Healing and the Sick Person (Part 1)

The following are taken from thirty-five-year-old notes that were used for various presentations and discussion groups. The graphics are clearly from that era, created on a Mac SE and salvaged with some effort.

We are here, at this very moment participating in a wondrous mystery. Within our individual consciousness we can isolate and come to understand the various elements involved in the structure of the experience. Patterns of black print on a white background, shaped as letters and organized into words communicate ideas whose origins lie in the minds of others. This medium, its perception, along with any related emotions and thoughts come intertwined as one in the moment, which is perpetually transformed as new impressions are generated and flow into the next. As sentient beings, this actuality of our existence can serve as a fountainhead of thoughts, imaginings and speculations that broaden out to encompass all that we know and understand of ourselves within and relating to the universe. Categorizing the meanings that are spun from the experience of our being in the world can vary from those having to do with the physical properties of paper, ink, light, and nervous system, to those involving considerations of intrapsychic, interpersonal and social relationships. Trying to grasp the reality of this moment in time, space and eternity, we find ourselves contemplating the ultimate origin, meaning and truth of the miracle and wonder of our personal existence and participation in the world.

This font of sensory, emotional and reflective consciousness comes organized as a structure which is this particular “person-in-the-world”. The structural organization is such that an ever-changing surface is elaborated from more permanent underlying configurations. This transient experience is ultimately rooted in what is timeless; it is movement in eternity. This moment is peripheral and temporary, and yet it stands inseparable from the Central Ground of all creation. It is universal truth having a particular, finite configuration. Delving into the actuality of this, or any, moment, we are met with the wonder of the concrete reality that is the word-thinker-thought that is This here and now.

We are engaged in a process of eternal change; this process is ultimately, one of creation which requires our active participation. We are, from the depths of our being, here and now generated into existence, but not as mere bystanders. We are involved totally by virtue of our possessing an individual will. Who each of us becomes, our present and future experiences depend on what choices are made this very moment. We do not, however, create ourselves out of the void; we forge our lives as part of a larger physical, psychosocial and spiritual structure.

Though rooted in universal creativity, we possess a structure existing in relation to other structure. Because we, as structural entities, do not create the totality which we are, as expressions of an underlying physical and psychological in addition to a transcendent spiritual structure, we are vulnerable to various forms of disorganization. As physical structure, we are faced with disruptions in our material organization; these are associated with the experience of pain and disability. We are creatures that desire and hence, are met with emotional suffering when thwarted in our attempts to find fulfillment. Human suffering in particular comes from the reality of our being active participants in our particular life drama. We are able to decide on what choices life brings it is our own personal life that is at stake. We must deal with the knowledge of our guilt and the reality of our inevitable demise. Ultimately it is because we love, be it eternal, transient or illusory, that we are open to spiritual suffering.

Healing involves an overcoming of suffering. This process may take a variety of forms. One’s former physical or emotional structure may be re-established. If this is not possible, one may develop new ways of accomplishing the same functions. In the event that neither is possible, healing then involves the acceptance of limitation and the acquisition of alternate means of self-affirmation. In all cases a wholeness of oneself in the world is re-established. Healing creates a new order involving heightened creativity and a deeper love of all existence.

Next Page