The Sacred Ash: How My Worst Illness Unmasked My Best Self
On February 18th, the world narrowed down to the four walls of a sickroom and the violent rebellion of my own body. My eardrums throbbed with a dull ache, my breath was shallow through a heavy cold, and my body was caught in a humiliating tug-of-war between medicine and dysentery. At the very moment life had handed me a golden opportunity, the kind of professional "platter" you dream of, I was reduced to puking and peeing in my pants. I cursed the Divine. I screamed into the silence: “Why is it so much hard work? Why can’t it just be easy?” But looking back through the fog of medicines, I realise that my physical collapse was actually a spiritual intervention. When your senses are forcibly shut down : vision blurred, ears blocked, taste and smell gone, you are pushed into a "theta" state. You are no longer reacting; you are observing. In that drug-induced, slowed-down calm, I saw the truth of my life with terrifying clarity. The Masks We Wear I realized that everyt...