Whilest in Addo Bayan was reading Paris Talks which is a beautfiul compilation of talks given by Abdu'l-Baha while He was in Paris. She came across one of His talks that she felt related to me as I had been sick and feeling down.
"GOD IS THE GREAT COMPASSIONATE PHYSICIAN WHO ALONE GIVES TRUE HEALING
October 19th
All true healing comes from God! There are two causes for sickness, one is material, the other spiritual. If the sickness is of the body, a material remedy is needed, if of the soul, a spiritual remedy.
If the heavenly benediction be upon us while we are being healed then only can we be made whole, for medicine is but the outward and visible means through which we obtain the heavenly healing. Unless the spirit be healed, the cure of the body is worth nothing. All is in the hands of God, and without Him there can be no health in us!
There have been many men who have died at last of the very disease of which they have made a special study. Aristotle, for instance, who made a special study of the digestion, died of a gastronomic malady. Aviseu was a specialist of the heart, but he died of heart disease. God is the great compassionate Physician who alone has the power to give true healing.
All creatures are dependent upon God, however great may seem their knowledge, power and independence.
Behold the mighty kings upon earth, for they have all the power in the world that man can give them, and yet when death calls they must obey, even as the peasants at their gates.
Look also at the animals, how helpless they are in their apparent strength! For the elephant, the largest of all animals, is troubled by the fly, and the lion cannot escape the irritation of the worm. Even man, the highest form of created beings, needs many things for his very life; first of all he needs air, and if he is deprived of it for a few minutes, he dies. He is also dependent on water, food, clothing, warmth, and many other things. On all sides he is surrounded by dangers and difficulties, against which his physical body alone cannot cope. If a man looks at the world around him, he will see how all created things are dependent and are captive to the laws of Nature.
Man alone, by his spiritual power, has been able to free himself, to soar above the world of matter and to make it his servant.
Without the help of God man is even as the beasts that perish, but God has bestowed such wonderful power upon him that he might ever look upward, and receive, among other gifts, healing from His divine Bounty.
But alas! man is not grateful for this supreme good, but sleeps the sleep of negligence, being careless of the great mercy which God has shown towards him, turning his face away from the light and going on his way in darkness.
It is my earnest prayer, that ye be not like unto this, but rather that ye keep your faces steadfastly turned to the light, so that ye may be as lighted torches in the dark places of life."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 19)
I really feel what Abdu'l-Baha is saying in this talk, I feel it so much since the rememdy that I needed to bring me out of my state of depression and back into life was service. On Tuesday whilest in Addo my doctor called me to give me the results of my blood test and he said that everything was fine, there was nothing physically wrong with me that was causing me to be so sick. All of my ailments were as a result of what was going on in my mind and the suffering that this had brought to my soul. To think that our general state of well being can be so powerfully linked to our physical state of health is amazing. Really it took my soul finding its source of happiness for me to recover. In Addo, although it took some time to occur, I got my appetite back, I started laughing and smiling again, I was re energised and motivated again and all because I was doing a few hours of service a day. The doctor had wanted to put me on medication for stress and to help me sleep but as always I prefer natural remedies over medicating myself and at the end of the day I didn't need medication to heal me. If only a few hours of service a day can bring the healing and happiness that I needed imagine what a lifetime of service can do for you. Imagine what applying the words of Baha'u'llah "work done in the spirit of service is the highest form of worship" would do to preventing sickness and illness.
I really do appreciate what Adbu'l-Baha says in the above talk, without our spiritual nature we would be nothing but another animal on this planet. We have been given something so great and so powerful that it elevates us so far beyond the realm of the animal which sits below us and that gift is our souls. When we don't care for our souls then what is there that differentiates us from animals? There is a reason why people say laughter is the best medicine, there is a reason why the will to get better has a greater effect on our health than any medication, there is a reason why prayer and meditation work so wonderfully in bringing us healing and that reason is that all these things are connected to a higher realm which is the realm of our souls and the only way to receive true healing is through that realm.
When Bayan read the talk to me and especially the paragraphs that relate to material and spiritual remedies I knew instantly that my sickness was not a material sickness but a spiritual one and thanks to my being surrounded by beautiful people like Bayan and Asanda and meeting inspiring individuals like the women at the creche and the kids who came to our junior youth group I was able to heal and be happy again.
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