August 22, 2009
Hello, and welcome to the sixth edition of the newsletter. Sorry about last month, I'll discuss it below. Thanks for sticking with me.
News Flash!
After the previous burst of new content,things are back to slow, but at least we're moving again. Thanks for your patience.This Edition's Topic: Learning from Illness
Firstly, my apologies for the absence of last month's newsletter. I'm sending this one a little early so hopefully, you aren't too disappointed.Many of you noticed that I was doing update after update, far better than I had been for a long time, and then suddenly stopped. I am of course still drawing breath and I'm obviously still developing the site (otherwise you wouldn't be reading this), and the simple answer was that I was knocked flat (literally) by an injury.
I had been taking naps mid-day so as to be more rested and thus better able to get things done. I was able to pursue my meditation practice, pitch in with domestic duties, write for the site, and put in a productive day at the day-job. I had energy to spare. Problem was that my midday nap spot was slowly doing bad things to my back. One day, it just gave up.
I sought and got medical attention, at the same time using all of my skills to keep the body calm and suppress the pain levels. It was shortly revealed that two discs were blown, requiring surgery. I had some time to wait and ponder.
There was a series called Firefly a few years back. The final (aired) episode had a villain who asked the doctor character if he had ever been shot. When the doctor said no, the villain said "You should be. Or stabbed. Then you'd know the kind of pain you're dealing with". It was a strange thing, being semi-immobilized and requiring assistance for even the most basic of needs.
As bad as anything else was the fact that I couldn't really even sit upright for meditation. Let alone the fact that I was on strong pain medicine. And here we come to the real interesting (for me) part of this: the spiritual aspects. I was rather surprised that someone who's always been very spiritual, who has been studying and meditating for some considerable time, that I would have my awareness yanked away by my body. Even when the pain was controlled, my mind wasn't in the spiritual area that it should be. This concerned me, and I'll come back to that later.
I was discussing this with my spiritual coach/teacher/adviser, and he sent me some materials on the theory of healing and some of the small "clockwork" of how it all fits together for the body to heal itself. Equipped with this new knowledge, I had a much clearer understanding of my back and how to approach accelerating the healing process. Only two weeks after the surgery, I had my full week back at work, ending yesterday. None too shabby :-)
As I was recovering, I deciced to catch up on some spiritual movies that I had been meaning to see (after all, what else was there to do?). One in particular had an enormous impact: It is called "Ram Dass Fierce Grace". If you have Netflix, then you're in luck, they have it both as a DVD and as a streaming movie. You can go to View Instantly and watch it whenever you like.
The movie tells of a quite famous spiritual teacher, and how he has adapted after having a stroke. How the stroke is a "worthy adversary" to his spirituality, and how he recognizes the gifts presented in the course of his efforts not simply to overcome the physical problems, but maintain his spiritual nature. One thing that he mentioned is that "healing" isn't the same as "curing". While "curing" should be sought after, "healing" can be accomplished no matter the status of the ailment, as healing is bringing a state of peace, and restoring equilibrium and happiness. This perspective allowed me to re-find my center, even as I was still dealing with surgery recovery. It was this that gave me an "ah ha!" moment and allowed me to let go of all of the physical dreck that was occupying my consciousness.
I know, there's not much in the way of practicality here, and I kind of rambled, but some things are hard to express. Watch the movie, if at all possible. It's a beautiful story, all the more so for being true.
In the meantime, "May the Force be with you" :-D
Q&A Section
I've had some inquire as to the nature of the injury. It was the l-4 and l-5. In a way I was very fortunate: It was below the spinal cord and thus I dodged a bullet in much greater complications.Other Errara
Not only am I open to questions, but also to pointers. What do you like, and what do you want to see more of? What works for you and what doesn't? I write for you, so let me know how I'm doing :-)Also, if anyone is interested in exchanging links, just use the contact form. If you've got a site with good info, I'll be happy to send folks your way.
See you next time!