Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Essence of the One

Home
New Visions
Critical Illness, Soul-Life Lessons, and the USA

Critical Illness, Soul-Life Lessons, and the USA

Last updated on: October 18, 2016 at 5:47 am by Mastura Debra Graugnard

Critical Illness, Soul-Life Lessons, and the USA 2016-10-18T05:47:01-05:00 Mastura Debra Graugnard

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Crisis & Soul-Life Lessons
Have you ever experienced a critical turning point in your life? An acute or chronic illness, a car crash, a divorce, a financial crisis?

When it is time to learn a significant soul-life lesson, something happens to grab your attention. The Universe flashes neon signs before your eyes signaling that it’s time for a change.

Upon reflection, you might notice that signs and symptoms were present long before the issue became critical. You put up with discomforts, aches, pains and inconveniences for a long time.

An exploration reveals there are many circumstances you’ve lived with, taken for granted, and accepted as “the way life is.” Maybe your whole life has been preparing you for this soul teaching.

In any case, the status quo cannot be accepted any more. You are forced to examine life and seek a higher source for help.

Soul-Life Lessons & the USA
The collective entity of our country and its people is sick. There is a critical illness, and the symptoms have been present since this nation was birthed onto this physical land we now call the United States of America.

Our sickness has reached a crisis point, and it’s bringing up a multitude of standards we’ve lived with for a long time that deeply affect the land, our culture and the individuals that exist within it.

Genocide, racism, sexism, oppression, bullying, bigotry, lying, manipulation, greed, arrogance, poisoning of the earth – these are congenital diseases that plague the body of US. We can no longer continue to live with the attitudes and practices that perpetuate these diseases.

We the people, as a collective, have an opportunity to learn a soul-life lesson for the humanity of our culture and for our planet earth.

It’s time for a deep cleansing and healing.

Why now?
These abuses have been perpetuated for longer than our lifetimes. And for some people, effects of abuse have been severe for generations. What is different about today?

Until recent times, the body of our nation has been able to keep the various ailments relatively isolated so that the entire body is not afflicted with all of the symptoms at once.

It’s like a cancer. As long as the cancer can be confined to one part of the body, the whole body can more easily cope with it or compensate for the malfunction.

However, if the cancer gets into the lymphatic system and metathesizes to other parts of the body, it becomes systemic and we have to treat the whole body or the whole being will die.

Our social media is like the lymphatic system of the body. Smart phones and tablets, the modern technology that keeps us connected 24×7, allow us to capture and log everything we say and do and share it with the world in real time.

What is happening in one limb or organ of the body can be quickly spread to the entire system if it gets into the lymphatic system. We can’t hide our actions any more.

Now that our cancer has spread, we have no choice but to look at the underlying causes of this malignancy in our culture, or our health will more rapidly decline.

The disease can no longer be masked with drugs or surgical procedures to remove body parts. We need to address the entire body. We need to look at what we ingest, how we live, what we believe – the integrated body, mind, heart, soul and spirit approach.

An opportunity for reconciliation & healing
We can no longer wear two faces, ascribing to one set of beliefs in private and showcasing another in public.

We can no longer hold strong to the values we feel in our hearts and deny or make excuses for the actions of our leaders or the imbalances in our systems.

It reminds me of when I lived in a spiritual community of psychics. There was no space to hide feelings and pretend nothing was wrong. I learned to accept my thoughts and emotions. I had to be honest with myself and others. It was humbling, and I realized we are all the same. It taught me to be authentic, sincere and patient.

It drove home the Sufi teaching that says, “Live each moment as if you are face to face with God, because even if you are not seeing Him, He is seeing you.”

Now, even in the absence of psychics and even if you are not seeing God, we have smart phones, and we can’t escape them. The technological advances are calling each of us to live in higher integrity.

Wounds are being opened as we can no longer deny incongruent actions. We can’t keep making excuses for our pain. We have no choice but to open our eyes, face our own truths and deal with them.

We must be honest with ourselves, acknowledge our mistakes, forgive ourselves and each other, and transform. We must release the barriers that separate the inner feelings and outer actions. We need to live in unity with our own selves all the time.

We must bring the inner and outer into reconciliation and harmony.

Will we take the opportunity for growth?
I pray this is an opportunity, and I pray we will take advantage of this wake-up call to heal and transform our nation physically, mentally, emotionally, energetically and spiritually.

It begins with each of us taking responsibility. We can’t change each other without changing ourselves. As Gandhi says, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.”

What are the signs and symptoms you’ve lived with? What are the soul teachings your life has been preparing you for? How can you use these teachings to help heal our country?

You’re welcome to leave a comment below. It’s imperative to open the conversation around healing our country. Thank you!

Photo credits:  Adobe Stock Photo © Delphotostock #121211499

Healing Racism & Bigotry

Healing the Planet

Spiritual Healing

Previous Post

October 11, 2016

Hello Rumi Tuesday! I looked for my self...

Next Post

October 18, 2016 Hello Rumi Tuesday! Are we sleeping when we think we are awake?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Best of Journey Home Series 2017 Equality Getting to the Heart of Cancer Healing Racism & Bigotry Healing the Planet Journey Home Life Purpose Life-Work Balance Livestreams Parenting Peacemaking Relationship Healing Rumi Tuesday Spiritual Healing Sufi Concepts Uncategorized

Select a Month June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which high priest led in the reading and explaining of the Law to the people?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Zerubbabel Nehemiah Eliashib Ezra