Written by Curline Adassa
The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) defines health as, “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. We oftentimes use the words health and wellness interchangeably, however, according to Sanford Health,” the primary difference between health and wellness is that health is the goal and wellness is the active process of achieving it”.
Our focus today is on the journey to health or the ‘active process’ of achieving health.
Health and wellness are not only defined by societal groups but also by the factors that determine them. Determinants of health refer to the broad range of personal, social, economic, and environmental factors that determine individual and population health. According to Health Canada, the main determinants of health include:
1. Income and social status
2. Employment and working conditions
3. Education and literacy
4. Childhood experiences
5. Physical environments
6. Social supports and coping skills
7. Healthy behaviours
8. Access to health services
9. Biology and genetic endowment
10. Gender
11. Culture
12. Race / Racism
Here’s a question, if what is determined to be healthy and well is defined by the ‘other,’ what does that mean for us? If being fully human is an embodiment of both our physical and spiritual (divine) nature, are we being less than human when we allow societal groups to determine what health and wellness are for us? Religious groups purport to be the custodians of our “spiritual health,” but is this really the case? Lest we forget, one of our elders (the late Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan) reminded us that “religion is the deification of a culture”. This means that each culture seeks to create God in its image, and with that comes the requirements that uphold the “divinity” of that culture.
How easy is it to name a culture today which isn’t patriarchal in its foundation? And what of Mother?
The passage in Matthew 23:37 (NIV) evokes the image of a loving mother hen gathering her chicks under her wings, “…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings Why then are we taught only to see the divine creator only as father? Could the reason be that “someone” wants us to forget that women too are divine in nature and as such innately know what is healthy for us? Emotional and mental health are deeply intertwined with spirituality. Is it likely that those who seek to harm us emotionally and mentally can nurture us spiritually? It is important to recognize the feminine aspects of the divine and to honor the innate wisdom and nurturing qualities of women.
How would it look if, as women, we embodied the definition of love as taught directly by our divine creator and not as explained to us and for us by ones who expect subservience and equate submission with love?
