June 12, 2019
When I fall and sprain an ankle, will thinking of God fix the ankle? If I try to think that the trouble does not exist, it may work for a short while, but as soon as I come out of my autosuggestion or self-hypnosis, it will hurt all the more. The pain in the ankle only tells me that I have twisted it and I should lie down and give it some rest so that the repair work can go on. It is not at all an undesirable feature, but the body communicating with you. If there is pain somewhere, give the aching part rest. If the stomach hurts, it asks, "please keep off food for a while. Everything will come out all right if I have some rest.”
Disease is something different. It means there is a tension within. What does tension mean? When you hold a piece of rubber, you can note that there is tension as the two ends are pulled in opposite directions. This happens to me when I sit here "practicing meditation". I go up and enter the transcendental realms — lovely — but really my whole heart is rooted in earthiness, in pleasures of the senses. Naturally there is tension — the body pulls me down and the head pulls me up. There is a tearing in the process.
This is what can be called disease. It is not really physical illness, but the body may manifest the inner diseased condition of a tense torn mind, of confusion and doubt.