Fear is the opposite of everything you are, and so has an effect of opposition to your mental and physical health. Fear is worry magnified. Worry, hate, fear — together with their offshoots: anxiety, bitterness, impatience, avarice, unkindness, judgmentalness, and condemnation — all attack the body at the cellular level. It is impossible to have a healthy body under these conditions.
Similarly — although to a somewhat lesser degree — conceit, selfindulgence, and greed lead to physical illness, or lack of well-being. All illness is created first in the mind.
How can that be? What of conditions contracted from another? Colds — or, for that matter, AIDS?
Nothing occurs in your life — nothing — which is not first a thought. Thoughts are like magnets, drawing effects to you. The thought may not always be obvious, and thus clearly causative, as in, “I’m going to contract a terrible disease.” The thought may be (and usually is) far more subtle than that (“I am not worthy to live.”) (“My life is always a mess.”) (“I am a loser.”) (“God is going to punish me.”) (“I am sick and tired of my life!”)
Thoughts are a very subtle, yet extremely powerful, form of energy. Words are less subtle, more dense. Actions are the most dense of all. Action is energy in heavy physical form, in heavy motion. When you think, say, and act out a negative concept such as “I am a loser,” you place tremendous creative energy into motion. Small wonder you come down with a cold. That would be the least of it. [...]
Yet you are all mental lepers. Your mind is eaten away with negative thoughts. Some of these are thrust upon you. Many of these you actually make up — conjure up — yourselves, and then harbor and entertain for hours, days, weeks, months — even years.
… and you wonder why you are sick.
Achterberg’s recommendation that we rid ourselves of negative images is well taken, for there is evidence that imagery can cause illness as well as cure it. In Love, Medicine and Miracles, Bernie Siegel says he often encounters instances where the mental pictures patients use to describe themselves or their lives seem to play a role in the creation of their conditions. Examples include a mastectomy patient who told him she “needed to get something off her chest”; a patient with multiple myeloma in his backbone who said he “was always considered spineless”; and a man with carcinoma of the larynx whose father punished him as a child by constantly squeezing his throat and telling him to “shut up!”
Sometimes the relationship between the image and the illness is so striking it is difficult to understand why it is not apparent to the individual involved, as in the case of a psychotherapist who had emergency surgery to remove several feet of dead intestine and then told Siegel, “I’m glad you’re my surgeon. I’ve been undergoing teaching analysis. I couldn’t handle all the shit that was coming up, or digest the crap in my life.” Incidents such as these have convinced Siegel that nearly all diseases originate at least to some degree in the mind, but he does not think this makes them psychosomatic or unreal. He prefers to say they are soma-significant, a term coined by Bohm to sum up better the relationship, and derived from the Greek word “soma” meaning “body.” That all diseases might have their origin in the mind does not disturb Siegel. He sees it rather as a sign of tremendous hope, an indicator that if one has the power to create sickness, one also has the power to create wellness.
The connection between image and illness is so potent, imagery can even be used to predict a patient’s prospects for survival. In another landmark experiment, Simonton, his wife, psychologist Stephanie Matthew-Simonton, Achterberg, and psychologist G. Frank Lawlis performed a battery of blood tests on 126 patients with advanced cancer. Then they subjected the patients to an equally extensive array of psychological tests, including exercises in which the patients were asked to draw images of themselves, their cancers, their treatment, and their immune systems. The blood tests offered some information about the patient’s condition, but provided no major revelations. However, the results from the psychological tests, particularly drawings, were encyclopedias of information about the status of the patient’s health. Indeed, simply by analyzing patients’ drawings, Achterberg later achieved a 95 percent rate of accuracy in predicting who would die within a few months and who would beat their illness and go into remission.
This is an advanced level of thinking, and it is one which all Masters reach sooner or later. For it is only when they can accept responsibility for all of it that they can achieve the power to change part of it.
1. The cell is like a human body and it functions without DNA
The cell is like a human body. It is capable of respiration, digestion, reproduction, and other life functions. The nucleus, which contains the genes, has traditionally been viewed as the control center — the brain of the cell.
Yet, when the nucleus is removed, the cell continues with all of its life functions and it can still recognize toxins and nutrients. It appears the nucleus — and the DNA it contains — does not control the cell.
Scientists assumed some 50 years ago that genes control biology. It just seemed so correct, we bought the story. We don’t have the right assumptions.
2. DNA is controlled by the environment
Proteins carry out the functions in cells and they are building blocks of life. It has long been thought that DNA controls or determines the actions of proteins.
Here I propose a different model. Environmental stimuli that come into contact with the cell membrane are perceived by receptor proteins in the membrane. This sets off a chain reaction of proteins passing on what could be described as messages to other proteins, motivating action in the cell.
DNA is coated in a protective sleeve of protein. The environmental signals act on that protein, causing it to open up and to select certain genes for use — genes specifically needed to react to the current environment.
Basically, DNA is not the beginning of the chain reaction. Instead, the cell membrane’s perception of the environment is the first step.
If there are no perceptions, the DNA is inactive.
Genes can’t turn themselves on or off… they can’t control themselves. If a cell is cut off from any environmental stimuli, it doesn’t do anything. Life is due to how the cell responds to the environment.
Of course, Lipton is a well-known crank, whose central idea seems to be a variant of The Secret, in which wanting something badly enough makes it so and that “modern science has bankrupted our souls.” Basically, he questions the “Newtonian vision of the primacy of a physical, mechanical Universe”; that “genes control biology” [...]
When I first started back in the '70s and my research was coming out, it was the golden age of genes. My research irritated a lot of people. I always thought of them as lemmings running off the cliff of DNA, and I'm standing there on the side with the results from my stem-cell studies thinking, 'Oh my God, you're all going the wrong way.' At some point I realised that they marginalised my work because it didn’t conform to their conventional beliefs and I thought, well, they’re not even being scientists. And I just left the system. I realised the message is more important for the average person than it is to argue in the halls of science.
Here is Metaphysics 101: A Short Course in Ultimate Reality.
As we've noted a while back in this conversation, all elements of life are imbued with what you would call, in your language, "intelligence" — or Awareness of Its Inherent Function.
This Awareness fills each element to its maximum capacity. That is, every element is imbued with Divine Intelligence utterly, full out, from border to border. Indeed, it would not be incorrect to say that the element itself IS this intelligence, in particle form.
So each element of life, down to the tiniest submolecular particle, is a part of the Mind of God.
With your sense of poetry, that would be how you would put it... and I have no reason to argue with you.
Now the Elements of the Essential Essence are attracted to each other by an aspect or characteristic that you would call, in human terms, "common function".
That is, they are all trying to do something. And it is the same thing. They are all in action, forever moving, continuously vibrating — but not without purpose.
Their purpose is simply to BE. They realize that life is movement. If movement ever stops, that which you call life would not exist. [...]
Now, as to what each element wants to be, that doesn't matter. The individual element does not have a preference in the matter. It simply wants to exist. It desires to "be".
What is called "alignment", then — and the subsequent joint or unified action to which you refer — is created by the vibrational influence of any force larger than the individual element.
It is this way throughout all of nature. The larger the force, the more "pull" it has on every smaller element within its Impact Area. So every element within any Impact Area will fall into alignment with the larger force that is pulling on it. [...]
So if you, as creative beings, wish all the elements of life, down into the tiniest particle, to move in a particular direction, you must create alignment using the force of combined energy focused in a particular way.
And thought is that force.
The key point here is that at every level, the same variational, surprise-reducing dynamics must be in play to supply Markov blankets for the level above.
Fear is the energy which contracts, closes down, draws in, runs, hides, hoards, harms.
Love is the energy which expands, opens up, sends out, stays, reveals, shares, heals.
It was only a few years ago that I discovered that everything I thought I knew about poverty was wrong. It all started when I accidentally stumbled upon a paper by a few American psychologists. They had travelled 8,000 miles all the way to India for a fascinating study. It was an experiment with sugarcane farmers. You should know that these farmers collect about 60% of their annual income all at once, right after the harvest. This means that they're relatively poor one part of the year, and rich the other.
The researchers asked them to do an IQ test before and after the harvest. What they subsequently discovered completely blew my mind. The farmers scored much worse on the test before the harvest. The effects of living in poverty, it turns out, correspond to losing 14 points of IQ. Now, to give you an idea, that's comparable to losing a night's sleep or the effects of alcoholism.
If you think it defies common sense that water does this, you are right. In fact water does not respond to thoughts and feelings — it's just water. How then does one explain Mr. Emoto's experiments? My best guess is that Mr. Emoto grows hundreds of crystals and then selects different shapes to demonstrate whatever point he wishes to make. [...]
Do I know Mr. Emoto does this? No, which is why I called it a guess. Mr. Emoto has never published his work in a reputable scientific forum, where it would be scrutinized. He only presents it in self-published books, where he is free to say whatever he wants. Basic physics says the work cannot be correct, and Mr. Emoto has not convinced the scientific community that his experiments have any merit whatsoever.
Have I tried to reproduce Mr. Emoto's experiments? No, and I don't intend to. While I try to keep an open mind to new ideas, this one is just too outrageous. I only have limited time and resources, so I study ideas that I think are more likely to be fruitful. As we liked to say back on the farm in North Dakota — it's good to have an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out!
It is very difficult to reverse the effects of negative thinking once they have taken physical form. Not impossible — but very difficult. It takes an act of extreme faith. It requires an extraordinary belief in the positive force of the universe — whether you call that God, Goddess, the Unmoved Mover, Prime Force, First Cause, or whatever.
Healers have just such faith. It is a faith that crosses over into Absolute Knowing. They know that you are meant to be whole, complete, and perfect in this moment now. This knowingness is also a thought — and a very powerful one. It has the power to move mountains — to say nothing of molecules in your body. That is why healers can heal, often even at a distance.
Thought knows no distance. Thought travels around the world and traverses the universe faster than you can say the word. “Say but the word and my servant shall be healed.” And it was so, in that selfsame hour, even before his sentence was finished. Such was the faith of the centurion.
May I interrupt you here? I hate to interrupt God when He’s on a roll… but I’ve heard this talk of unlimited potential before, and it doesn’t square with the human experience. Forget the difficulties encountered by the average person — what about the challenges of those born with mental or physical limitations? Is their potential unlimited?
[...] Do you think they are limited, as you put it, not of their choice? Do you imagine that a human soul encounters life challenges — whatever they may be — by accident? Is this your imagining? [...]
Your potential is unlimited in all that you’ve chosen to do. Do not assume that a soul which has incarnated in a body which you call limited has not reached its full potential, for you do not know what that soul was trying to do. You do not understand its agenda. You are unclear as to its intent.
Therefore bless every person and condition, and give thanks. Thus you affirm the perfection of God’s creation — and show your faith in it. For nothing happens by accident in God’s world, and there is no such thing as coincidence. Nor is the world buffeted by random choice, or something you call fate.
If a snowflake is utterly perfect in its design, do you not think the same could be said about something as magnificent as your life?
But even Jesus healed the sick. Why would he heal them if their condition was so “perfect”?
Jesus did not heal those he healed because he saw their condition as imperfect. He healed those he healed because he saw those souls asking for healing as part of their process. He saw the perfection of the process. He recognized and understood the soul’s intention. Had Jesus felt that all illness, mental or physical, represented imperfection, would he not have simply healed everyone on the planet, all at once? Do you doubt that he could do this?
No. I believe he could have.
Good. Then the mind begs to know: Why did he not do it? Why would the Christ choose to have some suffer, and others be healed? For that matter, why does God allow any suffering at anytime? This question has been asked before, and the answer remains the same. There is perfection in the process — and all life arises out of choice. It is not appropriate to interfere with choice, nor to question it. It is particularly inappropriate to condemn it.
What is appropriate is to observe it, and then to do whatever might be done to assist the soul in seeking and making a higher choice. Be watchful, therefore, of the choices of others, but not judgmental. Know that their choice is perfect for them in this moment now — yet stand ready to assist them should the moment come when they seek a newer choice, a different choice — a higher choice.
Move into communion with the souls of others, and their purpose, their intention, will be clear to you. This is what Jesus did with those he healed — and with all those whose lives he touched. Jesus healed all those who came to him, or who sent others to him supplicating for them. He did not perform a random healing. To have done so would have been to violate a sacred Law of the Universe:
Allow each soul to walk its path.
If we are not fortunate enough to have the healing self-mastery of a [mystic], another way of accessing the healing force within us is to bypass the thick armor of doubt and skepticism that exists in our conscious minds. Being tricked with a placebo is one way of accomplishing this. Hypnosis is another. Like a surgeon reaching in and altering the condition of an internal organ, a skilled hypnotherapist can reach into our psyche and help us change the most important type of belief of all, our unconscious beliefs.
Numerous studies have demonstrated irrefutably that under hypnosis a person can influence processes usually considered unconscious. For instance, like a [MPD patient], deeply hypnotized persons can control allergic reactions, blood flow patterns, and nearsightedness. In addition, they can control heart rate, pain, body temperature, and even will away some kinds of birthmarks. Hypnosis can also be used to accomplish something that, in its own way, is every bit as remarkable as suffering no injury after a [fencing foil] has been stuck through one's abdomen.
That something involves a horribly disfiguring hereditary condition known as Brocq's disease [a.k.a congenital ichthyosiform erythrodermia]. Victims of Brocq's disease develop a thick, horny covering over their skin that resembles the scales of a reptile. The skin can become so hardened and rigid that even the slightest movement will cause it to crack and bleed. Many of the so-called alligator-skinned people in circus sideshows were actually individuals with Brocq's disease, and because of the risk of infection, victims of Brocq's disease used to have relatively short lifespans.
Brocq's disease was incurable until 1951 when a sixteen-year-old boy with an advanced case of the affliction was referred as a last resort to a hypnotherapist named A. A. Mason at the Queen Victoria Hospital in London. Mason discovered that the boy was a good hypnotic subject and could easily be put into a deep state of trance. While the boy was in trance, Mason told him that his Brocq's disease was healing and would soon be gone. Five days later the scaly layer covering the boy's left arm fell off, revealing soft, healthy flesh underneath. By the end of ten days the arm was completely normal. Mason and the boy continued to work on different body areas until all the scaly skin was gone. The boy remained symptom-free for at least five years, at which point Mason lost touch with him.
This is extraordinary because Brocq's disease is a genetic condition, and getting rid of it involves more than just controlling autonomic processes such as blood flow patterns and various cells of the immune system. It means tapping into the masterplan, our DNA programming itself. So, it would appear that when we access the right strata of our beliefs, our minds can override even our genetic makeup.
Given the evidence we have looked at so far, one might almost wonder if all drugs are placebos. Clearly the answer is no. Many drugs are effective whether we believe in them or not: Vitamin C gets rid of scurvy, and insulin makes diabetics better even when they are skeptical. But still the issue is not quite as clear-cut as it may seem. Consider the following.
In a 1962 experiment Drs. Harriet Linton and Robert Langs told test subjects they were going to participate in a study of the effects of LSD, but then gave them a placebo instead. Nonetheless, half an hour after taking the placebo, the subjects began to experience the classic symptoms of the actual drug, loss of control, supposed insight into the meaning of existence, and so on. These "placebo trips" lasted several hours.
A few years later, in 1966, the now infamous Harvard psychologist Richard Alpert journeyed to the East to look for holy men who could offer him insight into the LSD experience. He found several who were willing to sample the drug and, interestingly, received a variety of reactions. One pundit told him it was good, but not as good as meditation. Another, a Tibetan lama, complained that it only gave him a headache.
But the reaction that fascinated Alpert most came from a wizened little holy man in the foothills of the Himalayas. Because the man was over sixty, Alpert's first inclination was to give him a gentle dose of 50 to 75 micrograms. But the man was much more interested in one of the 305 microgram pills Alpert had brought with him, a relatively sizable dose. Reluctantly, Alpert gave him one of the pills, but still the man was not satisfied. With a twinkle in his eye he requested another and then another and placed all 915 micrograms of LSD on his tongue, a massive dose by any standard, and swallowed them (in comparison, the average dose Grof used in his studies was about 200 micrograms). Aghast, Alpert watched intently, expecting the man to start waving his arms and whooping like a banshee, but instead he behaved as if nothing had happened. He remained that way for the rest of the day, his demeanor as serene and unperturbed as it always was, save for the twinkling glances he occasionally tossed Alpert. The LSD apparently had little or no effect on him. Alpert was so moved by the experience he gave up LSD, changed his name to Ram Dass, and converted to mysticism.
You can “solve some of the health problems,” as you put it, by solving the problems in your thinking. Yes, you can heal some of the conditions you have already acquired (given yourself), as well as prevent major new problems from developing. And you can do this all by changing your thinking.
Also — and I hate to suggest this because it sounds so mundane coming, as it were, from God, but — for God’s sake, take better care of yourself.
You take rotten care of your body, paying it little attention at all until you suspect something’s going wrong with it. You do virtually nothing in the way of preventive maintenance. You take better care of your car than you do of your body — and that’s not saying much.
Not only do you fail to prevent breakdowns with regular check-ups, once-a-year physicals, and use of the therapies and medicines you’ve been given (why do you go to the doctor, get her help, then not use the remedies she suggests? Can you answer Me that one?) — you also mistreat your body terribly between these visits about which you do nothing!
You do not exercise it, so it grows flabby and, worse yet, weak from non-use.
You do not nourish it properly, thereby weakening it further.
Then you fill it with toxins and poisons and the most absurd substances posing as food. And still it runs for you, this marvelous engine; still it chugs along, bravely pushing on in the face of this onslaught.
It’s horrible. The conditions under which you ask your body to survive are horrible. But you will do little or nothing about them. You will read this, nod your head in regretful agreement, and go right back to the mistreatment. And do you know why?
I’m afraid to ask.
Because you have no will to live.
Why don’t You fix the world, instead of allowing it to go to hell?
Why don’t you?
I don’t have the power.
Nonsense. You’ve the power and the ability right now to end world hunger this minute, to cure diseases this instant. What if I told you your own medical profession holds back cures, refuses to approve alternative medicines and procedures because they threaten the very structure of the “healing” profession? What if I told you that the governments of the world do not want to end world hunger? Would you believe me?
I’d have a hard time with that. I know that’s the populist view, but I can’t believe it’s actually true. No doctor wants to deny a cure. No countryman wants to see his people die.
No individual doctor, that’s true. No particular countryman, that’s right. But doctoring and politicking have become institutionalized, and it’s the institutions that fight these things, sometimes very subtly, sometimes even unwittingly, but inevitably… because to those institutions it’s a matter of survival.
And so, to give you just one very simple and obvious example, doctors in the West deny the healing efficacies of doctors in the East because to accept them, to admit that certain alternate modalities might just provide some healing, would be to tear at the very fabric of the institution as it has structured itself.
This is not malevolent, yet it is insidious. The profession doesn’t do this because it is evil. It does it because it is scared.
All attack is a call for help.
"Damnit," I whispered under my breath as I looked down at my feet. I was standing barefoot in the pouring Sydney rain. It was April 2017. I was 25 years old.
I ran the remaining stretch back to the office.
"What happened to you?" Pandora asked as she surveyed my appearance.
"My shoe broke as I was walking to the train station," I pouted. "Are you working late tonight?"
"Bryce will be another hour or so. Let's have dinner at our place. We’ll give you a lift."