Getting to Know Your Health - 017 Healing from WithIN

Recognizing Hashem In The Healing Process

Where is the concept of refuah (healing) first mentioned in the Torah?

Hashem said that He will not bring any illnesses on the Jewish people as He brought to Egypt, “For am I Your healer.”

We also find that the Torah commands a person to heal another whom he has wounded, and from here the Sages learn that doctors may heal. Hashem Himself heals the Jewish people, but permission is given to doctors to heal.

This gives us a new perspective towards doctors. Hashem is the One who is healing, but He gives permission to doctors to heal. A doctor is a messenger of Hashem.

Is it the same kind of healing? Of course not. When Hashem heals, that is the main kind of healing. When we get sick, it comes from Hashem. Who do we turn to when we get sick? Permission to heal is granted to doctors, but Hashem is still our main Healer.

For what do we need a doctor for, what must we do to get healed, and how much should we turn to Hashem?

Sickness: A Void

Choli (sickness) is from the word chalal, void. When there is a chalal, a choli comes.

All day we are seeking to fill our ‘void’. In our actions, we fill our void of action through acts of giving. But we are not robots; we can’t give all day. We have emotions as well. How do we fill our emotional void? Is our soul all about giving, or is there more to our soul? When we give, we feel good about ourselves – so there must be to who we are than just giving.

In order to fill our ‘void’, we must know clearly how to fill it. It’s a question about our entire life.

In Search of Happiness

We all exist. We have a soul. Our Sages say “Who is happy? One who is happy with his lot.” Superficially, this means one is happy with his wife, children, home, and livelihood. This is all true, but there is more to happiness.

Are any of us happy with our very existence? Inner happiness comes from our very existence – the fact that I exist as an absolute reality.

Most people are trying to make themselves happy through things that are outside of them. Others are happy when they give. There are people who give and give all day, but they aren’t happy with themselves. Giving is a result of “me”. If “I” don’t exist, “I” cannot give. Giving is a branch of my soul, not the root of my soul. I need someone to give to; the someone whom I am giving to is more important than my act of giving.

Thus, we see that a person’s existence is the main aspect of our life, and from it, comes our innermost happiness.

Concentrating On Your Existence

We all know we exist. How much do we think about this? We almost never think about it. If we don’t think about it, we can’t be happy with it, because then we aren’t experiencing our existence, and then we seek vitality elsewhere.

In today’s times, the psychologists and therapists are in big business. People all over the world have so many problems, problems with their families and problems with themselves. But the problems really began way before. A person first needs to make himself into a healthy soul, before he seeks help in any other areas.

To illustrate, there are people whose entire self-esteem depends on what people are thinking about him. This kind of person doesn’t get vitality from his own self. He is so used to getting it from outside himself. A person has to first experience his own existence and then he can experience the branches of his soul, such as giving, and how to relate to his surroundings.

A person most of the time is thinking about things that are outside of himself. The world is busy with all kinds of immersing thoughts that are outside of the self.

So the root of all illness is a chalal in the soul, and the biggest chalal (more than all other things that we are missing) is when we are missing our sense of existence. “For I am Your Healer” – a play on the words is that the “I” is the root of healing.

Healing The “I”

All the parts of the body which get sick are but parts of who we are. But if the very “I” is sick, that is the greatest sickness! Thus, if we know how to heal a damaged “I”, we have the root of all healing.

What is the root of all sickness? It is when one forgets his own existence, and he is immersed in outer things. The root of healing, then, is when a person learns how to enjoy his existence: for one to find himself.

Finding Yourself

How do we find ourselves? You will find the answer inside yourself.

Most people are looking to find themselves through outer things, such as through friends, through the spouse, through children, through a job, through a nice home. But where do we find ourselves? We find ourselves inside ourselves! That’s where we find ourselves.

The reason we don’t find ourselves is because we are looking outward. The more you become aware that you are looking to find yourself within yourself, the more you will begin to feel you existence.

How To Get To Your “I”

Our thoughts and desires are about outer things, and that is why we don’t find ourselves anywhere outside ourselves.  Any thought which is not about the “I” is an outer kind of thought. An inner thought is to think about your existence.  Thinking about your soul is closer to your “I”, but it is still not the inner kind of thought. The inner kind of thought is to think about your existence.

Usually when a person thinks about his “I”, he thinks about what he likes and what he doesn’t like, what he aspires for and what he fears. However, this is the bare minimum. What is the innermost kind of thought we can have?

I am not speaking about having emunah (faith in G-d). What is the innermost kind of thought about ourselves that we can have? For example, I am breathing – is breathing my innermost kind of thought? Is my happiness my innermost kind of thought?

The innermost kind of thought is when I simply think about my “I” and concentrate on it. The “I” is the source of all healing, and when it is damaged, it is the source of all illness. If one thinks that his “I” is sick, he is in grave danger, because he is damaging his root. The “I” is perfect and unaffected by surroundings, therefore, it cannot get sick.

So when a person says “I’m sick” this is one of the biggest lies! Your body is sick, but you are fine! The “I” itself cannot get sick.

Every day a person should take some time to think about his “I”. Don’t think about anything when you do this. You have time every day when you eat, and you have times of breathing every day. So too, have times every day when you think about your existence.