H.B.I.T.S. is more widespread than originally thought, mainly because it goes unreported. The reason for this is that on the surface, it doesn't seem to be all that serious. But as a matter of record, H.B.I.T.S. could be called the silent killer.

One of the major symptoms of H.B.I.T.S. is a sudden and drastic lapse of intelligence that becomes problematic when this lapse turns into a chronic disorder. Once the disease settles in, the patient usually becomes prone to bad judgment, further leading to bad decision making.

This bad decision making in turn almost always results in negative psychological states, the main one being fear. Therefore, although H.B.I.T.S. seems innocuous enough initially, eventually, H.B.I.T.S. can develop into something quite dangerous since H.B.I.T.S. feeds off of fear, and reaction to fear can be very treacherous, .

Most of our conflicts, directly or indirectly, result from H.B.I.T.S. A person suffering from H.B.I.T.S., due to a persistent and chronic lack of intelligence, can easily be indoctrinated, and once they accept a belief or idealism, whether it is backed by facts or not, the lack of intelligence caused by H.B.I.T.S. prevents them from removing themselves from the situation, regardless of how illogical it becomes.

Although this syndrome can initiate in any circumstance, it is religious or political beliefs to which the patient seems most susceptible. Typical symptoms of this modality are an unwillingness to look around. For example, one may be hesitant, or downright fearful, to type into their computer certain inquiries, such as; "Is the Buddha a myth?" or, "Is Christ a myth?" or maybe, "Is (fill in the blank) a myth?" And, one might also fear open discussions of these and similar types of questions. Or many times they will only tune in to one TV channel!

Also, there can be almost terrifying psychological reactions to anyone who disagrees with a patient of H.B.I.T.S. Therefore, one must be very careful of social interactions with these patients and realize that if you threaten their beliefs and ideals, they will become very angry. Furthermore, if an entire society becomes affected as the disease progresses past the point of effective treatment, it's not unusual for H.B.I.T.S. patients to band together and form militias!

So we must be very careful when dealing with H.B.I.T.S. affected individuals. The ultimate danger, of course, is when original, small scale militias becomes a great military industrial complex. Because what can you do with a great military industrial complex except use it? If it's unused for any length of time, it becomes unfunded, and H.B.I.T.S. patients would never settle for that, because of the basic premise of H.B.I.T.S., which is fear.

The strong ideals and beliefs of H.B.I.T.S. sufferers substantiate what they perceive themselves to be, kind of a closed minded, self-perpetuating, looping reinforcement. They identify with their beliefs and ideals whether they are true and factual or not. This false identity in turn requires a constant maintenance, otherwise, the entire illusion becomes prone to collapsing, which would be psychologically devastating to the H.B.I.T.S. sufferer.

The disadvantaged H.B.I.T.S. patient, with his or her constant lapses of intelligence, self identifies strongly with their ideals and beliefs. And although these are things created and maintained in their heads and have no realty whatsoever, the patient, psychotically imagines these things as real, even though there is nothing substantial behind them.

These imagined ideals and beliefs then become all important to the H.B.I.T.S. sufferer, whether they are true or not. Just the mere suggestion that their premise might be faulty is enough to trigger a psychotic reaction, which in the case of H.B.I.T.S. patients, can be quite violent because if their imaginations are taken from them, they have nothing left. They have no reality to fall back on.

Fortunately, there is a treatment for H.B.I.T.S. (Head Buried In The Sand Syndrome) that has proved quite successful and leads to a condition called N.L.T.L. (Nothing Left To Lose). One must be very careful in administering this treatment however. Remember, you are dealing with a person who is quite unstable, and could look upon your efforts to help as threatening! So go slow.

The actual cure for H.B.I.T.S. is bringing the patient around to where he or she understands the delusion that they have been under. This is not easy considering their state of mind, but is the only hope for these patients. And it cannot be accomplished without an initial epiphany within the patients mind itself that something is terribly amiss here - because I feel so depressed and angry all the time.

Once an initial breakthrough occurs, then there is the possibility of cure, but it still involves a long deprogramming and recuperation period. The good news is that after the initial breakthrough, the patient's mind is no longer subjected to imagined fears, and therefore, tremendous energy results.

Although one might think that the N.L.T.L. (Nothing Left To Lose) syndrome, which replaces H.B.I.T.S. when a cure is effected, leads to laziness and lack of incentive, the opposite is true. Now, new feelings of unbounded freedom from the stifling and claustrophobic mind states suffered with H.B.I.T.S. arise, and patients discover a newfound creativity in their lives because they are no longer saddled with their old, imaginary, agenda-driven ideals. They become uninhibited to inquire into everything without judgment, which is called freedom.

But be careful; H.B.I.T.S. sufferers who remain uncured hate freedom, especially the freedom of others to think for themselves, so always wear a surgical mask when around these patients (so they don‘t recognize you and report you to their militia leader).

You certainly wouldn't want to become infected!

Author's Bio: 

     
E. Raymond Rock (anagarika addie) is a meditation teacher at:

http://www.dhammarocksprings.org/ and author of “A Year to Enlightenment:

http://www.amazon.com/Year-Enlightenment-Steps-Enriching-Living/dp/15641...

His 30 years of meditation experience has taken him across four continents including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk.

He lived at Wat Pah Nanachat under Ajahn Chah, at Wat Pah Baan Taad under Ajahn Maha Boowa, and at Wat Pah Daan Wi Weg under Ajahn Tui. He had been a postulant at Shasta Abbey, a Zen Buddhist monastery in northern California under Roshi Kennett; and a Theravada Buddhist anagarika at both Amaravati Monastery in the UK and Bodhinyanarama Monastery in New Zealand, both under Ajahn Sumedho. The author has meditated with the Korean Master Sueng Sahn Sunim; with Bhante Gunaratana at the Bhavana Society in West Virginia; and with the Tibetan Master Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder, Colorado. He has also practiced at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and the Zen Center in San Francisco.