How do you feel about the idea of expanding the concept of health to the entirety of human existence? In other words, the concept of good health is not limited to the physical but extends to the spiritual and social as well. Good health is judged not only on the basis of physiological diagnoses of abnormalities, but also on a holistic view of life that includes spiritual elements.Д©According to the constitution of the World Health Organization ( who), health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing, not simply the absence of disease or infirmity. вЂњFreedom from sicknessвЂќ means more than the absence of illness. According to the Indian Buddhist sutra The Wanderers Collection ( Caraka Samhita), freedom from sickness is fundamental to human life and the basis of good works, success, sexual desire, and liberation from the bonds of illusion and suffering in the three worlds. I like your description of good health as a dynamic rather than static reality.A similar process in societies makes history possible.

A chain of lost and restored balance enables us to walk. A new step temporarily restores the balance until we move still farther forward. Walking is possible only if we are willing to accept the risk of losing our balance by moving forward. Essentially good health is less the absence of illness than the tension between a precarious equilibrium and the constant dynamic of its re-establishment.Now please tell me your own view of good health. That is why people sometimes only become aware of their illness once it has advanced until it is beyond treatment. No matter what health may be, defining it is as difficult as giving an adequate definition of life. This is perhaps one of the main reasons medical diagnosis does not always correspond with the experience of the patient. Then, all of a sudden, we understand its value.ДҐImmanuel Kant (1724вЂ“1804) once observed that we can feel well-that is, experience the sensation of vital well-being-but can never know that we are well.

Just as we breathe without noticing it, we are unaware of health-or of life itself-until it is threatened.

In a certain medicine-oriented or simply idealized view, good health is often defined, as you suggest, as the absence of illness or, at least, as the checking or controlling of illness.

As everyone knows from experience, we only appreciate how wonderful good health is once we lose it.

Montaigne (1533вЂ“92) once spoke of how much better health seems after an illness.

The sutras refer to Shakyamuni as the Great Healer. At a later stage, Buddhist wisdom on the subject was combined with the art of healing to form what is called Buddhist medicine. Buddhist scriptures incorporate the essence of Indian medicine (set forth in the Sacrificial Prayer Veda or Yajur Veda), which was the most advanced in the world in its day. Shakyamuni himself considered sickness and health very important.

Since Buddhism is a вЂњLaw of Life,вЂќ issues like health and longevity are fundamental to it.

Inthe absolute critical moment sensei