Reconciling subjective and objective notions of dis-ease
Updated: Jun 12, 2021
What is disease?
"Disease" = an objective finding, a pattern classified in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)
"Dis-ease" = a lack of ease or a decrease in ease, which can be a very specific, delineated experience or a vague malaise or fatigue
The word "disease" asks us to bridge our objective and subjective understanding of ourselves.
Example: diverticulitis
Objectively: inflammation and infection of small pouches in the colon
Subjectively: inflammation = pain, heat, tightness or bloatedness (the experience of swelling)
"Illness" usually refers to our subjective experience, but as we have seen, even the word "disease" tells us that a complete picture and understanding are important.
How can we reconcile objective disease and subjective dis-ease?
To do this we have to choose another lens beyond biomedical science.
Let's ask: What is the objective world we see?
Objectively: mountains, oceans, sky, land, trees, plants, animals, buildings
Subjectively: feelings, thoughts, perceptions, hopes, desires, ambitions, relationships, intuition
How do we bridge the two?
The world as a thing-out-there vs the world as a field(s) of experience.
We do not stand apart from the world. We are elements of the world. We are intrinsic aspects of this field of experience.
We can say the world is a representation of our collective nature.
War = objective, outer conflict
War is the result of subject, inner conflict
Similarly, what is the body?
Objectively
head, neck, chest, abdomen, pelvis, limbs
the expression of genetics
Subjectively: sensations, feelings, choices, actions, etc
Bridging the two: The body is a field of experience (a sub-field within the greater field of the "world")
The precursor of experiences are tendencies.
Whose tendencies? Not just an individual me or you bracketed within a lifetime.
Inter-generational tendencies are represented and encoded as units we call genes
Tendencies within a lifetime are represented and encoded as units we call desires and behaviors
We can see the body and a lifetime as the sub-field of tendencies that is a part of the collective field of tendencies we call a world
If healing is wholeness and integration, then healing means seeing/being the place from which tendencies arise and realizing the integration of tendencies across the five bodies, environment, and world.