patterns can be changed. New insights can be gained. Broken relationships and past hurts can be repaired and a new sense of peace can be found through the healing balms of forgiveness and acceptance. All of this can happen without any outward physical changes that would be marked as a “cure,” yet there is no doubt healing has taken place. For some this may be spiritual, for some emotional, for some it is relational. Sometimes it is also physical, but for many people, that becomes the lesser of the healing they seek. Healing comes in many packages, all individualized and recognized internally, even if it is never seen by anyone else as physical “cure.” Healing knows there are things worse than death, and sometimes what I want isn’t always what I need.
When the World Health Organization was created in 1948, health was defined as being “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” True health is more than just the absence of disease and true health is not a luxury. True health is about living luxuriously, being present, whole and living in the fullness of life, of grace, of community, of hope and love.
The absence of disease does not necessarily imply wholeness, health or wellness. There is a word from the Greek called scotosis, which refers to intellectual blindness or a hardening of the heart and mind toward wisdom. Some theologians have expanded the meaning to include the concept of soul scarring. Many shamans and healers see this form of soul or