DAVID SIMON, M.D.

Only by tapping into the timeless realm within our own awareness can we experience genuine freedom from the inevitable challenges of time-bound existence.

What is this disease telling us? As individuals and as a community, we cannot ignore the message this illness is sending us. On physical, emotional and spiritual levels, cancer is delivering a wakeup call that requires our attention. With over three-quarters of cancers having some relationship to lifestyle or environmental factors, we must look at the choices we are making and reduce our tolerance for toxicity in our lives. What we eat, what we breathe, and what we allow into our soil and water all contribute to our risk for illness. Each of us is individually and collectively responsible for the environment, which according to Ayurveda is our extended body.

On an emotional level, we know that there is an intimate connection between our mind and body. If our inner dialogue is one of stress and discontent, we transmit that message to every cell in the body. Our immune cells are continuously listening to the conversation we are having with ourselves and responding to the task of protecting us from illness with greater or lesser enthusiasm. Learning to communicate consciously and using our five senses to invigorate our inner pharmacy are essential keys to enlivening our mind-body connection and fortifying our immunity. Our societal confusion about who is friend and who is enemy is being played out in our personal immune systems. Making the commitment to peace of mind is the most essential step to create peace in our bodies and peace in the world.

Spiritually, the message is the perennial reminder that life is delicate and short. Cancer reminds us to live in the present, ensuring that our hearts and minds are free from resentments, regret, and hostility. Underlying the field of thoughts that define our minds and the field of molecules that defines our body is the field of consciousness – of spirit – that while remaining beyond space/time give rise to subjective and objective reality. Rediscovering our essential infinite and eternal nature is the secret to accessing our deepest source of energy, creativity and healing. Only by tapping into the timeless realm within our own awareness can we experience genuine freedom from the inevitable challenges of time-bound existence.

While no one consciously chooses to develop a serious illness, many people look back and see the challenge of their cancer as the most important and meaningful experience of their lives. I have been impressed time and again by the spiritual opportunities that serious illness affords. When we encounter the real possibility of death, each day takes on new meaning and purpose. Old grievances and material goals for the future fade in importance as those aspects of our life that are core to our meaning rise to the forefront. I commonly see people who have recovered from cancer leave jobs they’ve been dissatisfied with for years and pursue long-held dreams. I often see estranged families reunite when a member has cancer.