Understanding Critical Illness, Death and Fate: To Develop Self-Knowledge and Positive Karma

Despite the common perception that "everything happens for a reason", this reasoning seems harsh and unlikely when a person becomes critically ill.

Fate is about humanity's actions being free: we make choices, which determine our outcome. No one chooses illness. How can we judge, say, a newborn baby becoming critically ill and then dying as being an act of fate, considering he/she never had a chance to live on their own accord, in the first place?

Understanding Evolutionary Dysfunction

Individuals do not become ill because of natural selection, but because of evolutionary dysfunction. Viruses and bacteria reproduce so rapidly; sometimes they evolve faster than the body's defense system has time to react. In some instances, individuals are not always able to escape their infections, and have to battle to the death.

Evolutionary medicine is concerned with how humanity is vulnerable to disease. Biologists present a germ theory of disease based on Darwin's examination of human evolution in 'The Descent Of Man'. In Randolph Nesse's paper 'Evolution: Medicine's Most Basic Science', [1] he explains why people are all the same in ways that leave us vulnerable to disease. Even when we live in different environments, people are still subject to illness. Heart disease, obesity and drug abuse, for example, are among the number of diseases only present in the West that are are caused by "a mismatch" between our bodies and our environments. Nesse goes on to say that the number of people with critical illness in other parts of the world is almost double than it is in the west, because they are living in a "lesser natural environment."

The evolution of pathogens is a concept that medical science uses to help us understand health and disease, and protect, heal and recuperate individuals; increasing one's life expectancy. If we begin to accept this idea rather than that of natural selection, we will have a basis for dealing with the critical illness of a loved one. We are prepared to care for them as best we can.

Caring For A Patient With A Critical Illness

An individual does not always have a choice to live their life the way that they would desire, but the general population has a choice to care for them or not. The fact that we have doctors and nurses willing to care for the critically ill accounts for positive karma; that we want to keep the human race alive for as long as possible.

Reacting to an illness also reminds us of our own sensitivity; if we are willing to explore our fears we will develop self-knowledge.

Life can be chaotic, so it is essential that a person stays strong in the face of illness and death, believing that each and every person has a purpose to live. Loved ones provide support and inspiration; those who are caring for a person throughout their illness must be sure to give them a purpose:

• Spending time with the patient is an opportunity for them to develop their emotions, which will prevent them from dissolving into isolation and loneliness. A willingness to make them feel connected, heard, and able to reach out for contact and support, provides them a sense of fulfilment.

• Take time to reflect, looking back at the patient's life, and deciding what there is to be most proud of. In particular, think about the connections that have been formed with other people- what has been given to them, and what has been received. Determine what is unique about the individual and allow his/her strengths to inspire others.

• Be open and honest with the patient. Death is inevitable, yes, but making sense of life and illness can allow one's journey to be changeable and enthralling. Imagination is one of human nature's greatest gifts; every individual should take advantage of this as it creates a belief that we each have the power to embrace life as best we can, without fear or regret, and gain some personal satisfaction.

The way to achieve the human race living in peace and harmony with the natural world is to bridge the common perceptions of reality with the deeper, individual consciousness. Not everything in life is justified, and death is inevitable for each and every individual; however, this should not stop a person living life the way they would want.

Illness and death provide information to the mind. Self-knowledge and positive karma develop from the will to explore our experiences and accept that every individual has a purpose in life.

Footnote:
[1] Nesse RM, 'Evolution: medicine's most basic science' in Lancet 372 (Suppl 1): S21-7 (December 2008).