We, as humans, tend to make judgements about our situations way too early, with nowhere near enough information to decide the best course of action.
As rain falls equally on the just and the unjust, do not burden your heart with judgements but rain your kindness equally on all. – Buddha
The aim of this post is to attempt to share that nothing is either good or bad, but is what it is. And yes that includes our health.
I know the previous statement could be seen as contentious, but please don’t judge it too quickly. Let me explain some more.
To start with I would like to share with you a story about a farmer and his son:
The farmer’s son took their only horse for exercise. Returning a little later the sone informed his son that the horse has bolted and ran away.
The neighbours hear the news and say to the farmer, “How awful you have lost your only horse”
To which the farmer replies, “I don’t know enough to say if it is good or bad, it is what is”
The next day the farmer’s horse returns with 5 wild horse in tow.
The neighbours hear the news and say to the farmer, “How fortunate you now have 6 horses”
To which the farmer replies, “I don’t know enough to say if it is good or bad, it is what is”
Whilst breaking in, one of the new horses kicks the farmer’s son’s legs and breaks it.
The neighbours hear the news and say to the farmer, “How awful your son has a broken leg and cannot help you around the farm”
To which the farmer replies, “I don’t know enough to say if it is good or bad, it is what is”
A few days later war breaks out and all abled body men and call for a service.
The neighbours hear the news and say to the farmer, “How fortunate your son does not have to go to war”
To which the farmer replies, “I don’t know enough to say if it is good or bad, it is what is”
As you can see if the farmer had come to a judgement and conclusion directly after the event occurred, like the neighbours, it would have been, more than likely, too soon.
By waiting and seeing how everything plays out demonstrates that no judgment is needed because it is what it is.
Every situation will continue to play out. For example, going to war could have been the making of the farmer’s son who could have been inspired by the atrocities of war to invent something that would have helped all mankind. We will never know because it truly is what it is.
This is the same with our health and discomfort. It is not good or bad because there are just too many variables that we can never fully know or understand. This is explained by the concept of UMWELT: We as humans are built to only receive certain information. For example, most, if not all of us cannot:
- Hear the high pitched sound of a dog whistle.
- Smell what a bloodhound can.
- Receive echo signals like a bat.
These information signals (waves) are ‘out there’ but our human consciousness is not tuned to receive them all. In fact, it is believed that our vision picks up less than 1% of the whole visual spectrum. This figure is about the same for our hearing and smell spectrums too. So can we ever really say we have enough information to make a judgement as to if something is either good or bad? My personal opinion is no. Perhaps, this is why so many religions and spiritual movements suggest acceptance and surrender to each moment. As Eckhart Tolle calls it, The Power of Now.
Where we are now, in this moment, is the result of many ‘energies’ and ‘waves’ interacting with each other. Some we are aware of and many others we are not. All we can do in whatever situation we find ourselves, be it illness, pain or war, is to accept it and pledge to do the best we can with the limited information we have because the past has already happened and lead us to where we are.
Thorwald Dethlefsen in his book The Healing Power of Illness suggests that pain and illness are the ‘Engine Warning Light’ that alerts us something is wrong. We can treat the symptom by removing the bulb of the warning light but the cause, from the past, will not have been discovered or fixed.
What can we do about it? In the now we can listen to the messages through intuition, which is said to be our higher self. The best way to tune into our higher self is to let our thoughts and feelings flow without attaching or judging them, like in meditation, to see what arises.
It is my personal belief that our body does all it can for us to survive. For example, cuts scab over and bones heal stronger than before they were broken. And of course there is one of my favourite sayings:
“Do you know what is worse than having a cold?”
“Not having a cold!”
What this means is that if you didn’t have the cold you would more than likely die. Yet many of us judge a cold as a negative experience. Though in reality – yes, you guessed it – It is what it is.
Conclusion
I hope this post has shared some insights into why we really do not know if an illness or pain is either good or bad. From the UMWELT of us only receiving a very small amount of all the informational energy to the example of the farmer not judging any situation.
We are all doing the best we can with the information and wisdom we have, so in each and every situation all we can do is respond with what we guess will give us our most preferable outcome.
And to sum up, that is all we are ever doing, even if we think otherwise, is making a best guess. What we now know is that ‘we don’t know enough’ to make a fully informed decision and in the place comes the true power of surrendering to how everything is, listening to our intuition and doing the best we can in each and every moment.
If you like this post you will also enjoy:
- The Body Knows How to Heal Itself.
- Unlikely, but still possible.
- Mind Power and Belief for Recovery and Healing.
- How Athletes Recover Quicker Using Mind Power.
- The Healing Power of Illness Book Overview.
Further Reading:
