One thing has been forced on to the public consciousness in recent months more than anything else. I speak, of course, of health, something that most people, when they are well, too easily take for granted. I used to do the same until, ten years ago, I was diagnosed with the incurable blood cancer myeloma. Suddenly I realised that life can swiftly and irrevocably change. The coronavirus crisis has brought a similar realisation to many. This session, from my book The Teacher, calls us to reflect on and celebrate our health, while we have it: a treasure we forget to prize.
Health
I saw the signs at the hospital, pointing to different wards, different departments, and my thoughts turned to the patients and visitors: some troubled by no more than routine operations; others in turmoil, their lives turned upside down as they wrestled with diagnoses of life-changing illness, incurable disease.
And I was reminded afresh that health is a treasure we forget to prize until we start to lose it.
Then I said to the Teacher, ‘Speak to me of illness and health, of how to cope with the one and
maintain the other.’
And the Teacher answered, ‘That which is pleasing to the eye brings joy to the heart, and good news restores health. A sunny disposition is an excellent medicine, but a miserable one shrivels the bones. The human spirit can cope with illness, but which of us can get by when our spirit is broken?’
Then I understood the importance of dwelling not on the bad in life but the good, not on our sorrows but our joys, not on our fears but our hopes. For though a cheerful heart can never guarantee we will stay well, it will help us to feel so, and though a positive spirit will not in itself conquer illness, it will make even the cruellest infirmity easier to bear.
I saw also that if, instead of dwelling on our own ills, we seek to give help and comfort to another, then our troubles will seem fewer and our burden less heavy. For to look beyond our pain is to ease it; to reach outside our fear, to lessen it; to forget our sickness, to disarm it.
And I realised that if we would know health in body we must seek it first within our soul, for should we be sick in spirit we will never truly be well. And though infirmities of the flesh are many, those of the soul are more and their power is greater.
I saw further that though illness may break the body and shatter the mind, the spirit will keep on fighting, keep on believing and keep on hoping, though all seems stacked against it. But I realised also that, strong though it is, even the hardiest soul can finally be broken, worn down by pain and sickness, fear and uncertainty. For as no plant can thrive if the root sickens, so no person can flourish if their spirit ails.
My conclusion, then, is this: celebrate your health while you have it, for like the flower of the field it is here today and gone tomorrow. And should health fail, then – however ill you may be, however diminished you may feel – stay strong in spirit, for you are still a whole person; not just a disease or condition, statistic or number, but an individual, deserving of dignity and respect . . . to the end.