Spiritual Value and Chronic Illness - Part I

The World's Major Religions

By Craig Maupin at www.cfidsreport.com

Carrying the burden of a disabling illness is not easy. A chronic illness is one of the most difficult challenges in life. Not only can disease cause physical suffering, but it also can generate many deep personal losses. The loss of friends, family, financial stability, and the joy of participating in cherished activities that may be lost to an illness. Of the troubles that are associated with human experience, perhaps no one challenge can steal so many valued components of life as the struggle with a disabling disease.

There is another more obscure challenge of battling a disease that is rarely discussed. We live in a society that often sees those who suffer from disease as having less value than those who are healthy. This perspective is not limited to views on concrete personal value. It is also common for the spiritual health and value of those who are ill to be called into question. Is there something they may have done or thought that perhaps makes them ill? Could there be an unresolved spiritual problem at the root of their physical weakness? Do people who are ill lack faith, have an unresolved imbalance of spiritual energy, or possess a “spirit of fear”?

Is Health a Reward for Living the Good Life?

Many feel that health is the just reward of living a good life, and illness is the punishment for one’s spiritual shortcomings. This view has been around since mankind has sought the answers to why some become ill or suffer misfortune. It is gaining popularity today.

Spirit-body “oneness” is currently taught and accepted across religious traditions, and it is being integrated into our health care system by many of our respected healers, both in the scientific and religious communities. This widely accepted paradigm is seen by many societies and religions as a universal law. Both the validity of this view is rarely examined for truthfulness and consistency within the real world. And sadly, the effects of this view on the hearts and minds of people, both those blessed with health and those who are not so blessed, are rarely discussed.

In the past, it would have been understandable why societal or religious traditions may have sought to explain disease in these simplified ways. Until the modern era, knowledge of germs, viruses, and even basic biological principles was very limited. With so much unknown about the biological origins of disease pathology, a system of spiritual laws gave a simple justification to explain why some became ill and some remained healthy. In a world with few treatments for illness, these beliefs also may have given a sense of control and security that otherwise would have remained elusive.

For instance, the ill were often said to be possessed with demons or overcome with sin. Their spiritual energies, such as yin, yang, or chi, were thought to be severely unbalanced. Some reasoned that they were neither one with the earth or in harmony with the world around them.

According to these views, health is a reward, not a blessing. Health is seen as a just recompense for good moral standing and spiritual achievement. A quick look at physical health is often assumed to be a sufficient barometer for evaluating spiritual health as well.

The view of health as a reward for superior spiritual status is often promoted as this unassailable law of spirit-body oneness. Many believe that the body and spirit are one entity, and disease is merely a symptom of a deeper spiritual malaise. A quick look at many health-related websites reinforces the view that disease is a manifestation of spiritual disrepair. This belief is not only alive and well, but is gaining popularity. It is now taught and accepted by many respected spiritual leaders across a wide variety of religious traditions.

Many religions - One View

One website touting a law of spiritual-physical attachment paraphrases a respected swami’s words the following way:

“A value-based life was therefore advocated as essential for good health. That an idea of the mental state (antaratma) of the patient is very essential in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases was very much recognized by Ayurveda as follows. 'The doctor who does not find out the inner state of the mind of the patient by the light of his knowledge cannot find out the disease.' “

The connotation here is very clear. Those who are blessed with health have earned it through a value-based life. Health is not a gift or a blessing; rather, it is a reward.

A Christian website echoes similar sentiments about health being a reward for a fit spiritual life, although the author bases his beliefs on a different analysis of what these spiritual defects may include.

” Good Relationship with God, self and others is vital in getting free from disease.”

“We are what we think! You need to understand first that the mind/body has a connection.

“9/10 of all diseases starts in the mind. Anguish, fear, bitterness, discontentment, jealousy, anger; anything that does not stimulate peace stimulates disease… Selfishness stimulates disease.!”

“Christians should be the healthiest and happiest people on the face of this earth. If Jesus was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities and by his stripes we are healed, then why aren’t we? …. In medical terms, this is called Psychosomatic medicine – Connection of mind and body! This was a term I heard on the radio the other day verifying that the mind and body are connected and proven by the medical community. It is a ‘new’ term but has always been in the pages of the Bible.”

This author believes that health is evidence of Christian behavior and a close relationship with God. He claims to have observed more non-Christian traits, such as selfishness, in the lives of the infirmed. He feels the church will be free of the diseased, if it keeps itself in spiritual order. This view of the chronically ill is accepted and popularized by a large number of influential Christian leaders.

Still a third web site, this one promoting “holistic health” and Eastern spiritual philosophies, chimes in with the same widely held notion that health is an indicator of a person’s spiritual worth.

“Just as there is a creative, dynamic process of health and well-being, so there is a dynamic process of disease, which is basically a perversion or distortion of the preceding process. All illness begins as a spiritual malaise, and proceeds down from there, finally materializing as physical illness.”

This author goes on to say that a balance of spiritual energies or yin/yang represents physical health. She later deduces that when a person’s spiritual house is not in order, physical illness is the likely result.

Another web site states similar feelings about disease:

“ The founder of Buddhism, Shakyamuni Buddha, provided instructions for systems of medicine that were collected into four volumes called The Four Medicine Tantras. These became the basis for the system of medicine practiced in Tibet, and is characterized by its belief that all disease is essentially psychosomatic, originating in the three poisonous attitudes of greed, hatred, and ignorance; until these attitudes are cured all other cures can at best only be temporary."

Could it be time to reexamine these views?

These beliefs are very widely held among the public. They are taught worldwide, from pulpits, new age spiritual centers, and places of worship. Although the religions involved in these teachings may differ, the views of the causes of disease are the same. Could it be time to re-examine these beliefs for truthfulness? These notions and the spiritual teachers behind them have rarely been challenged. I think it is a good time to do just that.

When I see the view that the body and spirit are one, some very pertinent questions come to mind. Does this view of spirituality and disease fit in with what can be readily observed in the world around us? And more importantly, what is the effect of these widely held beliefs on those who suffer with chronic illness? How do these prevalently taught views affect the attitudes held by the general public toward those who suffer from chronic illnesses?

It is reasonable to suggest that for any belief system to be true (no matter how widely accepted or practiced across religious traditions) it must be supported by our observations of the world around us. And if we take the view that the spirit and the body are one at face value, we should be able to easily discern a pattern of spiritual or moral weakness in those who suffer from disease. Inversely, if the spirit and body are one, we should also be able to observe great spiritual strength and morality in those who are blessed with health.

When I ponder this, I can’t help but think of some of the most amazing personal examples of spiritual faith and strength that I have been privileged to see. Some of these people have suffered very harsh diseases, yet the diseases that many feel are illustrative of spiritual imbalance, faithlessness, or moral collapse were the fire that forged their purest spiritual growth. While their bodies were often failing or causing physical suffering, their spirits were growing stronger. Their stories illustrate that the very physical limitations that some see as illustrative of spiritual collapse can be a means of uplifting the soul instead of evidence of a blighted spirit! I have no doubt that the fact that they were unfortunate enough to suffer has created in them a person who had a stronger faith, deeper humility, and a greater empathy for those in need around them.

Digging Below the Surface to find the Whole Story

We are often guilty of making surface judgments. We fail to take a deeper look at those who have chronic diseases, choosing to keep our distance and making blind spiritual assessments. There can be no doubt that surface judgments have been part of mankind’s forte in the past. Many believed, and wrongly so, that ethnicity and skin color were suitable measurements of poor spiritual character or value. While these views are now being closely examined for truthfulness, there was a time when they were rarely challenged. Perhaps it is time for us to reexamine our deeply held beliefs toward spirituality and disease as well.

Unfair judgments of those who are in unfortunate circumstances are easy to make. They can lead to a feeling among those who are healthy that their own righteousness is the reason for their good fortune. ‘I am healthy and I did it’, instead of, ‘I am healthy, and I am blessed’. But is it possible that true spiritual growth can be stunted when we make such self-confident spiritual assessments?

Yet, even more damaging, is the idea that these views can lead us to miss some of the most amazing examples of human strength, faith, and inspiration. Because of society’s acceptance that the spirit and body are one, many who are healthy may dismiss some incredibly inspiring human stories and equally inspiring friendships.

The effects of these views do not stop at their influence on healthy people's attitudes. They also can have an effect on those who suffer from illness. Many who are chronically ill live in a world that believes their afflictions are a sign of their own spiritual disrepair. Whether in churches or in New Age/Eastern healing centers, their health is often seen as a symptom of spiritual weakness. This can lead to a feeling among the chronically ill that they are spiritually worthless. There is another more unique and progressive way of thinking about spirituality and chronic illness! It is a way that can bring value, affirmation, and a new sense of peace!