Opening the Vault

As so many great artists and visionaries have known—and as this inspiring book reminds us—soul is a bird which sings louder as the thorn is pressed to its breast. Opening the Vault is an honest, gutsy and emotionally intense journal of a family’s travels through the tortuous but fascinating labyrinths of soul in crisis.

There are too few stories of this kind in print and, in contrast, too many clinical studies about autism and schizophrenia in the midst of which vibrant life tales like this are overshadowed by the arid debates of rival ‘experts’, many of whom have had no firsthand experience of intimately sharing the daily struggles of a loved one in the throes of a self-rebirthing ordeal. As well, the views, values, experience and insights offered by sufferers themselves are often dismissed as ‘delusional’ or ‘paranoid’ when ironically, as this uplifting book implies, they may be anything but. As the great physician of soul C. G. Jung made clear, we understand nothing psychologically unless we have experienced it.

Brigid Gallagher understands. She also has what it takes to gently capture the essence of her son Michael’s ongoing and extraordinary journey: a rare passion, candidness, earthiness, soulfulness and exuberance for life. Above all, Brigid offers the nonjudgmental acceptance, empathy, vulnerability and love which are indispensable qualities for anyone willing to help someone cope with the upheaval of a psychotic break from reality.
For genuine sufferers of schizophrenia, their crisis is a wound that often hides a great gift. Typically, it’s a blessing and curse, a marriage of heaven and hell to those for whom it brings both anguish and revelation. It’s also a kind of waking dream, where the archaic and often perilous world of myth, symbol, vision and religion displaces the world of mundane facts. And inevitably, as this book portrays, its two-edged sword cuts deep into the soul of surrounding family life.

But not all that is mad is insane; there is, rather, a kind of ‘divine madness’ that transcends the limits of reason, the five senses and cultural norms. Certainly all of Michael’s visionary and auditory experiences at the very least have been real to him, and who is to say that he does not have access to realms of being that are closed to most of us? For folk like Michael, the veil between them and both the world and Otherworld realms of agony and ecstasy is extremely thin, or nonexistent, for better or worse, since dark and light, destructive and protective soul energies are often intertwined.

At the end of the day, does Michael suffer from autism, or schizophrenia, or both? In the end, what do labels matter? The words ‘schizophrenia’ and ‘autism’ fail to do justice to the kaleidoscopic richness, vastness and inventiveness of the psyche and to the uniqueness of the individual. Michael comes across, rather, as enigmatic, special, surprising, delightful, bewildering, gifted, fragile as a soap bubble yet refracting life’s vast colour spectrum like a diamond.

Many people routinely recover from schizophrenia without any ‘medical’ intervention and, as this story illustrates, simply ‘being there’ for them in a caring home can provide the safe space in which the wounded psyche can restructure and heal itself. That Michael makes it through the maze is testament not only to his instinct for truth and core strength but also to the psyche’s uncanny ability to pull itself together after it has been shattered by life—and by the terrible and wondrous energies of the psychospiritual realm.

For readers facing life with a loved one in a similar kind of non-violent acute crisis, this story encourages you to take heart, be brave and follow where the journey guides you. At worst you may end up—as the author did—emotionally drained, bewildered, frustrated and dismayed, for such is often the price of empathy and compassion. At best you will attain wisdom, patience, an ability to ‘go with the flow’, deeper love and self-awareness, as well as an understanding and appreciation of the intricate dynamics and self-creativity of the psyche.

Again, Brigid understands by ‘standing under’ with open-hearted humility, instead of looking down from above in order to dominate, dissect, analyse, or control. She relates to Michael not as a problem to be solved nor as an illness to be ‘treated’, but first and foremost as a beloved son and lovely soul. She reminds us, too, that motherhood is a sacrifice, not in a negative way but as the heart’s offering up of something—or someone—treasured as sacred. Above all, Opening the Vault reminds us that we are all wounded by life and that with lightness and depth of being, acceptance and love, we can help one another limp and dance through it.