Sustainable Healing

My former teacher at Aquinas College, Deb Steketee, PhD wrote a good article in the latest AQ magazine. You can find it at the link on the right of this blog. Then turn to page 8 of the document. The title is "More Than a Color" and talks about the "greening" of the AQ campus. In the article, she notes that she has the support of President Balog in this effort. Deb says, "It's a movement galvanizing around the idea that we should remake our world-living a faith that works to assure ecological integrity, healthy communities and long-term financial prosperity for all." Deb speaks and teaches at the macrocosmic level, but she also realizes that this movement takes one individual at a time (the microcosmic level) to really change our world. In our text, sustainability is defined as a process that can be continued indefinitely; the practical goal toward which our interactions with the natural world should be working.

As soon as I heard the word "sustainability" at Aquinas, I was immediately struck by the analogous bridge it evoked linking our individual mind and body. Our current health care debate is causing all of us to come to terms with the question, "How might I sustain my health?Your body is a unique little world unto itself. One of the main problems with allopathic healthcare is that they treat each person like "one size fits all". That is not sustainable healthcare. Your body is a unique ecosystem, just as the Earth has unique ecosystems with different needs. "The question to ask yourself is, "Does the so-called healthcare of the current system really provide me with the treatment and the information that I need to be healthier and happier or...the opposite?" How do you take responsibility for yourself based on certain information?

The values we hold with regard to sustaining the health of our mind and body is one with the values we hold regarding how we interact with life on Earth. If a new healthcare system doesn't allow for individual choice based on your values and unique body needs, I would not support it. Many employers provide the option for a health flex plan as an alternative to the unsustainable cost of a standard healthcare policy. Every single disease is treatable with natural medicine; food, herbs, manual therapy, massage, cupping, acupuncture, and Reiki. These are sustainable treatment methods. In fact, they are as old as the human race. In addition, studies have shown that a sustainable mental attitude in life is one of relaxation, honest flow of feelings in balance with action, and meditation or prayer whereby you ask and receive guidance to make choices with your life.

The Name of the Earth's body is Gaia. Gaia, just like (your name here), is in need of sustainable balance. We are all in need of balance. In the article, Deb sites "faith" which connotes "values". Our bodies are one with Gaia because we wouldn't exist without her gifts. So the values we hold with regard to our health and health care is one and the same with our actions in our environment. The way we set up our houses, our use of energy, our actions in the community, our willingness to educate ourselves about the dynamics of our species with the environment, etc. all need to be sustainable and virtuous. We hold the belief that through our thoughts, choices, actions, and prayers, we can heal ourselves. At the same time, we are healing Gaia. As we sustain ourselves, we sustain the Earth.