Mental Illness – Physical Illness, an Opportunity to Serve?

In this quote from William LePar’s spiritual source, The Council, we are given advice on viewing illness.

Questioner: Can The Council address the source of mental illness? Is it a spiritual crisis?

The Council: All sicknesses, whether they be of the physical nature or the mental nature, are part of the life plan. It is in many cases to create a situation wherein others around that individual have the opportunities to show their love and their compassion. At times, certain mental illnesses prevent an individual from making mistakes that they have made many times in previous lifetimes. But we must learn to look at all sickness, whether they be physical or of the mental nature, in these terms: These individuals are blessed and have come in to give each of you the opportunity to serve, to express your love, your godliness. One should not look at such situations, that of physical or mental sicknesses, as a karmic condition for that individual. This isn't a loving attitude. Look at it in a very productive and positive way for yourself. This is your opportunity to show whether or not you are a loving god or a selfish person who rejects the opportunity to be giving. As with the physical problems, because everything must have a means of operation or rules in order to create a common ground, mental illnesses originally begin in a malfunction of the body's workings. At the seat of all emotional problems or mental illness is the chemistry, the blood chemistry, and how it affects all of the parts or organs of the body. That is the natural law or rule in which such conditions come about.
Remember, any illness, regardless of what it is, is your opportunity to serve another individual, and in so doing you serve yourself, and this is good because in serving yourself in that manner you are showing yourself how godly you really can be. Taking care of those who are ill certainly isn't an easy job, but remember this, if there is anything of value, if there is anything real, it requires a great deal of work. Those things that you accomplish in this lifetime of a spiritual nature will not necessarily come easily all the time, but once you have acquired those you will never lose them. They become part of your spiritual wealth, a wealth that will never be taken away.