Matthew Chaper 16:
Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the dirver’s seat; I am. Don’t run away from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?” – The Message
Here is seems that Jesus is teaching a very great secret – or truth, rather, since his plain teaching raises it above the level of secrecy. Don’t run away from your suffering; embrace it. It’s counter-intuitive. I see a parallel with what I understand Jung’s approach to be – that of running toward the energy, not away from it.
And even the homeopathic element of not antagonizing the vital force with an allopathic (oppositional) force – but rather going with what is happening, not against it. One gains clarity by understanding the dynamic present. The remedy helps the suffer to understand the message of her/his suffering, and thereby incorporate it (integrate it) and no longer run from it, fear it, or weaken by compensating for it.
As you know, homeopathy is near and dear to my heart by virtue of its profound method of offering healing and wholeness. This intersection of my life with homeopathy started about 4 years ago when I found myself stuck in a deepening quagmire of mixed emotions, fears, and a general sense that I was caught in the middle of something that was much bigger and more powerful than me. I knew that I did not have the tools and resources to handle the changes that were emerging within me.
This time became a period of great personal growth. Through it all, in addition to homeopathy, three other sources of strength emerged and have stood, for me, the test of time. I would like to eventually expand this blog to have discussions on each of these subjects.
The first source of strength was my Christian worldview. My faith tradition is Christianity, and I have for the most part always found it foundational to my life. What I realized as I entered this period of adjustment (or more precisely, as I emerged from this period of adjustment) is that it is possible to lose one’s awareness of the Divine. Not that we are ever abandoned by the Divine, but that the awareness of one’s vital connection can be clouded and obscured by one’s suffering. Re-establishment of the awareness of Divine Love is, I believe, one of the great realities of health and healing. I do not believe that this awareness is limited to Christianity. This was just the way I was raised.
The second source of strength and guidance that was of immense help was the I Ching (or Yi Jing). This ancient book of wisdom helped me find a path of measured certainty in the midst of various conflicts. How I came to know of the Yi is a story in and of itself, but coming back to it as a way of reaching out for understanding and insight makes for a more practical conversation.
The third source of strength I have found is the wisdom and insight within the teachings of Carl Jung. This was an outgrowth of my homeopathic studies with the on-line curriculum of David Little. David has a wonderful series of chapters on “Maps of Consciousness”. This part of his writings examine the mythic structures that various civilizations have used to describe the universal elements of human reality. He ends with a discussion of Jung’s ideas as the initiator of modern Western civilization into these great truths. This introduced me to Jung, and I have been fortunate to add to my further reading with some evening continuing ed classes at a local university.
These are the foundations of my Spirit. Each element is wonderfully rich, varied, complex in pattern and thought yet elegant in application. All are complementary, to me at least, in the way that they come at health and growth and the dynamic energy of Life.
This catagory invites bloggers to share their experiences with simple applications of homeopathic remedies used in everyday situations.
Successes and “failures” are encouraged…sometimes what looks like a “sure thing” just doesn’t work – and so we learn more about the mystery of cure.
