Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Viruses

Viruses have been getting a lot of press lately, so I figured I’d share some of my mental ramblings about them, in case something in these musings is helpful to you.

My thinking on viruses was pretty conventional until I was driving back home from a USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) veterinary accreditation course. The drive was long, and for the first few hours, the scenery was rather boring, so I dropped into that meditative state peculiar to driving on long, flat, straight stretches of highway.

On my mind were the grizzly images I’d seen during the course, of animals afflicted with African horse sickness, foot and mouth disease, and other horrible viral infections. As I wondered what on earth life was up to with such awful things, I eventually had a surprising epiphany.

But first, I began by listing some things I knew about viruses:

* viruses are little more than fragments of DNA or RNA; some have thin coverings (called envelopes) and others do not, but in essence, all viruses are simply code

* specific viruses have an affinity for specific types of cells, and they code for specific cell behaviours, and thus they cause specific symptoms

* viruses can only replicate inside a living cell; in fact, most cannot survive for very long outside the host’s body

* with a few well-publicised exceptions, viruses tend to be highly species-specific

The thought then arose: what if viruses are fragments of ourselves (well, our species, anyway), broken off or left behind for some reason at the time of death or some other big, life-changing event? And what if viral infection is, in effect, that fragmented part of ourselves trying to be reintegrated and thus restored to wholeness; to come home, as it were?

I didn’t tell anyone about this idea; it was too kooky. I simply put it quietly to the test. I didn’t have to look very far for a suitable subject: I have my own resident virus, having suffered from cold sores since I was a teenager. (Herpes viruses, including the herpes simplex viruses that cause cold sores around the mouth, have a habit of latency, reappearing when conditions are suitable.)

The next time I felt that ominous tingling in my lip, I sat quietly and, instead of trying to kill the virus with one thing or another, I invited the virus to “come home,” to reintegrate, be restored—and restore me—to wholeness.

Guess what: I didn’t get that cold sore. And the times I’ve subsequently tried this approach at the first sign of an impending head cold, I didn’t get that cold. I’ve lived long enough to know the warning signs of these common viral infections in my body, how susceptible I am to viral infections, and how long the course of infection usually takes, so the results of this informal little experiment fairly blew my mind. I’ve since played with it in a few of my patients, with delightfully good results. I've also added to the theory...

Thoughts and emotions are perhaps even more infectious than viruses, bacteria, and other microbes, especially the “negative” emotions such as anger and fear. As Dr. Candace Pert lays out in her book Molecules of Emotion, within our bodies our thoughts and emotions use the plethora of messenger molecules (neurotransmitters, hormones, etc.) as their physical vehicles. So, I’m now thinking that every type of virus might represent a specific thought-form (thought-in-form?), a mental or emotional part of ourselves that requires healing or reintegrating, returning us to wholeness.

I also got to wondering what it is that renders one individual susceptible to a particular virus and another individual relatively impervious to that virus. I suspect that the particular virus matches the particular chinks in the individual’s armor; not to get in and cause trouble, but to get in and help restore wholeness.

Depending on how one looks at it, either the virus is highlighting points of weakness that can then be addressed, or it is entering who or where it can in order to be reintegrated. Either way, it should be a mutually beneficial arrangement.

But if that’s true, then why isn’t it what we usually experience? Why do viral infections make so many of us sick? Well, consider how you feel about viruses. For most of us, we could sum it up in one word: adversarial. We use words such as “combat,” “kill,” and “antiviral” when discussing viruses. Is it any wonder that we have an adversarial relationship with viruses?

One could argue that we feel this way about viruses because they make us sick, that the virus’s bad reputation is well-deserved. I can’t argue with that, although it does seem rather chicken-or-egg to me. What if you were to befriend the virus instead, invite it in, or at least be open to hearing what its presence is telling you about yourself and the way you’re living?

When I take the time to shift my perception in this way, I’m invariably the better for it, and the viral infection does not manifest in full.

Just something to think about as “flu season” approaches.

More soon,

Dr. Chris King
Nature's Apprentice
www.animavet.com