Part 2 of a 2-Part Article
Her Miraculous Healing
Now we come to the part of Anita’s story that is more difficult to wrap our rational mind around. How could the physical healing that Anita experienced happen so quickly? Her organs were shutting down, she had lesions all over her body, she had large tumors but all this healed rapidly (the lesions took a bit more time but they too eventually disappeared and she did not need the plastic surgery the doctors were recommending).
A Course in Miracles (a manuscript of conversations Helene Schucman purports to have had with Jesus, published in 1976) puts forth some very interesting notions in terms of how and why miracles happen. The first principle of the Course is; there is no order of difficulty to miracles. The Course explains that there is no scale, no difference in the magnitude or ratings of occurrences – they are all the same. It also claims that; miracles demonstrate that learning has occurred under the right guidance. It confirms that; learning is invisible but what has been learned can be recognized by its visible or physical results. So if we apply this logic, we can see that during Anita’s NDE she learned what she was meant to learn about herself, about life and about love. The visible or tangible proof is the healing that she manifested upon returning to her body.
The Role of Disease
I find the philosophy from A Course in Miracles, of learning and then seeing the physical ramifications of the lesson, very interesting as it reinforces the importance of the insights one can learn from disease. It also helps explain how a shift in terms of our own perception can render the disease no longer relevant. It appears that when a disease no longer serves a role or a higher purpose, the body becomes free to heal itself, a process that is a part of the body’s innate intelligence or programming. I personally believe that disease can be a sign or a cry for help from the body. It is the body demanding a change in order to deal with an imbalance or an issue like; a broken relationship, self-neglect, a stressful or unfulfilling job, etc… in order to return to wholeness and harmony. The book - No Ordinary Moments, A Peaceful Warrior’s Guide to Daily Life by Dan Milkman (H. J. Kramer Inc.1992) talks about the Rules for Being Human, which state; since Earth is a full-time school, every person or incident is our teacher. It furthers suggests that; if we don't learn the easy lessons, they get harder and, we will know we've learned a lesson when our actions change. Anita’s stage 4 cancer left her no choice but to learn, or to die. I have personally seen many cases where disease helps people to discover and live their truth, to learn what they need to learn - to slow down or to reflect or rebalance their priorities and their lives. If we apply the Rules for Being Human notions to disease, it follows that unless the lesson is learned and the insights are integrated and acted upon, deep and lasting healing cannot take place and the disease will likely continue to progress in order to get our attention and facilitate (or sometimes force) change. It follows then, that even if a cancer tumor is cut or burned out or otherwise medically treated, if it still has a role to play, it will likely not go away completely, until the lesson is learned (i.e. our actions change).
Anita’s Insights
In talking about her own recovery Anita shares that she now understands that the real you is not your body, the real you is your infinite self (often called your Soul). Her new belief is that our primary reality is not the physical world but rather the physical world is the result of our consciousness. Given that consciousness is not confined to time and space, time and space no longer represent limitations, thus allowing things to happen instantaneously. Anita states, “it’s only because we are focused on the physical body as being our primary reality that we believe that healing takes time”. Below are some other principles from A Course in Miracles that I feel specifically support Anita’s explanation of how spontaneous healing can take place.
Anita’s Message
Some of Anita’s most powerful messages for the world include, ‘we are all magnificent beings of pure love, love yourself so that you are in turn able to love others. Believe in your own magnificence and know that you only need to be yourself to serve the world in the most meaningful way possible’. Anita went through a lot of pain and suffering to learn these valuable lessons and I want to thank her for choosing to come back into her body after her NDE, to show us that miraculous healing is possible and to share her insights that are paradoxically simple yet so deep, profound and life changing.
She just launched her book Dying to be Me by Hay House Publishing (March, 2012) http://www.hayhouse.com/details.php?id=6029. It is an amazing and thought provoking book with more great insights and inspiring words from this courageous woman!
If you haven't read part 1 of this article please see below. If you would like to listen to my video interview with Anita please click here.