Moral health and religion

A striking feature about non-contagious diseases is that they are mostly linked to life styles and ways of living. Accordingly, they not only do not pose an immediate and devastating threat to the state of health of the public, since they are not infectious, but could also be contained and kept within limits. However, until these containment measures are effectively carried out, state expenditure incurred in managing non-contagious diseases could be very high and this is certainly true in the case of Sri Lanka.

We have it on the authority of Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena that the health bill stemming from state efforts at controlling the proliferation of non-communicable diseases is beginning to eat into government coffers in a big way. Accordingly, a policy with regard to managing the increase in the incidence of such ailments is already in place and a principal plank of this policy is to induce in the public the relevant life style changes which could help in reducing the occurrence of non-contagious diseases.

Of the non-communicable ailments currently growing rampantly in this country, heart disease, diabetes and cancer seem to be vying for first place, with depression and other forms of neurosis contending strongly with them for predominance. It is the considered view of medical authorities that such ailments are closely linked with the life style of people and their emotional states. The close bearing the latter factors have on the incidence of disease is illustrated very strongly in the epidemic proportions diabetes is taking in this country. We now know for a fact that sedentary occupations, twinned with stress and worry, are ideal recipes for diabetes and heart disease.

Therefore, there is no denying that physical inactivity and negative emotions have a determining influence on our chief health worries, which in turn are costing the public purse more than a pretty penny. As we see it, most of these diseases are psycho-somatic in nature and could be brought within the boundaries of manageability through a degree of physical activity and stress-free living, cemented by some of the cardinal virtues hallowed by religion from time immemorial. It is in the fitness of things that we reflect deeply on these realities at a time when Vesak is being celebrated almost everywhere in this country, accentuated by the 2600th Sambuddhathva Jayanthi commemoration. May be for the first time in a very long time, the relevance of the Buddha’s timeless message to humanity is being ruminated upon by most contemplative persons in this country and the moment could not be more opportune to relate internal states of the human to outward ones.

As we mentioned yesterday, this country is never short of religious bodies and institutions of any kind over the length and breadth of its territory and it is a matter for regret that the value of religion is not always uniformly realized in this country. It is, indeed, a very valuable resource for national rejuvenation that is going abegging. This resource needs to be harnessed effectively and put to positive use and we hope the current celebrations would spur Sri Lankans into coming to grips with the rich possibilities in religion.

However, it is gratifying to note that national leaders are now taking it upon themselves to underline the importance of religious practices and we hope that the example set in this regard by President Mahinda Rajapaksa would catch on steadily among our populace. It is little realized that competitiveness generates an ugly discharge of ill-feeling and bad blood among persons and this factor in turn has a deleterious impact on the physical health of the human.

That is, emotional and physical ill-health are closely intertwined. Unfortunately, Sri Lankan society has been veering in the direction of very aggressive competitiveness and acquisitiveness over the years, resulting in considerable emotional and physical ill-health among our population. Small wonder that heart disease and diabetes, for instance, are increasing disconcertingly. Besides, growing unhappiness and frustration over the inability to realize dreams and schemes are generating a maelstrom of mental illnesses, with depression forging ahead as a number one debilitator. It would not be surprising if depression and other stress-linked ailments come to be closely associated with the numerous cancers which are surreptitiously growing in our midst.

What this all boils down to is that contendedness could no longer be considered a ‘given’ in many a life. Inner calm and happiness are not only hard to come by but need to be earned the hard way, considering that the struggle for existence has in the case of many persons, turned harsh and punishing.

The government is obliged to make a major effort to popularize spiritual as opposed to crude material advancement. It is spiritual development that religious institutions in collaboration with the state, need to promote and sustain. This is the path to emotional and physical health. A great saving of public funds is bound to follow.