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health
November 2009 
What is the relationship between health and spirituality?
Posted on Nov 8th, 2009
by 
Ted
Ted
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for November 08, 2009:
Re-Write after 36 hours
I need to be more specific about my definition of spirituality.
For me it is the third tier of being.
The first tier is defined by our genetics and matter. It is the form of the body and brain, with all of it's amazing layers and levels of complexity.
The second tier is enabled by the brain/body, and is composed of memes, units of transmissible information shared between brains that over time have developed culture in the widest sense, including language - some significant fraction of which is resident in each of us. This mimetic landscape has direct analogs with all aspects of the biological ecosystems we experience and are part of.
The third tier of "spirit" is a reflective self awareness, born of a declaration in a language in a culture in a brain in a body, ....
This spiritual side is pure software, and it is running on some very complex hardware, which has many instances of two different types of processors, neural networks and holographic storage and recall systems (and it is sometimes possible for each of those to function as the other).
So in defining spirituality as our ability to choose, embedded in belief system, and associated practices, then there is a very strong relationship.
Our choice can affect all aspects of our brains, and our brains can influence all aspects of our bodies.
There has been a lot of great work done by many people - Patrick Holford in England is one spokesman for research in this area - John Sarno from the New York School of Medicine is one from the USA.
It seems that, provided our bodies are getting the essential nutrients they require, that the greatest cause of poor health is "stress" - defined as a state of tension that is not released by rapid physical activity.
If we are able to create/build and hold a set of beliefs that allow us to relax completely most of the time, then we are likely to be much more healthy, as the natural self repair mechanisms of our bodies are able to do the jobs they have evolved to do. If our bodies are constantly in a state of stress, prepared to run to save our lives at a moment's notice, the repair mechanisms are not able to do their job.
Most illness seems to respond well to tools like meditation, and the use of mantras, that bring our awareness to a peaceful contemplation of the present.
Any mechanism, religious or otherwise, that releases stress, has a positive impact on health.
Access: Public
thank you for the wisdom………
Once again you are spot on. I recently read a book called “Optimum Healing” by Dr Craig Brown that explores this.
Thanks Gil & Maa
I had another look and re-wrote the start, as it simply was not clear enough for many people to get any sort of real picture of how complex and profound I know human beings to be.
I like your explanation of the 3 tiers. Thank you!