Is There an All Purpose Remedy?

According to a special report recently published by the World Health Organization, thirty new diseases have been discovered during the last 30 years, and about one thousand and one hundred epidemics have been recorded around the world during the last five years alone.

This lengthy report reveals the many illnesses that are currently affecting humanity, as well as those that will affect us in the future. And what does modern medicine has to say about this? Well, not much.

The name of the report, "A safer future," is an attempt to reflect optimism. However, a quick glance at this report indicates that our future is far from being safe.

Along with the rise of existing illnesses, such as diabetes, heart disease and depression, the report also warns that new epidemics may emerge, as lethal as AIDS, SARS and Ebola.

What can be done?

Currently, doctors have been finding it difficult to provide clear answers. However, according to the writers of this report, one thing is certain: public health is mainly threatened by human behavior.

As surprising as it may sound, Kabbalists also wrote about future illnesses that might afflict humanity in the 21st century. Like the doctors, they have asserted that man plays a central role in these afflictions, and they have also provided a possible solution to the health threat we face today.

An illness is identified as the disruption of the process called homeostasis - the balance in our body. When the function of a cell or an organ is disrupted, the balance in our body is disrupted and as a result we become ill. In order to overcome the illness, the body does everything in its power to restore the balance to all of its systems.

However, the process of equalizing pressures doesn't take place only in our body.

Both modern science and Kabbalah agree that within nature there is an ongoing process of homeostasis.

In early writings, Kabbalists describe nature as a closed, integral system, in which all the parts operate in perfect balance and harmony. This magical balance is kept thanks to the reciprocal concern among the different parts in nature.

Prof. Güntar Blobel, a Nobel Prize Laureate in physiology and medicine, noted for his research on cell multiplication, was interviewed recently by Kabbalah Today's reporter and said that "according to scientific findings, the principle of reciprocity is the key to the existence of every system in nature."

"The cells in a living body illustrate the best example. The cells connect to one another by mutually giving to the body as a whole. Every cell receives everything it needs for its existence and uses all of its powers to care for the whole body."

In fact, on every level of nature, the individual acts in favor of the whole to which it belongs, and thus finds its wholeness. When a certain individual breaks the balance in nature, all of nature’s systems are immediately recruited to level the pressures and to restore the balance that has been disrupted.

For instance, when the inner pressure at the earth's core grows, and the external layer of the earth cannot withstand the pressure any longer, a volcano erupts. According to Kabbalah, new illnesses that erupt today are just one of the expressions of the steadily growing imbalance in man’s relationship with nature.

What does this have to do with us?

According to Kabbalists, we humans are also part of nature's integral system, just like all minerals, plants and animals. Therefore, the rules that apply to nature's integral system, also apply to us. At this point exactly, we find the reason and the solution to our problems.

Egoism in human society is on the rise. One man takes advantage of another, enjoying the suffering of others and empowering himself through the destruction of others. In his egoistic attitude, man diverts from the course of nature, systematically breaking the law of balance and reciprocity, and as a result suffers a painful reaction from nature itself. After all, nature always balances whatever is found to be imbalanced.

It is for this reason that the World Health Organization has stated that mental illnesses, (with depression and anxiety at the top of the list), will continue to grow as individuals within human society become more and more alienated. The egoistic attitude that has become so common in modern society is like a boomerang on nature's part, returning to hit us back with more "internal" illnesses.

Apparently, the amount of resources and technology we invest in our health systems will not solve our problems, as the renowned doctors who wrote the report contend. Instead of trying to find a solution to every new symptom that emerges, it is time to face the root of the problem - human ego.

This does not mean that as of tomorrow we will stop visiting our doctor. We will continue to visit medical clinics, but at the same time we have to start a "root treatment." Once we understand that we are all parts of the whole and learn how to unite, we will rediscover our balance with nature, and then most of the illnesses will simply disappear, as the main cause for them will cease to exist. "Correcting our egos" Kabbalists say, is the all purpose remedy.

By Chaim Ratz