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#### *This week @metametheus poses a philosophical question to challenge our beliefs around health, healing, medicine, life and death. We invite you to consider the question [Do We Live Healthy Lives to Avoid or Postpone Death?](https://steempeak.com/naturalmedicine/@naturalmedicine/nm-wisdom-challenge-due-april-26th-20-steem-to-one-winner) and post your response. 30 Steem (and more) up for grabs to the best entries (see below for details).*
A few years ago now, I was sitting in stillness meditation after a particularly potent alchemical *Qìgōng* session when something dawned on me. A little voice piped up in my consciousness and challenged me: >*Why are you afraid of death?* I'm not afraid of death! How can I be afraid of death? And so, all the pieces of a puzzle began unfolding before me. It started with childhood night-terrors imaging what happens after death comes on, to my refusal to attend funerals, to the challenge of my [physiological illness and spiritual 'death'](http://metametheus.net/the-art-of-dying/), to the anxiety of losing loved ones, and my fascination with Taoist Alchemy, medicine, and longevity practices. My experience with Graves Disease (the irony on that is not lost on me) was the catalyst for my journey with natural medicine and health. That voice was challenging my intentions behind my health choices: I wasn't 'being healthy' to be healthy, but to prolong life and avoid death! Ouch! So I questioned my choices: were they really serving my true nature? A little bit of extra context is needed here. At the time I had begun to learn a tantric form of yoga, and in doing so familiarising myself particular with the tantric Buddhist ideas from Tibet. I attended a workshop on *Yoga & Death* and learned about the *Bardo Thödol* — otherwise called the "Tibetan Book of the Dead". >*I have arrived at the time of death, so now, by means of this death I will adopt only the attitude of the enlightened state of mind, Friendliness and compassion, And attain perfect enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, As limitless as space.* — from the **Bardo Thödol** (Tibetak Book of the Dead) Being a Doctor of Chinese Medicine and practicing primary health-care provider, this challenged my beliefs and very livelihood. The alchemical tradition of TCM which came through a certain Taoist school of thought saw illness as a means of achieving one's 命 *mìng* or fate/destiny, and I always approached my work with patients in such a way (modelled on my own experience of healing through chronic illness). But what if someone's *mìng* is to die? Wouldn't I be getting in the way of that? And how would I even know? Of course, this becomes part of the major criticisms with modern medical approaches to (for example) Cancer treatments. Often, Oncologists continue to treat a patient with chemo/radio-therapies even when they believe there is no chance of survival. It is even the criticism of medicating the elderly, keeping people alive who in natural circumstances would have passed on perhaps years prior. And in such cases, what cost to health budgets, society, the taxpayer, etc? Even the vaccination argument — on both sides of the fence — is driven by a *fear of death*, either caused by an infectious disease or an enforced vaccination. >*Die! Die! Don't fear the death Of that which is known If you die to the temporal You will become timeless* — Rumi This critique could not only be directed at mainstream/scientific medicine, but at the natural medicine/health industry also. Similar to the ancient Chinese alchemists, the natural health industry uses the promises of a long life full of hope, sunshine, and runs along a sandy beach to promote mineral supplements, herbal medicines, diets, exercise, fitness, yoga, etc. I have even witnessed this same sense of *thanatophobia* in the field of child-birth, where unnecessary medical interventions are promoted with the mantra of "you don't want your unborn child to die, do you?" Thinking along these lines pushed my buttons, and continues to do so. Just because I am no longer a health professional, doesn't mean I have somehow become separated from these challenging ideas? What if we simply let people die when they get cancer? What happens if we go ahead with a home-birth irrespective of risk factors and allow children or others to not survive? What if we don't vaccinate, and people die from diseases like measles? Somehow the complete other end of the spectrum, complete non-intervention, also feels not-quite-right. >*Having approached an immortal like you [Yama/Death], How can I, Subject to old age and death, Ever try to rejoice in a long life, For the sake of the senses' fleeting pleasures?* — from the **Katha Upanishad** These words from the Upanishads somehow give me a clue as to all of this — "for the sake of the senses' fleeting pleasures". In later times, Taoist alchemists began to understand that the concept of *longevity* was not so much about a long life, but a *fulfilled, quality of life.* What do we do with the life that we have? Is it better to have a long life of suffering, or a shorter life that is meaningful? I'm nowhere near an answer, myself. I still grapple with these questions, and continue to confront and invite my own fear of death. One of the things I will be doing is facing one of my fears and jumping out of a plane in the next couple of months (sky-diving). But this process of questioning is also beginning to inform my choices with diet, lifestyle, etc. Spending all my money on preventing death — such as herbs, medicines, supplements, visits to health practitioners, etc — doesn't seem as important as spending it on travel, time with loved ones, experiences that enrich my life, and opportunities to help other people live full lives also. https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/naturalmedicine/j272mJH2-image.png ### About The Author @metametheus is a human being with an eclectic and diverse background of experiences and qualifications. He is passionate about re-igniting *hope* in people, and helping to build a human civilisation founded in diversity, integrity, harmony, and humility. You can find his work on his website [Pandora's Lost Gift](http://metametheus.net) https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/naturalmedicine/j272mJH2-image.png ### The NM Wisdom Challenge: #### Do We Live Healthy Lives to Avoid or Postpone Death? There's many ways to answer this question. You might: - write about personal experience - explore a particularly study on longevity - examine psychological or cultural attitudes toward death - consider particular diets that are said to help with a longer life - explore mindful or meditative practices that assist us in coping with the inevitability of our physical deaths - consider challenging the question ### Prizes and Winners Every valid and worthy entry will recieve a 100 Percent upvote from @naturalmedicine and will be resteemed. We'll also celebrate you in a curation wrap up post that goes out to nearly 800 followers to give you more coverage. Our favourite entries will be shortlisted by the core Natural Medicine team, and if it's not unanimous, we'll use a random name picker to choose a winner from the shortlist to win **20 Steem!** Plus, 2 runners up will get **5 Steem** courtesy of @metametheus and @riverflows. Depending on how many entries we receive, up to 3 runners up may win SBI bonus prizes. ### Conditions - Resteem this post - Use the tags #naturalmedicine #mindfullife #tribevibes - Refer and link to this post in your post - Drop the link under this post so we can find you easily. - Comment on at least TWO others who wrote on this topic — this might mean checking back around the 25th/26th. https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/naturalmedicine/j272mJH2-image.png
# Do We Live Healthy Lives to Avoid or Postpone Death? # What do you think?
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Originally posted here: https://steemit.com/naturalmedicine/@naturalmedicine/natural-medicine-editorial-life-or-death-what-is-medicine-health-really-about
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