Cancer’s Message
By Barbara Janelle M.A.
Previously Unpublished
December, 1998
The man asked me to see his dog who had been tentatively (the tests were messed up) diagnosed at the veterinary college with a malignant tumor in the jaw. I thought my work would involve doing Therapeutic Touch, teaching the owner basic TT and Tellington Touch for the acupressure points on the ears and feet, offering a list of holistic veterinarians, and advising on diet. Instead I was greeted abruptly by the dog. He marched up to me, looked into my eyes, turned and sat in front of me facing his owner and said, “Tell him we share one heart.”
ROCHESTER
Men don’t cry, you know
–except the voice wavers
and the eyes are afraid to blink,
because tears will form.
Men can’t cry!
The English Bulldog said,
“Tell him we share one heart
We are one–we belong.”
He blinks this away
–and two days later,
asks me to explain.
“Some dogs and humans are closer than others.
Some dogs are so devoted,
so clear in their commitment,
as is Rochester,
that it is as if you share
one heart.”
Rochester watches
and feels him take this in.
It went deep….GOOD!
This truth removed the mask
and allowed him to choose
to release Rochester,
Before the pain of cancer went too deeply
into them.
As I watched the pain experienced by this man, and saw the magnificence of the dog, I reached a point of rage at the illness and the helplessness of veterinary medicine and complementary procedures to turn the course of Rochester’s illness. I knew this rage was also about many other cancer situations involving people, as well as animals. The rage lasted several hours, but finally I was able to go beyond it to question cancer about its role. This is the response:
CANCER
Don’t you see that cancer is the energy of human belief
that says, “I am separate” and ignores
existence within a whole cooperation
(concert).
“I’m separate. I’m more important than anyone else.
My view is right.” This is cancer.
And as it strengthens, becomes entrenched,
Cancer invades, overcomes and eventually
destroys life.
How do you stop cancer?
Not by medical means–these are only symptom fighters;
they do not touch the core:
the belief in hierarchy, in individual will
beyond the reality of cooperation,
relationship and wholeness.
Begin by surrendering to peaceful coexistence
with all life.
Own relationship to all; after all consciousness
is life and everything is conscious.
Yes, even the leather in the chair,
the metal in the automobile,
the stone in the concrete walkway.
Live the big life and the trap of limited separateness will not exist, nor will cancer.
I recognise that this message is only a small part of the cancer puzzle. The words I heard in my head and wrote on paper came through the filter of my beliefs, experiences and understandings. They have meaning for me, and I believe, for many others; that is why I present this to you.
As I examined this message, I realised it was speaking of the sacred truth, “All is One.” According to Carolyn Myss, this is the truth of the root chakra. I know that when I work with people and animals who have cancer, the root chakra is gummy, chaotic, and weakly connected to the Earth. The crown chakra is muddy too, and these two chakras are intimately connected. All is One.
We forget that we are part of the Earth, not separate from her. We draw energy from her and are held in her loving embrace. We forget that each of us is a magnificent spiritual being, sharing the essence of the Divine. We are not separate from one another. We walk apparently separate paths, but we do so for the whole.
Cooperation is mirrored in an infinity of ways in the universe, on this Earth, within our physical bodies. Nothing exists physically without cooperation of the various forms of consciousness, which at its essence is one consciousness.
Our approach to illness has been to fight it, rather than to strengthen the body, the emotions, the mind and the spirit. Our science seeks ways to kill microorganisms that cause disease, rather than ways of co-existence and cooperation. The wish to kill affects our root and heart chakras adversely and causes illness. We must look for ways to cooperate with all life. We must be responsible for our thoughts and beliefs because they affect the whole of existence. We Are One and we must begin to live that truth.
Myss, Caroline. Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing. New York: Harmony Books, 1996.
Note: My comments on cancer being a reflection of the human belief in separation refer to the belief held by the group, not the individual. BJ 1/03