Peculiar Ideas About Illness

Over the years in working with people as a healer in energy medicine, I’ve noticed a number of interesting attitudes people have on why illness occurs, from a spiritual and metaphysical standpoint. I've collected them here to share with you. It's a fascinating study of people and spirituality if it weren’t also so serious in its impact on peoples’ ability to heal. Peoples’ beliefs on illness vary widely, often lurking subconsciously. What I find interesting is the context behind these attitudes. It's as if things have gotten a bit distorted from the meaning of the initial idea. Sometimes these ideas simply do not serve people well.

Ultimately, serious illness always brings up the fear of the unknown. This is not so easy for our human egos to handle! We feel we should know the reason for everything, and that everything simply must have a logical answer. Even something as illogical as illness and how we go about healing....

And yet, the fact is that true nature of healing is often more a mystical process more than a logical one. It is a journey into the soul that engages and accesses something much bigger than just the scientific model or allopathic medicine.

And so it is perhaps because of the fear of the unknown and the need to have an answer that leads people to develop spiritual analysis of illness. It’s as if we yearn for sort of guaranteed cosmic order, or a playbook on how life works. After all, if we could only know for sure how God works, then we could then do all the “right” things. And then maybe we could avoid ever getting sick.

Even when we know there is not always a tidy, metaphysical or religious explanation for illness, we still look for one. While having subconcious beliefs on this might help us feel safer in the middle of a chaotic universe, one can only appreciate the impact these ideas have on people who are actually dealing with a serious illness:

1. "All illness is caused by negativity. If you're ill, obviously, you're negative. You really need to be more positive."

2. "If you're sick, it must be because you lack faith in God. Pray harder."

3. "Since we all create our own reality through Law of Attraction, you created that you are sick. Why do you suppose you did that?"

4."It must be God’s will that you’re sick. Maybe you're just supposed to be sick right now.”

5. "There must be some deep emotional issue you have not dealt with that caused this illness. If you have no idea what that is, you're obviously out of touch with your own feelings."

6. “Maybe God is punishing you for something you did. God could cure you instantly if He really wanted to. Repent!”

7. “Maybe you’re sick because you are having trouble keeping up with the cosmic ascension of the universe. You must be a non-Indigo. Wake up or you’ll get left behind by 2012!”

8. “Your illness is because of karma. I am one of 2 people on the planet authorized to clear karma. It will cost you $4000. If that seems like a lot, ask yourself how much your life is worth."

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. My thoughts are that when we are dealing with an illness, we need all of our energetic resources. We simply don't have the extra energy to expend on ideas that becoming ill is somehow a sign of having failed or fallen short, somewhere. It just isn't helpful.

Let us hold compassion for those struggling with serious conditions. We must recognize and be humbled that there is much we may never fully understand. We never have understood everything about illness, and we probably never will. There is something bigger than just us going on.

Because the minute we think we really know how God thinks, we've truly missed the boat...