Health

Full health encompasses not only freedom from disease and infirmity but, as stated by the World Health Organization, "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being". This state is nonetheless not easy to define objectively and it is evident that an individual's "degree of health" is dependent on a number of factors not quantitatively measurable, although Jung equated [wholeness]

with health. Considerable progress has been made in the reduction and eradication of disease; but the prevention of ill health and the interplay of spiritual, mental and physical variables in sickness and in health are still imperfectly understood. A society which considers good health dependent on not arousing the hostility of a sorcerer, or of someone hiring a sorcerer, may see healthy people as good or as socially adept. Where good health is seen as a matter of luck, then health may not be seen as related to other personal qualities. Current Western attitudes are that bad health may, in part, be due to not assimilating and accepting everyday experience without stress. However, it is clear that spiritual development can and does continue into old age when physical (and sometimes mental) faculties progressively deteriorate. Conversely, individuals experiencing a high degree of physical health are not necessarily mentally or spiritually well developed. It has been stated, however, that a person on a path of spiritual development should aim at maintaining physical health. Hatha yoga, for example, is a system where mastery over the body is treated as a means of mastery over the mind and one of its results is good physical health and longevity.

Most religions deplore over-asceticism as prejudicial to spiritual development. In the Chandogya Upanishad, Shwetaketu is told by his father Uddlaka "mind comes from food" and that abstaining from food inhibits memory. "Moderation in all things" would appear to be universally agreed, the consequent good health being conducive to providing the strength required on the spiritual path: John Locke (quoting Juvenal - "Mens sana in corpore sano") says, "A sound mind in a sound body, is a short but full description of a happy state in this world". But unavoidable ill-health is not seen as detrimental to an individual's progress, when the value of each effort is not measured by observable results. It has even been held that ill health may in some cases be a requisite for spiritual development.