I did not really like the Meeting Aesclepius exercise. After all we read in our text, Integral Health, about calming our mind, finding our subtle mind and experiencing our inner wisdom, the idea of visualizing another person as our healer did not make sense to me.
When doing the exercise, I initially thought of someone I know who exemplifies healing. As the narrator went on to describe this person we are supposed to be visualizing, I couldn’t help but to think there is no perfect person I would want in this role for me. It seemed to be a better description of God than of another person. To imagine God as a person was a dilemma for me… then it clicked. I realized Jesus fit the description perfectly, an actual person who walked the earth and who exemplified peace, love, wisdom, and compassion. Even those who do not believe he was God in the flesh, would agree that as a person, he exemplified each of these traits.
I tried to complete the exercise focusing on Jesus. I had a difficult time picturing Him though. It didn’t seem right to me to try to physically picture Him. I struggled through that part of the exercise, and then found the next section interesting. This was where we were supposed to allow that person’s thoughts become our own. The narrator said to allow our visualized being to transform our thoughts. This is actually a Biblical concept. A component of the Christian faith is to allow ourselves to be transformed in our minds. The next part was good too, having speech like His … sounds like a great idea to me. He always knew what to say & when to say it that would get right to the heart of the matter. This section became more like a prayer for me.
The end of this exercise just really did not come together for me. It seemed to me to be a disappointing end to what we have been learning so far in the book. We have spent chapters and weeks learning the concept that the wise healer dwells inside of us. The author uses examples of butter, describing how it is hidden within the cream, explaining how our inner wisdom is within us waiting to be experienced through the exercise of quieting the mind and finding our subtle mind. Spending so much time and effort visualizing a being outside of ourselves, and wanting our thoughts, our speech, and even our heart to be like this other person… did not make sense to me. The Meeting Aesclepius exercise did not seem to follow the logical sequence of the text.
I personally believe there is a healing force within each of us. Our bodies inherently want to be whole and healthy. Quieting ourselves and healing our mind to allow our own healing wisdom to be experienced is powerful enough. I believe it would be far more empowering and effective to have people focus on that, rather than on creating a being outside of themself whose thoughts and speech they want to copy. That is not empowering at all. The healing power is already within us. The subtle mind exercise seems much more worth the time and effort. Since, as we subdue our busy mind, the subtle mind will be available to us with our own inner wisdom to guide us in integral health.
Kathy,
ReplyDeleteI had some of the same thoughts throughout the exercise. I dont think the idea of the exercise was to be like somebody else, but to realize what you want to be. At the end of the exercise, I interpreted it in a different way. To me, our chosen person was to give us their wisdom, speech, and loving-kindness so that we could express the same characteristics. Then, we imagine us acting like the person that we look up to and respect. This visualization of ourselves in this perspective is in fact the true inner healer. I think that this exercise was intended to help us realize that we are indeed the inner healers. It is almost like putting in golf. You must visualize the ball rolling into the cup, then you putt it. If you can't visualize the putt following the line that you have chosen, then you will not be confident in the putt. Same with this. In order to make it happen, you must visualize it first. Hope this helps a little.
Kathy,
ReplyDeleteI had some of the same problems you had in the exercise. I draw strength from God. He is my healer. He is everything to me. As I walk out the wellness process I know everything I need is in God through Christ Jesus!
Denise
Thank you for sharing your struggles with this exercise. I am glad that you found something that worked well for you. Sounds like you had a good experience after all.
ReplyDeleteI’m glad to see that this exercise was difficult for someone other than me. I really didn’t care for it either. I completely agree with you that this particular exercise does seem to contradict what we have been learning so far about having the power within ourselves to heal and empower our own being. It is difficult to wrap our minds around having another being in control of our wellbeing when we possess the power ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI do think this exercise would be hard to sell to my clients as well. You thought about a religious figure so it may be the same for many of my clients. I was not brought up in a religious family so the person I thought of was a family member. Even though I think she is wise and lifts my spirits when I am down, I saw this in a completely different light. I didn’t like how it made me feel or the thoughts that came to mind about my family member. This could also happen to a client as well. Needless to say, this is not an exercise I will share with my clients. I don’t know if I will try it again either. Maybe with time it could work, but I don’t know if I want to take the chance. Do you think you will use it again?