08 Oct Health: The Ultimate Freedom
Of the many things people want, we’re really searching for freedom.
Health is freedom from the body
When the digestive system is healthy one has a good appetite, digestion, and elimination. When everything works, you don’t notice or think much about it. However, if you have any kind of trouble in your digestive tract, you will immediately be disturbed. A chronic digestive condition is hard to stop thinking about. Every time you eat, you may experience gas or bloating. Food may sit in your guts like a brick or be difficult to eliminate.
It can effect your entire life. Dr. Bernard Jensen used to say: “It’s hard to have a sweet disposition on a sour stomach.”
Any health problem, even a minor one, introverts and takes away from freedom of body and mind. The goal of health is to have such a well working body, you forget all about it.
Inner peace is freedom from our own mind
Eastern spiritual paths say that mind is hell, and no mind is heaven, and there’s a lot of truth to it. Anyone who has explored the mind, even to a small degree, knows that the mind can be a torturer. It activates the nervous system, ties us up in knots, and causes physical disease.
To be free of the mind is to experience joy, peace, and bliss. The heart naturally opens. Physical health improves because circulation improves on many levels.
Financial freedom means freedom to use time as we wish
Basic physical survival overshadows all other concerns. In psychology, that concept is called Maslov’s hierarchy. If one’s belly is empty, it’s hard to focus on mental or spiritual pursuits. If your electricity is about to be turned off or there’s not enough money to put food on the table, it’s harder have peace. If you have a big credit card balance, or it’s a struggle to pay the bills each month, it’s a constant thorn that leaks energy. Sooner or later, financial worry hurts your health.
Wealth is a factor in longevity. Take two people with a bad illness. Wealth allows one to get the finest physicians and devote themselves to healing. Those struggling financially who develop a significant illness are twice as stressed: they have to worry about their health and survival, but also must continue to work hard to support their family.
One could point to cultures that are dirt poor and seem to be perfectly happy. However I’m not talking about amassing a fortune here, just enough so that one doesn’t have to worry. Few can maintain freedom of mind and body unless basic needs are met.
Wealth, in itself, has never made anyone happy, but wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to think about it?
More than money, time is the most precious commodity in a lifetime. And the reality of life is obvious. If you must sleep six to eight hours a day, work eight to ten hours, buy and prepare food, exercise, etc, how much is left to do what we really want? Probably the greatest benefit of having enough is you can use time as you wish, ideally to help make the world a better place.
True health is a balance of all three freedoms
Obviously lack of freedom in any one area will hurt your overall well being.And all three freedoms work together. Without health it is harder to enjoy life, and if one is tortured by their mind, no matter how great their surroundings or how extensive their riches, they won’t have peace or freedom. If you don’t have freedom of body and mind, time, no matter how unencumbered, will be a curse, not a blessing.
I support freedom on every level.
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