A Time To Kill And A Time To Heal

MON., MAR. 15, 1982, 5:54 AM
FARM, STUDY

I hear, o son, and know that you finally have committed this bit of Scripture to memory. Continue to review these… often enough so that you don’t lose them again. And, yes, eventually I shall offer you teachings on each so that you have understanding as well as memorized words.

Most obviously, there are times to heal. Two meanings to this admonition must be explored. First, there is a time for healing to take place in an individual body, unaided by medical means. The perfect human body is self-healing, for healing is simply successful adaptation to any of the many challenges to life and functioning. In this sense it is akin to “a time to break down and a time to build up”. Under stresses the body will “break down” in some ways… and be in a state of sickness, illness, or injury. Then, immediately or eventually, it becomes a time to heal. The healing processes rebuild and repair so that the fullness of life may return.

In some ways that you shall probably never understand there was a time for healing in your back and leg. There definitely was a breakdown, with pain and disability. So there was a time to feel pain and be much less able to function, but that did pass as the time for healing came into its own.

You wonder, in your own case, whether this was all “self-supplied” or to what extent it was abetted by the things done to you. Don Odum did various manipulations and applied various pressures. Was this an aid to the healing process? Was Gillian’s massage part of healing? Was Michael’s dedicated rough handling another aid? You have no way of knowing, of course, because you cannot know how healing would have taken place without these procedures. Your recollections of these are all pleasant, so you can assume they were part of “a time to heal”.

This does introduce the second meaning… the time for you… or anyone… to try to be a healer for another… a time to abet the healing process going on in another. For some, of course, this is their daily profession. The time to heal may be from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M. … or 9 to 5… or whatever. The procedures will vary, under every system. It may be prescribing one or more drugs, which presumably help in the healing… at least prevent further harm. It may be manipulating the body… or listening to thoughts which must be expressed and accepted before healing of a sick mind can take place. It may involve bringing people together who are just good for each other.

The attempts to be a healer may be quite assured and skillful to quite tentative and amateurish. I have told you, and I repeat it here, that everyone must be the healer of another at some time or times. You are not primarily a healer, but when the opportunities present themselves you must not run away. When it is your time to heal, do the best you can… utilizing your whole being, including, of course, the spirit.

There also is a time to kill. The parallel meanings apply. When healing is not successful, internally, the body is killed… by microorganisms or by its own malfunctioning. If a person’s kidneys malfunction she is killed by the buildup of her won waste. So every death is a killing, in some sense.