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From: [log in to unmask] (Wendy Tebay)
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 00:20:46 -0600 (MDT)
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fwd: Re: Centering for Healing
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From: [log in to unmask] (Wendy Tebay)
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 00:16:13 -0600 (MDT)
To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Centering for Healing
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Sorry If I offended you, however, I must disagree with your assessment
that I do not put myself in others shoes. Quite the contrary. Even
though I consider myself a Christian primarily (albeit a very new age
one), when ever I mention christianity or any other perspective on this
list. I always try to include supporting or complementary ideas from
other traditions as well. I'm sure that there are many listserv members
here who are not Christian, whether they are Jewish, Buddhist, atheist,
or whatever. So, whenever I mention anything about christian ideas or
the Bible, I always make a point of incorporatiing ideas from other
traditions into my discussion, I don't want to offend anyone who is not
Christian by talking about that perspective only.
This listserv is not a forum for religion necessarily, but I would
hazard a guess that belief in a god and spiritual issues now play a role
in many of our lives as we try to deal with this thing called PD. I
know that without my belief (and my stubborn nature), I'd have given up
long ago. So, in as far as spirituality and a belief in God pertain to
our daily ability to cope with this thing, discussing them is as
relevant as discussing what drugs we're taking. For me, it's even more
so. I'd survive without the drugs, altho' it'd certainly be difficult,
but I wouldn't last through tomorrow if I didn't believe that God was
taking care of things and that he's helping me deal with this no matter
what happens in the end.
Of course, the relevance of discussing God, etc., would end if it went
beyond that (i.e., say if someone on the list here started going off on
how everyone with pd, as it's supposedly fatal, better accept God and
Jesus Christ, or not only are they gonna die from PD, but they're gonna
burn in Hell, or whatever.) That would definitely be inappropriate
here. That is absolutely the last thing that I would do anyway.
My saying that this pd is all illusion was not meant to force anyone to
believe that, any more than were my other statements in that previous
post. In fact, I mentioned it as a complement to the other statements
which I made. If you were to ask a Buddhist or a Taoist monk, for
instance, I would bet that they would agree with that illusion
statement. Deepak Chopra would also agree. And I must say, so would
Jesus (at least the one I know would).
I also think you misunderstand what that illusion statement is really
saying. It is in no way making light of the everyday struggles and
frustrations we all have in dealing with PD. Hey, I've had it for about
ten years. I have some very real bruises on my legs from bumping into
things while dyskinetic. I have a very real disability claim that I'm
now appealing with my insurance company and some very real money that
it's gonna cost me, etc. There have been some very real days when I've
been trapped in my apartment because any sinemet at all that I took
made me go off the charts with dyskinesia. And on those same days, I
yelled some very real curses due to some very real anger and
frustration, and shed some very real tears. Cancer has impacted my
family in some very real ways, including taking my youngest btrother
when he was five. That experience continues to affect my life in some
very real ways.
Saying that this is all illusion is more of a statement about how alot
of what defines our lives isn't necessarily the events, the problems,
the people, the challenges, etc., but rather how we react to them, how
we internalize them, etc.=A0 Two people can go thru the very same
experience, like PD, and yet one may fight it with everything they've
got, one may get depressed and another may go out and party. Alot of
what determines the worth of our lives has far less to do with the facts
(like that I have PD, that I'm unable to work, etc.) than it does with
how we think and feel about them.
While in many respects I hate pd and the negative impacts it has had on
my life, on the whole, I think it has been and continues to be a
positive experience. Obviously, as far as my flesh and my ego are
concerned, this pd is very real and certinly no illusion, nor shall
I admit, much fun either. But as far as the real me is concerned, the
spirit part that is in God's image (and with which the Bible wants to
identify ourselves, rather than with our flesh) this pd experience is
not nearly so real nor so tragic. In any religious tradition, pretty
much, the spirit part of a person is that part which is eternal and
whole (thus free of disease, sin, etc.). As long as I associate myself
with that spirit part, then I can say from that perspective, this whole
physical world is an illusion, and that includes pd. It is from that
perspective I generally try to relate to the world and to my life in it.
It is also that perspective to which most religious traditions try to
teach us to live.
So, while in "reality" as I'm typing this email, I'm actually a bit
dyskinetic, stressed, tired, hungry , etc., from the other perspective I
am at peace, whole and not bound by pd nor anything else. I for one
prefer to identify with the second one as much as I can. I can't always
do that as I'd like to, but I give it my best. So, from the first
perspective, I'd have to agree with your points, cuz from there, pd is
very real and difficult. But I think if you really focussed on looking
at your situation from the second one, you'd find yourself feeling a
little less bound by your "reality". That's not self-delusion nor
denial of what's going on to you and your husband, but I don't think
your spirit will feel quite the same as you obviously feel now.
Please, feel free to agree or to disagree as you like, but I hope that
I've explained perhaps a bit better exactly what I meant before and why
I brought it up in the first place. I do try to include many ways of
looking at things in most all of my posts, for the very reason that I
don't want anyone to feel that I'm trying to force any one perspective
on everyone, whether it be christian, new age, or whatever. I happen to
believe that all viewpoints are valid and can coexist simultaneously,
even if on the surface they differ/contradict. Often tho' I find that
they instead support each other, they just say the same thing in a
different way. Thus I feel that I go out of my way to walk in as many
different shoes as possible and still manage to keep my posts from
becomng the size of a novel.
Take care.
Wendy Tebay
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