Illness teaches us about interconnection.
We’ve all been on both sides of the illness equation, either as a recipient or giver of caretaking. Either position can be challenging. We may not like being beholden to others or feeling obligated to help others. But both roles are important for us to learn to handle gracefully.
Separation consciousness tells us we are alone in a dangerous world. Others can’t be trusted and we ourselves are broken and separate from everyone and everything. Sickness might seem to confirm this perception.
Yet, in divine reality we are all part of an interconnected whole, inseparable from the rest of Creation. We are perfect microcosms of the grand macrocosm.
Allowing others to care for us or tending others is an acknowledgment of that divine interconnection. Energy, attention, and healing flows naturally where it is needed. We can receive what we require and also provide what others do as part of this divine system.
Today’s message asks me to see illness in a different light. It is a learning tool for me—to learn to accept help and to learn to provide caring.
Please reflect and share. What has illness taught you?
For more on this topic, please see Chapter 22, “Sickness and Death”, in my book “The Sharing: The Owner’s Manual for Being Human.”