The All-Purpose Remedy

The World Health Organization reports that nearly 40 new diseases have emerged in the last 30 years, over 1,100 epidemic events took place in the last 5 years alone, and mental illnesses have become a plague. According to Kabbalah, one principal flaw stands behind all of this—human egoism.

“The disease situation is anything but stable... New diseases are emerging at the historically unprecedented rate of one per year,” writes the World Health Organization’s Director-General in the recent World Health Report.

“In a particularly ominous trend, mainstay antimicrobials [substances used against harmful microbes] are failing at a rate that outpaces the development of replacement drugs. These threats have become a much larger menace in a world characterized by high mobility, economic interdependence and electronic interconnectedness... Vulnerability is universal.”

The name of this report, “A Safer Future,” implies an optimistic view of the situation. However, a quick glance indicates that our future is far from secure. This lengthy report reveals the many illnesses that are currently affecting humanity, as well as those that will affect us in the future. And what does modern medicine have to say about this? Well, the news is hardly reassuring.

Along with the rise of existing illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and depression, the report also warns that “It would be extremely naive and complacent to assume that there will not be another disease like AIDS, another Ebola, or another SARS, sooner or later.”

Why Is This Happening to Us?

It seems that doctors have been finding it difficult to provide clear, direct answers to this question. However, according to the writers of this report, one thing is certain: Public health is primarily at risk because of human behavior.

As surprising as it may sound, Kabbalists also wrote about future illnesses that could afflict humanity in the 21st century. Like today’s doctors, they asserted that man plays a central role in these afflictions, and they also provided a possible solution to the health threat we face today.

But what do Kabbalists know about medicine, you ask?

Modern medicine defines an illness as the disruption of the process of homeostasis—balance in our bodies. When the function of a cell or an organ is disrupted, balance in the body is also disrupted, and as a result we become ill. In order to overcome the illness, the body does everything in its power to restore balance to all of its systems.

However, Kabbalists say that the process of balancing doesn’t take place only in the body.

Similarly to modern science, Kabbalah explains that there is an ongoing process of homeostasis within all of Nature. In early writings, Kabbalists describe Nature as a closed, integral system, in which all the parts cooperate in perfect balance and harmony. And this magical balance is kept by the reciprocal concern among the different parts of Nature.

Prof. Guntar Blubel, a Nobel Prize laureate in physiology and medicine, noted for his research on cell multiplication, recently told a Kabbalah Today reporter that according to scientific findings, “The principle of reciprocity is the key to the existence of every system in Nature. The cells in a living body illustrate the best example. They connect to one another by mutually giving to the body as a whole. Every cell receives everything it needs for its existence and uses all of its powers to care for the whole body.”

Good Health=A Good Relationship with Nature

Like the cells in our body, every individual element, on every level of Nature, acts in favor of the whole to which it belongs, and thus finds its wholeness. When a certain individual breaks the balance in Nature, all of Nature’s systems are immediately recruited to level the pressures and to restore the balance that was disrupted.

For instance, when the inner pressure at the earth’s core grows, and the external layer of the earth can’t withstand the pressure any longer, a volcano erupts. According to Kabbalah, new illnesses that erupt today are but a manifestation of the increasing imbalance in man’s relationship with Nature.

The thing that slips our notice is that humans are also part of Nature’s integral system, just like all the minerals, plants and animals. Therefore, the rules that apply to Nature’s integral system also apply to us. Finding out what those rules are is exactly what will allow us to find the reason for—and the solution to—our problems.

“Root Treatment”

It’s no news to anybody that egoism in human society is constantly on the rise. One takes advantage of another, enjoys the suffering of others, and empowers oneself through the destruction of others. With his egoistic attitude, man diverts from the course of Nature, systematically breaking the law of balance and reciprocity, and as a result suffers a painful reaction from Nature itself.

One way or another, Nature always balances whatever it finds to be imbalanced. The egoistic attitude that has become so prevalent in modern society is like a boomerang: It returns to hit us with more illnesses as well as other troubling phenomena that we are having a hard time explaining.

Even with the vast amounts of resources and technology we invest in our health systems, we barely scratch the surface of the problem. Instead of trying to fight every new symptom that emerges, it is time to treat the root of the problem—human egoism.

However, this does not mean that as of tomorrow we should say goodbye to our doctors. Rather, even as we keep visiting medical clinics, we must start treating the problem at the root and correct human egoism.

Kabbalah shows us how to broaden our perception and see that we are all parts of the same system. We will thereby restore our balance with Nature, and most of the illnesses will simply disappear, as their main cause will cease to exist. Thus, “correcting our egos,” Kabbalists say, is the all-purpose remedy.