Could We Be Setting Ourselves Up for Another Epidemic?

As a medical intuitive, I work with people to understand the emotional and spiritual causes of their illnesses and life circumstances. There was a time when the notion that we create our own reality or that emotions could lead to stress was dismissed as something completely groundless. How times have changed.

It's now accepted by medical doctors that anger can cause significant irritation to the stomach lining. Additionally, scientists have repeatedly demonstrated that stress increases the white blood cell activity in people. Moreover, certain emotions have been mapped to certain diseases. For example, cancer can often be traced to a major disappointment and leukaemia to a significant psychological upheaval.

But such analysis isn't limited to the individual. For example, medical intuitive, spiritual teacher and archetypal historian Caroline Myss has hypothesised that we can look to various crises of the past that were so dramatic and so deep that what happened to society at large was reflected in the epidemics of those times.

Myss points to the stock market crash of 1929 which led to the financial collapse of the United States and a subsequent depression that lasted for over ten years. During that time, she notes that people referred to the country as being "economically crippled". Not by accident, according to her analysis, did an epidemic of polio then sweep the country. And a vaccine was only discovered after America elected a President who himself suffered from the disease and found its national pride in the economic successes of a world war victory.

Myss argues that the majority of victims of the more recent epidemic of AIDS fit certain psychological and emotional patterns. Whether they were gay, intravenous drug users or prostitutes, she observes that they formed a category of people who were in one way or another victimised by society in such a way that they were left metaphorically and symbolically defenceless.

I find this analysis of epidemics as a reflection of the global consciousness or global spirit very interesting. While it may strike some as either a stretch too far or unconvincing, if you believe that archetypal patterns can be found in individuals, then there's every reason to believe that they can also occur in groups, in turn underlying the causes of epidemics themselves.

And so this past week, I began to wonder whether we are not heading toward another epidemic. Even posing such a question may seem absurd. But I feel it's very relevant. It seems to me that all the elements identified by Caroline Myss in her theory are nearly in place. First, more and more we live in a global society. What happens in one country affects another. What one people feels is often mirrored by another. We are all plugged into the same emotions - the same stress.

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the world was plunged into a place of fear. Even today citizens of cities such as New York, London and Madrid - to name but a few - worry that "today might be the day" that there is another attack.

Our governments have responded, arguably in the best way that they could and even with the best of intentions. But do we feel safer having declared war on this threat of terror? I'm not so sure that we do.

My point is that the attacks on the World Trade Towers were the first of a one-two punch. Collectively, I would argue that living in this prolonged state of anxiety, or more specifically fear, has weakened our immune systems because we're all plugged into the thought that it's only a matter of time until the next attack.

The second blow of this punch combo has, in my opinion, come in the form of the global credit crunch. Seemingly overnight the world's financial institutions found themselves on the brink of collapse. Money that used to be available to banks suddenly vanished. Just like that borrowers found themselves unable to get loans. And those who have loans have found it increasingly difficult to keep them - either due to increased interest rates or to losing their jobs.

Rare is the person who is not feeling the squeeze. In fact, more than one commentator has likened the current events in the financial markets to those that led to the collapse of 1929. So, with that parallel drawn, is it possible to connect the dots between a worldwide economic disaster and an ensuing epidemic? Could we be on course for another disease to ravage us much as polio did during the 1930's? And if we are, what can we do to protect ourselves?

As the first step, we need to kick this habit of thinking that we truly need all the objects we've accumulated around us in order to live. Sure, they appear to make life more comfortable and appear to insulate us from an often harsh environment. But whether they actually do is another matter. Moreover, these days it seems that no-one is prepared to wait. We have fallen victim to this fast-food commercialism of instant gratification. Doing without the clutter not only helps the pocketbook but it actually makes us stronger individuals.

Next, I recommend that all of us try to get some perspective on this global situation. I'm no economist but it seems to me that markets rise or fall based on the confidence people have in their situations. So, stopping all this doom-and-gloom scaremongering is essential.

Leading on from this, and most importantly, we have to unplug from this global consciousness of fear and dread, be it of the next terrorist attack or the collapse of the financial markets. We have to begin seeing ourselves as individuals who are responsible for ourselves, our own situations and our own outcomes. We cannot continue to consider ourselves innocent bystanders (read victims) of the global situation. Back in the 1920's this led to a social disaster. If we don't nip this in the bud, I "fear" we could be headed for a repeat of history.

I encourage each of you to engage in some serious self-examination. Make a conscious decision to evaluate just how vulnerable you are to the fears of our times. Then, ask yourself what changes you need to make to disengage from all this negativity. Some of us will able to do this on our own. Others of us may need some assistance as this, like so many things in life, is easier said than done. The main thing is to get started and not leave your life or your health to chance!