what is revealing itself?

No, we do not cause our own illness.

Yes, we openly access energy of healing when we are ill.

Maybe, there is a profound connection between the cosmos, the earth, all existing beings, all living beings, and what is conceived of as our “self.”

Perhaps, that conception is ill-conceived.

If, dissolved, there is no further need of a separate ill-conceived self, will what remains be the interflow and dance of creative energy in all its movements with and through this -- this -- seeing what is revealing itself?

So, be it.

As is, each will become itself.

 (Itself)!

more welcoming, more human.

  Elie Wiesel writes:

There it is: I still believe in man in spite of man. I believe in language even though it has been wounded, deformed and perverted by the enemies of mankind. And I continue to cling to words because it is up to us to transform them into instruments of comprehension rather than contempt. It is up to us to choose whether we wish to use them to curse or to heal, to wound or to console.  

As a Jew, I believe in the coming of the Messiah. But of course this does not mean that the world will become Jewish; just that it will become more welcoming, more human. I belong, after all, to a generation that has learned that whatever the question, indifference and resignation are not the answer. 

Illness may diminish me, but it will not destroy me. The body is not eternal, but the idea of the soul is. The brain will be buried, but memory will survive it.  

Such is the miracle: A tale about despair becomes a tale against despair.

     (--p.73, in Open Heart, by Elie Wiesel)

 Comprehension, i.e., to grasp together.

To hold, together.

Considering the heart of prayer

Who is healthy?

The grateful. They are healthy.

By seeing through illness, are we seeing through illusion and illumination?

Perhaps "Still" stands for not just illness, but illusion and illumination as well.

illusion

—noun

- something that deceives by producing a false or misleading impression of reality.

- the state or condition of being deceived; misapprehension.

an instance of being deceived.

- Psychology. a perception, as of visual stimuli (optical illusion) that represents what is perceived in a way different from the way it is in reality.

- a very thin, delicate tulle of silk or nylon having a cobwebbed appearance, for trimmings, veilings, and the like.

- Obsolete. the act of deceiving; deception; delusion.

—Related forms

il·lu·sioned, adjective 

Can be confused: allusion, delusion, elusion, hallucination, illusion (see synonym study at the current entry).

Origin & History

mid-14c., "act of deception," from O.Fr. illusion "a mocking," from L. illusionem (nom. illusio) "a mocking, jesting, irony," from illudere "mock at," lit. "to play with," from in- "at" + ludere "to play" (see ludicrous). Sense of "deceptive appearance" developed in Eng. late 14c.

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ill

—adjective

- of unsound physical or mental health; unwell; sick: She felt ill, so her teacher sent her to the nurse.

- objectionable; unsatisfactory; poor; faulty: ill manners.

- hostile; unkindly: ill feeling.

- evil; wicked; bad: of ill repute.

- unfavorable; adverse: ill fortune.

- of inferior worth or ability; unskillful; inexpert: an ill example of scholarship.

—noun

- an unfavorable opinion or statement: I can speak no ill of her.

- harm or injury: His remarks did much ill.

- trouble, distress, or misfortune: Many ills befell him.

- evil: to know the difference between good and ill.

- sickness or disease.

—adverb

- in an ill manner.

- unsatisfactorily; poorly: It ill befits a man to betray old friends.

- in a hostile or unfriendly manner.

- unfavorably; unfortunately.

- with displeasure or offense.

- faultily; improperly.

- with difficulty or inconvenience; scarcely: Buying a new car is an expense we can ill afford.

—Idioms

- ill at ease, socially uncomfortable; nervous: They were ill at ease because they didn't speak the language.

Can be confused: ill, sick (see synonym study at the current entry).

Origin & History

c.1200, "morally evil" (other 13c. senses were "malevolent, hurtful, unfortunate, difficult"), from O.N. illr "ill, bad," of unknown origin. Not related to evil. Main modern sense of "sick, unhealthy, unwell" is first recorded c.1460, probably related to O.N. idiom "it is bad to me." Illness "disease, sickness" is from 1689. Slang sense of "very good, cool" is 1980s.

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Illness

—noun

- unhealthy condition; poor health; indisposition; sickness.

- Obsolete, wickedness.

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illumination 

-noun

- an act or instance of illuminating.

- the fact or condition of being illuminated.

- a decoration of lights, usually colored lights.

- Sometimes, illuminations. an entertainment, display, or celebration using lights as a major feature or decoration.

- intellectual or spiritual enlightenment.

- Also called illuminance, intensity of illumination. Optics. the intensity of light falling at a given place on a lighted surface; the luminous flux incident per unit area, expressed in lumens per unit of area.

- a supply of light: a source of illumination.

- decoration of a manuscript or book with a painted design in color, gold, etc.

- a design used in such decoration.

Origin & History

mid-14c., "spiritual enlightenment," from O.Fr. illumination, from L. illuminationem (nom. illuminatio), from illuminare "to throw into light," from in- "in" (with assimilation of -n- to the following consonant) + lumen (gen. luminis) "light." Meaning "the action of lighting" is from 1560s. Illuminate (M.E. enlumyen) originally meant "decorate written material with gold, silver, bright colors;" sense of "shining light on" first recorded 1560s. (Illumine in this sense is from late 14c.)

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[All definitions from Dictionary.com]

Seeing Through Illness

How are you
seeing your way
through?
...
(Use the ‘comments’ below to add to the conversation.)

Give back your heart

Here’s one way of asking the question: Have we grown dissatisfied with the way the world seems to be? With the way we live in the world? With our way of thinking? With the dualities and separations and severing distinctions made by the minds of almost everyone and every institution and every conversation we encounter?

Is dis-ease the making of two when reality is one? Is dis-ease the constant feeling of separation and isolation? And if love and truth are all-encompassing, who is trying to make them not so? And why?

Maybe we will one day transcend dis-ease. Maybe ill-ness will be seen through. Maybe we, each one of us, will see to that happening.

Here’s how Dictionary.com looks at “dis-ease.”

First:

dis- 

1a Latin prefix meaning “apart,” “asunder,” “away,” “utterly,” or having privative, negative, or reversing force (see de-, un-2 . ); used freely,especially with these latter senses, as an English formative: disability;disaffirm; disbar; disbelief; discontent; dishearten; dislike; disown. Also, di-  

Origin: < Latin (akin to bis, Greek dis twice; before f, dif-; before some consonants, di-; often replacing obsolete des- < Old French 

 Then: 

ease 

  [eez]  Show IPA noun, verb, eased, eas·ing.
noun
1. freedom from labor, pain, or physical annoyance; tranquil rest;comfort: to enjoy one’s ease.
2. freedom from concern, anxiety, or solicitude; a quiet state of mind: to be at ease about one's health.
3. freedom from difficulty or great effort; facility: It can be done with ease.
4. freedom from financial need; plenty: a life of ease on a moderate income.
5. freedom from stiffness, constraint, or formality; unaffectedness:ease of manner; the ease and elegance of her poetry.easeverb (used with object)
6. to free from anxiety or care: to ease one’s mind.
7. to mitigate, lighten, or lessen: to ease pain.
8. to release from pressure, tension, or the like.
9. to move or shift with great care: to ease a car into a narrow parking space.
10. to render less difficult; facilitate: I’ll help if it will ease your job.
11. to provide (an architectural member) with an easement.
12. Shipbuilding. to trim (a timber of a wooden hull) so as to fair itssurface into the desired form of the hull.
13.Nautical .

a. to bring (the helm or rudder of a vessel) slowly amidships.b. to bring the head of (a vessel) into the wind.c. to slacken or lessen the hold upon (a rope).d. to lessen the hold of (the brake of a windlass)

verb (used without object)
14. to abate in severity, pressure, tension, etc. (often followed by off or up  ).
15. to become less painful, burdensome, etc.
16. to move, shift, or be moved or be shifted with great care.
Verb phrases
17. ease out, to remove from a position of authority, a job, or the like, especially by methods intended to be tactful: He was easedout as division head to make way for the boss's nephew.
Idioms
18. at ease, Military . a position of rest in which soldiers may relax but may not leave their places or talk. 

Origin: 1175–1225;  (noun) Middle English ese, eise  < Anglo-French ese, OldFrench aise, eise  comfort, convenience < Vulgar Latin *adjace ( m ),accusative of *adjacēs  vicinity (compare Medieval Latin in aiace  in (the)vicinity), the regular outcome of Latin adjacēns adjacent, taken in VL asa noun of the type nūbēs,  accusative nūbem  cloud; (v.) Middle Englishesen  < Anglo-French e ( i ) ser, Old French aisier,  derivative of the noun
Synonyms 1. repose, contentment, effortlessness. Ease, comfort refer to a sense ofrelaxation or of well-being. Ease implies a relaxed condition with anabsence of effort or pressure: a life of ease. Comfort suggests a sense ofwell-being, along with ease, which produces a quiet happiness andcontentment: comfort in one's old age. 2. tranquillity, serenity, calmness,peace. 5. naturalness, informality. 6. comfort, relieve, disburden;tranquilize, soothe. 7. alleviate, assuage, allay, abate, reduce.
Antonyms 1. discomfort, effort. 2. disturbance. 5. stiffness, formality, tenseness. 

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.  

“It’s only words,” the Gibbs’ song says, “and words are all I have to take your heart away.” 

Or Derek Walcott in his poem Love After Love:

             Give back your heart to itself, / to the stranger who has loved you  / 

all your life, whom you ignored / for another, who knows you by heart. 

New Blog Begins Here: Seeing Through Illness, Meetingbrook at Ragged Bald Life Experiencing Spirit

This is a space for those suffering, those ill-at-ease, those with illness. It is for them to speak and write here. For families, for relatives, for friends, and for the interested -- because it will have visited, or soon will, visit you.

It is said that the illness of being born is the movement toward death. It could be said that we are all ill. 

Our dis-ease is something worth investigating.

Religions have taken their best shot at describing it. Medicine has written volumes. Ordinary people around a wood stove with cup of coffee have shared their stories and their concerns.

Let this blog be another place to look at how we see through illness.

This blog invites anyone interested to consider what it means to see through illness. It might suggest how someone navigates their way through a difficult time. Perhaps broken bones, cancer, heart condition, addiction, stress (post-traumatic or otherwise), Parkinson’s, AIDS, Alzheimer’s, mental, emotional, spiritual, physical or the many and various subsets of these uneases.

Unease, (anxiety and discontent), is part and parcel of what is called suffering or dissatisfaction.

How have we made our way, how are we making our way, through specific illness encountered in our lives? Moreso, perhaps, how do we make our way through the general illness of suffering/dissatisfaction we see in life everyday near and far?

Is this journey as much a spiritual journey as it is a physical, emotional, mental journey?

Words are worth looking at. There is much to look at with the word “disease” which is how most definitions of “illness” begin.

There is much to contemplate here.

Awareness of the source is the origin of health seeing us through ordinary life.