MY RESPONSE TO ILLNESS

[Guest guest]

Well, the comments are slowly dropping off about my smoking habit,

so I thought it was time to write my essay for the week on smoking

diseases - and any other illnesses for that matter - because I

dearly want you people to THINK! Sorry that its so long but I hope

you'll read it because its very important.

First of all, thanks to all those who sent me their support both on

the forum and to my private email. Much appreciated! ;o)

Actually, I was rather pleased that I received all those negative

comments about cancer, poisons, and the like because it gives me the

opportunity of addressing health matters in general which may (or

may not) be of great interest to you.

I agree that smoking is not a `nice' habit because I know it smells

awful and it makes a lot more housework for me if I were honest

about it. I don't consider it a waste of money because my smoking

only costs me roughly 50p a day (around one dollar, I believe)

because I travel to Belgium once a year where tobacco is very

cheap. This is nowhere near what people spend on beer and spirits

in the pub, which are also said to cause many other illnesses, or

even cream cakes, sweets and chocolate, which is said to be the

number one killer in the Western world. I did give it up once but

started again simply because I couldn't stand the smell on

others! ) This was in the days when everyone smoked. But I am a

good smoker – I wash my hair every day, wash my clothes every day,

have units in every room that take out the smoke and put back

negative ions, and never smoke in people's houses who don't smoke.

So I wouldn't really call myself a bad and smelly smoker.

Now to business, if I may. The first question I want to ask

is `what is it you all believe?' because it seems that some of you

have split minds. As I understand it, most or all of the people

participating in this forum take or have taken, or are thinking of

taking virgin coconut oil. This is contrary to everything you are

advised by the health departments, medical establishments and

governments of this world. Saturated fat is bad for you. Right?

Who knows? We decided to take VCO on the say-so of just a handful

of people who were speaking against the mightiest of medical

establishments.

I'm not saying whether I think VCO is good or bad for us but how do

we know for sure that it is – or isn't? How do we know that it

isn't someone just trying to retrieve the coconut oil business for

those countries who need the money badly? Personally, I love

coconut oil and I cook with it and stir some into my hot cereal on

occasions. I don't take the advised 4 tablespoons a day because VCO

is too expensive to buy in the UK.

The fact is that we believe the medical and government

establishments of this world SOMETIMES (ie when they tell us that

smoking causes cancer and other related illnesses) and other times

we don't (when they tell us that saturated fat is bad for us). Its

my personal view (and I probably share this with a lot of you) that

the pharmaceutical industry is just out to make mega bucks and that

our doctors keep prescribing drugs because they get paid enormous

amounts of money from the pharmaceutical industry for using their

drugs. And our governments are not about to step in and stop the

wonderful profits being made by their country, are they? I'm not

saying I haven't taken medical drugs in the past – I have – but I

wouldn't touch them with a barge pole again and don't feel I need to

now.

Just as an aside, did you know that chemotherapy and radiotherapy

costs loads and loads of money and that's why it is, on most

occasions, recommended – or even forced upon people. I had breast

cancer about 20 years ago. I had the lump removed (a lumpectomy I

believe its called) but didn't have any further treatment. And here

I still am! ;o)

The point I'm getting to is this. If you disbelieve a lot of what

the medical establishments tell us, why do you 100% believe them

when they say that smoking causes cancer, or that eating too much

sugar/being obese causes diabetes, or that high cholesterol causes

heart attack, etc. etc. etc. How do you determine what is true and

what is false? I don't believe any of them – which makes life a lot

easier for me.

Now, switching the subject for a while – ever since I was a young

child I have been interested in the power of the mind – as you might

have guessed. I got books out from the library when I was at school

(not really understanding all that I was reading) and have continued

my passion up until this day. I somehow knew instinctively that my

mind was very powerful – as, indeed, are prayers if they are said in

the right way – and if they are in total agreement with what your

(ego-based) life plan is. I've had it shown to me on numerous

occasions that if I truly focused my mind on something I wanted that

it would come to me sooner or later. These `things' have turned up

in the most bizarre fashion that I couldn't doubt it was the result

of my `focused' mind. I guess the same could be applied to illness

but I never focus on illness so I have no proof of that.

I have read hundreds of books (both of the mind and spiritually

related) and have tested them all out as far as I am able and the

majority of them say the same thing only in different ways. Our

mind controls everything! Our mind controls what happens in our

life, as it controls what doesn't happen in our life. Our mind

controls if we win or if we lose. Everything is just perception –

our perception of what is going on in our `world'. Aaaannnnnddddddd

…. the mind controls sickness and health! I half believed all this

stuff but it wasn't until I became a student of that beautiful

book " A Course in Miracles " that I began to realize it was all true.

" Sickness is a defence against the truth " . This means (according to

my way of reckoning) that we USE sickness as a means of taking our

mind away from the truth (ie of what bad things are going on in our

lives). When there is something too painful, too difficult, too

complex, etc. for us to face, then the mind will make the body sick

as a means of detraction from the painful/difficult/complex

situation in which we find ourselves. This can be anything from

having an argument with a neighbour to, say, facing a difficult

court case to, say, the death of a loved one. The mind doesn't make

any differentiation between them except, maybe, the varying degrees

of the sickness.

Let me give you an example. Many years ago, and for many years, I

was involved in (and still am!) a very difficult relationship where

we were more `off' than `on' – but that's another story. Whenever

Christmas came along and it was an `off' time, I would always get

the `flu. Always. Christmas Eve arrived and bonk! There it was

again! And I'd spend the whole of Christmas in bed moaning and

groaning. When I finally realized what was happening and that it

was my mind that was creating this `illness' because I was unhappy

about spending Christmas alone, it stopped! Some of you may

remember my previous post about how I was getting the `flu and

bronchitis all the time but it wasn't because of the germs, as such -

it was all connected with this same difficult relationship. The

relationship is still difficult but I just let it go over my head –

and stay healthy!

I've had very few illnesses in my life and I can connect them all

with things that were going on at the time that I couldn't handle.

When you realize this, wow – what a revelation! If we can face

everything life throws at us (I mean not dwell on it one iota – its

happened, and that's that, there's not a lot I can do about it) then

we'll have our health problems licked - completely. There are many

spiritual teachings that say just this – accept everything exactly

as it is.

Now, perhaps you can understand how Sandee's father can smoke like a

trooper (full strength cigarettes) and have clean lungs at the age

of 80 whilst someone of, say, thirty can die of lung cancer. IT

ISN'T THE SMOKING THAT CAUSES THE CANCER BUT WHAT IS GOING ON IN

THAT PERSON'S LIFE AND MIND!!! I should imagine that Sandee's father

is someone who takes life as it comes – he is a very fortunate man.

Another example. I worked with a lady once who was off sick for six

months or more with an illness. She couldn't even get out of bed in

the morning, let alone live a normal life. The doctors couldn't

find what was wrong with her. When she returned to work on a very

part-time basis, I approached her with my theory (which is no longer

a theory I must add). She assured me there was nothing wrong in her

life at all – no money worries – a happy marriage, etc. etc. I

began to feel my theory was wrong until I discovered from another

colleague that her daughter had gone to live in a far off land with

her husband and children – just before she became sick. Need I say

more? In fact, everyone I question about their sickness ALL have

similar reasons, be they larger or smaller. The first time my

mother had cancer it coincided with my going off to work in Libya

for four years. The second time she had cancer coincided with my

father's death. The mind is very, very clever in making these bad

things in our lives (seemingly) easier to get through, although I

don't consider it very clever at all.

So, in a nutshell, this is why I can see no reason to quit smoking.

I like it. I don't drink, I don't take drugs, I don't over indulge

in food and I rarely go out. This is my one pleasure (apart from

all my wonderful hobbies, of course). You can take this or leave

it. Its up to you. But at least give it some thought and maybe

purchase a few books on the subject, especially A Course in

Miracles – which I believe one day will be as important as the Holy

Bible. And if you ever get sick, just ask yourself, " what is

happening in my life to cause this? " You'll be amazed!

Thankyou for listening!

My kindest regards to one and all!