Bringing the Medicine Back to the Tribe
If you fail to practice your art, it will soon disappear.
German proverb
Are you practicing your art?
Has it disappeared?
Each post on this blog reveals more to me.
Let me see what I wrote so I know what I think.
W.H. Auden
One day, Pablo Picasso was sitting in a Paris cafe and sketching something on a small napkin.
Once he was done, a secret admirer recognized him,
approached him and asked whether he could have that napkin.
“Sure,” Picasso answered. “20,000 francs and it is yours.”
“20,000 francs? It took you five minutes to draw this.”
“No, no, no, it took me more than 40 years.”
Consider our tendency to automatically dismiss someone who is not a member of our "tribe." It's a stage we all go through but many get stuck there. The older I get, the less I get caught in this trap...but it still happens from time to time (especially when sleep deprived).
Next, once we start transcending that "Us vs. Them" stage, we start automatically dismissing the "Losers" and admiring the "Winners." If the people we see are losing compared to us, it's their fault and they need to suck it up and work harder...or stop being so stupid...or just go back where they came from.
And then we transcend that stage and automatically dismiss anyone who doesn't see it's wrong to dismiss anyone who is different/not in our tribe, or not a "winner" according to conventional wisdom. Of course, we're blind to that contradiction and the fact we're still automatically dismissing people.
The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
Eden Phillpotts, English author and playwright, in "A Shadow Passes," 1919
Thankfully, I'm experiencing more magic these days thanks to Ken Wilber's Integral philosophy, among other great thinkers I've come across. It's taken at least 40 years.
They really help find the signal in all the noise.
Yesterday, I mentioned "medical hexing." The worst example, perhaps, is a doctor telling a cancer patient "You have ____ months to live." Funny how people often die right around that date. The power of suggestion is no surprise to those practicing clinical hypnosis...or clever parents. It can be used for good or ill. When a patient outlives the hopeless prognosis or--gasp!--goes into remission and no traces of the cancer can be found, the medical field can only call it a "spontaneous remission" and privately dismiss it as a fluke. This is much more common than they care to admit.
My friend and mentor, Brad Keeney, once wrote about meeting Credo Mutwa, a Zulu "sanusi" or medicine man, a spiritual leader for millions of Africans; he was also a sculptor.* He was once given a diagnosis of cancer, Melanoma, in this leg. He told Brad, "That name made me laugh because it sounded like the name of a beautiful girl...I told the doctor that this beautiful girl named Melanoma is not going to kill me. What I did was sculpt a gigantic statue, fifteen feet high, of this beautiful woman...I completely threw myself into this project and to the suprise of my doctor, the malignant lesions disappeared."
Psychologists often talk about a client's "limiting beliefs" as obstacles to change and healing. Few places contain more limiting beliefs than the offices of your local doctor, nutritionist, dietician, fitness instructor, or mental health practitioner (especially psychiatrists).
Research demostrates that our genes are like a loaded gun, but our environment, our lifestyle, and our thoughts and beliefs pull the trigger ("epigenetics")...again, either for good or for ill. In fact, epigenetics has far more influence on our lifespan than our genes. Isn't it nice to know you have lots of influence for improving or maintaining your well being all the way down to the cellular level?
What beliefs about your current problems, challenges, your body, your health, or your potential might be holding you back?
*excerpted from "Shaking Out the Spirits: A Psychotherapist's Entry into the Healing Mysteries of Global Shamanism" by Brad Keeney, 1994.
In early 2022 in my annual "physical," my almost-retired, lazy internist noticed some out-of-range biomarkers in my blood panel results. So we tried some supplementation and agreed to test again in a few months. I had been listening to many podcasts including in the "Health & Wellness" area. These included rather mainstream MDs and Ph.D.s as well as cutting edge "Biohackers."
Long story short, this led to a referral to a specialist, a scary diagnosis (despite no symptoms), and what I soon learned was "medical hexing." That is, the unnecessary "curse" placed upon a patient by a overconfident doctor with a narrow, often rote perspective on how to manage what they've been taught to (aggressively) treat according to outdated science and protocols. Luckily, all those podcasts set me up for rejecting the pharmaceuticals he wanted me to take and, instead, for the motivation to seek second (and third, fourth, fifth, etc.) opinions. These "Integrative" and "Functional Medicine" doctors and practitioners laughed (literally) at what the specialist told me to do or not do.
Thus, a new biohacker was born.
As neurosurgeon Jack Kruse, the godfather of Quantum Biology, has said, mainstream or "allopathic" expert influencers and/or practitioners are like the blind men in the ancient parable attempting to describe a creature (an elephant) they've never encountered based on touching only one part. Of course, they each are sure the elephant conforms to their limited experience and perspective and, therefore, the result is 6 different descriptions.
I was fortunate to have broken the hex. This health crisis has led to great insights and better health, not to mention an enhanced outlook on life and aging.
What sort of hexes have you fallen prey to?
Which are you still suffering from?
Which influencers do you trust?
Do I belong on the web blogging?
