Diagnosis Day is spirited and earthy, these field notes were collected on a permaculture farm and yoga center. The perspective is idealistic, revolutionary, angry, and wise. Diagnosis Day does not sugarcoat cancer, most assuredly not the Acceptable Treatment Machine. The "carcinogenesis" of our lives is one of our most troubling legacies, along with weather change and constant warring. Welcome to the global, carcinogenic village, your brave, new, cancerous world of Monsanto science, of poisoned, dried up rivers, welcome to your land of chemically saturated eco-spheres, of rapidly dying oceans and vanishing species. These are unprecedented times, which is why on Diagnosis Day everything is up for consideration, including apricot pits and Zealon.
Diagnosis Day requires a very determined individual effort in order to get clear about how to respond to your day of gnosis in the midst of this deep confusion we find ourselves living in, regarding cancer. The work of the diagnosed is overwhelming, and, sadly, to compound matters, as if cancer were not enough, you will have to interact with the government/insurance maniacs who control the medical system.
Diagnosis Day begins the longest day of your life, as you enter the depths of your Being and seek reconciliation in the dynamic equipoise of existence. At some point along the way there arises the realization that everyday is a good day to dance, everyday is a good day to live freely in a conscious body, holy yet mortal, finite yet eternal.
Diagnosis Day is a very brief stretch of time, it begins on the day of your diagnosis and includes the immediate weeks and moons, new and full, as the shock of diagnosis is just beginning to wear off and while you're still figuring out what to do and how to proceed. Diagnosis Day is that gracious spacious time after diagnosis before any aggressive treatment. Diagnosis Day, (ninety days is often perfect) is a time to creatively envision a treatment plan in accordance with your inner core being. Diagnosis Day is your time to do whatever you feel like doing, after thinking through all your options. Diagnosis Day is a time to study and a time to cut loose, a time to allow deep feelings to flow and a time to seek guidance. The primary question on Diagnosis Day becomes: "What is cancer going to mean in the kind time of living out the rest of your beautiful life?"
About the Author: djakke raine was born in Berkeley near Strawberry Creek. He attended John Woolman School, a Quaker high school in Nevada City. He started the Arbor Cafe in Berkeley in 1967, the first natural/organic eating place in town. In 1970 he moved to Sonoma County where he started Ablesol, a cafeteria, natural food factory. In that same year he founded Rainstar Gardens, among the oldest permaculture homesteads in the world. A psychologist and naturopath, he apprenticed as a midwife for two years when he wrote Children of the Dawn. He was founding editor of counterculture.com in 1997. A radio producer, counselor and trusted mediator, he teaches "the dance sing drum," and "creatures of the kitchen." He works at the Farmhouse Kitchen in the Soup & Teamakers' Cafe, where he prepares tea sold in pint or quart mugs for the day.
