August 22, 2004
-
Grace and Grit (cont.)
Posting this tonight since I’ll be gone all day tomorrow taking the Amtrak on a trip to Astoria via the Lewis & Clark route.
When Ken and Treya Wilber first began to deal with her illness, they dug through literature to collect whatever facts they could depend upon, and they discovered there were many ways that our cultures and subcultures deal with the sickness of cancer:
(paraphrasing)
1. Christian – Illness is punishment for sin.
2. New Age – Illness is a lesson to learn from and mind alone causes and can cure it.
3. Medical – Illness is a biophysical disorder. Alternative treatments may prevent you from getting the proper medical attention.
4. Karma – Illness is result of negative karma. It is good in the sense that it purges past misdeeds.
5. Psychological – Repressed emotions cause illness. Illness as death wish.
6. Gnostic – Illness is illusion. Spirit is the only reality and in Spirit there is no illness.
7. Existential – Illness itself is without meaning. It can take any meaning I choose to give it.
8. Holistic – Illness if product of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual factors, none of which can be ignored. Treatment must involve all these dimensions.
9. Magical – Illness is retribution. “If too many good things happen to me, something bad has to happen”, etc.
10. Buddhist – Illness is an inescapable part of the manifest world. Only in enlightenment is illness finally transcended.
11. Scientific – Ilness has a specific cause or cluster of causes. Some are determined, some are random. There is only chance or necessity.
On some level, we all go through this questioning even about minor illnesses. It’s amazing how we are affected by what the world around us tells us about it. I guess I would fall in the holistic group more than of the others.
Deep Thought: A lot of times when you first start out on a project you think, This is never going to be finished. But then it is, and you think, Wow, it wasn’t even worth it.
Today I am grateful for: Subtitles
Comments (7)
And along the way they bonded to each other in ways they never would have had they had a different journey.
Very interesting concepts. Holistic seems to incorporate both psychological and scientific views. I could go along with that.
I lie somewhere between holistic and scientific, I suppose, though, like all other things, it flows back and forth across the spectrum.
nice site, especially + – for each day!!! thanks for subscribing
-dan
I am still falling into the idea of in between how I interpret the world…enjoy the trail..that should be an awesome adventure…
This is brilliantly and succinctly done, Lionne! You have encapsulated it all, and one of the problems with illness, the need to “blame” something or someone or some force or some pollution. Whereas, the body cannot live forever; it is not designed to. Illness and death are part of life. And there is no escape from pain, not even in “enlightenment.” To never be in pain or be ill is one of the greatest myths driving our species, and it’s unfortunate. Really it is.
Oh my! I’m so confused, . . I think I’m getting ill!