Smile Love into your Vital Organs

The complexity of global problems can be so overwhelming that

most people simply give up trying to understand the whole picture

of their life. Our heads reel from an overload of information that

spews out from television, newspaper, radio and computers. The

challenge is to simplify all this information into digestible form. This

process of literally “digesting” reality is made difficult to the extent

that we’ve separated our minds from our bodies.

If the body is healthy, it can easily assimilate the stress of modern

living and even find it a creative challenge. But many people

ignore their natural balancing mechanisms between the body and

mind. They attempt to digest the world with their minds, piling up

concepts, thoughts, and desires like giant mounds of mental baggage.

They ignore the fact that their body must carry this extra mental

baggage around twenty-four hours a day, and eventually tires of

the extra weight. Exhausted, the body gives up prematurely resulting

in heart failure, stroke, arthritis, or liver dysfunction. The collapse

is blamed on a poor physical body, but the overstressed mind

is the true culprit.

Proof of our ignorance of the connection between body and mind

is seen in the fact that most of us don’t even know where our bodily

organs are, much less their size, shape or functions. And if we

happen to know intellectually, we still don’t experience our organs

in a tangible way because we ignore their constant subtle messages.

For instance, we think we are satisfied when our mind is

pleased: our intestines may be rebelling from over-eating, our lungs

may be taxed by smoke, our kidneys may be overworked from

coffee, but in our mind we’ve had a delicious meal, a good smoke,

and a great cup of coffee. We are numb to our organ’s feelings

and thereby block what is potentially our deepest experience of

good health.

We’re like the irresponsible automobile owner who spends all

his time waxing and polishing his car only to drive over bumpy,

dusty roads. He avoids cleaning the spark plugs or changing the

oil, then uses leaded instead of unleaded gasoline. When the car

breaks down, he curses, complaining that he is not a mechanic,

and then blames the car manufacturer when he’s told the car needs

a complete overhal.

We are really no different. We spend all our energy (and money)

making certain our outer selves are presentable, then we abuse

our inner selves by eating an imbalanced diet, drinking, smoking,

and worst of all, denying ourselves love. And then we’re shocked

when out of the blue our lungs collapse, our kidneys fail, or we’re

told we have cancer.

Some people have an astonishing ability to convince themselves

that their health is not caused by their own behavior, and quickly

blame their illness on bad genes, old age, fate, etc. But most people

are simply unaware that their illnesses are the direct result of accumulated

years of stress and seemingly minor abuse of the physical

body, especially of the vital organs. These vital organs are intimately

connected to every aspect of our mind. Our body is the

filter for all our perceptions, feelings, thoughts, as well as the storehouse

for our memory, our very sense of identity.

Most people fail to realize that even if our mind temporarily stops

functioning, if we cease to think or feel, our organs can continue to

work. But the moment your spleen bursts, your heart stops, or

your liver malfunctions, your life is in serious danger.

The brain is the boss, but organs do the work. Imagine your

organs are working in a factory, your mind is the boss. If the boss is never around, or if he ignores the workers’ grievances (he’s so

concerned about his own affairs that he can’t see that the workers

have poor working conditions, they’re overworked, and under paid)

the workers will eventually become so discouraged and frustrated

that they’ll either go on strike or quit altogether. The factory shuts

down, no goods are produced, and the boss is left trying to negotiate

with the workers. But his power is diminished if the workers

have already shut down the factory. It may never open again, and

cause the boss to lose his livelihood. (Remember, the problem did

not occur overnight.)