Spiritual Value and Chronic Illness - Part 2

By Craig Maupin at www.cfidsreport.com

There is no doubt that the widely-held view that the spirit and body are one is having an effect on how those who suffer chronic illness. Many carry not only a physical disease, but they also carry a spiritual burden resulting from a society that is both critical and suspicious of their spiritual condition.

Experiencing Spiritual Condemnation

The burden can be even heavier for those who suffer from illnesses for which science doesn’t have a complete explanation, such as CFS or Fibromyalgia. It is human nature for us to try to understand why poorly understood diseases occur. Often, this human tendency forces those who suffer from such diseases to bear an unhealthy share of scrutiny concerning their spiritual condition.

A sufferer of Fibromyalgia writes:

“I am 19 and have been diagnosed with CFS/FMS for 3 years now.... I don't remember what it felt like to be healthy (do any of us?), and I hate the fact that I can't do any of the things I used to love. I used to play the flute before my hands started hurting too much, and I ran cross-country for 3 years in high school…. None of my friends understand at all, and all of my Christian friends (except one wonderful girl who I'm sure was sent by God) either tell me that it's my fault I'm sick (God's punishing you...) or to "give it up to God"(How do you just stop hurting?!) and neither of those helps… I need some hope. If any of you have any advice, please tell me. I'll take anything I can get at this point.”

This girl’s vivid testimony illustrates very well what it can be like to suffer from an illness that is outside of current scientific knowledge. She lives in a world that often sees illness as a spiritual malaise, and she is implicitly told by those around her that her illness may be a sign of spiritual deficits.

Candy Feathers, who has suffered from CFS for many years, writes about a similar experience:

“At one point when I was so desperately ill, my pastor's wife called and asked me if Satan was keeping me from coming to church. This was very devastating for me, but I immediately told her that was not the truth - that I was just too ill to leave my bed much less go out anywhere.”

Candy also recalls receiving an email from an acquaintance that felt she had stumbled on what she perceived were the spiritual roots of Candy’s illness. The acquaintance wanted her to read a book by a Christian author who had written that disease is a spiritual malaise. The friend described it as: “…a teaching on spiritual roots of disease. He says disease is from stress, anxiety and fear. It's interesting to get connected with emotions and what they do to us.”

On a regular basis, many who suffer from misunderstood illnesses experience these reactions from those around them. These reactions are more than just mere accident; they are the product of many popular teachings on spirituality and chronic illness.

Teaching that illness is spiritual

A few years ago, I remember friends telling me of their experience at a CFS support group. The group was to have a speaker give what he felt were solutions to CFS. He told his story of how he became ill, and he said that he believed CFS (and most illnesses) was really not a physical process at all. In fact, he had come to believe that the root cause of all illness was not physical but spiritual. He claimed his experience was proof of this. He insistently emphasized that the spirit and the body were one entity and they must operate in tandem. He claimed this was a universal law, and that the understanding of this law was the key to finding not only health but personal contentment as well.

He told of his descent into chronic illness, and of how his body responded to his conversion to Buddhism by healing his infirmity. He confessed that he had poor spiritual and personal values before his conversion, and he was sure it was these poor ideals that had caused his illness. He talked about mystical energy forces in him that were out of balance. He told of how he had corrected these imbalances by precise spiritual application. Once he found spiritual balance and maintained good spiritual balance, he said health followed suit.

This is a common story. It has been told in many different religious traditions.

At the meeting there were two responses to his message. These are two common responses to similar messages aimed at those who suffer with chronic illnesses. Most of the group there that day moved to the front of the room, eager to receive guidance concerning how a personal spiritual epiphany could cure their illness. To these people, his message represented hope for an ability to control their physical circumstances through careful manipulation of the spiritual realm.

Trying to earn health, the constant struggle...

Illness or any other suffering leads many people into a perpetual spiritual struggle. Suffering can make many willing to try anything to earn newfound health. They try earnestly to live a good life, they meditate, they pray, all in the hopes that these efforts will make their illness will go away. Some illnesses will go away, but many illnesses will remain even after attempts at a spiritual cure. What often is the result of this is that the healed person’s spiritual self-image soars, while the unhealed person’s spiritual worth is crushed.

I have seen many people who are ill ride this spiritual roller coaster. They glide from one spiritual guru to another, hoping to find in each new spiritual leader ways of correcting flaws at the root of their infirmity. Often, their efforts at using the spiritual realm to control their physical circumstances intensify -- with few physical results and a lot of discontent. This struggle can cause a lost sense of peace. And, as their efforts to live a good spiritual life fail to reap the desired results, they often wonder if they are spiritually worthy of health. Hopelessness can be the end result.

That night at the CFS support group, as sufferers of CFS filed to the front of the room to receive information on how to correct their spiritual shortcoming, a different response went largely unnoticed. A girl in a wheelchair turned to leave the room. Instead of eyes filled with hope at the offered cure, her eyes were filled with tears. As I heard my friends tell what they had seen, I couldn’t help but speculate as to why she reacted this way.

While I don’t know exactly what she was thinking, I feel fairly certain that I may understand what was going through her mind. She may have been facing some of the same questions that I faced myself when I became chronically ill. "Do I have spiritual value?" "Is there something spiritually wrong with me?" "If the body and the spirit are one, as many respected religious leaders claim, then does that mean I am spiritually inept?" "How do I respond to those who feel my physical weakness is merely a symptom of a spiritual flaw?" There can be hidden condemnation in well-intentioned assessments, and many who suffer from disease can feel that condemnation’s painful sting.

A new way of thinking...and some hope...

I wish I had been there. If I had been there I would have been able to share with her another way of thinking that aligns with real world examples of spiritual strength. For those who are unfortunate enough not to be blessed with health, the body and the spirit can indeed go their separate ways! Despite widespread acceptance, there is much overlooked evidence and testimony that the body and spirit are not one. For those who are unfortunate enough to suffer from chronic illness, like the girl at that meeting, there is hope! There is strong, overlooked evidence that despite the most difficult illness, one's spiritual health can be vibrantly alive!!! Even with physical disabilities and physical infirmities, a person’s spirit can grow stronger with each passing battle.

Suffering as a teacher and refiner of the spirit.

While many respected spiritual leaders of all religious traditions continue to preach that the body and spirit are mirror images, a closer look at many who battle with chronic illness can tell a different tale. Many who suffer from disease are unnoticed spiritual giants. Their powerful stories will continue to be overlooked until society is willing to take a closer look at how it appraises spiritual achievement. These living examples go beyond the surface of the physical.

For many who suffer with infirmities, the realization that their spiritual nature can be unfettered is deeply affirming. Despite illness, they can have a peace that is not found in continual attempts at earning their health through spiritual exercise. One person with a chronic illness sums it up this way; he wisely states, “To gain wisdom, you must have experience, and experience brings sacrifice and sometimes pain. But through pain comes strength. Every time you are in pain and it passes, you get wiser and stronger… Since the onset of this illness, I have a deeper empathy for my fellow man…”

Candy Feathers, whose illness led to critical judgements of her spiritual condition from those around her, talks about how her suffering may have changed her perspective in a positive way. She feels she now sees truths that could have been hard to grasp without experiencing the kind of suffering she has endured.

“Now that I look back on that, I can do it without feelings of anger or bitterness. I wonder if our lives had been reversed and she had become suddenly ill, would I have wondered the same thing about her? Would I have questioned her spirituality? Would I have talked to others about her and even mentioned that perhaps she had backslidden? I can't answer that question, but I do know now that I have much more sympathy for those who are chronically ill. You never know what a person is going through until you walk in their shoes.”

I would affirm those sentiments! I often wonder, if I hadn’t had to go through years of living with CFS, would I really be as concerned and empathetic toward others who are ill or less fortunate? Without my illness, would I have attributed my own blessings or successes to my own effort. Or, would I have attributed any or all of my personal gains to my own perceived worthiness? If I really am honest with myself, then, like Candy, I have to admit that without CFS, I may have been the one pointing the fingers.

I have no doubt that my illness has produced a different person than I would have been had I been blessed with health. I am more thankful for what I have, and I can appreciate and admire the spiritual examples of many others who may have otherwise slipped my notice. In retrospect, I must confess that the very thing that I would have been most tempted to change about myself, my poor health, may be the very thing that taught me the most valuable lessons, gave me the clearest perspective, and produced in me the strongest faith. There are many with harsh diseases who have come to that very same conclusion. Their experiences speak volumes, but only if we take the time to listen!

Powerful lives teaching spiritual lessons

Some of these people are the most effective example of a new way of thinking about spirituality and disease. They exude spiritual strength, faith, and perseverance, yet their bodies are slowly deteriorating. Their lives, if we take the time for a closer look, can show that while the body may be restrained by disease, the spirit can soar!

For that girl in tears at the CFS meeting, and for others who are searching and trying to earn their health, these stories can provide inspiration, self-value, guidance, and peace. Countless living examples of perseverance, faith, and courage can take those tears of condemnation away, and replace them with something better, something wiser.

When I became ill fifteen years ago, my world was turned upside down. The activities and goals that were important to me I was no longer able to achieve. One of the effects of this loss was that I was able to see value in places where it may have gone unnoticed. The hardships I endured opened my eyes to the clear spiritual example of many living examples who I would have escaped my notice.

Had I not become ill, I may have failed to take notice of one of the most inspirational women I have ever met. As I learned more about her, I felt that if I am to suffer with a chronic illness, then I want to do so with the grace and dignity that she possesses. Her story, and the lessons it provides, is coming next week. She is the perfect antidote to a world of spiritual leaders who say the spirit and body are one. Her body is limited by a devastating illness, but her spirit, her faith, and her daily-life example are unbound! She is very special! She is a spiritual inspiration. Her name is Beulah.