The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Spirituality Quotes

This is Hmong Spirituality 101. It's also the key to Nao Kao and Foua's understanding of Lia's seizures: they believe that her soul has escaped her body and is now floating through the nether-realm. This belief would sound a little out of the ordinary to Lia's doctors, who view diseases solely as physical conditions based on molecules, genes, and other science stuff.

Title alert! Again, it's important to remember that epilepsy isn't necessarily a bad thing in Hmong culture. Like many shamanic cultures, the Hmong believe that the condition serves as the gateway between our world and the spirit realm.

American doctors know little to nothing about Hmong religion. We're not saying that they should conform to Hmong beliefs and start having a neeb every time someone bleeds or anything. But it wouldn't hurt to take those beliefs into account when planning treatment.

This is another key to Hmong spirituality. Unlike Americans (and American doctors especially) the Hmong don't subdivide themselves into neat categories of mind, body, and spirit. Instead, they take a holistic view of the world. And as they'll come to learn, this mindset doesn't get much respect in the United States.

The two sides are as different as can be. What doctors see as a safe, relatively painless procedure is viewed by the Hmong as a grave affront to the soul. Even worse, neither side is able—or willing—to communicate their beliefs to the other, about the spinal tap or anything else. On the scale of normal to sticky, that situation goes up to an 11.

Elderly Hmong are more concerned with their spiritual health than their physical safety. Can you blame them? Moving to a new, unfamiliar country is a lot to ask for anyone, much less someone of the aged persuasion. Spirituality might be an important aspect to that, but it's not the only thing that makes them afraid.

This quote, courtesy of the one-and-only Dang Moua, is about as close to Ghostbusters as the Hmong get, in this book or out of it. And catchy theme song aside, it says a lot about Hmong spirituality—especially since even those who have converted to other religions still hold onto a piece of it. As with many belief systems, Hmong religion is cultural and communal as much as it is religious and spiritual.

If you're trying to make logical sense of Hmong spirituality, then you've already missed the point. Hmong religion—like many other shamanic belief systems—uses decidedly illogical ideas to make sense of the world. In fact, we'd argue that this is a key ingredient to religion in general, no matter the specific beliefs.

Holy cow—Nao Kao and Foua were right along. What's more, their traditional Hmong treatments actually seem to stabilize Lia's condition. That certainly throws a wrench in our preconceived notions, doesn't it?

No matter what happens, Nao Kao and Foua still believe that Lia's condition is spiritual in nature. You could read them a medical encyclopedia from cover to cover and you still couldn't change their minds. If they watched Grey's Anatomy, that'd be a start, but hey, eleven seasons is a lot to process.