Previous posts looked at Three Treasures of Tao (or Dao): Compassion, Simplicity, Patience ... current reading offers a different trio, from Taoist teaching on health: the Human Body, Temple of Life; Energy, the Force of Life; Spirit, governor of Life ... when Spirit leads the way, the body follows, energy flows, a healthy and long life ensues ... balance is key ... in the Chinese traditional health system the physician is retained by the family and paid a monthly fee as long as all family members are healthy ... the doctor, thus incentivised, advises his "patients" on preventive measures to support the Temple, prescribes beneficial herbs to maintain balance and strengthen the energy systems, suggests environmental factors to adjust ... in case of illness in the family, payment ceases until the patient's health is restored. .. leaving aside, for now, tricky questions of detail, the general idea is the opposite to the Western model, where doctors are consulted by ill people, their symptoms addressed and suppressed, often with chemical preparations with their own side effects, requiring another drug, with its own side effects ... all creating a cocktail along with environmental factors unaddressed, ingestion of toxic food and drink, polluted air and so on. When the drugs don't do the trick, surgery may follow, itself often counterproductive and disturbing the body's balance ...
Apologies to any medical folks offended by the caricature, but it seems to hold a fundamental truth ... first and foremost the need for the "patient" to take responsibility for their own health wherever possible ... nurturing the Spirit, encouraging the Energy, exercising the organism, ingesting healthy food in moderate quantities ... all stating the bleeding obvious, of course, but somehow the power is handed over, or maybe stolen, by purveyors of passing pleasures, poisonous produce ... with the evidence all around of avoidable illness ...
Psychology offers some insights ... a field with its own polarity, practitioners from the dark side employed to persuade people to purchase and consume rubbish, our psyches hijacked through hypnosis, the Spirit suppressed by the gods of Mammon ... psychologists of the light side, meanwhile, mostly work to pick up the pieces, restore the fractured entity, intent on self destruction, though not always paying attention to the the root cause, the existential crisis of the Spirit suppressed ... and returning to the Western allopathic model, drugs to suppress symptoms too often prescribed, leading to a lifetime of dependency and profits for the powerful pharmaceutical companies ...
Interestingly, Daniel Reid's "Guarding the three Treasures" suggests an excess of Joy is best avoided ... tempering the previous enthusiasm for the Land of Joy ... though the book's twin emphasis on longevity alongside good health is not necessarily subscribed to here ... incorporating reincarnation into current delusion, along with the promises of karma, means a perfect acceptance of Life and Death, endorsed by the profound experience in the sea at Zambujeira do Mar ...
Meanwhile, in Stanhope, Summer edges towards Autumn, as welcome rain greens the fields and restores the river ... early walks set up the day, blackberry abundance supplements breakfast porridge, field mushrooms reward the early walker, whilst more exotic species in the woods await ... community engagement is enough as balance is established between introspection and interbeing ... the house becomes familiar, patiently awaiting promised attention ... friends sense imminent departure, though feet are not yet itching for adventure ... October perhaps ...
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