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If the mind is, indeed, within the brain, which is within the body, is there a point at which the inextricable link between them can be seen as integral in “illness” and not just mental “illness.” How can we separate the physical from the emotional at all if they are, in fact, parts of the whole? Does this mean that all illness is, in some way, mental illness? In legitimizing any story as being potentially useful or instructive, is this a method by which to communicate with people experiencing various mental states or a way in which to better understand mental “health” or both?

Is there a role in this conversation for the nature of conscious and unconscious thought? In what ways is our behavior informed by factors of which the I-function is not aware? What about free will?

Ryan g in his post discussed the nature of “assigning meaning” to things. Is this not something we do anyway, whether consciously or not? Is there some part of our brain that naturally catalogues our experiences and compares them to that which we are currently “perceiving” in an effort to create a match, to create order out of disorder? As there are limits to the amount of information, at any given time, our brains can process, visual, auditory, etc. there must be some processes by which the brain filters the vast amount of information and through the various inputs and outputs and looping creates a mosaic that is “reality” for a given individual.

"…freedom has a twofold meaning for modern man: that he has been freed from traditional authorities and has become an 'individual,' but that at the same time he has become isolated, powerless and an instrument of purposes outside of himself, alienated from himself and others; furthermore, that this state undermines his self, weakens and frightens him, and makes him ready for submission to new kinds of bondage. Positive freedom on the other hand is identical with the full realization of the individual's potentialities, together with his ability to live actively and spontaneously."

The above is taken from Erich Fromm’s book, The Fear of Freedom (page 233, Published by Routledge, 1960)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Fromm

I like the idea of the “full realization of the individual’s potentialities…”