Blindspot!
From Issue: 985 [Read full issue]
Happy-go-Lucky
For the medical ingredients to bring about healing a person must not be too old to benefit from it. Also, he must not be subjected to a contagious epidemic. Moreover, the medicine may not help him if he is careless and follows a happy-go-lucky approach to his eating and drinking habits. If he does not care about what he eats, at what times and in what quantity, he would definitely subject his body to the buildup of harmful waste that can culminate in serious diseases. Similarly, carelessness in seeking medical help when a malady first appears may lead to the worsening of the symptoms until they reach a level that cannot be helped by therapy. And finally, the afflicted person may harm himself by his lack of self-control in taking or doing what the physician has prevented him from. In eating what harms him, he would be like the one who cooperates with the disorder against his natural disposition to improve and against the efforts of his physician.
On the other hand, the sick person can be much helped by the medicine if he during his healthy life was careful enough not to allow his body to accumulate heavy and sticky harmful waste. But if he develops a little of this refuse and becomes ill, he (should) immediately seek the help of a physician before the malady worsens. This would quickly result in attaining recovery. This recovery would, of course, be enhanced if the instructions of the physician are meticulously followed. Such a careful person can enjoy good health unless he reaches old age or is harmed by an external causal injury.
Compiled From:
"Abu Zayd al-Balkhi's Sustenance of the Soul: the Cognitive Behavior Therapy of a Ninth Century Physician" - Malik Badri, pp. 70, 71