In order to feel my best I find it helpful to think of healing not in terms of medical science, but as a natural philosophy.
Philosophy means the love and pursuit of wisdom. The philosophy of healing entails a deeper experience of inner wisdom, and the awareness of an aspect of mind and body that protects us and keeps us well.
I know it can be difficult or controversial for some to think of healing this way. Some people just don’t buy the idea of a meaningful connection between the mind and the body. This may be due in part to the fact that western medical schools do not promote mind-body approaches to treatment.
For years, these schools taught their students that the mind had little or no effect at all on the body. They believed that something as nebulous as stress, which is a mental and emotional state, couldn’t possibly affect the complex anatomy and chemistry of a human being.
Many prominent medical professionals have admitted that they just didn’t see how it could be that simple. Now, many practitioners are changing their beliefs and practices to include mind-body protocols for stress relief as they recognize the benefits of these powerful techniques.
It is interesting to note that when we speak of healing, we’re talking about something that can’t be accurately quantified by scientific control groups and empirical data. Statistics for it are uncertain and variable; our practitioners are at best able to state the probabilities for any particular outcome.
The healing essence within you is rarely discussed in western medicine. They are focused on the physical sciences that govern matter and molecules, the tissues they can observe with the tools of technology. They discover ways to interact with those materials and they translate their findings into methods of treatment.
Healing on the other hand, is what you do. You own the healing essence free and clear; the doctor doesn’t prescribe it and nobody can sell it to you. As such, healing is something that ultimately depends upon the individual.
The power of healing is with you now and it will never leave until you die and your body no longer needs it. Cut the finger on a cadaver and the wound cannot heal. Why not? The healing essence has departed the body along with the life force. At this point, no amount of medical treatment will make any difference.
This means that the healing essence in living tissue is linked to the source of life within us. It has never been conclusively defined by medical science or agreed upon by world cultures, and the essence that does the healing in our bodies hasn’t been seen under a microscope. That’s why mechanical medicine can’t focus on it directly.
To maximize healing, we must be willing to incorporate the linear left-brain treatments of modern science with the right-brain mind-body functions of attitude and philosophy. In doing so, we can expect far-reaching results that rise above and go beyond the expectations of either option alone.
Next time we’ll discuss your healing presence, and how internal beliefs affect it.
Peter