Sunday, February 22, 2009

The Barrel of a Gun

One cannot spread democracy with the barrel of a gun, nor can one spread health with a bottle of pills. We need to address the shortcomings of the human condition with the same holism we would apply to our patients. Each human is a “cell” of the human family much like each cell is a unit of the human body. The effects of dis-ease in society can be shown to parallel the dis-ease of the human organism. As a society we do not need an authoritative fascist police-state to force us to be good citizens. If we give ourselves liberty, unalienable rights, and a strong set of critical thinking skills, then good citizens and a healthy society will be the result. In human health we do not need reductionist, synthesized solutions to symptoms. We need nourishment of mind, body and soul and healthy humans will be the result. We are a community in both the micro and macro sense.

We feed our bodies processed, reduced foods and toxic substances, we stress, and we are in general an ill bunch. In the same manner, we feed each other toxic thoughts and processed ideas, ideas and thoughts with all the nutrition removed, so that we are left starving for meaning and truth in our lives. Our bodies are burdened by toxins and lack of real nutrition just like our hearts and minds are collectively looking for a rewarding path to follow, something that will nourish our mental and spiritual bodies. We pray upon the weaknesses in our fellow man while we worship the morally corrupt. We suffer from physical cancer and emotional cancer. The two are self-reinforcing, increasing the disharmony between cell-to-cell, person-to-person, and people-to-planet communication and understanding.

If we are looking for a solution to our circumstances today, it would serve us to look in the mirror with an open and forgiving mind. Whether it be at the cellular or societal level, there are consequences for greed and sloth, for corruption and lack of leadership, for malnourishment and stress. Health permeates all levels of existence -- as above, so below say the alchemists. When we return to principals of vitalism in all areas of our lives, then the world will start to change. Change will happen across the entire spectrum, micro-to-macro, since in fact it is all ONE. There is hope in the realization that it is not the people or the cells, but the environment into which we place ourselves and our bodies that is the problem. Cells want to be healthy, but in the presence of abuse and stress they can become diseased. People raised with fear and hate are no different. There is no way to peace, peace is the way just as there is no way to health, as health is the way.