Health
The Meaning of Illness
As I was waiting for my car to be washed this week, I had a very interesting conversation with the carwash proprietor. He had posters up, advertising a play that his daughter had written and directed, and told me what a genius this young lady was. In order to assure me that he wasn't just a proud father, boasting, he gave me some background information to explain how his daughter had become so creative.
When she was 17 years old, she became totally bald as a result of an illness called alopecia. In an attempt to cure her at such a sensitive adolescent age, he had spent £15,000 sending her to various treatment centres at home and abroad and nothing worked. One day, his daughter told him to "STOP!" She said she was no longer going to fight the illness but to accept it. She refused to keep hunting for more specialised, ineffective treatments and instead decided to educate and develop her own mind. She did this until ALL her hair came back. Not only did all her hair come back but with it an unbridled creativity that she had invested in nurturing.
You have probably heard hundreds of inspiring stories like this one....the way we deal with our illnesses depends on the MEANING we give to our illness. For example, Ken Wilber, in his account of the life and death of his wife to cancer, listed at least 11 different meanings that their friends & society gave to WHY someone gets cancer:
paraphrased from page 46 "Grace & Grit" by Ken Wilber
The medics believe that illness is fundamentally a biophysical disorder.
The scientists believe that such illnesses have specific causes which may be determined or random.
The Christian fundamentalists believe that illnesses are a punishment from God for sin.
The Hindus believe that illness is the result of negative karma; in other words some non virtuous past actions are coming to fruition in the present.
The Holistic view is that illness is a product of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual factors, none of which can be isolated or ignored.
The list of beliefs about the cause of diseases is very long....the way you cure yourself and/or perceive the disease in others, will depend on the belief you choose to filter the information through. Some beliefs will place more responsibility in your own hands to heal yourself; other beliefs will encourage you to place all your trust and responsibility for your cure in the hands of others. At the end of the day, it is always a matter of choice.
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