Our will influences the shape of things. A powerful will can heal the incurable. The collective attention of many can bring about healing.

All secondary details to the I that is before any body, that delights in every body.

Chuck, I would like to see more doctors with a vast perspective on life like yours

In modern medicine, we tend to think in very mechanical terms, as if it is all about effective drugs, invading pathogenic organisms and physical damage to organ systems. I have learned that his is not all there is to it, yet this is a very important level to deal with, and if we ignore it there are consequences. I have also learned that there are deeper levels to consider, and the deeper levels seem to be more important in determining ultimate outcomes.

One deeper level is what I described in a previous comment about Gloria’s stories about Francis. We frequently bury negative emotions within our psyche and they can cause disease. These emotional blocks can cause us to embrace a life style that leads to the deterioration of our body and can even become physical illnesses and chronic symptoms. I have seen many clear examples of this, and I know it to be true, but, unfortunately, it is still a kind of heresy to speak of these ideas with most of my medical colleagues. This is not the last word by any means, though, for there are even deeper and more important levels.

For want of a better description, I will call one deeper level that I have in mind the soul level. I think that here is where most of the explanations lie for cases where people die when we do not think they should and for how hopeless situations turn around, like the second woman you described. At this level we see that the “soul” is truly in charge. We have purposes to accomplish in our lives that I believe we decided before our birth. Few of us are aware of these issues, they are usually unseen and most of us do not even imagine that they exist (on a conscious level).

I am coming to the conclusion that there is even more to all this, beyond what I have said so far. We are coming to realize that Oneness and our inter-connection with everything that exists plays the most essential role and this is why we can never be absolutely sure about how any medical condition will evolve. This is a level we cannot know and experience on an overtly conscious level. We can be absolutely certain about one thing, though: everything works out for the best. I see this as at least part of the purpose of Oneness, to take into account everything that exists and everything that is possible and to provide us with the best possible outcome. To me, this is the basis for complete optimism and peace of mind.

Yes, Lynda, I do think Heavenletters contain the key.

Wishing peace and good health to all……Chuck

…if the messages are heard and absorbed into our approach to life.
We do need to be able to “absorb” the messages, and really feel them and become them.

Two years ago, my mother was diagnosed with acute myleogenous leukemia. My mother’s personality was always to control everything in her life, or at least attempt to. I knew the minute she was given the diagnosis, she made the decision that she wanted to die This was not something she could control (or so she believed).
She was put on a regime of treatment, that only caused other health issues. She refused the second round of treatment.
Less than two months from the day she received the diagnosis, she passed away. She was only 73, and in otherwise good health. No one could understand how such a strong willed, healthy person, could just suddenly be gone. The doctor’s from what I understand, were fabulous, and had done everything they could from a medical perspective.
My mother would tell someone on a daily basis that she was not afraid to die, and “go be with God.” as she understood God.

Within a year of my mother’s death, a co-worker came to me and asked me about this type of leukemia, as her husband’s grandmother was just given the news that she had this aggressive illness. This woman was a minister, and she had all of her congregation, and family members praying for her not to die.
Mind you, several of the family members had self serving reasons, along with loving this woman so much, they could not bear to lose her. Her husband has never accepted that she was meant to die before him. She is the rock of the entire family.
She refused chemotherapy, and asked to go home with pain management in place. This was in October 2009.
My co-worker tells me that they all “got their suits drycleaned for the funeral” and are now hanging in the closets. Then she was still here on earth for Christmas. They thought, well, she just wants to enjoy one more joyful season. She is still hangs on. She has nursing care in her home and is on morphine for the pain. She is not in any pain. She is the same age as my mother was, in the same city (that is a whole other story).

So, I ask the question - is it her family and their resistance to letting her go, the reason she lingers here? Her family’s love for her is so strong, that the bond of love keeps her here? Or is this her soul’s experience?

Why would two women, have completely different experiences with the same illness?

The most important concern is about the person whose life is in question. It should be all about him or her. We highly value life and this is a good thing, but this very high valuation itself can cause us great problems. We are very attached to our loved ones and this is also very natural and a good thing, but can likewise cause trouble. These very positive tendencies can cause us to make very poor decisions about the lives of the critically ill, especially when the question of life support is involved.

Your situation with your father, Gloria, clearly sounds like it was not like this at all. Thankfully, most life prolonging situations are like your father’s; everyone is in agreement, patient, family and physicians.

Our society does tend to see death as something to avoid at all costs and most people in the medical professions are brought up this way, also, and tend to greatly fear death. When you add in the attachment we have to the life of our loved ones, this can easily lead to prolonging the life of the hopelessly ill with aggressive life support equipment where the only outcome to be expected is to greatly prolong a painful dying process. I have seen this go on for weeks to months, on occasion. Pure logic alone gives us the correct answer, here, if we can achieve even a modicum of emotional distance. This kind of situation teaches us that it is all about quality in life, not about quantity.

Experienced physicians almost always know very clearly that it is not always the good doctor’s role to “save” or prolong a life. Far too often, though, they are put in a position of opposing an emotionally involved family when they know in their heart that the family’s wishes are not in the gravely ill patient’s best interest. This is a very tough spot to be in as a physician and I think we all handle it a bit differently.

Heavenletters have perspectives that provide enormous help if the messages are heard and absorbed into our approach to life. The realization that no one ever dies when they are not ready can take a lot of pressure off those making these kinds of decisions. Likewise, the understanding that the transition out of physical life is not a disaster, and conscious life always goes on is also tremendously reassuring and calming. Life is a precious gift and it should not be given up lightly, but the loss of the physical body does not need to be all the drama it typically is, either. When the body is worn out and day to day life is just more pain and frustration, death is healing. We shed an old worn out body and move on to what is next in our spiritual evolution.

God said:
Everything in life is for a reason, yet there is no reason, there is no cause, and there is no cause to seek. From the vantage of Earth, there isn’t a way to understand all the weaving and interweaving of the Universe and life and your life. Your life can only be a puzzle, not to unwind, but to enter into.
…
In a way it is like when Superman was spotted, and it was asked: “What is that? Is it a plane?” Life is like that. It is fleeting. It passes by so quickly, you can only gasp: “What was it? What happened? What didn’t happen?”
…
What is the most you can know? You can know you are a Human Being on Earth, on a seeming Earth, and you are a certain Child of God. Is there more to say? The rest can only be details. Born here, went to school there, married this woman, not that, had this many children or none, worked hard, bought a house, went on vacations, lived to a ripe old age or died young. And what does all that amount to? Only details. When all is said and done, insignificant details, beloveds.
…
What matters in your life is that you live it and that you give love along the way.