THE FUTURE OF HEALING

by ECaP founder, Bernie Siegel, MD

The first thought that enters my mind when I consider the future of
healing is that it will be returned to where it really comes from. We are the healers. The wisdom is within us, and not in what is prescribed for us.

Stop and ask yourself how does a wound heal? What wisdom is within us that unites us and makes us whole again. How does a single cell know how to create a human being and put all
the parts where they belong? What makes the edges of a wound grow together?

I don’t know but I rely on my body’s ability to do it every day. There is incredible wisdom, desire to heal and will to live in every cell. I am always amazed at what nature teaches us in simple ways and clear cut lessons.

The Bible does tell us to look to the plants and animals and they will teach us. Barbed wire is nailed to a tree and the tree is not irritated by the wire but grows around it and takes it in. A chain link fence is put up but the tree refuses to be limited and grows through the chain links. A road is paved and a few weeks later the pavement cracks and out pops a skunk cabbage plant. How did they know how to do that?

What wisdom is within the seed to tell it which way to grow and to not accept the resistance to its growth. How many of us defy the odds and fight to survive with the same desire as that skunk cabbage seed. Nature is my teacher and therapist.

I have started a new religion called, Undo. Hopefully, once it is established it will undo the harm done by beliefs of the past. The significant symbols of my religion are a penny, ice, band aid and the number "10."

A penny tells us, In God We Trust and Liberty, important messages for healing and surviving. Ice, by defying the laws of physics, teaches us what is possible when one is a creator. Every liquid when frozen become more dense and sinks except water.

Why? Because if life is going to survive we need to keep the ice on
top or all the life in the seas would be destroyed. Now who thought of that ahead of time?

My favorite symbol is the band aid. When God gave us the ability to
form scabs and heal our wounds, so that we would not bleed to death or die of an infection each time we were injured, God didn’t know that people have bad habits. We pick on the scabs and interfere with the process of healing. Well God came up with a solution called a band aid to cover the wound and hide it. Lo and behold the wound heals faster without interference from people.

The number "10" also relates to our wholeness and healing of
relationships. Think of how many times the number ten, or multiples of ten, appear to be significant. Commandments, attractive women, perfect test scores, enough good people to save a city or hold a Jewish service, fingers and toes, the sum of 1+2+3+4=10 and the computer system relying on the 1 and the 0.

What does it have to tell us? The numbers which add up to ten speak of The One and our relationships with The One. When we relate ourselves, each other and the family of man to The One we add up to ten and will heal the planet by becoming one family. Please remember we are all the same color inside and truly of one family derived from The One who parents us all. The One is derived from the undifferentiated potential which is really not nothing but more like a blank canvas with the potential to create and from it we all come. That is why evolution has left us with ten fingers and toes rather than eliminate unnecessary toes and add fingers. Ten is a reminder of our wholeness and ability to heal.

To heal I might add is different than to cure. We are all mortal and
cannot cure every affliction but we can always heal. Some of the greatest healers I know have physical disabilities that cannot be cured. I cannot replace an amputated body part but the person can be whole and heal. We need to remember that healing transcends the body but I also know that when one transcends the physical limitations, true healing occurs and with true healing some amazing cures are produced as by products.

A healed life provides live messages and a healing environment for the body. The words of a woman who had a mastectomy enter my mind, “Do we perhaps shed things as we go through life that other features may be enhanced?” The answer is yes. We prune the tree and it remains healthy.

The future of healing lies with each one of us. Heal your life by giving it meaning and no physical affliction will ever be able to control your life. Helen Keller is an example and if you haven’t read her autobiography, do so.

Last but not least remember that death can be the ultimate and final healing. When you grow tired of your body because it cannot serve you any longer then do what my 97 year old, quadriplegic, father in law did. He left his body and just fell up. Of course the more healing you do in this life time, the easier the next one will seem.

This column appears in Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul.