MARGINALIA: Minds, Meanings, and Mental Health

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 26 October) – My infatuation with psychology was never conscious. Not until recently. Or so I thought. 

My Roommate is a Psychology graduate. My uniqa hija is also a graduating Psychology student; her own decision entirely. 

Although I never formally pursued psychology, it has fascinated me. As a child, I would listen attentively to old folks, some of my aunts and uncles, talking about what they call ‘ilmu sifat, the Maguindanaon indigenous knowledge of human persona and behavior). Later, as a college student with time to spare, I devoured Jāmi‘ al-Sa‘ādāt (Collector of Felicities), a classic text in Islamic psychology (‘ilm al-nafs) in just a day and a half. 

The connection didn’t stop there. 

Even in the workplace, I find myself surrounded by the language of the mind. In our Faculty Lounge, the cubicle universe I also call home, I’m flanked by psychiatrists and psychology professors: left, right, front. Only recently did I realize how subtly the subject has always encircled me. 

No wonder October never passes without meaning. It’s my Roommate’s birthday month, and as a Local Government Operations Officer (LGOO), she marks it as Local Government Month. More importantly, October is also the month when the world observes World Mental Health Day (October 10). 

Yet this October, I remembered it differently.

Just a day before World Mental Health Day, the 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Davao Oriental and nearby provinces; it’s a jolt not just to the earth but to the mind. 

Then came the news that on October 19, chess grandmaster (GM), commentator, and content creator Daniel “Danya” Nadoritsky was found lifeless on his couch in North Carolina. He was only 29. A chess prodigy, Danya was already a published author at the age of 14. As my favorite columnist on chess.com, I once even made a list of his signature modifiers, idioms, and turns of phrase. 

Three days later, Filipino-Taiwanese social media personality, model, and mental health advocate Emman Atienza, only 19, took her own life in Los Angeles. With her eloquence and activism, especially her solidarity for Palestine, she was a voice of empathy in a noisy world. 

For the gift of speech shared by these two young souls, I can’t help but recall these Qur’anic verses: “The All-beneficent… has created man [and] taught him articulate speech” (Surah al-Rahman 55:1, 3-4). 

Both Danya and Emman were, sadly, also victims of online cruelty. Danya endured year-long, baseless cheating accusations by former world champion Vladimir Kramnik. Emman, meanwhile, was harshly branded a “nepo-baby” amid the country’s corruption scandals, despite her honest clarification that her life was not sustained by any politician’s wealth. 

As October is about to bid farewell, I find myself reflecting on the steadfastness and stoic grace of Nabi Yusuf (Prophet Joseph), another victim of false accusation. He bore years of humiliation and imprisonment but never let bitterness erode his faith. In the end, he regained not just dignity but divine vindication.

Perhaps that’s a tip of the iceberg of why Surah Yusuf is described as ahsan al-qasas – “the best of stories.” It reminds us that truth, no matter how delayed, eventually rises, and that mental health is not only about the chemistry of the brain but also about the patience of the soul.

[MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Mansoor L. Limba, PhD in International Relations and Shari‘ah Counselor-at-Law (SCL), is a publisher-writer, university professor, vlogger, chess trainer, and translator (from Persian into English and Filipino) with tens of written and translation works to his credit on such subjects as international politics, history, political philosophy, intra-faith and interfaith relations, cultural heritage, Islamic finance, jurisprudence (fiqh), theology (‘ilm al-kalam), Qur’anic sciences and exegesis (tafsir), hadith, ethics, and mysticism. He can be reached at mlimba@diplomats.com and www.youtube.com/@WayfaringWithMansoor, and his books can be purchased at www.elzistyle.com and www.amazon.com/author/mansoorlimba.]