I don’t think the word “Healing” is working for us nowadays. I believe it has become corrupted and, therefore, is highly misunderstood.

I think that, at the core, is a battle over who are the healers. Western Medicine is predominant in our society/culture. Every other approach has been labeled “Alternative.” In Western Medicine healing is usually not the objective but rather a potential outcome. In many of the strong alternative approaches healing is the objective.

I have been in several volunteer group efforts within the Type One Diabetes community. Often times there will be a mix of perspectives from Doctors, Nurses, Certified Diabetes Educators, Parents and People who have the dis-ease. On more than one occasion I have been cautioned by a health care provider within the Western Medicine Model not to talk about healing or curing. We are here to offer ways to “manage the condition.”

I have had extensive experience with Alternative approaches to health and wellness as well as being fully ensconced in The Western Model.

What I would like to do in this post is make an agreement with you that we drop the word healing as description of what the goal is and replace it with another word.

Before I do that, allow me to suggest a few governing assumptions for our inquiry. All you need to do is adopt these for as long as it takes you to read the rest of this post.

First, The Buddha identified “The Root of Suffering.” This was part of his quest. Once found, he went on to explore the path to take in order to eliminate suffering. Any dis-ease equals suffering. According to The Buddha, the root of suffering is Ignorance of the nature of impermanence. The Buddha saw that everything that arises in our reality is bound to pass away. Nothing is permanent. Because we are not aware of the nature of impermanence (Annica in Sanskrit) we choose (most of the time unconsciously) to react with liking and disliking. We quickly learn what we like and dislike and we react physically, mentally and emotionally to every sensation we experience in this milieu of impermanence we are swimming in. These momentary reactions of liking and disliking form into cravings and aversions. These cravings and aversions become stronger and stronger as we continue to react. These formations are called Sankarah in Sanskrit. Think of them as like “ruts of reactivity.” Over time and with repeated circuitry these ruts of reactivity become deeper and more pronounced. It is in these ruts where dis-ease forms. And when you have Sankarah you have Attachment. Something that is impermanent becomes, apparently, permanent. Or, at least there is an attempt to make it permanent.

Second Assumption is that this existence, this Creation, this Universe is a Spiritual Gig. Your essence is not your body and it is not your mind. Your essence is not even your soul. The soul is the vessel for your essence. Your essence is Spirit itself. Your essence is Source. REMEMBER, even if you are not religious or spiritual you can assume this for the purpose of inquiry. Or not. And if not then stop reading because it won’t make any sense to you from here on out.

This leads us to the third and final governing assumption ……… Before Creation there was no body and no mind. There was no space and no time. There was one “Soul” and this “Vessel” was the perfect desire to receive The Light of The Creator.

So, what is the new word to replace Healing? In Hebrew it is called Tikune. Translated it means Correction.

For those of us with Type One Diabetes this word has significance. We are always Correcting when managing our blood glucose level. In fact, one of the “doses” of insulin we ‘inject’ is called a “Correction Dose.”

But, I want to go deeper than managing……….

We know (assume) that before Creation there was a perfect circuit between Fulfillment and Desire and therefore there was no lack, unhappiness, want for, dis-ease. So, why Creation of this universe where suffering is rampant?

We also know (assume) that this life is a spiritual gig. Most of the metaphysical/spiritual/religious maps describe it as a journey from Source/hOMe out into the wilderness of darkness and back home. The story of the prodigal son?

And furthermore, we know (assume) that everything here in Creation is impermanent. Everything is arising and passing away. At the quantum level this arising and passing away is happening at great rapidity creating a vibration like a hummmm. Our attachments have arisen because of the Sankarahs of craving and aversion which have formed because of continual momentary reactions of liking and disliking. And the reason we react is because we are ignorant of Annica!

Sure, we can describe the process as healing but the more accurate word is Correction. We need to heal the ruts of reactivity by bringing correction to our understanding of how things really work.

I mention the Hebrew word Tikune because The Kabbalists tell us that this is the purpose of Creation itself. Humanity as a whole has a Tikune and so does each individual.

So, in conclusion, let’s replace healing with correction. What do you think?