You Can Heal Yourself (If You Allow Yourself To)

Philippine Star

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to watch Anita Moorjani being interviewed by Karen Davila on ANC News Channel. To those not familiar with her case, Moorjani was suffering from stage 4 cancer and at the height of her illness she slipped into a coma in 2006. Because her organs were failing, the doctor told Moorjani's husband that she didn't have long to live. But to the amazement of everyone, especially her doctors, Moorjani came out of her coma after 30 hours and in a matter of days her cancer had completely disappeared. She went on to write a book detailing her life and near death experience entitled Dying To Be Me. It was published in early 2012 and made it to the New York Times Bestseller List shortly afterwards. The book is also now available in local (Philippine) bookstores.

There have been many cases of miraculous healings and recoveries, so what made Anita Moorjani's case stand out?  What I find striking about Anita Moorjani's story is the message that she brought back with her. Apparently, many people also resonated with the message judging by how quickly her book became a bestseller.

In describing her experiences while on the "other side" Moorjani said that she was pure essence without form. She was met by her deceased father, and although he didn't have any recognizable form, she knew him for who he was. Communication was through telepathy and although she was in a coma for only 30 hours she said it felt like she was in the spiritual realm for many months. This account is remarkable because this is similar to how a lot of esoteric texts describe existence on the other side of death.

Eventually, her father told her that it was not her time and that she had to return to her physical body. Moorjani didn't want to go back, but in the stages before returning she reached a state of pure knowing. She immediately knew why she developed cancer and just knew that she was going to be well once she got back. Central to her message is her assertion that at the core we are all pure love, and she experienced that state of love and bliss while in the spiritual realm. In that love and bliss was a state of oneness with God.

Aside from her story sounding like something out of T. Lobsang Rampa's books, Moorjani's experiences match the accounts of soul-realized yogis and saints and that's what makes her own account really powerful.

Moorjani goes on to say that the problem most people are dealing with right now, and what helped contribute to her cancer, was the state of living in fear. This is not just a fear of accidents or other forms of bodily harm, but a consciousness of fear that drives our decisions. For example, Moorjani says that most of us eat healthy not because we recognize our body as the temple of the Holy Spirit but because we fear getting sick. We keep working not necessarily from the desire to be a good provider for our family but more because we're afraid of what will happen to our family if we lose our job.

Moorjani mentioned that prior to her cancer, she had been living most of her life feeling as if she was letting people down. This sentiment came from the feeling that she never really fit in. She was an Indian who was educated in Britain. And because she was Indian, she never really fit in to British culture. But back in India, she had pick up enough Western attitudes to question some Indian cultural practices such as arranged marriages, so she didn't really fit in to Indian culture as well. And then she lived in Hong Kong. Although she could speak Chinese, again she couldn't fully fit in with the Chinese community in Hong Kong. She spent so much time trying to please others that she never really gave thought to being pleased with herself.

The message then is to look for and recognize the love that is at the core of every person's being, including one's own. With the recognition of that love, fear melts away and only a feeling of oneness remains.

Looking at it from the ordinary person's point of view, fear is the product of need and a perception of lack. Moorjani's message therefore also echoes the words of Jesus when he said:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Matthew 6:25-33 - English Standard Version)

We all matter whether our station be the highest of the high or the lowest of the low. As long as we're not doing wrong, what are the opinions of others compared to the opinion of God and His love? Isn't the fact that we are alive proof enough that we matter to God? And that is what Moorjani kept saying, that life is a gift.

In the end, Anita Moorjani's story gives a clear demonstration of how one's consciousness affects reality. And when one reaches that state of realizing just how valuable one is in the eyes of God, that one really does fit into the scheme of Creation and is one with God, then true healing begins.