Sometimes a period of extreme stress can shed light on situations which were previously opaque. It seems that the author of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey - was probably writing about discoveries he made through his own experiences. The film provides some deep insights on human nature, insights which are often hidden from view. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is so accurate in its assessment of what can go on within the mental health system that the author must surely be writing from personal observations. Cuckoo's Nest is a story of the reality of love, and the reality of the persecution of love. Although it is often unwise to take lessons from works of fiction as they can be subject to falsehoods, in this case Cuckoo's Nest is so accurate to observable truths that it is useful to study it here.

The lead character, McMurphy, played by Jack Nicholson in the film, is a brawling gambler. Wearing unkempt clothing and hurling coarse language around he appears on the surface to be a violent and quite unpleasant man. His history of aggression ultimately lands him in a psychiatric hospital where he is to be "healed".

When McMurphy goes into the hospital he starts work on the other patients. The expectation might be that such a character would damage the health of the others, but this is not the case. McMurphy soon befriends his fellow inmates. He encourages them to take up basketball, and to play cards, and he talks with them - providing free counselling. The Indian chief, who the doctors thought was deaf and dumb, begins to talk to McMurphy; without even being conscious of it McMurphy is healing the other patients, and he is doing it by giving them the kind of love which they need. The young man with severe neuroses is encouraged to meet women, and he becomes happy and relaxed and he begins forming normal relationships. All the patients become happier.

However, the powers that be in the hospital are unaware of what is really going on. To the doctors, McMurphy is still perceived as the foul-mouthed trouble-maker. McMurphy comes up against the misperceptions of those other supposedly healthy people. He soon runs into trouble with the head psychiatric nurse, Nurse Ratched, the woman the chief calls "Big Nurse". McMurphy is perceptive and he watches her while she works with the patients and he can see the way in which her personality is destroying the people she should be caring for. He can see through the illusion; the illusion which the doctors have not yet spotted.

"She's kind of a c* ain't she?" He says to the doctors. But they look straight through him. His profanity, only serves to reinforce the doctors' perception of McMurphy as a problem. They are not willing to see the truth; they have rigid egos, which they don't want questioned. Their view that a mental health worker must automatically be a decent person is so ingrained in them that they will see McMurphy as the problem, regardless of the reality of what is happening.

McMurphy's loving healing of the patients has wonderful results; but Big Nurse is threatened by his success. Eventually the evil in her personality starts to attack. She puts a stop to the activities which are making the patients well, as they are outside of her control. The patients are crushed by her ego, and they start reverting to their previous ailments. In a scene towards the end of the film, Big Nurse systematically goes around the group crushing each individual in her path. When she attacks the neurotic man, her victim starts again to turn in on himself. McMurphy can see the undercurrents of what is going on. He sees her hurting his friends, and McMurphy's anger is sparked. When Nurse Ratched ultimately drives the neurotic man to suicide, McMurphy's anger turns to violence and he lunges for her throat. But he is stopped and restrained. Soon after, the doctors give the go ahead for McMurphy to receive electro-convulsive therapy. He is reduced to little more than a vegetable, and when the Indian Chief sees what has become of his friend, he suffocates him.

McMurphy's fate at the hands of those in authority shows accurately how love is persecuted in real life. Loving individuals threaten the egos of those unhealthy people who do not give enough love. And so the un-loving people attack the love; they attack the truth, to hide their own evil. It is a very common phenomenon. When this dynamic is understood it is easy to see love and truth being persecuted in everyday life, amongst friends and family, in the media; it is an illness on a pandemic scale.

McMurphy's attack on the nurse was a distorted act of love. It appeared to be aggression on the surface, but in reality he was attacking evil, and so his violence was motivated by love. But McMurphy's violence was not justified by love. Although McMurphy was indeed the loving individual in the story, his violence was nevertheless an illness, and did need to be cured. Violent reaction is an innate impulse in us all; it was evolved into us through pre-history. The great spiritual challenge is to overcome the urge to violence, and to fight evil with love.

In many senses McMurphy was mentally and spiritually healthier than the doctors and nurses in the hospital. In fact, Cuckoo's Nest is scarily close to reality. Scientific studies have shown that there are many people who work in mental health who are themselves unwell. It should be said straight away that the mental health services do wonderful work, which is nothing short of miraculous in healing mental illnesses, but there is no "them and us". Mental health or illness is a broad spectrum, and we are all somewhere on that scale. There are no people in the world that the rest of us can point to and call "nutters".

As with many other loving individuals in real life, McMurphy paid the price for giving love - he was persecuted to death. This phenomenon was experienced by Gandhi - a preacher of love and truth who was assassinated. And also by John Lennon, one of history's leading peace campaigners, again persecuted to death. Christ also paid the ultimate price for campaigning for love. His love and truth made everyday people feel inadequate by comparison, they didn't like it, and rather than them growing to be more loving, they took the more convenient option and crucified him. Conscientious people make us feel guilty and embarrassed, so instead of us growing, we often choose to attack them.

The character McMurphy provides a good example of a spiritually grown individual who was perceived as "mad".

More writing from Alex Caldon can be found in the book The Quest For Truth: On Finding The Grail, available from www.thequestfortruth.co.uk. Some people are eligible for a FREE copy, helping to make the Grail available to all, as legend states. Happy Questing!