The Sword and the Rainbowby Lynn NacksonEveryone has a story that can enlighten if told from the right perspective. My story is of a search for peace of mind through a mental illness that began in childhood and continued most of my adult life. The spiritual conflicts of the Christian beliefs left me with despair when I was an adolescent and into my adulthood. In my case, I could not divorce the spiritual from the mental. To me, hell was here on earth as I went in and out of mental institutions, even making attempts to end the torment by ending my life. A very wise doctor pointed the way to Buddhism, which has a view of reality and the unfolding of phenomena that speaks truth to me. My faith in God, found through my Christian beliefs, in addition to the pragmatic approach of Buddhism, led me to fulfillment and constant renewal. My hope is that the reader can identify with the suffering and see their own suffering in a new light, whether they suffer from a mental illness or not. It is not a question of allowing diversity-but a question of accepting it. We are all diverse and we are all very similar. I want to promote an understanding of the development of a mental illness as well as help the reader see mentally ill people go through all the emotions and struggles of a "normal person." I also hope that my book will give at least one person hope in the dark night of their soul. Hope leads us forward. It keeps us plowing on, one step at a time.