Man struggles to survive, not succumb.
-Paulo Coelho (Author of The Alchemist)
quote from:
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/244811-man-struggles-to-survive-not-to-succumb
On Illness: Let Go, don't succumb
I want to make it clear when I speak of illness that it is important to let go and accept. That doesn't mean we are succumbing and giving up! There is a difference between giving up and accepting what is.
We want to survive the illness. Not only that, we want to be able to transcend it!
The Optimal Goal: Accepting that Illness is an Illusion
The goal of our true spiritual evolution is to get beyond all limitations including this notion that illness is real. We want to give up our belief in illness as we give up our need for ego, do we not? We first must be able to accept its presence in our lives on ego's terms before we can get beyond that belief to the point where we see that illness is only an illusion. We need to transcend to Love before we can change that belief.
Remember the core premise of
A Course in Miracles:
Nothing real can be threatened
Nothing unreal exists
Herein lies the peace of God.
What A Course is saying is that our absolute God given ability to be free of limitations, our inherent wellness really can't be harmed in anyway. We just "think" it can be when we listen to ego over God. Illness is the "unreal" and it doesn't exist. It is simply a creation of collective ego minds and a belief we have succumbed to and made a part of our lives as human beings. In God's eyes; in Love's world there is no illness.
Say what crazy lady?
That may be hard to swallow, I know. This belief in illness and limitation and separation from God and each other is so ingrained in us we subscribe to it without question. All I am asking you to do is question it...even a little bit? Is it possible that ego has tricked us and pulled us from God's truth.
Science and Illness
In a psychological research study it was determined that illness is often more a result of belief rather than a definite pathology, "Crucial to this is the belief that illness is not just the result of distinct pathological processes but can be meaningfully explained in terms of psychological and sociocultural factors. In particular, beliefs held by patients about their health and illness are central to the way they present, respond to treatment and evaluate their capacity for work." ( The British Psychological Society, n.d.)
Belief! Belief! Belief! That seems to be the biggest component for whether or not we get sick or stay sick.
Bruce Lipton, in his wonderful book, The Biology of Belief, explains this power of belief on our perception of illness. If we believe we can get sick, our cells will believe we are sick. If we believe we are well, our cells will stay well. It is not genetics or pathology that determines illness but our belief in it. If we change the way we believe, we change the way we see illness. Worth a read!
Step by Step Process
To transcend this societal and collective belief in illness we first must accept the perception of illness in our own lives. Maybe that means, we need to look at illness through ego's eyes before we can look at it through Spirit's? We must see it in Fear before we can transcend to Love. We must climb one ladder rung at a time.
Chronic Illness vs acute illness
A chronic illness poses more challenges for us than an acute one does when it comes to our ability to get through it and beyond it.
When we are acutely ill with a bug like this one...let me rephrase that...
when we perceive we are acutely ill :)- we have this belief that it will not last. We know we will get better. Bugs do not last forever. So from the onset we know what we are experiencing is temporary...with a beginning, a middle and an end. Knowing that gives us the great opportunity to practice our choice making. There is less fear so we can easily choose Love. We may believe that the illness is real but our belief that it will not last is what makes us better.
We can actually find a certain peace, if we look, in the acute illness. It slows us down. It provides opportunity for stillness. We are reconnected to our body and forced to listen to its message. There is more unity and connection of body, mind and soul. Acute illness than is a life event that provides a wonderful opportunity, as Oprah Winfrey was quoted as saying in yesterday's blog entry, to choose Love over fear.
The Challenge of Getting Beyond a Belief in Chronic Illness
Chronic illness, I am discovering, is a little more challenging to transcend. If the illness is not clearly defined and understood in physical world terms...that makes that challenge even more difficult. Despair is often seen when the mind starts believing in body or mental limitations. "
The rituals of the god of sickness are strange and very demanding. Joy is never permitted, for depression is the sign of allegiance to him." (ACIM, Chapter 10: V.: 1-1-2)
We see a beginning but we do not see an end. We may be able to transcend the emotional ladder from despair but often get stuck on the rung of "frustration" and therefore are challenged to find the acceptance of the illness or the peace in it.
To transcend illness...to get to the point where we do not prescribe to the notion that illness is real...we need to get beyond a peaceful acceptance of it. We cannot do that until we let go of our resistance to the perception of illness in the here and now. Once we get in the higher vibrations of Love, we will see proof that illness isn't real. Faith is the ultimate of belief, is it not. In Love we are surrounding by faith
So getting better from a perceived chronic illness then involves a certain acceptance on the egoic level, followed by a transcendence of ego on the spiritual level induced by faith.
Confusing?
Yeah...it is still confusing for me.
What are some practical ways to help us get from a perception and belief in illness to a realization of our wellness ?
- Accept the perceptual experience when it occurs but do not succumb to it. In other words, accept that you feel sick whether it be mentally , emotionally or physically right now. But know...that you can get beyond it. Don't give up on wellness.
- Choose Love over fear which will translate into wanting to feel peace, joy etc over despair, shame, guilt, blame, anger etc.
- Climb one ladder rung at a time.
- Don't stay in despair. Find something to feel better about!
- Look for things to be grateful for within the illness and beyond it.
- Read anything you can that speaks to this notion of belief
- Look at your own beliefs about illness and try changing them
- Pray and meditate your way to better health
- Embrace this perception of limitation/illness as a wonderful opportunity to choose Love and to heal once and for all in the ultimate of ways
- Weaken the belief in illness in self and others. Don't speak of your illness to others...try not to get absorbed in the conversations of others who speak of theirs. I love this passage from A Course..."Because the miracle worker has heard God's voice, he strengthens It in a sick brother by weakening his belief in sickness, which he does not share. The power of one mind can shine into another, because all the lamps of God were lit by the same spark." (Chapter 10: V:7:4-5)
Let's accept this false notion of illness in our lives so we can get beyond it!
All is well in my world!
Note:
subscribe, prescribe and ascribe obviously still trip me up and are often used incorrectly. I will work on that. :)
References
ACIM (2007) A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume, Third Edition. Mill Valley: Foundations for Inner Peace
Lipton, Bruce ( 2005) The Biology of Belief. (Mountain of Love.??...not sure where that came from lol)
