Healing on the Level of Body, Soul and Spirit
One of the essential characteristics of the holistic
approach to healing is that it takes into account everything that influences the state of the
human being. The shortest summary of such an all-embracing approach is: "Processes of
illness and health are continually taking place in the human organism, and
everything a person does or is guided to do has its effect
upon these processes." [1]
To be able to understand the manifold tasks of maintaining our healthy
state we need to be aware that "the art of healing concerns man. Man is a
being of body, soul and spirit. A real medicine can therefore only exist
when it penetrates into a knowledge which embraces man in respect to all
three – in respect to body, soul and spirit. It does not suffice simply to
train doctors to know that a certain remedy is good for a certain illness.
One must rather seek to make the totality of life healthier, and for that
one must first discover all that is related to a healthy life." [2] For that very reason a holistic approach to healing
includes therapies which help to restore healthy balance on all levels – on physical,
psychological and spiritual levels – in various life situations of people
who suffer from a specific disease. In other words, in many cases the
healing includes a change of values and ways of living.
Although there exists numerous lawful relationships between various
kingdoms of nature and the human being, and also among various systems and
activities of the human organism, we need to know that each human being
possesses an 'I' which make them each a separate world. This does not mean that we
are above the spiritual rules and laws of nature, but that under particular
circumstances one can – after long period of training – develop a particular
skill which will 'contradict' the rule. Without this possibility further
spiritual evolution of human beings would not be possible. Or in other words, we need to keep
in mind that "everything has its exceptions. In the spiritual world there
are rules, but there are no rigid schemes. Everything is individual."
[3]
Knowledge and Wisdom as a Healing Force
An understanding of the causes of illnesses which can be achieved by the
help of spiritual science is the first step towards true healing. But there
is more to this. "Knowledge of the spirit has always existed. It has been
fostered in circles where it was recognized that human beings are capable of
developing spiritual forces of greater capacity than the ordinary intellect.
In these circles there was awareness of the fact that healing is connected
with holiness; it was felt that true spiritual knowledge is uniting itself
with the souls of human beings to bring healing to the world. This is the
least understood aspect today. But the fact is that spiritual knowledge
guides the human soul away from narrow attitudes and egoistic aims; it
points to universal issues that unite the individual with the cosmos.
Wisdom makes a person open and receptive because it is a foundation
from which love for all things grows. To preach love is useless. Unless
love and compassion unite with wisdom, no genuine help can be
forthcoming. If someone lying in the street with a broken leg is
surrounded by people full of compassion, but without knowledge, they
cannot help. The doctor who comes with knowledge of how to deal with a
broken leg can help, for his wisdom transforms his compassion into
action. Basic to all help provided by human beings is knowledge,
insight, and ability.
Spiritual science is such wisdom, and it has the ability more than
anything else to be a healing force, especially in the sense of
preventing illness. When spiritual knowledge is absorbed, healing forces
are also absorbed. Spiritual science is an elixir of life; though it
cannot be proved by argument, the proof will be seen when it is
assimilated, then applied to life, and health follows. Absorb the
spirit, and you absorb health-giving forces! Not, however, in lazy
comfort; there are people who entertain the most trivial notions while
declaring that all one needs is to be in tune with the infinite. That
has nothing to do with knowledge of the spirit. Spiritual knowledge must
penetrate an individual's innermost being." [4]
This is not possible to achieve through acquiring the knowledge of the
spirit in a passive way, but only through lasting and active
participation in the search for the truth.
Paracelsus also pointed out the link between spiritual knowledge and
healing. He said: "There is no real healing if a person does not make
one step in his or her spiritual development through the overcoming of
the disease." [5] His saying also indicates that suffering and illnesses
are not without meaning – which is the widespread conviction among
materialists and atheists – but both serve as stimulus for the expansion
of our limited understanding of the secrets of existence. For "there is
exactly as much suffering and pain in the world as there is interest
only in the physical and material. The scales are held in perfect
balance; the one does not outweigh the other – so many passions and
desires on one side, so much illness and pain on the other." [6] The shortcomings of a one-sided materialistic
approach are nowhere more evident than in the case of suffering, illness
and death – for none of them can be even comprehended, let alone
properly integrated and transformed without an understanding of the
spiritual realities which are hiding behind them.
"Out of life grows learning; out of learning, knowledge. But the
highest knowledge can proceed solely from suffering. When we have a sick
limb and it has given us pain, then we know this limb best of all. In
the same way we know best of all what we have deposited in our own soul.
Knowledge flows from our suffering as its fruit. As the beauty of the
pearl is born out of disease and suffering, so are knowledge, noble
human nature and purified human feeling born out of suffering and pain." [7] For that reason "the tragic element in life – without ever wishing
it for anybody – can sometimes be most instructive; it can throw a
flood of light upon the deepest mysteries of life." [8]
From Real Understanding to Active Compassion
"Spiritual science so illuminates the entire human being that their
ideas suggest the worth, the essence, and the dignity of the human being.
The truth of this is nowhere more evident than when we observe not the
healthy human being but a person who is ill, where there are so many
deviations from the so-called normal condition. When
we are able to observe the whole human being under the influence of some
disease, everything nature reveals to us in the sick person leads us deeply
into cosmic connections. We are led to understand the particular
constitution of this human being and we are then able to relate his human
organization to the particular substances of nature that will act as
remedies. We are thereby led into wider connections. When we add to our
understanding of the healthy person all that we are able to learn from
observation of the sick person, a profound insight will arise into the
interconnections and deeper significance of life. Such insight, however,
becomes the foundation for a knowledge of the human being that can be
shared with everyone. True, we have not as yet accomplished very much in
this direction because spiritual science has only been able to be active for
a short time. By its very nature, however, spiritual science is able to work
upon and develop what is contained in the separate sciences in such a way
that what everyone should know about the human being can be introduced to
everyone.
Think what it will mean if spiritual science succeeds in
transforming science in this way, succeeds in developing forms of
knowledge about the human being in health and illness that are
accessible to general human consciousness. If spiritual science succeeds
in this, how different will be the relations of one human being to
another in social life; what a greater understanding one person will
have for another, far greater than there is today when people pass one
another without the one having the slightest understanding for the
particular individuality of the other. Social issues will be removed
from intellectual considerations when the most diverse realms of life
are based upon objective knowledge and concrete experiences of life.
This is evident especially in the domain of health care. Think what a
social effect it would have were there to be a real understanding of
what is healthy in one person, what is unhealthy in another; think what
it would mean if health care were taken in hand with understanding by
the whole of humanity. Certainly this does not mean that we should
encourage scientific or medical dilettantism – most emphatically not –
but imagine that a sympathetic understanding of the health and illness
of our fellow man were to awaken not merely feeling but understanding,
and understanding that grows from a view of the human being – think of
the effect it would have in social life. Healing can never spring from
abstract concepts
but only from a reverent awareness that each human being represents an individual sphere of life. And
hygiene, the care of health, is very special
because it leads us most closely to the joy of our fellow man through
his healthy, normal way of life, or to his sufferings and limitations
through what lives in him more or less as illness." [9]
Here we can see that compassion for others needs to combine with the
real understanding of the true nature of the human being and – in regard
to health – with the proper understanding of the origin of illnesses and
suffering. Only in this way can we use and further develop proper
healing methods for the ailing humanity which is staggering under the
burden of materialistic, mechanistic, and reductionist approaches to medical science.
Active expansion of our compassion to other living beings is at the
same time a social deed, for it helps in overcoming human egoism which
is one of the main sources of social conflicts in the modern times.
