posted December 30, 2007 11:38 AM         

I see you did respond to the same subject (“The Purpose of Illness”) being broached in this thread: http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/001867.html

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For example I've read that one of the things that cancer teaches us that we are so busy taking care of others that we aren't paying enough attention to ourselves. We aren't in tune to listening to ourselves.

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Here’s a long story that would somewhat support the simplistic view:

My father got prostate cancer when he was around 68 years old. He was retired, he and my mother were traveling, life was pretty good. Retirement is a time when you are free to do pretty much nothing else BUT take care of yourself, if you have saved enough money to enjoy the time, and Dad had. So the premise that Dad gave himself cancer because he was too busy taking care of others falls short here.

He got cancer treatments, radiation, chemo, and the implanted radioactive beads, and all seemed well, PSA levels were near-normal and life was great for 5 years. Then mom had a stroke. My father, Depression-era child that he was, felt it was his duty to take care of her all by himself. She was able to transfer from wheelchair to toilet to bed, etc and feed herself at that time, but as the years went on she grew weaker and he did more. She would wake him several times in the middle of the night to take her to the bathroom. Short story long, his cancer came back – metastasized and moved into his pelvis and spine. I think Dad knew it was happening (although he never let on to the rest of the family), but he was so tired of the responsibility he had assumed for Mom that he was ready to go. Only when he was hospitalized did he break down and hire 24-hour live-in nursing care for Mom. I think dying of cancer was the only *honorable* way that Dad saw to get out of his (self-imposed) responsibility of caring for Mom all by himself ("in sickness and in health" goes the vow.....). So the end result somewhat supports the link between cancer and attitude.

Different scenario: I’ve had the flu for a week – came down with it on Christmas Eve morning. I enjoy the Christmas season and I look forward to sharing it with my 11yo son. Yes, it’s a busy time, but generally I’m a pretty healthy person. Why would I “give myself the flu” and wreck the entire Christmas week, leaving my son to his own devices while I’m in bed?? On the other hand, yes I do a lot for others during this time, and tend to neglect myself, but not to a degree such as getting blind drunk every night and not eating anything

I don’t think there is any “purpose” to becoming ill. I think illness is a result of imbalances. And similarly I don't believe for a minute that we get ourselves on purpose into situations where we can be injured or killed in an "accident."

You’ve been studying chakras:
http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/001908.html

I've not read a whole lot about it, but the Chinese have a similar philosophy about dantians being energy centers in the body, with the meridian pathways (that acupuncturists manipulate) being the "blood vessels" for those energy centers, carrying energy throughout the body. When the free flow of energy is blocked in either case, an area of the body/mind/spirit doesn’t get the nourishment it requires, doesn’t function at optimal capacity, doesn’t renew itself in a healthy way, and is more open to cellular invaders (virus, etc).

posted December 30, 2007 12:45 PM         

It has been said that on The Other Side there is no pain, no sadness, etc etc etc for all the negative things you can imagine -- that only here on Earth is there duality/polarity. It is said that the spirits who incarnate on Earth are some of the strongest and bravest souls there are that Earth is the gutter of the galaxy because really rotten stuff (think Holocaust) can happen here. Spirits come here to SchoolRoom Earth for the "Accelerated" classes -- to learn the most intellectually and feel the deepest emotions in the shortest period of time (one or several lifetimes).

posted December 30, 2007 10:09 PM         

I am an ICU RN and I believe firmly in mind-body medicine.

In answer to your original question, "pain" both in eastern and western medicine is to draw attention to a particular area of the body, for instance, we touch a hot stove=pain=pull your hand back! The pain drew the attention to the hand to save the hand from harm.

Chronic pain or acute pain that turns into chronic pain can mean to direct one's attention to a particular area of the body that needs healing, both physically and spiritually.

I have taken particular notice of heart patients (as my daughter was born with a severe heart defect and this is my area of clinical expertise), and if you sit down and talk with someone who has suffered a heart attack, or had open heart surgery, these are often very depressed people, not just because they are ill, in the months, years, even a lifetime preceeding the event they were depressed and often it has something to do with "love." The loss of a loved one, the loss of a relationship, etc. They have somehow blocked off the flow of love in their lives and it manifested as blocked cardiac circulation.

Asthma patients, (myself being one) often have ALOT to say that they just can not, so the energy of the unspoken words gets all bottled up inside and finally one can not breathe!

Cancer patients, in my personal experience with friends and family members and patients, too, are often angry and they can not express it. The anger will eat itself out, will manifest as cancer if not dealt with. I have a dear friend who developed cervical cancer. She was married at 14, to a much older physician and spent her entire life being the trophy wife, the perfect mother, but she NEVER took care of herself, hence her anger toward not having a life of her own manifested in the femanine organs.

Sure, toxins and lifesyle contribute to cancer and other dis-eses, but how does one explain people who disrespect their bodies, trash their temples and never get sick and live to ripe old ages?? Or how does one explain the very healthy individual, always taking care of him/herself, does all the right things and dies of some horrible aliment?

I think inner turmoil and emotions play a big role in this as well as the choice of the soul.

I took care of an 89 year old lady today, living in a terrible state, on life support, but alert enough that the family s not ready to remove life support and let her go. Did she place herself in this position by toxins, choice of lifestyle, etc?

We will never know, only she knows, only her soul knows the choices it has made it this lifetime.

There is much more than meets the eye going on when we speak of physical illness, much more! The eastern traditions have been treating ailments more metaphysically for thousands of years with great success, and I think there is somewhere perfect blend of eastern and western medicine.

posted December 30, 2007 10:15 PM         

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I think there is somewhere perfect blend of eastern and western medicine.

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posted January 03, 2008 10:40 AM         

I was just rereading this thread.....

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I am exploring a belief that there might be a spiritual reason for everything - or at least that something positive can be learned from everything that happens to us on earth.

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posted January 03, 2008 06:25 PM         

Anyway....was conversing with a doc from India the other day, about this and that...I am an Osho fan, and he is as well, but hesitates as in his homeland Osho was ( as well expected) not liked very well. The doc and I began to discuss mind/body medicine, the art of wellness as opposed to treating sickness first and in India/the eastern traditions, this is the rule not the exception.

I found it so very interesting, however, that this individual, schooled in India then transported to the west, has so very easily taken to the western ways of medicine!!!

But, really, what could I expect???

Him and others like himself to come to the US/(other "westernized" societies) and begin to find that perfect blend of east and west that I so want and I SO know is "out there???"

Probably not...

Tho, I felt, from speaking and bonding with "Ven" the Indian physician, that these practices are just over the horizon...probably not in the lifetime of you and I, but ya gotta start somewhere!!!

posted January 13, 2008 01:25 PM         

There's both agreement and vehement disagreement with Louise Hay's opinions:
http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/001867.html