The Spark of Life
What is it that gives us our spark of life? What is it that makes us happy, deep inside? Content with our existences. What is it that gives us joy to keep breathing, working & enjoying this world?
You know, I have an interest in getting this community to be healthy. Personally, I left New York and travelled quite a bit, learning from other cultures, questioning my Y. of F. education, wondering about the meaning of life.
In the end, (so far) I learned that taking part in society and community, as well as contributing to it, is one of the greatest forms of giving in this world. And the great feeling we experience from contributing and giving is one of the most fulfilling things in life. But I won’t digress too much.
I want this community to be healthy because it will make such a huge impact on us, firstly, and on our neighbors, secondly, on this city, thirdly and on the world, lastly. But how to heal a nation? How to heal a city which grew accustomed to highly processed, refined, deficient & sort of infected food?
I believe that it has to come from all sides. We need to connect to that which brings us closer to our bright sparks of life, and as a side effect, we will naturally shy away from unhealthy and frankly- unempowering foodstuffs. “Foodstuffs” because we must reconsider how we see them, and start seeing them for what they are…
Now, if the answers to healthy living were black and white… but they are not.
Actually, we are all unique bodies, unique people, unique systems. We have different pasts, presents and futures ! What is healthy for one, is not healthy for another. What is healthy for one today, is not healthy for them necessarily at all times: Health is complex; healthy is a living term that constantly changes and evolves for each of us individually and for us as cultures.
I’d like to share a bit from my studies of Ayurveda, from which I earned certification as a Holistic Health Practitioner. Ayurveda is an ancient and advanced system of health & healing from India, dating back at least 5,000 years. It consists of five pillars: Breathwork, Sound Therapy, Aromatherapy, Body Exercise & Diet. There’s more beyond these pillars, but these already give a nice overview of a path to Holistic Health. The word “holistic” is related to the word “whole”; it sees the person as a whole person consisting of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies. I find this to be refreshing, inspiring and revolutionary in itself.
The first time I met a Holistic Health Practitioner was when I was attending Seminary and living in Tzfat. I went to a Chinese Medicine Practitioner and he began by asking me many questions about myself, checking my pulse, tongue & nails, and so on. He actually listened to me… he wanted to know things about me that no doctor had ever asked me before. I was changed from the experience, and the medicine he prescribed (a tea & some acupuncture) did work after a few months of religious use, after which I was able to stop with the treatment.
Illness is not a purely physical thing, just as we are not purely physical things.
In the far east, there is a medicineless hospital. ChiLel, the method employed, was developed from the tradition of QiGong. Its success rate is over 95%. I bring this as an example to show that there are many traditions of health & healing from around the world.
So what comes first: the chicken or the egg? Do our unhealthy practices make us sick or are we deeply sick and that sickness has led us to unhealthy practices? I believe that at the root of our sickness is the illusion of our absolute separateness; body from spirit, person from person, species from species. When we begin to see the world in a more holistic lens, we are able to access a whole new world of options.
We all want this community to be healthy. I encourage us to employ as many means as possible in doing that. We can and should open ourselves to learning about alternative options to conventional medicine, food & culture. Hold on to the good, let go of the bad.
This will enrich our lives and infuse us more and more with the spark of life.
Enjoy !