 | When we look at illness and disease solely from the perspective of just this one life, we see it as the enemy, as something we have to fight and to defeat. We frequently refer to the ‘battle against cancer’ or say ‘she fought it until the end.’ Yet when illness and disease are viewed from the grander cycle, we can see it for the great blessing and healing it offers. |
Illness and disease provide us an opportunity to chip away at what we have allowed to encase and encumber our original essence and disconnect us from whom we truly are.
It is widely regarded as negative, as a cruel random misfortune that we hope does not come our way. On the one hand this is entirely understandable as illness and disease will often come with pain, suffering, discomfort and disruption to our way of life, as well as an awareness of impending death if the illness is diagnosed as terminal.
We short-change ourselves so much when we hold on to a negative perception of illness and disease. Just as with death itself, we shut ourselves off from the much bigger picture of what we are always being offered through the continuing cycles of living and dying.
The key to understanding illness and disease at a deeper level, one where we can actually consider them as a healing, lies in our acceptance that our body registers the consequences of our choices throughout each and every life. If we continually make unloving choices, our sensitive body eventually reaches the point where it needs to discard the accumulation of how we have lived, which manifests as illness and disease.
If we have spent many years not listening to our body, ignoring and overriding the messages as it consistently works to bring homeostasis to our physiology, we will not have connected to the impermanence and innate fragility of the human body nor will we have experienced what it is to surrender to that fragility and the gentleness that we naturally are.
When we let ourselves feel how fragile our bodies are, how they respond beautifully to a gesture of tenderness as opposed to one that is harsh or abrupt, we begin to realise that our bodies are so much more than mere physical atoms and particles of flesh, blood and bone.
It is through our body that we connect to divinity, and become aware of our inner-most essence, which continues to live on when the physical body dies.
Without this connection, physical life is all there is, with a stark beginning and feared end point. The fragility of the human body is perceived as a weakness, something to change and toughen so that the body ‘lasts’ longer. When illness and disease occur they may be regarded as a gross inconvenience, or they may be abhorred as a traumatic event for the person who is ailing and for their family. A deeper understanding is that all along illness or disease is a communication to us from the intelligence of our own body, not as a punishment, but as an opportunity to deepen our relationship with ourselves and others and our connection with divinity.
When we shut ourselves off from the possibility that there is more to life than the physicality we see, we deny ourselves the understanding of the profound healing that illness can offer on the spiritual level.
When we realise that our body is far more than mere function, we know that it is a precious vehicle and our responsibility is to cherish and take care of it so that divinity can express freely through us. The onset of illness is the body’s language back to us but sadly we do not always listen to the messages we are offered.
The physical body is the recipient and feels the effect of every choice. When a choice we make is not in harmony with the physical body, then, sooner or later, the body will want to discard this disturbance as an illness, disease or condition, showing us that the way we are living is out of balance with whom we innately are.
For example, if we push ourselves too fast, or are harsh with ourselves, we disconnect from listening to our body and are unable to heed its call, which is always offering us a deeper surrender to our own exquisiteness and inner stillness.
There is a beauty in being absolutely honest with ourselves about our choices.
Developing a deeper honesty with ourselves brings us to a very real and tangible point where we can take stock of the choices we are making. When we bring honesty to the relationship we have with our body, we break down the illusion and self-deception. Honesty can be very raw, revealing, uncomfortable and exposing but never does it, in-truth, come with judgement or blame for what has happened up to that point. Absolute honesty offers us the opportunity to see things in their true light.
There is a human physical body and there is our inner being (our inner-most essence) and while the transient human body can become ill, our true and eternal being is not affected. As we deepen our connection to our essence, we become increasingly aware that this inner-most part of us remains pure and untouched – it is not dependent on what is happening in our physical body. So, with this understanding, we are aware of the much grander picture of all that illness, disease and death can offer.
When we listen and respond to whatever our body is presenting us with, we surrender to a grander wisdom. Many of us have been robbed of the understanding of illness, disease and the dying process. When we surrender we can drop into our stillness, our inner-most essence, which transcends whatever we are experiencing in our physicality. In the stillness we cannot deny that we are so much more than human. It is our physical body that dies while our essence remains through every returning cycle of life.
In the future we may come to have a completely different understanding of illness and disease as no longer will a successful healing be equated just with the relief of symptoms but rather as something that treats the underlying root cause of the ill condition, be it physical, mental or spiritual.
An ill condition is whatever we have taken on that is not in accord with our true essence; that is, anything that impedes us on our path of return back to the divinity from which we all come.
Death & Dying Writing Team, Australia & UK
If you enjoyed this article you may also like to read the following:
We Live in Cycles
and
Impermanence
It is widely regarded as negative, as a cruel random misfortune that we hope does not come our way. On the one hand this is entirely understandable as illness and disease will often come with pain, suffering, discomfort and disruption to our way of life, as well as an awareness of impending death if the illness is diagnosed as terminal.
We short-change ourselves so much when we hold on to a negative perception of illness and disease. Just as with death itself, we shut ourselves off from the much bigger picture of what we are always being offered through the continuing cycles of living and dying.
The key to understanding illness and disease at a deeper level, one where we can actually consider them as a healing, lies in our acceptance that our body registers the consequences of our choices throughout each and every life. If we continually make unloving choices, our sensitive body eventually reaches the point where it needs to discard the accumulation of how we have lived, which manifests as illness and disease.
If we have spent many years not listening to our body, ignoring and overriding the messages as it consistently works to bring homeostasis to our physiology, we will not have connected to the impermanence and innate fragility of the human body nor will we have experienced what it is to surrender to that fragility and the gentleness that we naturally are.
When we let ourselves feel how fragile our bodies are, how they respond beautifully to a gesture of tenderness as opposed to one that is harsh or abrupt, we begin to realise that our bodies are so much more than mere physical atoms and particles of flesh, blood and bone.
It is through our body that we connect to divinity, and become aware of our inner-most essence, which continues to live on when the physical body dies.
Without this connection, physical life is all there is, with a stark beginning and feared end point. The fragility of the human body is perceived as a weakness, something to change and toughen so that the body ‘lasts’ longer. When illness and disease occur they may be regarded as a gross inconvenience, or they may be abhorred as a traumatic event for the person who is ailing and for their family. A deeper understanding is that all along illness or disease is a communication to us from the intelligence of our own body, not as a punishment, but as an opportunity to deepen our relationship with ourselves and others and our connection with divinity.
When we shut ourselves off from the possibility that there is more to life than the physicality we see, we deny ourselves the understanding of the profound healing that illness can offer on the spiritual level.
When we realise that our body is far more than mere function, we know that it is a precious vehicle and our responsibility is to cherish and take care of it so that divinity can express freely through us. The onset of illness is the body’s language back to us but sadly we do not always listen to the messages we are offered.
The physical body is the recipient and feels the effect of every choice. When a choice we make is not in harmony with the physical body, then, sooner or later, the body will want to discard this disturbance as an illness, disease or condition, showing us that the way we are living is out of balance with whom we innately are.
For example, if we push ourselves too fast, or are harsh with ourselves, we disconnect from listening to our body and are unable to heed its call, which is always offering us a deeper surrender to our own exquisiteness and inner stillness.
There is a beauty in being absolutely honest with ourselves about our choices.
Developing a deeper honesty with ourselves brings us to a very real and tangible point where we can take stock of the choices we are making. When we bring honesty to the relationship we have with our body, we break down the illusion and self-deception. Honesty can be very raw, revealing, uncomfortable and exposing but never does it, in-truth, come with judgement or blame for what has happened up to that point. Absolute honesty offers us the opportunity to see things in their true light.
There is a human physical body and there is our inner being (our inner-most essence) and while the transient human body can become ill, our true and eternal being is not affected. As we deepen our connection to our essence, we become increasingly aware that this inner-most part of us remains pure and untouched – it is not dependent on what is happening in our physical body. So, with this understanding, we are aware of the much grander picture of all that illness, disease and death can offer.
When we listen and respond to whatever our body is presenting us with, we surrender to a grander wisdom. Many of us have been robbed of the understanding of illness, disease and the dying process. When we surrender we can drop into our stillness, our inner-most essence, which transcends whatever we are experiencing in our physicality. In the stillness we cannot deny that we are so much more than human. It is our physical body that dies while our essence remains through every returning cycle of life.
In the future we may come to have a completely different understanding of illness and disease as no longer will a successful healing be equated just with the relief of symptoms but rather as something that treats the underlying root cause of the ill condition, be it physical, mental or spiritual.
An ill condition is whatever we have taken on that is not in accord with our true essence; that is, anything that impedes us on our path of return back to the divinity from which we all come.
Death & Dying Writing Team, Australia & UK
If you enjoyed this article you may also like to read the following:
We Live in Cycles
and
Impermanence