THE MEDICINE OF AVOIDANCE

Western medicine has achieved miracles
In sustaining the body.
Fine.
But that is not what we are;
Body is just the vehicle --
As useful as a car
With a sick driver.

We dismiss the deeper questions around our diseases,
We sedate the suffering and the pain,
Suppress the symptoms,
We're encouraged to "soldier on"
And go to war on our woes
With drugs, diets, medications, therapies, attitude-makeovers, meditations, religious rites, mass entertainment spectacles, political shenanigans, material wealth, moral mustitudes and frantic social busy-ness.
We dread boredom.
We look for life
By suppressing our aliveness,
Lowering our energy(??)


Eastern medicines,
With their emphasis on Balancing
Might be onto something.
Perhaps we need more of the polar opposite:
To stand in the questions,
Live the mystery of not-knowing,
Feel into the suffering
(it won't last forever):
And allow the energy of crisis
To elevate us
To a level of here/now immediacy
Where experience gets transmuted
From base lead to pure gold.