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Special Healing Topics
What is Healing?
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Nonduality involves the recognition of the oneness of everything. It has become an increasingly popular concept as many "spiritual seekers" report experiences of being one with everything. Healing is often defined as "becoming whole". When defined in this way, healing can be seen to be simply one arena in which spiritual awakening is occurring.
Healing can be viewed in a very limited way as recovery from an illness or other difficulty. Often it is sought as a means to have a better life physically and psychologically. It is important to take care of the body and mind. But human life is inherently imperfect, and illness is as much a part of the human experience as wellness. In addition, no matter how well we take care of the body it will ultimately break down and die. Profound healing often occurs in the process of dying, in which the healing has to do with reconciliation and transcendence. "Curing" is not always possible, but "healing" is, particularly when a more profound meaning for healing is embraced.
When healing is viewed as "becoming whole", it steps out of the limited activity of making a better individual and into the process of transcending our individuality altogether to live as Wholeness Itself. The most fulfilling spiritual experiences involve the loss of the sense of separation. In this, there is a sense of being one with everything. This experience is supremely satisfying, as we experience ourselves as the "Whole". Most people take this experience as being the ultimate goal of the seeking, commonly referring to as "enlightenment".
This sense of "being one" is, however, an experience and all experiences have a beginning and end. The seeker once again falls into the experience of separation, which can produce the "dark night of the soul". The seeker's goal then becomes the recapturing of that experience of oneness and the hope that it will never leave again. It is the nature of experience, however, to always change, leaving the seeker frustrated and confused! If "enlightenment" is "Truth", shouldn't it be reliable and unchanging? The seeker concludes that he/she has failed or fallen out of grace, and needs to become "better" in some way in order to "live the Truth 24 hours a day".
The seeker assumes that the solution to the problem is in becoming a better seeker, whereas some Advaita teachers point to a more radical understanding -- that it is not the improvement of the seeker which is required to "end the search", but rather the elimination of the seeker as an "entity" separate from what is being sought. Even beyond this "living as Wholeness Itself" is the disappearance of the experience of someone separate who is having an experience. The end of the search of the one who is seeking is the end of the seeker - it is the end of the experience of seeker-seeking-sought. This does not mean the end (or death) of the human mechanism (body, mind, personality), but rather the end of the identification as a separate "me". It is this radical shift with which Advaita is concerned. We especially recommend the following websites to those who are interested in Advaita ("nonduality"):
Advaita
Fellowship
www.ramesh-balsekar.com
Official Ramana
Maharishi Website
www.nisargadatta.net
Where does this leave us on the subject of healing? If one is simply interested in healing from the angle of eliminating a problem or improving health and well-being, this discussion would have absolutely no relevance to healing. But for many, healing and spiritual development are obviously inextricably intertwined. In fact, many physical and psychological difficulties are part and parcel of our evolution as "spiritual beings". In Esoteric Healing, Alice Bailey stated that physical healing can be even more difficult as we become more "spiritually advanced", and often physical healing is not even the highest outcome in the overall scheme of things. At times when one is struggling with some physical difficulty, it may in fact be necessary to take ones attention from that to our spiritual life* (such as strengthening the connection with our "soul"). Paradoxically, this may set the stage for physical healing, but not by making that our goal. Things can get quite tricky and complex as we advance on the "spiritual path", and so it is helpful to investigate what we want when we seek healing. If we can align our intention which what is actually for our "highest good" (i.e., align it with the "universal intention") then the appropriate healing is assured. Whereas "cure" is not always possible, "healing" is.
What nonduality points to is the recognition that absolutely everything -- no matter how glorious or abhorrent it seems to us -- is an expression of the One. Everything is part of the Whole, and the resistance to "what is" creates the sense of separation and suffering. Even the intellectual understanding conveyed by Advaita can have a impact in healing, in that greater acceptance of life as it is results in greater peace. As the body, mind, and emotions relax into this understanding, the possibility for healing is increased. The paradox is that in the very acceptance of disease itself, the possibility of healing is optimized!
Recommended BooksBe as You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana
Maharshi, by Ramana Maharishi, edited by David Godman. Best
introduction to the teachings of Ramana Maharishi.
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To explore many different viewpoints about nonduality, visit www.nonduality.com.
*This is not to be taken as a recommendation to ignore medical problems and avoid seeing medical providers when serious symptoms or problems are present...
