what could be worse than a flesh eating bacteria, an insidious entropy if ever there was. i hear stories of such awful things, sometimes in cities, often in african villages or in far continents, on other planets, it does sound almost alien. 
but there is another sickness, the soul eating one, not caused by desease but society, culture and the lives we lead. the western sickness, despair, alienation, loneliness and fear. 

with the flesh eating illness the body is pumped full of morphine and antibiotics. doctors wear masks and gloves and keep you in isolation. occasionally the photograph hits the mainstream, or a news report and it's ugly and we close our eyes.

in modern cultures doctors are unaware of the soul eating illness and carriers inoculate themselves with consumption. we accumulate more, surround ourselves with stuff, fill our heads with junk and look desperate as we seek blame in some great constructed structure. often religion is the vaccination, some sort of spiritual connection with something. 

charlatans prey upon the weak, exploit the western sickness. they suck not blood but more of your soul. one should be very careful whom you let in close. their motivation is mostly unconscious  they know not what they do,only that they seek validation in your own undoing and misery, perhaps it makes you appear equal to them. 

only beauty can save us. only total dissolution of the self, of the selves of the boundaries that penetrate fear. death itself is the liberator although nobody wants to die, we should not fear it. 

the sickness of the soul feeds upon fear. we all are infected  only some acknowledge this and attempt to heal.

the witches say 'do no harm' and i like this idea in theory, but sometimes harm is necessary to counter a greater harm, we are not and never can be arbitrators of karma. only the universe can comprehend what acts are good and what acts are not. 

the zen masters say, 'do nothing' but even nothing is something. 

the christian says, 'choose love' but love only gets you so far.

the muslim says, 'surrender' but surrendering is fatalistic and therefore nihilistic and like all the above may have its place in short moments.

the jew says there is only 'one' dimension and within lay all the others.

the buddhist says, 'let go' but in the western sickness if you let go you fall into the abyss, for there are many steps before letting go a soul must aspire to. reincarnation has trajectory.

the atheist has such a closed mind they are far to late to save.

the agnostic is honest.

the magickian says nothing but knows all.

the western sickness occurs when dominant cultures and societies are fat, lazy and asleep at the wheel. they are over ripe with hubris and ego, masters of their worlds. ironically the western sickness strikes when the society is at it's healthiest.