Religion can be addictive, and like all drugs, it becomes toxic when abused.
“There is a keyhole of unlimited imagination I simply refer to as the ‘the womb’. A jolt of reality usually has a narcotic taste to it whenever I revisit this place of creative being. In your reality I have obstacles and barriers, such as placing conditions on people who place conditions on people. In the womb, I simply create for the sake of my personal growth and exist in self-governing choice. For this reason, please consider destroying all I reveal to you, because under the heat of human conditions, hatred and blame become hot conveniences. I will occasionally speak metaphorically in order to pull you further away from tradition; to exercise your mind; to gravitate you into self-awareness. You too will experience the violation of my imagination and rid the disease of primitive thought.”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Five
Psychiatry is an Addiction
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Psychiatric wards are full of mirrors.
“My mind was full of doubt when I asked the cosmos for direction. I needed to construct a safe platform for you, the observer, to witness Julian’s sharp lines, steep drop-offs, and disorientating worlds. The universe did not respond with a simple template. Instead, I was informed that authentic decision-making always comes from within, otherwise I will always be without.”
Bliss Stone, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Zero
Introduction
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I envy those who have lost their mind.
“Everything I once saw distinctly, is now distorted. The people I touched to heal, suddenly bring me pain. It feels like a curse, this thing G has implanted in my faith. I am beginning to lose passion for my divine calling. The homeless man carries an immortal disease.”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter One
The Day After Dying
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I am beginning to feel that Mary is no longer mine.
“There is a picture, just one, which I keep with me at all times. I cannot study it without emotion, therefore I have it folded. It belongs in the circle we created where all things sacred are kept. All these items connect with each other in our safe world. There are cracks forming, though. I am doing my best to mend them with my extensive knowledge and training; with hope, commitment, and prayers. Sometimes the cross hanging from my neck is placed in my pocket with them. The cross always lands upside-down, because it is top-heavy without a solid foundation. I carry it regardless. It belongs in my perfect little lie.”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Two
Letting Go
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Internally, I ache as I drag this world along the universe with my nerve endings.
“A part of me is dying and needs assistance. I desperately searched the closet, but could not find bootlaces strong enough to hold my bodyweight. It must be God’s way of guaranteeing me a slow death, or perhaps, a short-lived recovery. I’m unsure which.”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Three
Internal Struggle
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What is the human’s best quality?
“I posed many questions to Julian over the years whilst forming a career at Cathedral Psychiatric Clinic. I recall watching him drink black coffee from a mug when his overgrown, messy hair took a dip. He pulled his fringe to the side with his fingertips and squeezed the moisture onto the cafe floor. Customers noticed his behaviour, but he either wasn’t aware of them or didn’t care. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to ask him a philosophical question to see how he really measured up to my expectations of a mentor.”
Bliss Stone, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Four
Beyond Context
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There is forever a prophecy to fulfil and I have no marketing plan.
“Despite his best efforts, Julian had little chance of destroying old memories. He stepped in and out of portals, from one experience to the next and back again. Some were uncomfortable admissions that needed to be owned. Others were pools of illuminating potential. Every day at the clinic was a challenge and blessing for me. I tried rationalising his frequency of communication and often received mixed messages. Psychiatry Professors often teach that it’s a straightforward science figuring out who, and to what degree, someone is affected by the 300 or so classifications of mental conditions. Julian has shown me first hand that mental health is a subjective and complex world not to be categorised by causes and effects.”
Bliss Stone, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Six
it begins with G and ends with Bliss
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From rusty sheets of iron, magnificent structures are built.
“Underneath my skin is the number of the beast. I am that number, and the Seven Safe Religions was the beast that kept me on its radar by inserting it there. The former things have passed away, and humans are no longer rounded up for updating personal data. I choose not to have my splinter removed. I consented to this violation, and the small scar upon removal would only serve to remind me of my hypocrisy. Although responsibility can be burdensome, it can also be liberating at times.”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Seven
Dim Light
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Balance is for those blinded by life, not guided by it.
“Unstable clients stretch out on my couch one after another like fallen angels. Many patients come to me after making no progress with other traditionally experienced therapists, much to the dislike of those experts.
“My procedures are unorthodox, raw, and uninhibited. They often lack obvious direction. I don’t have a name for my style of therapy, but one might consider it to be a blend of Quantum Psychology and a funeral party. I experience the realm of disturbances along with my patients and nail myself in the coffin with them. Once inside, I try to locate life in the emptiness of sorrow, shock, or hurt. When I find it, I defend both of us against a veil of illusions. Most of the time the emotionally battered individuals fight with me. I have also emerged from the coffin alone numerous times.”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Eight
Diving Into a Tunnel
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Unfortunately, most psychoanalysts are too busy rationalising to adequately listen and absorb.
“I’ve heard the ‘insane’ tell me the most rational theories. Those freaks have fragmented insights and are true artists of self development. People who insist there is nothing wrong with themselves are the most irrational of thinkers. There’s no room for personal evolution without losing control in moments of fringe experiences. A greater intelligence than you or I always exists despite our frequency of denial and lack of clarity.”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Nine
Alien Interaction
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I woke paralysed, and in my bedroom I felt a presence, yet nothing out of the ordinary was evident.
“There was more to Julian’s entries than scribbles of a man losing his mind. I observed him almost daily, and one thing is for certain: he lived for his patients. He actually willed the unusual to manifest in his head, so he could be more beneficial to those who suffered through no fault of their own.
“Following is the result of another visitation after a weekend of compulsive reading and heavy drinking, by his own admission. Julian immediately recorded the incident when he was capable. He wanted to ensure accuracy and give you the best seat in the house.”
Bliss Stone, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Ten
Agenda
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I felt the desire to hold a sharp knife and deface every history book in sight.
“My Nordic friend had fled the scene. My hands were cold again. I have touched many corpses and experienced entities searching for warmth in my stiff body. When will these spectres learn that blood is just the oil that keeps our machines moving, not the heat source? And when will humans appreciate that apparitions cannot benefit from bloody sacrifices?”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Eleven
Distinction
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Any sense of belonging is slowly peeling away within the yellow walls of Cathedral Haven.
“A tough month was behind Julian, and the road ahead was still avalanche-prone. Our patient, Rosemary, passed away, and Julian confronted his mortified inner child, and Judas, to make peace with them. However, other developments gained his attention and he had an opportunity to find out more about the living by asking the dead.”
Bliss Stone, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Twelve
Bloodline
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Male midlife loners: are they all tuned into the same frequency?
“Conversation during dinner was most revealing. I had no idea I could be so entertaining and pathetic. Unfortunately, nobody was present to share my wit or challenge my intellectual flaws.”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Thirteen
Sexual Being
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He repeatedly bashed his head against the metal cell door to escape his demons.
“Bliss walked with me along the corridors of Cathedral towards our office. My focus was diverted to a nurse assisting one of our former trauma patients, Bruno, who was involuntarily caught up in a prison riot two years earlier. He had witnessed a guard kill his cell partner during a violent exchange. The last words his cellmate gargled before his death, which Bruno revealed to me under hypnosis, were: ‘I see no fucking light. There is no fucking God. Darkness… Scary mother fucking darkness.’”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Fourteen
Bruno
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I don’t dream anything, but I’m awake again.
“‘What’s the first thing you see when you get these flashbacks or night terrors?’ I asked.
“‘A power socket,’ Nadia responded immediately. ‘That’s all I ever remember. And there’s an all-consuming evil presence that is thicker than any air I’ve breathed.’”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Fifteen
Power Socket
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These days, as a student of the mind, I see how good intentions and prayers can simply be a symbol of greed and power.
“There are dangerous people in our society who place themselves above others and recruit followers. These teachers pretend to have the knowledge and ability to fix people; to direct them to a higher level of importance. These entrepreneurs of self-help and holistic development build platforms, and the vulnerable flock to them for elevation.”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Sixteen
The Bible vs God
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Here, in this instance, I will introduce you to the devil I know today, the same devil that always was.
“1964 is the number of the Beast, isn’t it? Maybe it ought to be, for that was the year the Order of the Exorcist was detached from the Church. That was the year the Second Vatican Council included Satan in talks by ignoring that he has any power at all. In that year of 1964, the art of exorcism within the Roman Catholic Church ceased to operate in the new rite of priestly ordination.”
Ravine Arcane, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Seventeen
1964 and The Beast
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Medication is not for everyone.
“I found Julian slumped over his desk the following morning. He was wearing the same clothes and clutching a half-empty scotch bottle. The clinic was perfumed with man odour and hard liquor. His face was planted in a pile of papers, which I later discovered to be Ravine’s work. This was not the first time I found him in this condition, but it would be the last if I had anything to do with it. We had a patient arriving in half an hour so I gently nudged Julian until he woke. He rolled his red eyes up at me and lifted his head slightly. A piece of paper was sticking to his cheek. I grabbed his bottle, closed the cap tight and pulled him into the moment.”
Bliss Stone, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Eighteen
Unbelievable
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Look at the new lands that Marco Polo reached. And, you know, some people still believe the world is flat.
“Some women call me a role model for aspiring females, but I prefer not to get into the gender debate because being a woman has nothing to do with being a role model. In fact, highlighting one gender over another could lead to further segregation. Regardless of my gender or yours, our inspiration should come from passion, not physical or emotional orientation. Not one woman can speak on behalf of another women, because we all have driving factors separating us. Many of us have a psychological edge over the men in our lives; unfortunately, some of us were simply raised to believe otherwise.”
Ravine Arcane, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Nineteen
Catholics on The Line
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Straight to the couch then?
“Father Keith’s most recent appointment came out of necessity – he had a desperate and sensitive need to seek help from us. Being a priest had its fair share of secrets, and it seemed Keith had some deep-seated ones. I felt a little uneasy about this purely clinical visit because Julian suspected the outcome of this session would be extremely confronting for the black and white thinker. It began civilly, professionally, and ended with a most dramatic revelation that taught me a thing or two about human thresholds.”
Bliss Stone, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Twenty
Inside Out
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Yes, I’m a lone wolf with primal urges, because males aged eight to eighty-eight have sexual weaknesses.
“I have already been through the five stages of a break up: denial, resentment, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, although not necessarily in that order. Okay, I still might be feeling some of those symptoms, but my work and the occasional alcoholic binge helps me mask those blemishes. I am now married to my patients and committed to their wellbeing, but that’s also pushing me towards another kind of divorce.”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Twenty-one
Touch, but Don’t Feel
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I don’t trust myself with certain patients who suspiciously have similar traits to mine.
“I hit my session with a sense of dimensionality and personal struggle. This new patient had nerves attached to my own skin. Could someone please pass me a scalpel and nine banishing herbs? This was going to be tough!”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Twenty-two
The Nerve of Humans
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Homelessness by definition is quite ambiguous.
“I recently attended a homeless appeal that was so successful in its first year that it earned a staggering amount of money for its charity. This was a far cry from decades earlier where support for the destitute and poverty stricken were somewhat of a burden for corporates, rather than an opportunity to leverage business profits and help those in need at the same time.”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Twenty-three
Charity Case
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Her body was always for hire but her mind closed rapidly.
“As a matter of survival, Evelyn believed she had no choice other than to rob herself of a childhood and allow dirty fuckers to pollute her chemically distorted undeveloped body. Her sense of self and any spiritual connection to the world was buried beneath a layer of rapidly aging skin and panda eyes.”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Twenty-four
Vital Signs
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Despite what you might think, ethics is actually important to me.
“Bliss only knows what is written in the report. The boy, known as Stem, has visual disturbances that are beginning to affect him socially, which makes it increasingly difficult to prolong friendships and ‘fit in’. Stem is becoming distant to the environment around him, and some other obsession is overtaking his life.”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Twenty-five
Predator
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I am no longer dead, so I believe.
“I’m ill. Still I can never deny anyone even though there is nobody left to give me support. I push on. I draw a huge breath and place the tube in my mouth. I blow. Blood fills the clear tubing and drains my reserves further. I cannot see where the blood goes. A smile forms on a stranger’s face, which turns from grey to rosy. I remove the tube and lean my hands on my knees and double over.
“‘Is that enough?’ I ask with bloodied lips splattering.
“‘Could you just give a little more?’”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Twenty-six
Blow
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Nobody needs to fight for God for He/She/It is fighting for you in your space of disillusionment.
“‘The soul of a deeply religious person is like a delicate rose made of glass,’ one of them observes. ‘It is colourless and odourless and must be handled with extreme care. Your religions are fragile ornaments that have no real value.’”
Channeled, Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Twenty-seven
Illusions of Delusions
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The mind specialist witnessed an empty vessel devoid of hope.
“From this moment I, Julian, will speak as the third, tenth, thousandth, or even billionth person. I’m an outsider looking in, for I cannot reasonably convey the upheaval I feel inside or the challenges ahead.”
Julian Marcus, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Twenty-eight
A Bookworm Turns
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I offer you Absolution in the language of Julian Aquinas Marcus, not necessarily the language of a sane individual.
“Julian takes the stranger’s religious reference lightly; he’s not easily spooked or intimidated by a patient. The one thing that Julian cannot escape though is the familiarity of the gentleman. Moreover, his name screams with powerful overtones. He recalls the meaning of the word Gehenna in the New Testament Scriptures – Hell, a place of torment and suffering. Julian also realises another variant of an actual place; originally the valley of Hinnom, close to Jerusalem, where children were often sacrificed. Zenith is also a term commonly understood. It is the part of the celestial sphere directly above an observer. Some might also say it means the highest point in an individual’s fortunes.”
Bliss Stone, Acupuncture of The Mind
Chapter Twenty-nine
Absolution
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Not enough of Julian’s Acupuncture of The Mind? Look out for the prequel, Cracks in The Truth, which is coming out soon.
What readers are saying:
“It’s certainly pushed me out of my comfort zone… It’s very well written, smooth with a consistent tone. It’s unusual and does venture into the deepest depths of the subconscious, and most certainly leaves one feeling strangely confused yet with an unexplainable clarity at the same time.” (K.F. Professional Editor)
“Congratulations on a very cerebral work of the mind! The chapters throughout are very in depth and consciously intricate, intelligent and quite deft. I do agree with the book’s suggestion that organized religion can become poisonous, yet I am Christian.” (Damian T.)
“The first time this book was offered to me, it felt too deep. The 2nd time, I found its intensity and probing content highly addictive. It’s beautifully written, almost poetic in parts, and infused with an edginess that offers fresh perspectives. I highly recommend Acupuncture of The Mind.” (CZ. Goodreads)
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