Coming from a small remote village, Kan worked hard to enroll in a top university in the capital city. Ten years into his career, he achieved huge financial success. His biggest dream was to buy a house for his mother near him, so he could take care of her as she got older. As a single mother, Kan’s mother had endured extreme hardship to raise him.
The day finally came when he bought her a beautiful house with a garden on the outskirts of the city. However, a few weeks after moving in, she started coughing and had difficulty breathing. Thinking that she might have an allergy to the building material, Kan hired a top inspection company to make sure the house met the strictest safety standards. But his mother’s condition worsened.
Next, Kan checked her into the best hospital in town, where she was hooked up to a respiratory machine and an IV. After the doctors had her go through every test they could think of, Kan’s mother was exhausted. Nearly two weeks later, they found no problem, and the mother’s condition remained the same. But the hospital stay burned a hole in Kan’s wallet, costing him the equivalent of half a year’s salary for the average person.
Devastated, Kan asked his friends for help. They recommended a famous alternative medicine doctor, and Kan managed to make an appointment. When Kan and his mother came to the clinic, before they even sat down, the doctor took a quick glance at his mother, then started writing the prescription: “Eat a kilo of locally produced soybeans for a few days.” Then, the assistants ushered Kan and his mother out of the clinic.
Kan was stunned and furious. After going to so much trouble to find this doctor and waiting nearly a month for the appointment, he was met with high expectations, only to be told to eat soybeans? The doctor didn’t even ask a single question about his mother’s condition. What a scam!!! With many other patients waiting in line, there was nothing Kan could do. He almost threw the prescription directly into the trash bin. But on second thought, he decided to give it a try. At the cost of a cup of coffee, what did they have to lose?
A few days later, his mother fully recovered her health.
Many people might think this is a story of a miraculous or even mysterious health recovery. It is, but much more importantly, it is an illustration that very complex problems often have simple solutions. This is true not only related to health issues. It is true with every human-related issue in life–marriage, parenting, business, organizations, industries, societies, and politics.
Unlike the hospital doctors, who focused on her symptoms through scientific analysis, the clinic doctor instantly recognized that the mother was having an allergic reaction or physical difficulty adapting to the new environment and climate. Locally grown soybeans had natural healing power to facilitate her adaptation. Nature has already given us most of the solutions to our problems, if only we know how to recognize and respect them. That ability to see connections between the visible and the invisible is wisdom, the result of high consciousness.
From low consciousness, we create problems. From high consciousness, we create solutions. Wars, conflicts, pain, and suffering, as well as healing, unity, joy, and peace, are the result of our collective creations. We are constantly creating, through thoughts, emotions, and actions. What we create is a matter of choice, consciously or unconsciously. They are completely within our control. However, due to social conditioning, many of us think otherwise.
Take the example of Kan. He accepted paying a huge hospital bill for treatment that yielded no results as normal. Yet, he considered the lack of expensive tests and inexpensive natural remedies a potential scam. Such a perspective on life is against nature.
We judge the value of a product or a service based on its complexity or the time required to produce it. For example, we think thick books are worth more than thin but concise books loaded with wisdom. We are willing to pay more for a two-hour plumbing job than for a one-hour job of equal quality. And our social and economic systems reward such inefficiency. We think a lack of time is normal, or that a busy schedule is a sign of productivity or ambition; we think stress, anxiety, suffering, and pain are an inevitable part of life; we think working hard is the answer to all our problems.
As illustrated by the clinic doctor, there are better ways. The best way comes through raised consciousness. The higher our level of consciousness, the easier it is to see reality—the invisible but critical connections that lie beyond the obvious symptoms. Identifying the root cause and offering the right diagnosis is itself 90% of the solution. The higher our level of consciousness, the simpler the solutions become. Just imagine what kind of world we could create if we tackled issues like Covid-19, global warming, healthcare, education, the economy, and politics from a higher level of consciousness.
Raising consciousness isn’t just about practical benefits. It is the only reason we are on earth. We came on earth in human form to learn and to practice how to move from an ego-driven existence to expressing the God-like divine qualities that are already within us.
In fact, consciousness is the only thing there is. While our bodies are temporary, our consciousness is cumulative and eternal. Everything we do in life—family, business, or relationships—is only “homework” we do as part of our consciousness school curriculum. Every circumstance, pleasant or unpleasant, that we experience exists for our spiritual growth. Every person in our lives—family members, friends, and foes—is a supporting actor, here to play a role in our spiritual journey.
When we understand this, we can set life priorities accordingly and focus on what really matters. The quality of life or business or anything else we create is a direct reflection of our level of consciousness. To raise consciousness is to manage our thoughts moment by moment, which is 100% within our control. The most direct path to high consciousness is mindfulness practice—being present, increasing self-awareness, and making conscious choices. From these mindful habits, excellence naturally results.