Mystery and Excellence on The Human Body - Healing

Part III
 

Healing

Greek physician treating a patient's arm

Healing

Introduction

A man was suddenly struck by a crippling disease. In a matter of only a  few days, he was reduced from a normal condition to a situation where  he could hardly move his limbs, and his jaws were nearly locked. In the  words of the patient himself, "the bones in my spine and practically  every joint in my body felt as though it had been run over by a truck".  Doctors in the hospital gave him maximum doses of aspirin [26 a day]  and phenylbutazone [12 a day] plus some more medicines. As a result,  as he said later, he developed hives all over his body and felt as if his  skin were being chewed up by millions of red ants. This man, in such a  terrible and hopeless situation, was lucky to find a good and trustworthy doctor who told him the truth when he asked for it: his chances of  recovery were about one in five hundred! Upon hearing this, he decided to take his treatment in his own hands, whatever the pain, whatever  the risks. His deep intuition was that the self-healing powers of his  body were given no chances to work under heavy medication. He there fore decided to get himself discharged from the hospital, much to the  amazement of all the specialists concerned. He rented a room in a good hotel to continue the fight against his illness by his own chosen methods and finally cured himself.

This man's name was Norman Cousins. He became quite well  known afterwards through the book he wrote to tell the story of his self cure under the title Anatomy of an Illness. This book made a profound

impact. To many, it was the discovery that illnesses and treatments are  not to be left to doctors only: healing is a complex process where the so called "patient" must participate as consciously as possible. Ultimately,  it is the patient's body that has to respond to treatment and cure itself: medicines are only props trying to reestablish the proper functioning of  the body. Nothing can replace the patient's will to recover and his own  intimate perceptions of what is going on in his body. But the fact is that  there is a great risk of depersonalisation in most hospitals where  patients are often treated as bodies with little care for their individuality. Many hospitals tend to become like "body-processors", healing factories where individuals easily feel lost.

But it is not only the pressure of modern life which provokes a tendency towards depersonalisation in hospitals; the manner in which the  body is usually perceived may also be responsible for patients being  treated like chattels. From the beginning of what is called modern medicine, there has been a tendency to consider the body as a machine.  Organs, bones, nerves, flesh, skin, muscles and the rest are generally  seen as parts with which is built the "marvellous machine": an object  which is expected to deteriorate and disfunction now and then, ultimately leading to death. It is seen as an object to be manipulated with  caution, with the application of technical knowledge of its components  by who act like engineers of the body-machine. Specialization comes  naturally since the body is complex and intricate: just as with cars,  where there are specialised engineers for motors, suspension, lighting,  etc.... The negative counterpart to the longer life expectancy provided  by the above mentioned expertise, however, is the dependency on,  indeed, addiction to, more and more medicines. Thus, and it is not really surprising, it has become an onerous habit, particularly in developed countries — but it is spreading fast everywhere, — to treat symptoms with medicines and eventual side-effects of these medicines with ever more medicines!

A widespread dissatisfaction with modern medicine, despite its  undeniable triumphs, has resulted in the advent of a large number of  new approaches to health as well as a renewed interest in old, time tested systems. The Holistic movement in health has brought back  the primacy of the person in the healing process and the overarching  importance of the relation between the therapist and the patient.  Different systems of medicine, like homeopathy, which have been often

treated with mistrust or even faced with obstruction by the official medical authorities enjoy a much larger acceptance today. In the eyes of  more and more people, the fact that homeopathy treats illness with only  minute amounts of medicine is a guarantee against the risk of poisoning the body in allopathic treatment. Ayurvedic medicine, the timeless  traditional medicine of India, holistic much before the word was coined,  is evoking a growing interest beyond its usual clientele. Unfortunately  however, there are also — with ever more people desperately seeking  some kind of superhealth or elixir of youth, — numerous faddist theories or methods which can be eventually dangerous. Health books are  sprouting everywhere at an exponential rate. Magazines and reviews  are giving more and more space to health stories. Healing and health  have become obsessions, are much talked about, but, unfortunately, not  better understood.

Maybe healing is more an art than a science. Like in any art, the  mastery of techniques is important, but the essence of healing transcends techniques or scientific knowledge: each individual to be healed  is a vastly different person from the next in respect of his or her physiological and psychological make-up. Symptoms may be similar but a  cure may work in one case but not with the other. Psychological needs  are very different according to personalities. Some people need to be  told the truth about their condition, which will be too heavy a burden  for others. The true healer is one who knows intuitively both the medicine and the method appropriate to the case so as to evoke the self healing powers of the body. The efficient healer is one who creates the  confidence in his/her patient that he/she can indeed recover, even when  the outcome is uncertain. Indeed, healing is a very complex art: it is  the result of the combination of accurate knowledge, precise techniques  and the subtle psychological handling of patients. A good healer is  truly an artist.

When people are asked what they consider most important in life, a  majority put "good health" first. And it is quite understandable as,  after all, health is the condition which is basic ,to all aspects of life.  Interestingly enough, although it is so important, health is not easily  defined. It may be because health is the sum and combination of many  factors and also, beyond the objective criteria, very much dependent on  subjective perceptions. Hypochondriacs are well known to feel them selves in bad health or, at least, in much worse condition than they

really are. Mind appears to have extraordinary powers on the state of  an individual's health and, as too many human minds are ordinarily  cluttered with worries, fears, greed and other rather depressing feelings, it may not be very surprising that real, vigorous, exuberant health  is perceived as a rarely attainable ideal. It is probably not by chance  that, on average, scholars or monks who have led a very quiet life tend  to reach a very ripe age; quietude, moderation and higher preoccupations in life appear to be a good prescription for long life and good  health.' Good health could be seen as an artistic product much in the  same way as we can call a good healer an artist.

As a demonstration of the power of mind in the healing process, we  have included a very striking story of a British admiral successfully  fighting a very bad case of arthritis in the hips by visualization and  concentration only. His life was not threatened, as in the case of  Norman Cousins, but still, according to specialists, there was little  chance of his escaping the wheel chair at the end. After this rather  grim prognosis, our admiral embarks upon quite a special programme  of ordering about and around those undisciplined elements in his body  that needed redress. — And it worked! An inoperable case was being  operated upon by the mind scalpel. Within a comparatively short time,  a remarkable cure was achieved, which no surgeon or medicine could  have done. Also no less remarkable is the general tone of modesty with  which the story is told by Admiral Whitlock in his book Mind Your  Body. He is convinced that anyone can do what he did, and this is his  main reason for speaking out. He may be right, in fact, but, unfortunately, modern medicine is so organized that it hardly leaves a chance  to such methods to find their places. The potent and generally morbid  fear around illnesses deprives patients of the kind of self-possession  which is needed to try out such different healing methods.

Healing is an absolutely vast theme and a large number of books  have been written on this subject. As our purpose is not to deal with  any subject in the systematic manner of a textbook but rather to bring  to the notice of the reader a sense of striking awareness, mystery and  wonder, we have selected a few excerpts from the two above mentioned  stories.

One may feel, upon reading a few excerpts of their stories, that  Norman Cousins and Admiral Whitlock are exceptional personalities  and that this is the basic reason for their success in their unconventional

healing methods. There might be some truth in such feeling, but the fact  remains that they very materially cured themselves. It demonstrates the  possibility of such cures and the primacy of consciousness, determination and voluntary optimism over medicines. It proves the central importance for any cure of preserving and enhancing the self-healing powers  of the body. Their stories may be exceptional, but the insights brought  by their achievements in the field of healing are most important to a  proper understanding of what healing truly is.

Dhanvantari, the god of Ayurveda