We all seek the best health and happiness that is possible yet in actuality we chase after a very limited and partial health and happiness. Why is this so? The reason is both simple and yet quite inapparent unless searched for. We expend our time and energy seeking far less than is possible because our deeply ingrained view of health and happiness is itself limited and partial. Stated another way, we have learned and left unchallenged, because of our unexamined assumptions and practices, an incomplete and inaccurate view of health.
The past 500 years of modern medicine has left us with a view that is primarily biological and relies exclusively on temporary remedies and therapies to relieve the sufferings of life. There is much that has been achieved through this approach, but we cannot achieve a a long-lasting alleviation of suffering or a profound health, happiness and wholeness by attending only to the physical aspects of our life and temporary antidotes to the ills of the body.
A comprehensive integral health requires we attend to the development of our inner life as we have to our material life (the body.) As I sit on a cushion in Dharamasala and listen, as I have before, to the extensive and profound teachings regarding the mind and heart I find myself again in awe of both the brilliance of the Eastern understanding of mind and spirit and of our ignorance of these understandings.
Yes, we have begun to work with gross relaxation techniques in the West as we finally admit to the reality of a mind-body relationship. They bring a fleeting sense of peace and rest from the usual mental turmoil. But these are merely temporary antidotes. There is far more to learn about the mind and heart before we move towards increasingly subtle understandings of consciousness and the richer life that can emerge when the eastern genius of the interior is added to the western genius of the exterior.
What is the nature of the disturbing emotions - anxiety, stress, doubt, confusion, worry, meaninglessness, anger, and how can we transform these emotions into the positive emotions of patience, generosity, peacefulness, loving-kindness, and so on? Transforming inner anxiety in all its forms brings our mind and body into resonance and harmony - from our seemingly intangible inner life to our very physical molecules. How can we go even further and transform our mind in a manner the relieves all suffering and promotes a full human flourishing of body, mind, and spirit? The approaches and methods are well know in the East. If we can for a moment move beyond our fascination with our usual biological methods and techniques - conventional and alternative - and expand our view and approach to include an understanding of our inner life we shall find the possibility of a profound health and happiness that currently eludes our limted understanding and capacity for health and healing.
There is a physical limit to our ability to train and enhance our biological life. However, there is no limit in our ability to train and develop our consciousness. As a result we are ultimately limited in the extent of well being that can be achieved through biological approaches, but the health, happiness, and well being possible through the development of our inner life is immeasurable.
An integral health is driven by the further development of our mind and heart. This is the only shift that can transform our current partial understandings and limited possibilities for health and healing. And this transformation must begin with each of us studying, reflecting, and practicing in a manner that grows an understanding of our inner life as we have grown an understanding of our outer life. The teachers and teachings are available. What awaits our awakening to this larger possiblity is our own motivation and efforts.