Beyond the BONDMIDY

by Bernie Siegel, MD

I created the word bondmidy to signify the inseparable unity of mind and body. However, it still leaves out another important entity, consciousness, which exists even when the bondmidy ceases to be. This connection needs to be further explored.
In 1978, I started a support group for cancer patients who were willing to participate in the experience of their illness. Even as I watched these empowered patients living better and longer, I was ridiculed by many health professionals because it was obvious to them that mind and body were unrelated. They pointed out that I was also causing guilt by relating the person's life to their illness and recovery. The benefit (if you can call it that) was that I was invited to be on all the famous talk shows so people could tell me how misguided I was. Today those shows don't call me because the things I was ridiculed for are now practiced in hospitals and validated in research studies.

Our survival is dependant on certain factors that relate to establishing meaningful relationships in all aspects of our life:

· expressing appropriate anger

· asking for help when needed and to saying "no" to things we don't want to do

· making therapeutic decisions about our treatments

· keeping our power; maintaining control of our health and well-being

· using our emotions and pain to heal rather than being depressed by them

· finding our inner child and living our unique, authentic life

Positive data abounds on how these factors relate to our health. For example, a recent study of AIDS patients found that the long-term survivors are significantly different psychologically from those that deteriorate and succumb to their illness. All patients started with the same degree of illness, and received the same treatment.

The survivors, however, were much more likely to express compassion for others and have spiritual convictions. They saw meaning in the experience of illness, accepted themselves and were accepted by their friends and relatives or a support group and had a meaningful work environment.

Now let's take an extreme example. What do you think happened to chronically ill patients who were interred in a concentration camp? Think a minute about their plight. The sick did not receive any compassion, nor were medications available. There was no one to turn to for help-- everyone was suffering in a similar manner. In addition, to share what a physician wrote when he and his patients experienced what I am asking you to consider, not only were there no benefits to be being ill, but to not work "meant starvation or a bullet through the head."

The physician involved wrote about his experience because the results were just the opposite of what he expected and very similar to what the AIDS patients and I experienced in my support groups. He saw his chronically ill patients improve. He went on to say that when they chose life, their minds rejected illness. This included diabetics who had no insulin and others who had no medications for their colitis, cardiac disease and other health challenges.
Keep in mind that bacteria undergo intelligent genetic changes and resist antibiotics. They are here to do God's work and we complain about their ability to survive. Bacteria, plants and animals are more complete than we are, capable of doing things we cannot achieve and they have fewer problems to worry about.

Some day I hope we all will be aware of our consciousness, heart wisdom and spirituality and not let our thinking be the major factor in how and why we choose to live. Kabbalah (the study of Jewish Mysticism) talks about head and heart wisdom. We need to pay more attention to our feelings when we are choosing our path in life. Remember that consciousness dictates what the brain mediates.

When the message is one of spirituality, meaning and serving out of love, the body receives a very powerful "live" message through the chemistry it creates. When we are living our Creator's true word, we as co-creators benefit from the alliance, just as those in the concentration camps chose life and endured despite the horrors around them.

You cannot separate your life from your health. Your life is stored in your body, the same as transplanted organs carry memories from the donor to the recipient. Eliminate what is killing you... and save your life.