The Upside-Down Pyramid Scheme

If our hearts were like rivers what good would it do to dredge up all the muck that had settled to the bottom?

This is the picture that occurred to me as I thought about how evocative the word "dredge" is. The word "dredge", in turn, occurred to me because I was asking myself if getting healing was worth unearthing the buried pain. Asking if, maybe, it was better to live in denial than experience the inevitable pain that leads to healing.
Thus I came to the river. There is no doubt that every person has something in the riverbed. And it is a myth to think that sunken things don't affect the river. The current, the acidity, the smell of the water are all being influenced. When Saruman told the White Council that the One Ring had probably drifted down the river to the sea and was lost forever, he knew that he was lying. Buried things don't stay buried.
My original question is moot if a) the Ring has power even underwater, and doubly so if b) its discovery is inevitable.

New question: Why should one seek healing rather than just accepting the state of one's river as-is?

First, because it will free you from your past. Being aware of motives, feelings and sources of pain allows us to act based on the truth and not because of lies and vows instilled in childhood. If there is no secret malady there need be no self-medicating, self-deprecating behaviour. "But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light." Ephesians 5:13-14

Second, because the message of the gospel is one of suffering and comfort, and its power can't be realized without partaking in the comfort after the suffering. You can't share the gospel without personally attesting to the truth that God raises the dead. (I shouldn't say "can't" here, more likely "won't" is accurate.) "For as we share in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too." 2 Corinthians 1:5

Third, we tend to ignore things we haven't acknowledged, in ourselves and in our relationships. But when our own pain no longer consumes and plagues us we are free to enter into another's pain. Better still we are less likely to cause other's pain through neglect or ignorance.We are less likely to subvert it, ignore it, deny it, rebuke it, shame it and belittle it. The more people there are who are seeking healing the more future healers there will be, AND there will be less people needing healing! It's an upside-down pyramid scheme, get on board. "Brethren, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." Galatians 6:1-2

In conclusion, let's all get the Ring out of our river and into Mount Doom (ideally before poor Deagol gets murdered).