More Mind/Body nagging for attention

I was going to put this down the article as evidence, but let’s start with it because it really illustrates the most poignant aspect of the human condition/suffering/samsara:

I am a TMS Dr. Sarno veteran. I understand all the concepts. I first started reading his teachings in the early 90’s. After applying the principals, the pain would disappear in about 3-4 months BUT I would always have a recurrence every 4-5 years. At one point my back pain went away and I had TMJ for 3 years. Not until I realized TMJ could be TMS did it disappear. QUESTION: Why do I keep having recurrences? I am having one right now and haven’t been able to get rid of it for 6 months. I even ordered Dr. Sarno’s video lecture. Can you tell me why I have recurrences and why does it take 4-5 years to occur? I am concerned that this time it is hanging on even longer. Can you help me?

Here is what Dr. Sarno says about that:

Sarno's "Symptom-Imperative" is most important. If a physical symptom caused by the brain is relieved, the brain simply creates another (substitute) symptom to "protect" us and keep us unaware of the REPFs. Repressed Emotional and Psychological Factors.

Now, if you’re still with me and want to learn more, here is a link that introduces Dr. Sarno’s ideas and Dr. Schechter’s therapy and links further etc.  At first just scroll down a bit to see the scope.  I’m going to copy the key points in case you don’t want to link right now:

Some Profound Implications of Sarno's Mindbody Paradigm!

• Many common ailments, regarded by the "medical establishment" as having a physical origin, in reality stem from "repressed emotional and psychological factors" (REPFs)
• The human brain has a mechanism to "protect" us from REPFs by keeping us unaware of them -- they're too severe for us to experience.
• The brain causes physical symptoms to distract us so we don't get consciously exposed to the REPFs.
• The brain can cause physical symptoms by reducing blood flow to parts of the body, and by other means.
• Some of these symptoms can be relieved through drugs, surgery, and other treatments.
• Sarno's "Symptom-Imperative" is most important. If a physical symptom caused by the brain is relieved, the brain simply creates another (substitute) symptom to "protect" us and keep us unaware of the REPFs.
• The solution for an individual with brain-caused symptoms is to understand the Sarno Paradigm, to become aware of the REPFs and to deal with them consciously.

"As psychiatrist and theorist Wilhelm Reich explained it, the personality is created around moments of pain so uncomfortable that they are blocked off. A person's character or persona is thus a chronicle of where he or she has been alienated from his or her self. Ways of coping with psychic pains, which are themselves assiduously avoided, create our individuality -- that's the real reason why the ways of coping are so (boldly) defended. We hang on to our cocooned pain because the thought of looking directly at it seems unimaginably worse than what we suffer living around these cocoons." -- Jennifer Michael Hecht (Doubt: A History)

In case it’s not obvious, this is the same argument as in Answer Cancer, n’est pas?

I’m curious as to whether Windhorse, Tonglen or Forgiveness can go right to core of this, or do we need more specific paths to address these “wounds”?

The Difference between an Evangelist and a Comedian … don’t expect the audio meter to tell.

The cadence and rhythm are similar, as is the intensity … there the roads part and Bill Cosby delivers a graduation address that will lift your spirits as well as your heart.  From the first phrase, replacing “Ladies and Gentlemen” with “NERDS” you’re in for something different.  Twenty minutes to increase your self-confidence.

high fashion that makes you think?

Dries van Noten is a Belgium designer who woke me up last night with this Fall Collection.  These are worth waiting for in HQ … just start them in HQ, pause, wait for a few minutes and click play icon.

If this whets your appetite for more and more visual feasting on clothing that awakens your appreciation for texture and colour, then his Spring 2006 Collection and Fall 2006 Collections might do the trick. 

Catching up to Paul Levy

The Alchemy article got my attention big-time … amplified by both of your interests.  I then read We Are All Shamans in Training … and at this moment in the Audio interview he is talking about supersaturated solutions crystallizing and I’m experiencing cascading synchronicities.  Somewhere in the middle, I read the first chapter of the Bush book … you gotta luv the sense of humour … diagnosis Malignant Egophrenia or ME disease aka Mad Emperor syndrome.

“Malignant egophrenia is an expression of, and is at the root of, the extreme polarization and dissociation in both the human psyche and the world process at large. The disease is archetypal in nature, which is to say that it has eternally re-created itself and played itself out over the course of history. We can even say that it’s the "bug" in the system that has in-formed and given shape to all of the conflict and disharmony of human relationships. ME disease is as old as the human species. However, we’re now at the point in our evolution where we can finally recognize it, see it, give it a name, and diagnose it.”