Post surgical reflections 2 – the calm before the healing
Do you remember the lyrics to the Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever?” You don’t HAVE to be my age to remember the Beatles, but I suppose it helps. 😉
‘Cause I’m going to strawberry fields Nothing is real And nothing to get hung about Strawberry fields forever
Nothing to get hung about… I always figured that meant there is nothing to get hung up about. Close – it does mean nothing to worry about, but the origin of the lyrics is something less philosophical, and more experiential.
“According to Wikipedia, Lennon’s iconic lyric was inspired by a childhood memory
For the refrain, […]: the words “nothing to get hung about” were inspired by Aunt Mimi’s strict order not to play in the grounds of Strawberry Field, to which Lennon replied, “They can’t hang you for it.”https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/386865/did-the-expression-nothing-to-get-hung-up-about-derive-from-strawberry-fields
Strawberry Field was a Salvation Army children’s home in Liverpool. Who knew? Why they should not play there? Who knows?
Okay, let’s not get hung up on it – do you get hung up on the idea of faith healing? Of course many people simply scoff at the idea, but there is enough evidence out there to suggest that one’s beliefs can hinder or help one’s healing. It is not controversial to say that stress, anger, worry, jealously, etc, are emotions that can cause physical stress, and result in mental, emotional and physical illness. Here’s the thing – if you believe in faith healing, you may have an idea in your head that your lack of faith caused your disease, or worse, that resorting to medical help is contradictory to following one’s faith. This idea is also likely to cause you stress, especially if you have not been able to achieve a healing through the use of your mind – or shall we say of Divine Mind. If you are able to heal yourself through the use of your mind, your mind is, indeed, divine!
A theologian that I read nearly daily, Joseph Murphy (mentioned in the first post-surgical musing), discusses these apparent conflicts well in his The Power of Your Subconscious Mind. He would argue that disease is not real – as more than one “enlightened” writer will tell you, nothing is real except our experience, and if you are relying on your senses, your experience is subject to doubt! Okay – let’s accept for a moment that only the energy of life is real, only the ONE mind is real, and that anything that is contrary to this divine energy (Divine Intelligence, Infinite Intelligence, Infinite health, wealth, peace, harmony, love, joy and happiness) is not real. But we still get sick, don’t we?
Human society must function, right? We cannot simply exist as energy. We must work, reproduce, grow food, create shelter, and in general be the industrious species we are. All of these activities, Murphy would say, are divine ideas in the mind of God – including medical care. You have a medical problem? An M.D. benefits you through her training, and you benefit her through your patronage and faith in her abilities. In other words, if the participants in human activities are engaged in their labors with an eye toward serving the greater good, Divine Law and Order govern, and we can be restored to perfect health, sometimes with the aid of doctors. You need a doctor, and doctors need patients. See this as a good thing, not a form of evil!
Where is this leading? Post-surgical anxiety caused by a grand case of contact dermatitis – or was the latter caused by my anxiety? In other words, while I am recovering wonderfully from my hip replacement – walking well without assistance, getting quite mobile, just nine days after surgery – I have the mother of all itchy rashes near the surgical site and on the next ten acres of neighboring flesh! In short, I itch! If there is a sensation that makes it less possible to try to remain calm, well…
Meditation. Yes, I practice what I preach. I wasn’t much good at it yesterday. My scratching spread this dermatological phenomenon! Blast! Today, I practiced slow, deep breathing, and spent 15+ minutes in Transcendental Meditation, using the mantra I was taught when I was inducted into the practice of TM some 40 years ago. It works. As a graduate student, TM enhanced my memory greatly, and lead to some psychic experiences that verified for me that such experiences do not need some drug induced state of euphoria – that was useful knowledge in my youth! Today, I refrained, I hope, from spreading my rash. I still plan on seeing my M.D. tomorrow!
Calm before healing. SIx years ago, I meditated before the surgery that replaced my right hip. I told my body to cooperate with the surgeon, that the procedure would benefit “us” – my body and me. Other than needing a couple weeks of pain medicine to recover, I had no problems. This time, no such preparatory meditation – though I thought about it. So now I wonder – would I have forestalled this skin reaction? Mayhaps. Is the question useful? Only if it reminds me to truly explore the power of meditation through focused trials. But really, am I not simply saying that when we prepare ourselves for positive outcomes through sincere, well visualized positive expectations, we are most likely to succeed? Meditation takes many forms.
Long and short, I believe “faith healing” is real, but most of us need help – to attain a healing through faith, a guide, and through medicine, a doctor. To live in harmony with these ideas, accept both as part of the human experience and evolution. Harmony, peace, and understanding.
Murphy loves this Biblical quote, as do I. Phillipians 4:8 (King James version):
[8] Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Next time, I’ll talk to you about living the “now” – maybe you’ll tell me what that means to you!
