The Philosophy of Illness

"All illness is natural,every part of the body is a natural function, all natural functions are regulated by thoughts we are what we think"

@Dharmaboyo

Buddhist philosophy states that all experience is the manifestation of our minds functions. Traditional Chinese medicine states that everything in the universe is made of Qi (energy) and that this energy is governed by the mind.“ The Qi is the horse the mind is the rider”

With regards to understanding illness Chinese philosophy explains that the energy of illness has a root, a stem and a flowering phase.

The flowering of the illness: The personal experience of Physical symptoms and the labelling and diagnosis of illness by a Doctor or healthcare professional.

The stem of the illness: The Psychological / Emotional symptoms personally experienced before and during the illness process.

The Root of the Illness: The Karmic seed of the illness creating emotional impulses and actions.

Brief explanation of illness process.

  1. (Root) A thought or Karmic seed in the root consciousness of an individual’s mind ripens due to external events
  2. (Root / stem) The Karmic seed manifests as an energetic pulse, an emotional impulse or drive in the individuals deep sub conscious.
  3. (Stem) The Sub conscious recognises the emotional impulse
  4. (Stem / flower) A feeling arises within our ego that the emotional impulse is a good bad or a neutral event based on previous experience and mental conditioning.
  5. (Flower)The sub conscious mind perceives the impulse and acts instantly labeling the impulse anger, sadness, joy based on previous experience and mental conditioning.
  6.  (Flower  / manifestation) The body reacts physically and energetically by releasing hormones in the fight or flight nervous system response, and the individual conscious mind simultaneously reacts accordingly.

The whole physical / mental reaction in the process from steps 2 - 6 plants further Karmic seed’s in the consciousness which create future events to unfold. If there is a constant flow of similar karmic seeds the person can become stuck in a Karmic rut which inevitably ends up with the body physically over producing or under producing hormones as it reacts to the fight or flight mental stimuli. Eventually the persons bodily functions become hyper/hypo stimulated, which ultimately causes the physical illness to manifest. In Chinese medicine this phenomena is known as Qi stagnation, literally the energy of the body stagnates and stops moving which causes bodily functions to become excessive or deficient.

If you ponder the thought that all energy is governed by the mind " the qi is the horse the mind is the rider" then this could lead you to the conclusion that  a deficiency or an excess of energy in one of the bodies system's is caused by the mind not focusing or over focusing on that area. The persons surroundings and lifestyle no longer need this system to be operating to its full potential or it needs the system to be operating at 110%. If the person's external situation changes the mind will focus on the area and there will be a possible period of hyperactivity / hypoactivity in that areas function as it answers the minds call to the movement of the external world.