Eleven: Health and Illness: New Definitions
If we look at ourselves from a systems point of view— as an organism comprised of physical elements and an energy field constantly in flux, the whole influenced at all times, endlessly, and in ways difficult to pinpoint, by countless disturbances and inputs, we must redefine our concepts of health and illness. Once we are aware of what represents health, and what illness— what is all right to feel, and what forebodes trouble— we can make more responsible choices about how to improve our condition. WHAT IS HEALTH? First, what it is not. It is not a condition we can attain once and for all. Just as our body changes by breathing, coughing, getting hungry, and all its other activities, so does our health. We don’ t“ get there” and stay, as if we had arrived home and plunked down in our easy chair. 1 And even if we did, how long can we stay in an easy chair without getting up for something? How long can we stay anywhere without eventually moving on? Our movement, our direction can be toward health, that is, toward wholeness and integration, oneness of body and mind, connectedness with fellow humans and with our environment. Or it can be toward illness, which manifests itself as alienation, disintegration, and separateness. Almost invariably, if we are following the first path, we feel good and optimistic at our core. If we’ re on the second, we feel worried, sad, dissatisfied. It is not enough to define health as the absence of disease. Rather, health is the aggregate of a series of specific conditions. These are ideal conditions and can in some way also be viewed as goals to be attained. Because we are looking at human beings as whole systems, internally complex and externally interactive, their appropriate functioning, or“ health,” must be manifested not only on the physical but also on the mental, emotional, social, and spiritual levels. The descriptions following are based on the“ Seven Conditions of Health,” postulated by George Ohsawa( see this page); they’ ve been amplified with various observations of my own, and with those of Harold Gardner, M. D. on selfdetermination and controlling one’ s health choices. For clarity, I have classified the conditions of health into physical, psychological, social, and spiritual, even though each condition becomes manifest in all these levels. PHYSICAL 1. NO FATIGUE. This means not waking up tired in the morning, or feeling“ exhausted” all the time, a widespread condition nowadays, and a definite sign of imbalance. The feeling of“ no fatigue” also applies to psychological outlook: It means being ready to accept challenges and work without saying,“ Oh, it’ s too much for me, I can’ t handle it,” and other such expressions. 2. GOOD APPETITE. This means enjoying food fully, whether it’ s a plain bowl of soup and some bread or an elaborate repast. In addition, it means an appetite for life, a thirst for knowledge, an eagerness for enriching new experiences, and a healthy and joyful appetite for sex. 3. GOOD SLEEP. Falling asleep within four or five minutes of lying down, sleeping deeply for five to seven hours, waking up at the right time with a clear head and without an alarm clock— those are the main characteristics. Good sleep also means a minimum of dreams( unless we explicitly wish to access our stores of subconscious information), no tossing and turning, no snoring, and no talking out loud. In short, this condition means having the ability to relax and rest completely in a clearly defined time period and to emerge from it totally alert and ready to go. PSYCHOLOGICAL 4. GOOD MEMORY. Remembering what we have said and done, seen, heard, and read is crucial for good health. Without memory, we cannot learn and grow, for we are doomed to repeat our forgotten mistakes. A good memory will help us remember how we got to where we are, and if we’ re in a pickle, it will help us retrace and rethink our actions for a more satisfying result. 5. GOOD HUMOR. One of the trickier conditions. It means never getting impatient or angry— not repressing anger, just not feeling it. It means being genuinely cheerful, having a positive approach to life, seeing the good side of things, being able to laugh at ourselves and our foibles. In traditional Chinese medicine, anger is related to imbalanced energy in the liver; an angry outburst, chronic impatience, crankiness, and similar moods could be the expression of a congested liver. Conversely, the Chinese believe that allowing violent anger to be expressed regularly can injure that same organ. 6. PRECISION IN THOUGHT AND ACTION. Just like a cat that always lands on its feet, the healthy person is capable of making correct split-second decisions and of carrying them out accurately. This condition presupposes the existence of a sound nervous system and a strong and fluid body-mind connection. Knocking things over, dropping things, grazing the garage door with the car, even saying the wrong thing, are always indications that our judgment, perception, and movement are not correctly integrated— and thus our health less