— It might be thought that a disease is something bad, something that happens to us and over which we have no control. When it is serious, we might think of it as a punishment for evil deeds, when's it's less serious we blame external conditions e.g. bad weather when we catch a cold, an epidemic when we get the flu, or unfresh food when we get a stomach upset. Thinking this way, we feel ourselves to be victims of external circumstances over which we have no influence. Most often we then reach for some pill or turn to the doctor for help. Doing this we don't want to take advantage of the opportunity that the disease is giving us.
We do not realize that every illness, every ache is our ally and plays a very important part in our lives, namely its purpose is to draw our attention to something we are doing inappropriately. It is a messenger informing our consciousness, just like a mailman ringing at our door warning us by letter of the consequences of our activities. When we feel pain, or when we fall sick, is a good time to consider what isn't quite the way it should be in our lives. When we reach for a pill, we ignore this very valuable warning sign. What is our great ally we treat as an enemy? We feel sorry for ourselves for being so wretched because we're in pain when somebody else isn't. We feel unhappy because we have been struck down by an illness instead of celebrating that we have been given a chance to develop.
When someone in my company complains about e.g. a headache and reaches for a pill I ask straight away who is it they're so mad at that it's given them a headache. Almost always what follows is a moment of outrage and reproaches like: "What are you talking about?" or "How can you be so insensitive; I've got such a fearful headache and you're making jokes about it." But that brief moment gives time for reflection. Usually, it's enough for that person to see who or what they're angry at and to understand their problem. Usually, too, at that same moment they reply, astounded and incredulous: "How is it possible for that terrible pain to pass so quickly?" Sometimes it's being mad at someone else, but most often it's being mad at themselves.
When we come to understand why and with whom we're furious, the pain goes like it's been touched by a magic wand. Pain only gives a signal — "Attention! There is a situation that is getting on your nerves. Heal it." It doesn't matter who or what is getting on our nerves. We suffer while that "someone", the perpetrator of our suffering more often than not, doesn't even realize he or she is its cause because it's not he, or she, but we who have something to see through and we have to deal with it our-selves. Sometimes that person has to be forgiven, often we have to forgive ourselves. When we know what the cause of our pain is then it's up to us alone what we do with the situation next.
If we reach for pills the headache will pass and so the marvelous chance to understand masters of the situation instead of victims. Instead of taking our lives into our own hands we give it up into the hands of the doctors and the pharmacists. Does it not make you wonder that God gives us such simple solutions and we don't want to be aware of them? All it needs is to be vigilant the moment we feel a pain somewhere and to ask the pain: "Why are we suffering in that part of our body?" We will most certainly receive a reply and then we will know what is not functioning well in our lives. The body always informs us, all that's needed is to pay attention to it. Every part of our body reflects a different problem and tells us what needs mending in our lives. It's enough to identify the symptoms and to fix them.
There are numerous books that teach how to listen to ourselves insofar as we don't know how to. It's a bit like we were learning to read ourselves, just like we once learned to read elementary books. When we become adept at it, we become real experts. Our lives are in our hands. When we don't do it, we want to give our fate, our life into the hands of other people. Why? Because we believe that they are wiser, more important than we are. Of course, that simply isn't true. Every one of us, regardless of what kind of education we've had, is his or her own best doctor, needing only to want to be and to believe they are. That doesn't mean to say that medicine isn't necessary. It simply won't heal us by itself if we do not help in the process. It will p not work if we don't help. The doctor prescribes the pills, but we have to swallow them ourselves.
When someone dies as a result of some illness then death does not automatically free them from the disease. After death, they are ill in the same way as they were when alive. Though when they die they leave their physical body in the grave, they take with them all the other bodies including the one where the illness is written down. Only when they pass through to the other side of death's curtain are they subjected to a cure. This, let us call it, quarantine lasts just as long as the person's state demands. If their mental state demands a longer time then that is what they get, till they are completely cured. It is treated individually, depending on the person's needs. It happens only if we pass through to the other side of death's curtain. If the person, for whatever reason, resolves not to pass through to the Light, then they remain in the world of ghosts with all their mental and physical afflictions. The disease which was the cause of death exists within them just as it did when they were alive. It will afflict them for just as long as they continue to exist on this side of death's curtain. If they passed through to the Light they would be cured, by remaining they continue to be ill.
When someone we love and are close to is dying after a long and serious illness, we are incredibly sad. We want them to stay with us for as long as possible. We are afraid that we may never see them again. Though this isn't true, at such moments we don't really want to know it or remember it. Finally, the moment of death approaches. We feel very bad, our heart bleeds from despair and we're often in no state to let them go from us. It's quite frequently the case that we want to die together with the person we love. At such a moment we are in pain and indifferent to everything, we don't have a healthy outlook on things, and we lose our instinct for self-preservation.
This is a very crucial moment that will decide the fate of the departing soul and our own. Why? There are many reasons. One of them is the fact that we cling to that soul, we don't want to let it go, and the soul, unable to free itself and to leave, will be forced to stay behind. I'll try to illustrate this — we tangle this soul up in our sorrow which is like chains, from which it is unable to escape. It might seem we are doing it out of love, but this has nothing to do with love, what we are really doing is imprisoning it. Real love is freedom. Freedom at every moment and in every situation, even at the moment of death. It appears to us that we are gaining something when we limit this freedom in the name of love. We can submit to such delusions in the very first moment, but we will always be harming not only the soul that is trying to depart but also, and even more, ourselves.
The question may be asked: what to do if the soul of the dying person wants to stay for our sakes. In such cases, we must explain its erroneous reasoning and ask it to quit.
