Advaita Vedanta and Illness

I am ill. And it feels ridiculous to tell myself that my illness doesn't exist. I can not simply deny my illness.

 You can tell yourself that the world is a dream or illusion,  but you and your stories about dreaming are taking part in this dream. Who is denying? Who feels ridiculous?  

Telling a serious patient that his illness is a dream is dreaming in the dream itself.

 Awakening from the dream is understanding that the dream is dreaming itself.

 Your illness is linked to the belief in your self. Your body and mind are one. You can not run away, but you can still watch it from a distance. Who is watching ?

First I have to explain something. The core of insight into what we really are is that you see that you  accept the world as it is revealed to you.  This revelation is universal. If you look at very young children  you will see that they do nothing but react to stimuli,  stimuli that  come from outside or inside.  In addition, they learn by imitating.  And then in all respects: in speech, in movement, emotion, behavior, memory (including memories of the parents) etc. In every living being is the construction of a typical creature. This uniqueness is also the unity of all creatures.

 There are cases known about children who grew up between wolves, dogs, chickens, in the bush or other extraordinary circumstances, and these children have been both physically and mentally adapted to their circumstances.  A step deeper,  is seeing that from childhood you are taught is how you function. Indeed: the self taught himself and that happens effortlessly. Here, the world must first be believed. Universal issues such as birth, illness, joy, life and death is associated with faith and conviction. We see children being born, but these births are taking place IN us, IN you!

 We see people get sick and die, but you must realize that the illness and death only takes place IN you. It's only you who sees this happening, it's you in which this reality has taken place in.  In  What You Really Are is invariably present, is unchanging absolute presence.  Whatever it is believed, at the level of uniqueness is this belief always true.   Moreover, Absolute Truth does not exclude any faith or truth. Never.  It is therefore possible that there are people who feel that they are taken by Martians to parallel universes.  In Truth, everything is possible.  In this candid openness is Liberation: there is nothing else than the experience of the Now. Spaceless and timeless.

 The question is whether you can choose what you believe. The answer is both yes and no. Yes, if you see that, paradoxically, there is no free will and so you experience uninhibited Not- Knowing Freedom  - and no, because in practice it appears that you have not much to want what faith is concerned.

 An ancient sage once said that we get ill and we die because we see  that happens to others.  You could say that we find ourselves in a collective belief, and we experience collective.  There are also people who believe in life after death, reincarnation, in karma and things like that. Why would you reject these visions? Everyone believes in whatever shows up in his experiences.

That is the secret of the disease concept.  Yes, concept. All people become ill, because all people seem to die of something.  If it is not cancer, accidents, or suicide, then it's of old age. Because there is no free will there is no question of guilt.  There is collective assumptions, beliefs, imitation and conditioning. Understanding these things  will bring no salvation.  In this collective assumption you will die anyway. It brings no salvation in the eyes of you and the 'others' , for your death takes also place in the other. Your death will also take place IN you. But That what you really are, does not die and was never born. I must admit, this is the hardest thing to understand because most brains hardly can handle this.

 Every man finds himself always mercilessly in its natural state, including the seriously ill patient.  Therefore  the ill person knows very well how he will perceive his world. An ill human being can go in all directions.  In principle involuntarily; he will always take the path that suits him. . He takes this path effortlessly.  So not from choice but from the vision of any revelation whatsoever.

He may be fearful about surrendering his body to doctors and medications, but also confident.  He may believe in fighting and struggling.  But why is the one ill be rewarded with healing and not another if they both fought as hard?  Why is one sick and the other not?

 He may believe that his illness has a spiritual cause.The belief in spiritual struggle or causes is based on belief in the 'I'. This belief in "I" need not to be rejected, it is all about SEEING THROUGHT it. His spiritual cause is an illusion because the law of cause and effect  is one who can continue endlessly and that can   be investigated endlessly. And when does this finally end...? This can lead to nothing but understanding that cause and effect themselves are illusions.

Now back to the question about denial.

 Many patients initially deny their illness. . If this denial is based on fear and resistance then there will be more suffering. The more denial, the meaner the pain.This is because disease is associated with a "me." The body and mind are one and the same.

But... There is also another form of denial. This denial is based on deep understanding: there is nobody.  There is no one to be sick. . Let the disease follow his illusionary path, take medicins, but everything is All Right.

This denial comes from letting go and accepting the same time. .This denial comes from trust.

Some people are very concerned as their loved relative  seems to deny his illness. But you should have faith that this denial finds its way. . Whether it is based on resistance or understanding, in essence  every reaction takes place in the story which is to be lived.

 Your identity and awareness of your identity is the only entrance, and the only output: In Reality, Nothing Happens to Me.