cara@myhealingart.com
"In our suffering and our joy, we are connected to one another with unbreakable and compelling human bonds. In that knowing, all of us become less vulnerable and alone. The heart, which can see these connections, may be far more powerful a source of healing than the mind" (Remen, 1996)
"Illness can precipitate the descent of the soul into the underworld....this stripping away makes it possible for us to reach depths within ourselves that we otherwise might not reach, where whatever we consigned there or abandoned or forgot of ourselves, suffers the pain of not being remembered or of not being integrated into our conscious personality or allowed expression. In remembering, we find ourselves connected with soul" (Bolen, 1996)
I collapse on my bed and remain for long hours, finally succumbing to my pain. I imagine myself, my body, my life, adrift in the ocean, washed in and out by the tides of my illness, a power I can not understand, while others are carried along, swept past by the normal currents of life. Promotions, vacations, daily activities, all seem like another language to me, spoken by others in a world now foreign to my own
"The interiority of illness makes its own compelling sounds - a steady humming, thick silence, or terrible ringing. There have been times when I have found it nearly impossible to focus my attention on anything outside of myself, because I was so preoccupied with my discomfort. The life/death struggle that is illness is utterly consuming and everything else pales in comparison....The whole world collapses into that point and ceases to exist; for pain is the sword that clears everything away, a sudden swish of annihilation" (Duff, 1993)
"When our bodies obey without complaint, we take them for granted; what passes for trust is really blithe ignorance and the unconscious presumption that our bodies are somehow "with" us, even under our command. Illness shatters this illusion. Sometimes I feel betrayed by this being I thought was my ally, and protest vehemently: "Why me? Why now? What's wrong? This isn't fair!" (Duff, 1993)
"Illness of an individual is symptomatic of disharmony in the cosmic order, an indication that some violation of nature has occurred, which has not been righted; therefore someone is sick....Our bodies bear the untold lessons and scars of history...." (Duff, 1993)
"I have heard it said that illness is an attempt to escape the truth. I suspect that it is actually an attempt to embody the whole truth, to remember all of ourselves....we just rise above these realities in the heyday of health, only to sink back down into their murky depths when disease takes over" (Duff, 1993)
