I was feeling rather pleased with myself for having stumbled upon this understanding yesterday (which is rather simplistic and I must add the disclaimer that as most analogies go, it will be limited in some way, but effective in making a few points clear). Yesterday, while icing my wrists I was trying to imagine what a normal one would feel like. And I was quite stunned to realize that when everything in our body is working as it is meant to be, we do not feel any motion or function distinctly; we do not feel our muscles pull, our joints ache, our skin itch, our pulses race and so forth. In other words we do not perceive the otherwise enormous effort we would have to take to re-align a malfunctioning organ or gland into working harmoniously with the rest of the body. You see as a whole, the body has a purpose. When some part of it is ailing, it detracts in some fashion, the whole from working as efficiently as it should or could be, towards that purpose. And every ache and bruise, every disease and affliction, remains a nagging reminder of that imbalance and disharmony within.
That got me thinking, how we do know our spirits are healthy? Or is there even a golden yardstick for how a healthy one 'feels'? A series of recent blogs by
C &
N helped me clarify how it might feel. (I highly recommend reading those posts with all the comments that followed for an excellent synthesis of ideas surrounding a harmonious existence from within and without). I believe our spirits (individual organs) feel bogged down and frustrated when its purpose is at odds with the purpose of the collective organism or body it is serving (the body); when the goal of one organ is to siphon off all resources for its own functioning without concern for how that might affect the equilibrium of the body as a whole; when one organ does not pitch in to compensate for an over-worked other while it recovers, the (individual) spirit while enjoying some temporary advantage soon succumbs to the malaise afflicting the collective (body) due to this lopsided progress.
And when it does work in harmony with the whole?
सत्- चित -आनन्द ।
Peace.--
4 comments:
aa: what a beautiful thought, honestly. if we do consider the analogy of the world being one body and all of us its organs, really, can we physically imagine the pain we must be causing it each time we tend to pull away from its course?
Great thought! This analogy of the human body can be taken to various levels. For example, Baha'u'llah writes: "Liken the world of existence to the temple of man. All the organs of the human body assist one another, therefore life continues... Likewise among the parts of existence there is a wonderful connection and interchange of forces which is the cause of life of the world and the continuation of these countless phenomena."
So imagine, if the entire world operated in harmony, like all the organs of our body, what would THAT feel like???? :)
Abdu'l Baha writes, furthering the analogy to include the Prophets/Manifestations of God: "Each Manifestation is the heart of the world and the proficient Physician of every patient. The world of humanity is sick, but that skilled Physician hath the healing remedy and He bestoweth divine teachings, exhortations and advices which are the remedy of every ailment and the dressing for every wound. Undoubtedly, the wise physician discovereth the needs of the patient at every season and prescribeth medicine. Therefore, when thou wilt compare the teachings of the Beauty of Abhá with the requisitions and necessities of the present time, thou wilt conclude that they are to the sick body of the world the swift healing antidote; nay, rather they are the remedy of everlasting health. The prescription of the proficient physicians of the past and the future will not be the same; nay, rather they will be in accord with the ailment of the patient. Although the medicine is changed, yet all of these are for the sole purpose of the healing of the sick. "
and can u remove this word verification thingy, aa? :)
Ah! and a prescription for the ailing organs! How beautiful. To health!
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