By Rev. LeRoy E. Zemke
Pastor, Temple of the Living God

“ Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”
Lao Tzu

“ We are, indeed, far more conscious and capable on a soul level than we have been taught to believe or have dared to express.”
Sonia Choquette, Ph.D.

In our contemporary culture, specifically in the West, we now have a plethora of information about the many realms of health, healing approaches, and systems of health care. If we are ignorant of how to access our own healing experience or process (if such be needed), it is not because there is a lack of information.

Yet data, information and direct personal experience within the broad spectrum of healing or health care will not impress us or make any difference until we are ready to seek it out. What leads us toward a sense of even considering our deeper health? It is, I believe, the pull or call toward a spiritual power that is available to everyone as we are ready to embrace it.

Let me illustrate. As we live in our daily world, we tend to actively engage our life actions, chores, duties or responsibilities. Abruptly, unexpectedly, we have an accident, or we become seriously ill on food previously known to be safe and non-threatening to our body. Or we break a bone … we experience nausea, vertigo … or even sustain an infection … to name a very few possible scenarios. In short, we may have a mini-crisis or health upset.

To be consistent with my metaphor, I’d like to suggest several stages that play out as we discover our call to heal.

1. We override the experience and say to ourselves (or to others), “It’s a fluke! There is nothing unusual going on with me. It is just one of those things that happen to people!” This is an illustration of denial, refusing to see what is being offered when illness strikes or crisis is presented to us. Our reaction tends to be based in fear.

2. We grudgingly acknowledge what has happened. If we get sick on certain food, we admit that we really are subtly aware that our body dislikes certain foods. (We get headaches, stomach upset, nausea, etc., because of an allergic reaction or a toxic response.)

Or if we break a bone, develop a lung disorder, high blood pressure, etc., etc., we may hesitantly recognize some relationship to our larger being and our body’s needs, but we are basically unwilling to change behaviors that create problems or admit that we have a problem that needs to be addressed, either inwardly or externally.

3. We slowly seek to restore our health. We seek to “fix” the specific area of imbalance. If we need to give up salt or sugar we will do it. If we need to eat less protein, (animal, fowl or fish) and eat more vegetables, fruit and grains, we will do it. But it is done with an intention on “fixing” the issue: overcoming blood pressure circulation issues or other irregularities. Here we slowly discover what needs to be done, or we are willing to learn what needs attention. We seek results and go to qualified professional doctors, nutritionists, naturopaths, etc., to gain improved circulation, lower or normal blood pressure, lower cholesterol in blood, less sugar in diet, etc. The emphasis is upon results: measurable, tangible, real.

4. We begin to seek wellness or what is called preventative health care. We actually change our lifestyle, choose to support ourselves through exercise, eating wisely, letting go of behaviors that do not support us (overeating, drinking too much, or smoking, to name only three areas.) We seek to rest, to relax, to meditate, to sleep, to lessen over-stimulation in our lives and live more harmoniously with others and ourselves. We seek to make thoughtful, educated and wise choices. And we attempt to live into these choices with whatever help or support we may need. We become consciously and consistently involved in our actions and making a host of appropriate choices for living.

5. Finally, we rest into the call to heal … to be whole, complete. This is really not just about health care or preventative health care. It isn’t about fixing a problem in our flesh and blood body, or for that matter in any area of our life. This is about the reconnecting with our holy innate (divine) nature. This is the invitation given by Jesus … “Seek first the Kingdom of God and all its righteousness and all the rest you seek will be added unto you.”

The deep, innate yearning to be whole is, I believe, the call of the Divine to be expressed in our life, however that may show up … becoming more conscious about our relationship to our soul and our sacred self.

When we have a health issue with our physical body, the deep call is (I believe) to return to wholeness, albeit it usually occurs in stages as illustrated above.

However, there are those who, when an imbalance is discovered in their body can and do release blockages (chemical, emotional, psychological, etc.), which is accomplished by a major shift in attitude and behavior. Thus, they come back toward their innate sacred, spiritual center and their relationship with their soul, their sacred self.

Yes, in some people disease may take its toll on their mortal form. Still, wholeness is discovered when we realize a core truth … We are not our physical body! We are a flame, a spark of The Infinite awaiting further development and expression. When we genuinely accept and claim the flame, the inner fire of our very soul-self, we are heeding the call to heal (to be whole).

Difficulties may come and in a major or minor manner interrupt our journey. But as we learn to respond to our innermost spirit, a difficulty will never define us. It is not who we are at the core of our being.

Paramahansa Yogananda has this to say about people who seek only physical wellness, “Many persons are busy looking after their physical welfare, but neglect the development of their minds. The key to all power lies in the mind (Innate Self, Spirit). If one fails to cultivate that power, when serious disease comes, he may die without making any resistance, regardless of his age.”

To summarize, I submit that the task for each of us is to accept that within us is power that seeks unleashing. A physical health issue such as a heart attack, an accident or a disease process may certainly get our outer attention. However, what revelation, learning or insight that may come is unique to each soul. For instance, a heart attack may signal a very unhealthy lifestyle that needs to change totally. Or it may auger an internal awakening. Or it may reference a life lived without love and the need to develop passion, or the need to develop something even deeper, “compassion.” It is not one size fits all.

Our call to heal, as another way to express it, is a form of spiritual enthusiasm. It is the height and the intensity, the fire of our soul’s deepest yearnings to be expressed in our life.

Our physical forms of human expression are containers for the soul to experience its wholeness, its ultimate connection to God. And the way it is expressed brings complete joy and fulfillment in our lives. In the many varied fields of expression of an individual life, ours may be as a fireman, fisherman or financier. It may be as a fine arts painter, poet or potter. We may find it as a teacher, tradesperson, or tribal leader, shaman or healer.

Whenever we choose to respond to what life is offering us and we consciously give ourselves permission to pursue the discovery, lesson or learning involved, we step toward our awakening and we become more and more a literal and manifest (real) child of God.