Health, Yet Again

MON., AUG. 7, 1989, 5:38 AM
UNIV. OF MAINE, FARMINGTON

I, the Holy Spirit, have offered you many Teachings in relation to health, your professional concern. So this shall not be new and startling, but it will be an “update” on this particular foggy August morning in this unusual place. Hear, o son, for you shall speak to this subject today.

In one sense health is measurable. In another it is observable. In yet another it is a personal, inner feeling. And, finally, it is rather mystical.

Let’s consider blood pressure as an example. This can be measured, and two numbers can be announced and written down. These can be interpreted as good health, not so good health, or as a dangerous condition. Yet there may be nothing observable that differentiates your behavior when the numbers are different. You may be just as caring, considerate, and helpful when your numbers are high as when they are low. Then there are times when you feel, inside, that your pressure is up. No readings are taken, but the feeling is bothersome. Conversely, you may feel wonderful, relaxed, yet full of energy when the numbers come up dangerous. Finally, you may consider blood pressure readings to be of little or no consequence, for health is a quality given by Me, the Holy Spirit… the capacity to live life fully and joyfully. And this capacity shall be yours as long as I will it to be, whatever the numbers. I give, and I take away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. (Long paragraph!)

Each of these interpretations has a reality. You are aware of each, and they have different importances at different times. Some colleagues and some learners value these differently… some not at all. When health is seen as having many dimensions, including the spiritual, it becomes much more personal and mystical and less measurable. You know this is bothersome to some who want this concept to stay rooted firmly in science… and science is concerned only with the measurable.

Some who are committed to a scientific orientation declare and display patience. If health truly does have this spiritual dimension and these mystical qualities… if these represent reality… then, eventually, these will be measurable. Faith in the premises of science can be of the same nature and quality as faith in Me, As Almighty God.

Here’s an ancient theme: health is for spending, not saving. Health enables you to give of yourself, and even when you are conserving yourself for service ahead you are exhibiting less health then when you “offer yourself.” My servant Mabel shall have difficulty with the living out of this truth. Her physical balance can be maintained best by conserving her strength and not taking opportunities to minister to needy people. Yet I say this is less healthy than giving of herself and suffering the consequences. Physical ill-health can bring on an overdone focus on self, which is fundamentally even more unhealthy.

Thus, it may be ultimately healthier to act in physically unhealthy ways. There are many wonderful souls who have come across to Me in death and been truly disappointed in the ways in which they spent their last days in the earth. For a spiritually mature person does suffer at the realization of being self-centered. Oh, there is some merit in conserving yourself for more effective service later, but too often and too easily this conservation can become an end in itself.