Teaching and the disabled

Perhaps the very title of this article seems strange to someone. Firstly, it is too straightforward, too head-on. Secondly, a question arises: does the Teaching have any special relations with the disabled? The answer to the first question is: yes, the title is straightforward, I did not invent allegorical and beautiful words. I want it to be immediately clear what we are talking about. That’s important. As for the second, that’s exactly what it’s going to be about. Not about special relationships, of course, but about what the Teaching can give to the disabled.

What can it give them that it cannot give to others? The question is improper because it sounds like irony. In essence, however, it is precise. Indeed, what can it give them? Apparently, something they lack. The Teaching is for everyone and can give everyone one and the same thing. Something very important and necessary. However, for some people, in a way, it may be even more important than for others. For example, if that someone is deprived of something ordinary and familiar to others.

As a disabled person, I know what the Teaching can give to a person in my situation. And I think that it can give other disabled people even more than it can give me. It can change a lot of things for them, and help them to see themselves from a new perspective. There are at least three perspectives like that.

The first perspective is related to the fact that people with disabilities are labeled by their physical condition. Many healthy people consider them inferior in all respects, but, what is more, they often consider themselves inferior. They suffer from the fact that they do not have certain physical abilities. Clearly, there is much to suffer from. But for many people, it becomes not just a problem, but a stumbling block; it’s literally the end of the world for them. In the sense that if you’re not living a full life physically, you’re not living at all. Here is a vivid example: I was recently chatting on social media with a guy who had an active, athletic lifestyle, and now he’s lost his leg and is contemplating suicide because of it. And this is not a unique case. Many disabled people believe that the body is the most important thing and that without a healthy body, they can do nothing and mean nothing. Some try to prove something to someone, for example, by taking up parasports – although what does this prove except the presence of psychological trauma and complexes? Others sink into depression or even alcoholism.

Such disrespect for themselves has always left me sorely perplexed. Who says that physical condition is the most important thing? Who says that a person with a disability is worse than a healthy person? Do some healthy people say this? Well, in that case, they’re the ones with serious problems. You shouldn’t take their words close to the heart. It’s a huge mistake to reduce everything to a physical condition. What about intelligence? What about creative talents? What about the spiritual side of life? Isn’t that more than physical health? Why are these things discounted? And they are discounted by many disabled people who think they mean nothing and can do nothing in life.

I want to tell them: it is not true. You are wrong to zero in on yourself and focus on what you don’t have. Use what you do have. You have so much. Much more than is lost. You just should not forget it, you should not neglect your opportunities.

What can a disabled person, deprived of certain physical abilities, be? Many paths in life are open to him. He can be engaged in art. He can do business, journalism, and even politics. I hope no one needs to be reminded once again of the example that a disabled person can do science. He can do many things, he can realize their potential in many fields if he wants to and if he stops dwelling on what his body cannot do.

He can also engage in spiritual activities. I can give an example of myself. Let no one consider it immodest. And if they do, that’s fine.

I have a severe disability. I am practically immobile. I can only speak, and with the help of two more or less moving fingers I can type on the on-screen keyboard. Yet I am a spiritual teacher. I have founded my Teaching, I have apprentices, I write articles and books, and my books are published. It is possible. And this is the first important point that the Teaching demonstrates: a disabled person is not powerless and useless, he can do something for people. He can even be their spiritual teacher and lead them along the spiritual path. This is the reality. This is the possibility of a disabled person. I think it is a bit more than the ability to run a hundred meters fast or lift a hundred kilograms. You just need to realize this in order not to feel inferior, not to consider yourself worse than others, and not to think that without physical health, there is no life.

The second perspective is connected with what, according to the Teaching, a human being is. He carries in himself a particle of the Spirit, a particle of the Creator’s soul, perfecting it. This is the purpose of a human being. Each of us perfects a particle of the Spirit – and all together we, humans and other intelligent species of the Universe, perfect the Creator Himself. We help Him to reach a new evolutionary level and to come to a new transformation.

I emphasize: everyone. There is such a particle in each of us, and no one but he can lead it along the path of perfection. How does it happen? Through cognition, overcoming difficulties, fighting with one’s negative qualities, and turning them into positive ones. Now the question is: what of the above is inaccessible to a disabled person? Everything is accessible. Cognition is quite accessible. Physical problems may somewhat complicate the matter, but they cannot deprive a person of the opportunity to learn, observe, think, and cognize the world. Struggling with one’s vices and shortcomings – absolutely. A physical disability does not make a person morally insensitive, unable to distinguish right from wrong, or unable to morally work on themselves. Overcoming difficulties – oh, this is a special topic altogether. The life of a disabled person is full of them, sometimes it consists almost only of them. And this is an endless resource for developing one’s best qualities – willpower, determination, perseverance, patience, courage, and many others. All this is invaluable for the perfection of the Spirit. Here it is appropriate to recall the proverb, “If there were no happiness, misfortune would help”. In this respect, in overcoming difficulties, a disabled person will give a big head start to a healthy person. We can even say that in some sense he has a wider field of opportunities for improving his part of the Spirit.

No one else will do it but him. His particle of Spirit is the basis of his personality and the essence of him as an individual. And without it, the perfection of the Spirit as a whole will not be complete and cannot be completed. Without one single particle of his soul, the Creator will not be able to finish the present stage of his development and will not be able to be reborn into a more perfect being. It depends on each of us. We do not just live – eat, drink, sleep, entertain, work, reproduce. In fact, each of us has a purpose of universal importance. We each make the future of the Creator. That is the future of the Universe, the destiny of all and everything that is and will be in it.

All of the above fully applies to a disabled person. He is not only not powerless and useless: he is important for the Universe. Even more than important: he, like any other human being, is vital and irreplaceable for the Universe. Without the particle of Spirit that he carries within him, the universe has no future. He is mistaken if he thinks he can do nothing, being physically unhealthy. In fact, he is doing the most important and necessary thing. If somebody, or he himself, thinks that he is not needed, it is a delusion. The Universe, the world, and people need him. It’s just that it’s about inner work, and therefore it’s not so obvious. And I repeat that because of many difficulties in his life, he is able to do more in this sense than another healthy person. It is only necessary to understand this and consciously work in this direction.

The third perspective concerns the future, maybe not so distant, who knows… I am talking about the time when the Teaching becomes the worldview of all mankind, or at least a significant part of it. I am talking about the time when there will be a society built on the basis of the Teaching, on its principles.

Anyone who says that modern society has a normal attitude towards the disabled – that they enjoy equal opportunities and equal respect with others – will be wrong in his heart. Maybe in some places this is true, but only in some places. Mostly, they are not treated with enough attention, sometimes with disdain, without respect, and even with prejudice, many people consider them useless, unnecessary for society, and superfluous. It is hard to say such words – but it is true. A physically healthy person most often judges life from the position of a physically healthy person; it is difficult for him to overcome existing stereotypes about a disabled person. Even if he treats a disabled person well and sympathizes with him. This is one of the problems of modern society. And no worldviews or social concepts have helped to overcome it so far.

How will the attitude towards the disabled differ in a society living according to the Teaching? It seems to me that if we take into account all of the above, it will be easy to answer this question. Firstly, can a society of followers of the Teaching treat disabled people badly and negligently, if its founder himself was one of them? Even such an assumption looks strange. Secondly, they will understand everything about the particle of the Spirit and about the fact that a disabled person, cognizing the world and overcoming the difficulties of his life, improves it, thus doing a great deed for the Universe. Thus, he is not useless. He fulfills a duty no less important than others. It is just that his labor is not so visible.

Therefore, in the society of the Teaching, the disabled will not be neglected. They will receive the respect they deserve. It will be a world in which they will take their rightful place.

Those are the three perspectives.

What did I want to point out by telling you all this? I wanted to share what I know. Maybe it will be useful to someone. Maybe it will be an outlet for someone else. Or at least a glimmer of light if they are in the darkness of despondency.

Besides, this is another aspect of the Teaching, another side of it, another feature. And even just noting it would be interesting.

© Atharhat, 2024

Translated by Amradkhari