A Healthy Body, part 2

In my previous post, I wrote about what health might look like in a Christian community, or really, in any community. Balance and integrity (striving to remain whole) are at the core of an organization’s health and the processes that promote this are the focus of attention. But what are those processes? To get at this, in his book Healthy Congregations, Peter Steinke uses the work of Edgar Jackson and Andrew Weil, and applies it to what it means for a group of people in enduring relationship with one another.

To this end, he uses principles that are often applied to the human body and sees how they might then be applied to human communities. They are the “Ten Principles of Health and Disease”, which are below. I’ll look at each in turn.

Ten Principles of Health and Disease

1. Wholeness is not attainable. (But it can be approximated.)
2. Illness is the necessary complement to health. (It is alright to be sick, feel burdened and be down.)
3. The body has innate healing abilities. (No one can give you––or the congregation––what you don’t already have.)
4. Agents of disease are not causes of disease. (All disease processes are enabled.)
5. All illness is biopsychological. (Wow! Everything is connected.)
6. The subtle precedes the gross. (Early detection is the best treatment.)
7. Every body is different. (There’s no universal treatment for every organism––or congregation)
8. A healthy circulatory system is the keystone of health and healing. (Feedback systems promote health.)
9. Breathing properly is nourishing to the whole body. (The Spirit must be active among the members the Body of Christ.)
10. The brain is the largest secreting organ of the body, the health maintenance organization (HMO) of the body. (The mind converts ideas into biochemical realities.)

1. Wholeness is not attainable.

Our bodies are never “perfectly healthy.” We are always holding something off, healing something, needing nourishment. Just as it is in our bodies, in our communities, there is always a balance at play, where illness and healing are happening. There is no completely “whole” place. We are always preparing and responding. When reading the following sentence, though, the last year or so came into clearer focus, “Both organisms and organizations are more apt to become sick after major losses, disruptive events, and prominent changes.” Moving to a three service Sunday schedule, the departures of Kristin, Sara, these have been major events and it necessarily takes time to come back to homeostasis, “the capacity of an organism to keep its internal environment steady…its cooperative behavior. Health occurs when the body’s systems run smoothly and energy flows freely.”

2. Illness is the necessary complement to health.

Using this lens, Illness actually can be important to our health, as it builds immunity. Steinke uses the analogy of a vaccine, the introduction of a weakened virus so that the body can be alerted and practice. In this way, the internal and external challenges that are faced can serve (but don’t always serve) to strengthen the resilience of a body. “Conflict is inevitable, even essential, if resistance resources are to emerge. A community may strengthen or re-examine its sense of purpose…Health is 10 percent what happens and 90 percent how we respond.” No one wishes for dis-ease, but if the body is able to respond effectively, it is able to become stronger in the process.

3. The body has innate healing abilities.

Steinke writes, “Healing is self-regeneration. It comes from the inside, not the outside…There are no quick fixes obtained from anyone or anything external.” Physicians can help the process by removing obstacles or by increasing aspects, but it is the self-healing of the body that ultimately does the work. In a way, to look solely outside of one’s self is a forfeiture of responsibility. This is as true for individuals as it is for bodies and for groups. To some degree, the response must come from within. An outside influence can help the congregation build their inner resources. When Jim Richardson spent a year at All Souls as an Interim Rector, one of his consistent messages was that, “we have all that we needed.” It is as true now as it was then. The capacity of a community to heal is always present within itself.

4. Agents of disease are not causes of disease.

This is an interesting principle to me. I would probably slightly edit it to read, ‘Agents of disease are not the sole causes of disease,’ but I do understand what Steinke means when he writes, “All pathogens need a host cell to arouse the disease process.” One micro biologist has said that the virus is like a seed that will only sprout into disease is the “soil” is too weak to resist it. In that way, “strengthening the resistance of the host cells is paramount in treatment, rather than simply focusing on disease agents and counteracting them.” What this seems to say, then, is that viruses (like the poor) will always be with us. Because we are flawed creatures these pathogens will always be in the air. The focus shouldn’t be there, then. Instead the focus should be on the soil, the response to the potentially destructive behaviors.

5. All illness is biopsychological.

This principle points to connectedness. We finally seem to be recovering an understanding that the mind and the body are fundamentally connected. (Scientific reductionism wielded an unhelpful scalpel there) Studies are now uncovering the power of the well-being of the mind (heart/spirit?) being intimately connected to the well-being of the body. Yet we continue to disconnect them at our peril. Therefore, Steinke writes, “The health of a congregation is multi-faceted. Attitudes count. Working together counts. Faithfulness matters. Mood and tone are significant.” As with human individuals, vengeance and bitterness are the two most destructive emotions to a body, while gratitude is the most nourishing. What I have found in my time spent in churches large and small on this sabbatical is that one can tell the spirit of a congregation. It pervades the space. And it matters.

6. The subtle precedes the gross.

“Short of prevention, early treatment is the best treatment…Early warnings come from small disturbances.” This is wisdom for our bodies that is ancient and contemporary. It is why Kaiser Permanente, for all of its flaws, has the potential to positively effect huge portions of the population with its emphasis on prevention. Similarly, in a community, “If a problem or conflict is allowed to fester and swell, it becomes even more embedded and resistant to management.” Being able to catch something early is critical for all parts of the system. The pain is not as great for those in the conflict, the leadership doesn’t take on as much of the stress, and the energy needed to deal with the issue isn’t diverted for longer than necessary.

7. Every body is different.

Context and culture are often determinative in what will help heal a situation. Steinke points to changes over time that make a previous intervention not helpful the next time and that, “One person’s medicine can be another person’s poison.” This is why I believe that silver bullets don’t work––but look so appealing. A process or a program at one church is so tempting to use where you are because it worked there. But it worked there because of where that body is, at that time and place. Core principles and approaches can be adapted, but because they were developed in a system different than where you are, they must be examined for the present context.

8. A healthy circulatory system is the keystone of health and healing.

In this lens, disease is seen as the result of information blockage, as in, some part of the body is not being heard, the natural sets of balances are not being allowed for. One of the ways that this is facilitated is that, “In healthy congregations information flows freely.” My sense is this is because the only way to be able to address a situation in the toe or back or elbow is if you are in communication, listening for what is happening, what needs addressing. When you ignore or don’t actively seek out information, this is when the subtle turns into the gross.

9. Breathing properly is nourishing to the whole body.

This is a simple one for our physical bodies, but like in Christian communities, is is easily and often overlooked. Steinke writes, “Full, deep expansion of the lungs brings nourishment to the whole central nervous system.” He then talks about the ruach, the Spirit over the deep, and Jesus’ breathing over the apostles as scriptural patterns of this practice. It is no mistake as well, that there are several ancient and enduring prayer practices that involve breathing. Staying attuned to the Breath is one of the simpler and often overlooked practices of the body and the larger body.

10. The brain is the largest secreting organ of the body, the health maintenance organization (HMO) of the body.

In this way of knowing the health of our bodies, “To understand health is to understand the continual role of the brain in maintaining the resistance of the body.” Steinke then makes an interesting link when he writes, “Comparable to the brain’s functioning in the body is the functioning of the leaders in the congregation.” The leadership of a community plays a vital role in the maintenance of the resistance and functioning of a congregation. A large part of the responsibility for strategy resides there, yes, but also the tone, the attitude, the sense of spirit. It is the ultimate responsibility of the leadership, then, to be able to have the conversations, to take in the information of the system, and to give out the kind of information that keeps the system moving towards wholeness.

There is a a great deal more in this treatment by Steinke that I have found very interesting: around emotional maturity, the dangers of rigidity, and why differentiated behavior is critical to well-being. More in the weeks and months to come.

Peace,

Phil+