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9/21/06

True Healing, from Finding Our Own Truth

In 1946, the World Health Organization came up with this widely accepted definition of health: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." While some argue that health cannot be defined as a state at all, but must be seen as a process of continuous adjustment to the changing demands of living and of the changing meanings we give to life, I would also add that “complete” is an unnecessary ideal that creates unrealistic expectations.

Further dialogue about the nature of health has prompted a distinction between “curing” and “healing.” “Cure” means restore to health; remove, free from, or remedy something harmful, disturbing, or objectionable. Curing is usually seen as “fixing”, and is generally restricted to a part of the whole, e.g. making my back pain go away. “Heal” also means restore to health, but expands to include restoring to soundness, and spiritual wholeness.

An article by Patrick Quanten, M.D., on healing vs. curing, remarks that “in order to correct a harmful or troublesome situation, one needs to change that situation. Covering up the situation through, for instance, pain control or “anti”-medication, does not change the situation. It only changes our perception of the situation, i.e. I can’t feel the pain anymore, or the excess stomach acid is now neutralized. To effectively change the situation one has to make changes. These will inevitably involve changes in the way one is doing things right now, as it is that behavioral pattern which has created the harmful situation in the first place.”

Healing is not about getting rid of every discomfort and pain; rather, it is a process of tuning into what in our lives is out of alignment, and figuring out how to restore balance. Mind, body, or heart: it doesn’t matter which we start with, when one begins to find balance, the others are affected as well. Align one, and the others follow suit.

When we’re in pain, be it physical or emotional, we might turn to the poets, who turn us to our hearts, to find a way to go deeper into our lives in order to find a context for the feelings in our bodies and minds. Within a more meaningful context, we can begin to find a different way through what hurts. Kahlil Gibran wrote in The Prophet, “Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy… Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.”

How do we heal our sick self? One valuable tool is having a regular practice – which one of my teachers describes as “anything you do for the sake of your heart, unwinding, untying the knots around your heart.” It is something we are passionate about, which brings us happiness, and helps us feel compassion and kindness for ourselves and others, peace of mind, contentment with life. Something that helps us open our heart, and release the pain.

Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., a pioneer in the mind/body holistic health movement, and in recognizing the role of the spirit in health and the recovery from illness, offers this: “Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn't you - all of the expectations, all of the beliefs - and becoming who you are.”

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