races, religions or ideas. A characteristic symptom of those afflicted is to discount a person or his views because of his color or faith. No distinctions are made: if some one belongs to the group in question, the poisoned mind labels him inferior or unworthy.
Another illness from which many suffer is mental myopia. The symptoms in mild cases are that while the ideas of others seem small and insignificant, those of the patient loom large and beautiful. In some cases their own ideas become so enlarged that they completely fill the mind, which thus becomes closed and difficult to reach. Such people can become dangerous when aroused. The disease is difficult to handle because the one afflicted is perfectly happy living in a world of his own ideas and resents an intrusion from the outside.
Quarantine is not recommended for these diseases. The best cures have been obtained from shock treatment consisting of many contacts and the bombardment of many ideas. It is not necessary to create artificial circumstances for treatment; the events of daily life are usually sufficient. Complete cures are not uncommon, but the process is not always without pain, especially in aggravated cases.
(From Sunrise magazine, March 1953; copyright © 1953 Theosophical University Press)