In American Indian Medicine, Virgil Vogel writes, "The theory of disease causation from unfulfilled dreams or desires was most highly developed among the Iroquoian tribes." He goes on to quote the Jesuit priest Joseph Jouvency who wrote about the Iroquois: " For they think that there are in every man certain inborn desires, often unknown to themselves, upon which the happiness of the individual depends." (p.20)
In my many years in both conventional and complementary health care, I have not, until reading Vogel's book, come across a theory of disease causation so similar to my own. Based on my own experience, like the Iroquois, I believe that we each have life-affirming desires in our hearts that are ours alone to fulfill. Also like the Iroquios, I believe that we can get sick when we are thwarted or otherwise prevented from fulfilling the life-affirming desires of our hearts.
We cannot help but be frustrated, stressed, and unhappy when we feel either vaguely or acutely that we are failing to fulfill our in-born purpose in life.
Furthermore, in my view, the life-affirming desires of our heart are those of our spirit. Here "heart" is another word for "spirit."
Our spirit, that which makes us alive, has inherent, life-affirming desires to fulfill. Fulfilling these desires is the purpose of our life. It is vitally important for us to be conscious of our heart's desires and do our part to fulfill them.
When we do not, we put ourselves on the path to a break in our health and an unfulfilled life. We also fail to enrich the lives of others with the gifts that we alone have to share.
In my view, identifying and fulfilling the life-affirming desires of our hearts is at the heart of thumotherapy, the therapeutic care and healing of spirits.
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