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When you conquer a significant fear, you have an attainment that will serve you innumerable times, for years and decades to come. It is hard to describe the good feeling of liberation I have had, at times when I wasn't afraid of something anymore. It is a learned ability. There is the ability to know how to meditate well enough that you can conquer a specific fear. And there is the "fearlessness" itself, where a situation is abruptly much more comfortable. 

"Lion's Roar" is a Buddhist magazine that discriminates against people with mental illnesses. Their assumption is that only a "normal" person, or especially a person in the psychotherapy profession, is good enough to gain meditative attainment and write about it. This is a slap in the face. A "slap in the face" is still a slap, even when done by a person ascribing or claiming to ascribe to Buddhism. 

A Buddhist response to being slapped is probably that we will just walk away. I can do that. That doesn't stop me from speaking up. 

A mentally ill person, including one who takes medication for their condition, is capable of meditation and of attainment. You should not be dissuaded from your efforts to better your life via mindfulness, and this is so whether or not organized meditation practitioners reject you. 

Conquering a fear is a tall order. There are some fears I have lived with for years, and I haven't found a good method for immunity. In conquering a fear, it should be seen as a separate issue from the reality that might be linked to the fear. If something presents a danger, the hazard doesn't disappear just because you are not afraid. And sometimes having a fear indicates that you are engaged to the reality, to a reality that could bite you in the ass. 

Thus, conquering a fear doesn't rectify the situation the fear is about. And that is a very important thing to remember. It affects the rational decision of whether it makes sense to get rid of the fear, or if it makes more sense to follow the fear and fix the problem. 

A mentally ill person on medication can practice mindfulness and may be able to conquer some of their fears. Medication isn't necessarily a hindrance to mindfulness. Sometimes medication can help resolve a brain malfunction that keeps you stuck. 

The submission guidelines of Lion's Roar maintain they will have a progressive approach to "gender, sexuality, ethnicity, race, and physical challenges." The implication is where someone who has a mental disability is outside of the circle. It is possible that many practicing Buddhists ascribe to this ignorance. It doesn't have to stop a mentally ill person from bettering ourselves with mindfulness. And if we can practice non-resentment of this erroneous stance, it would be in the spirit of great Buddhist teachers, whether they know it or not. Whether they are living or dead. 

I believe in practice. I believe in good. I believe in do no harm. I don't have to believe I am the person someone says I am. There is too much discrimination and misinformation about mentally ill people. 

Conquering a fear is a separate theme from dealing with human prejudice and ignorance. Yet someone else's ignorance should not stop us from practicing so that we will be able to conquer a fear. 

Because of the nature of psych medication, the types of meditation and the specific practices will probably be different for a mentally ill person. Medication addresses problems, and in the process of that it introduces other problems. I can't tell you much more than that, except to say it will be more challenging to be mindful if you take meds. That's not advice to stop your meds. It should serve as advice to be very patient with yourself. 

Short of being able to study under a master familiar with the problems of mental illness, and while such a master might not even exist, reading on the subject and doing what you reasonably can, should probably be okay. 

Jack Bragen lives and writes in the East Bay.