Symptoms and Solution

It is impor­tant not to con­fuse the symp­tom with the dis­ease, but to take the symp­tom seri­ously enough to know it is a trail. For years I had symp­toms of heart prob­lems, and I was smart enough to research them and not set­tle for merely treat­ing them (chronic heart­burn, aching jaw, short­ness of breath). While treat­ing the symp­toms, it is impor­tant not to lie to your­self about the under­ly­ing problem.

The same is true emo­tion­ally. I had anx­i­ety attacks in my younger adult years and tried to treat the symp­toms — then I dis­cov­ered it had to do with buried rage. To be healthy you have to be a detec­tive of sorts. Once I con­nected the dots, I began to deal with the root prob­lems. I also noticed that there was a dietary link. I just can’t have much in the way of refined sug­ars. “Know thy­self” is the great­est wis­dom from our Greek her­itage. Keep in mind that you might not know your­self as well as you think you do.

Unhap­pi­ness is a symp­tom. Hav­ing knee-jerk reac­tions to every­day events is a symp­tom. Depres­sion is both a symp­tom and a dis­ease. It takes a lot of mature dis­cern­ment to sort through the com­plex­i­ties of the mind/body/soul rela­tion­ship. Thank God we have been blessed with a spirit (that strange observer of it all) from which to delin­eate symp­toms from disease.

We live in a cul­ture that is con­tent with treat­ing the emo­tional symp­toms. We are afraid to look beneath the sur­face. There is a dark layer down there, and it is painful. We would rather wran­gle around with super­fi­cial­i­ties. It takes spir­i­tual courage to dive beneath the dark layer and find the roots of bit­ter­ness. Being whole beats whistling in the dark.

Life is a quest. It is a jour­ney. It is an almost end­less solv­ing of self-riddles. We are made in the com­plex image of God but not yet per­fected. This calls for patience — for self and all oth­ers. I like the pre­scrip­tion Jesus wrote for symp­toms and emotional/spiritual dis­eases: “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and your neigh­bor as your­self.” Take this each time you notice you are out of your best char­ac­ter and heal.