Symptoms or solutions?

A few evenings ago, while enjoying an incredibly spicy and delicious bowl of curry with my roommates, they taught me something interesting about fevers. When the body has a fever, it is the body fighting against illness. It is turning up the heat to kills the illness. The fever isn't actually a problem in and of itself. Although it can become dangerous in excess.

Yesterday, while talking to a doctor, I learned that fainting is also a safety measure that the body takes to protect itself. If enough blood is not reaching the brain, the body brings on the fainting so that the body will be brought horizontal, better enabling the blood to flow to where it is needed. Granted, it can also be dangerous, especially if one were to hurt him or herself in the process of becoming horizontal.

I found it fascinating that conditions that I considered to be symptoms of dysfunction were actually the body's solutions to other more primary problems. (At this point, I'm trying to decide if I want to apply this to therapy or to the gospel...hmm...I choose both.)

Relative to therapy, especially from a systems perspective, it is not uncommon to see clients present with undesirable symptoms that they wish to have eradicated, and for good reason. However, the therapist might conceptualize the source of the problem to be relative to the inner-workings of the family or ecological system of the identified patient. The symptom is how that individual has found to cope and function in the presence of other stresses or situations. It often requires addressing those issues below the tip of the iceberg, and within the system in order to achieve lasting change and freedom.

Relative to the gospel (and there are probably several ways this could be applied; I'll only pursue one), ofttimes someone who is suffering the effects of sin would like to have the consequences of their choice changed. They want to find happiness in wickedness. But that can't bring true happiness. Mormon, while reflecting on the sorrows of his people wrote, "Their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin." They didn't want to change their behavior or their hearts. They didn't seem to realize the source of their misery. They didn't see that peace and happiness come through obedience to laws and ordinances of the gospel. That is the deeper second order change that needs to happen to achieve real happiness and relief. The pain and sorrow that comes with wickedness is a consequence of sin, but it is a reminder and an invitation to repent and to change. I love Alma 42:29 in which Alma invites his son to "only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance." Regret, sorrow and pain are invitations to come unto Christ and be healed. They are not the problem, they are mercifully sent signals to invite us to seek available solutions through Christ's Atonement.

Also, happy Dr. Seuss' birthday/Read Across America Day! Read a book. Or an academic article. Or both. That's what I did.