I will never forget how outraged one of my former college students was when I intimated that she might have played a critical role in her own cancer. I back-pedaled during this, in-class, confrontation — as I certainly didn’t want to be the catalyst of a relapse – but I do have to stand by my intimation: that those-of-us who succumb to a cancer – are largely responsible for its unbridled growth.
We are no longer in touch with our bodies – as this world is too much with us, late-and-soon – my ubiquitous Wordsworthian allusion suggests that the “stuff” of this world keeps us much too busy to monitor our bodies. I firmly believe that our body talks to us from the earliest-of- ages – and if we listen – we learn what is toxic to us and/or what is beneficial to us. I think it is all that “world stuff” that gives us that lobotomy – that severs that connection between mind-and-body. Let’s face it – the stuff-of-the-world is extremely seductive: Daniel Quinn calls the voice that hypnotizes us: Mother Culture.
So, we place the locus of our control externally – instead of internally. That which governs us is no longer within us (as it should be), and herein lies the power of cancer. We’ve all been told that cancer cells inhabit our body alongside cells which provide our life-sustaining functions, and I suggest – that they proliferate and take over when the body and mind become sufficiently imbalanced or disconnected (or both) — providing a condition that cancer cells can grow unchecked.
I began this writing on June 25th (though the posting date is June 21st [it’s too complicated to explain in this article]) – and I certainly didn’t know that Farrah Fawcett was on the verge of passing away from her cancer (did I hear the report correctly…’liver’ cancer??? Whatever the heck that is…). I just remember Farrah as a great sex symbol. I loved that poster of her – with those big nipples pushing against that red bathing suit – circa 1974. But am I suggesting that Farrah was not in touch with that gorgeous body of hers? I guess I am – as I have heard from more than one eye witness that Farrah spent much of her time in a drunken stupor: a condition that certainly prevents one from listening carefully to the body.
My supervisor and mentor at USC, Dr. Carlfred Broderick, passed on from a stomach cancer – we heard reports that he nurtured a tumor the size of a grapefruit! One wonders how this brilliant man managed to lose touch with his body (though dealing with hundreds of graduate students, and fellow therapists and colleagues might certainly leave one on a cerebral plane [not to mention his reliance on Mormonism for spiritual sustenance]).
And it was while I was under the tutelage of Dr. B that I read a cancer research article that reported on comparative analyses of cancer treatments – namely, radiation; chemotherapy; and, positive imaging (a self hypnosis method). The article suggested that positive imaging was the most effective of the three in pushing a cancer into remission. In subsequent years – I have read articles discussing the efficaciousness of self hypnosis for those who have tested positive for HIV.
The power of the mind! The power of Mind and Body linked! Think about it…think about it with regards to the ultimate disease of our time: cancer.