Abstract

The aim of this essay is to hopefully enlighten the reader on how the relatively new health discipline of Energy Psychology appears to be exploiting and implementing some of the concepts relating to health and well-being that have been presented to us by various channelled sources ~ in particular the Seth material, the Elias transcripts, and the Abraham-Hicks records.  These three metaphysical sources have provided us with a vast amount of detailed information on the nature of illness, pain, and our ability to attract to ourselves various states contrary to well-being; or as Elias puts it, states of ‘dis-ease’.  Contained within their contributions on the subject of health are quite regular references to the inadequacies of current approaches to healing practised by conventional medicine, and how this ineffectiveness is compounded by scientific methodology in general.  The message from our metaphysical friends is quite clear in its description of the process of ill-health and in the necessity for us to provide for ourselves new paradigms for healing which acknowledge the fundamental edict that our reality is formed through our thoughts, beliefs and emotions. 

I shall attempt to convey the principles concerning health as presented to us by entities with a unique perspective on our physical world and highlight the methodology and approach to healing of the burgeoning field of Energy Psychology.  Almost certainly unknowingly, those pioneering this complementary medical system are utilising procedures that comply with advice coming from the hidden domain; and a growing mountain of evidential documentation and testimony is substantiating the efficacy of the techniques involved.  It is my opinion that Energy Psychology may well be the standard-bearer at the forefront of an expanding awareness of the real issues involved in the maintenance of health and well-being. It could be a discipline that not only instigates a paradigm shift in the health professions, but also contributes to the ‘shift/change’ in humankind’s consciousness so often mentioned by our non-physical cohorts.

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Introduction

My educational background is in psychology. My studies though did not begin in earnest until I was 41 years of age when I began a Bachelor of Science Degree at the University of London followed by a Master of Science Degree in Occupational and Organisational Psychology at the University of Surrey.  Despite often being referred to as the ‘extra mature’ student on campus, my enthusiasm to explore psychology was undaunted by such satire as my return to full-time education was driven by the revelatory and inspirational work known as the Seth Material.  My father had given me the book entitled The Seth Material (Roberts, 1970) in my early 30s and over the next few years I picked my way through the mental minefields of Seth Speaks (Roberts, 1972) and The Nature of Personal Reality (Roberts, 1974.) As I ingested these works, sometimes at an excruciatingly slow pace, I became intrigued by the notion that we each create our own reality ~ everything, all of it, all that stuff out there, everything that happens to us, even the bad stuff like illness ~ from our thoughts, beliefs and emotions. 

“What exists physically exists first in thought and feeling.  There is no other rule.”

(Seth, The Nature of Personal Reality by Jane Roberts, Preface - Session 609.)

This statement presents us all with the ultimate responsibility ~ our lives, what we experience, is of our own creation, and what we experience is as a result of what we think and feel.  The physical world that I encounter is down to me, no one else.  And this world is largely about what’s going on in my mental world, what is being constructed firstly in my mind. 

“Your scientists are finally learning what your philosophers have known for centuries ~ that mind can influence matter.  They still have to discover the fact that mind creates and forms matter.”

(Seth, Seth Speaks by Jane Roberts, Session 520, p.45.)

This means that the creation of reality, the process of physical manifestation, is fundamentally embedded within the psychological ~ the realm of the mind.  With this key concept in the foreground of my own mind, in 1993, when personal circumstances afforded me the opportunity, I endeavoured to assess how the academic field of psychology was doing in its study of the mind; what ‘scientific’ inroads had been made in regard to how the mind functions, and whether any of its fields of research were providing information that may mirror the declarations of Seth.  My academic endeavours were particularly encouraged by the works of Norman Friedman (1994, 1997) which draw attention to and illustrate the common elements that abound in the Seth material, theoretical physics, and areas of philosophy ~ conceptual parallels that indicate that the Seth legacy has much to provide other scientific fields of exploration, not least psychology.

One of the first things that becomes apparent when studying psychology is its apparent lack of a common paradigm; that is, a global theory or model that provides a clear perspective of the subject matter.   Indeed, different schools of thought define the subject matter rather differently, which is an indication to Kuhn (1962), a philosopher of science, that psychology cannot even be described as a science.  Palermo (1971) even suggests that psychology has moved through several paradigms, from ‘Structuralism’ through ‘Behaviourism’ to more recently ‘Cognitive Psychology’ over the last century.  At the root of the problem of providing psychology with a directional theory is the inability to define the main extraction derived from the term psych-ology ~ the psyche (Greek for soul or mind.)  This subject matter sits on the table, but no one as yet has really picked it up and offered a decisive explanation for the phenomenon of ‘mind’. This is because many of its explanatory aspects are to be found in dimensions thus far unrecognised as ‘real’, they loiter in a land of subjective experience, far removed from the commonly approved scientific homeland of objectivity.  Explaining the mind and its function requires the recognition of dimensions of existence other than just the accepted physical domain perceived by the five senses.  And it will also require a fuller understanding of the nature of consciousness and its expression within this physical as well as other ‘unreal’ dimensions.  The subject matter of the mind will continue to slip between the exploratory fingers of hands encumbered by the gloves of objectivity, for most of its ‘matter’ does not conform to an objective language of description.

The psychologist Arthur Reber (1985), in his Dictionary of Psychology, puts forward eight definitions for ‘mind’ ~ which in itself illustrates the difficulty there has been in coming to terms with the impulse to recognise the metaphysical properties of the phenomenon.  Reber himself takes the option that rejects the metaphysical:

“Mind as equivalent to brain.  This position, which goes back to William James, must in the final analysis be true.  Its major liability, of course, is that we know precious little about brain function. As a result, it is more of an article of faith than a true philosophical position.”  (p.443)

Compare this contemporary account to a little of what Seth has to say on the subject (capital lettering is my emphasis):

“When I use the term ‘psyche,’ many of you will immediately wonder about my definition.

Any word, simply by being thought, written or spoken, immediately implies a specification.  In your daily reality it is very handy to distinguish one thing from another by giving each item a name.  When you are dealing with subjective experience, however, definitions can often serve to limit rather than express a given experience.  OBVIOUSLY THE PSYCHE IS NOT A THING.  It does not have a beginning or ending.  It cannot be seen or touched in normal terms.  It is useless, therefore, to attempt any description of it through usual vocabulary, for your language primarily allows you to identify physical rather than nonphysical experience.

I am not saying that words cannot be used to describe the psyche, but they cannot define it.”

(Seth, The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression. A Seth book by Jane Roberts (1979), Session 755, p.17.)

“... It is not just that there are other functions of the mind, unused, but in those terms you have other minds.  You have one brain, it is true, but you allow it to use only one station, or to identify itself with only one mind of many.

It seems evident to you that one person has one mind.  You identify with the mind you use.  If you had another, then it would seem as if you must be someone else.  A MIND IS A PSYCHIC PATTERN THROUGH WHICH YOU INTERPRET AND FORM REALITY. You have physical limbs that you can see.  You have minds that are invisible.  Each one can organize reality in a different fashion.  Each one deals with its own kind of knowledge.

These minds all work together to keep you alive through the physical structure of the brain.  When you use all of these minds, then and only then do you become fully aware of your surroundings:  You perceive reality more clearly than you do now, more sharply, brilliantly, and concisely.  At the same time, however, you comprehend it directly.  You comprehend what is apart from your physical perception of it.  You accept as yourself those other states of consciousness native to your other minds.  You achieve true personhood.” 

(ibid., Session 763, p.46.)

Here psychology is then; unable to get to grips with one mind and tending to equate the thing ~ which is “obviously not a thing” ~ with the psyche, which is probably the physical organism of the brain. Equating mind with brain was indeed a premise tentatively put forward by William James (1981) at the end of the nineteenth century.  And Reber suggests that we take this premise on faith.  With some little irony it is interesting to include here a contribution on the subject of faith from the afterdeath ‘world view’ [1] of William James as channelled by Jane Roberts (1978):

“This brings us to faith, of course, which as I now perceive it is a physical, biological condition of growth and a psychic or spiritual condition as well.  It is as if faith were the agent that developed a negative into a definite picture in the darkroom of the mind; and without faith, the events will not “take.”

... I am given a closeup view in which faith’s importance and characteristics are definitely shown to be the agents in which any kind of growth can creatively happen.

I am not referring to the brassy, almost harsh, false optimism that is on earth sometimes flaunted in faith’s name, nor even of faith in this or that church or theory or school, but of a faith that exists whether or not it knows its object; whether or not it is attached.

... For I now know beyond all doubt that each person is gifted with natural faith and insight, with built-in impetus and guidance in which biological and spiritual faith are equally merged.

Science, religion, and psychology have unfortunately, with the best intentions, muddled that inner knowledge and separated man from the practical use of inner direction.

... In your times, faith is even harder to come by than it was in mine.  More than ever, many people find themselves entangled in webs of melancholy, seeing themselves relatively powerless, not as heroic victims of a capricious fate but worse, as accidental outcasts of a universe accidentally formed, in which each creature is pitted against every other in a battle for survival that none can ultimately win.”

(William James, The Afterdeath Journal of an American Philosopher by Jane Roberts, pp.193-203.)

 I for one prefer to exercise my natural faith in the more lucid account of the psyche and mind promoted by Seth.  His own ‘article of faith’ is a far broader concept that embraces the non-physical in a description that may well ‘blow’ our commonly accepted one-mind.  Fear not this occurrence however, as apparently we each have many minds which are all capable of forming patterns within the indefinable but distinguishable psyche.  Patterns of the psyche that actually go on to form our reality in a development process where James’s faith also plays its part in “the darkroom of the mind.”  

Although I occasionally attempted to introduce some of Seth’s ideas into discussion and course work whilst at University, there was inevitably little consideration given to someone with notions that quite clearly detracted from psychology’s goal of becoming a bona fide science ~ a discipline with its moorings firmly tied at an objective haven rather than surfing the choppy seas of subjectivity.  Undaunted, the more Seth I read, the more I became aware of the vast number of avenues that psychology could be exploring in its quest for understanding the psyche.  Not least of these is the road to illness, be it mental or physical, with its slippery surface undulating to the ‘patterns of the psyche’ that construct this undesirable reality for us all at some time.  If, as Seth reminds us,

“... You are in physical existence to learn and understand that your energy, translated into feelings, thoughts and emotions, causes all experience.  There are no exceptions.

Once you understand this you have only to learn to examine the nature of your beliefs, for these will automatically cause you to feel and think in certain fashions.”

(Seth, The Nature of Personal Reality by Jane Roberts, Session 614, p.26.)

What exactly is going on?  What precisely are we doing when we translate our energy through our thoughts and feelings into a manifest reality that is obviously unwelcome like an illness?  And which beliefs do we examine?

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Creating illness

In answer to these questions, more than one metaphysical source contributes to the explanatory picture:

“An illness is a failure to solve a mental or psychological problem in the correct manner.   As long as the illness continues the problem remains unresolved, and a vicious circle is maintained because of this unwholesome balance. The sufferer focuses upon the illness, therefore avoiding his task of [focusing] upon the problem. 

The energy that would be used to solve the problem instead is spent maintaining the illness.  It is therefore necessary that an attempt be made as soon as possible to solve the problem, which of course must first be discovered by the ego, which has avoided it.”

(Seth, The Early Sessions: Book 4 of The Seth Material by Jane Roberts (1998), Session 159, p.68.)

“You make your own reality.  I cannot say this too often.

... Now here is another example.  Your conscious thoughts regulate your health. The persistent idea of illness will make you ill.  While you believe that you become ill because of viruses, infections, or accidents, then you must go to doctors who operate within that system of belief. And because you believe in their cures, hopefully you will be relieved of your difficulty.

Because you do not understand that your thoughts create illness you will continue to undergo it, however, and new symptoms will appear.  You will again return to the doctor.”

(Seth, The Nature of Personal Reality by Jane Roberts, Session 617, pp.55/56.)

“All of the biology ~ every bit of it ~ is following the vibration of the mind.  Every bit of it,  EVERY bit of it.

So the wellness that is being allowed, or the wellness that is being denied, is all about the mind set, the mood, the attitude, the practiced thoughts.  There is not one exception in any human being that you’ll ever discover.  It’s ALL that.  Treating the body really is about treating the mind.  [Just] because you have discovered you can patch [the body] up again and again, [the biology] will [always] find another way of reverting back to the natural rhythm of the mind, you see.

It’s all psychosomatic ~ every bit of it ~ no exceptions.”

(Abraham, recording of public session, Philadelphia, 13th May 2002.)

“ ... When a man is ill it is not necessarily because he wants to be ill subconsciously.  It is not necessarily because he is receiving some hidden psychological benefit, or because the illness fulfills some need.  He is ill often ~ always in fact ~ because of a distortion that is occurring within the self, and materialized in physical form.”

(Seth, The Early Sessions: Book 7 of The Seth Material by Jane Roberts (1999), Session 297, p.136.)

“JIM: “A question relating to disease:  As I see it, creating a physical illness seems to be through a holding of energy, and here I refer to your statement of ‘looking to affected organ and relaxing its intensity and allowing it to return to a natural state.’  Does all disease come from blockage of energy?”

ELIAS: “It is not necessarily a blockage of energy, but a holding of energy.”

JIM: “So whether it was bubonic plague or tuberculosis or anything else, it would be ... somehow the subjective mind determines what it is that the disease is going to be.”

ELIAS: “Correct.  YOU are instructing of your physical body consciousness.  All elements of dis-ease are within every individual physically focused.  They are not ‘catching’ them as you catch a ball!  They are within you already.  It is merely a choice to be activating them.”

(Elias Transcripts, Session 254, January 02, 1998.)

“ ... These incidents in the past, that appear as the original initiation of an illness, they represent points, or kinks, where energy is not smoothly used but tends to bunch up because of a resistance. Now obviously the particular energy does not bunch up, but a pattern remains in the personality where energy is spent in resistance, and not in efficient action, and not in effective idea constructions.”

(Seth, The Early Sessions: Book 4 of The Seth Material by Jane Roberts, Session 157, p.46.)

“ ... The ONLY problem, the ONLY thing that causes you any trouble, the only thing that slows you down, the only thing that keeps you from what you want, the only thing that makes you sick is RESISTANCE.  Resistance is always accompanied by negative emotion.  Negative emotion and/or pain.  In other words, pain is an extension of the same thing ~ physical discomfort. Resistance is always ... pushing against something.”

(Abraham, Abraham-Hicks recordings, G-Series tapes, 12th June 1995.)

“ ... Poor health is indeed caused mainly by habitual destructive thought patterns which directly affect the physical system, because of the particular range within the electromagnetic system in which they fall; and despite any objections I will stick to this statement. The bad health, for example, does not occur first, resulting in unhealthy thoughts.  It is indeed the other way around.”

(Seth, The Early Sessions: Book 4 of The Seth Material by Jane Roberts, Session 198, p.331.)

So, these guides to creation are saying that when we create for ourselves something unpleasant, such as illness, we are holding energy within ourselves through adherence to certain beliefs.  This energy, instead of flowing through our being unhindered in its expression of the personality, is instead being used to resist this natural course of action.  There is a distortion within the self, a kink in the energy flow pattern that is undermining the efficiency of the system of Self expression.  The “mind set, the mood, the attitude, the practiced thoughts” are the agents responsible for the inefficiency and it is these “habitual destructive thought patterns” that need to be discovered by the avoiding ego and dealt with.  Illness is the physical materialisation of an occurrence that is happening in the non-physical dimension of our being ~ the resistance of energy flow.  We are in physical existence to learn that the energy that journeys through us ~ that originates from ‘Source’ or ‘All That Is’ ~ to enable us to express our individual consciousnesses, is being filtered (“translated”) through the patterning sieve of our mind/s.  Energy becomes matter - physical - once it has its precise configuration delineated by the structuring format of our beliefs. The physical presence of illness informs our conscious mind that our belief structure is not conducive to the optimum utilisation of Source energy.   

“Examining the nature of our beliefs” entails an understanding of this crucial governing factor in our reality creations.  Our beliefs form our illnesses and our well-being. They “will automatically cause you to feel and think in certain fashions”  ~ they produce the thoughts to consider when you assess your experiences, and they stir feelings, emotional energy, within you.  These ‘automatic’ feelings, or energies of emotions, provide us with a clue as to what beliefs we need to examine in any attempt to restore well-being.  They tell us whether the formations we create are beneficial or not to the expression of our true selves. ‘Positive’ emotions suggest freedom of energy flow and therefore expression of the true Self, ‘negative’ emotions indicate the holding or distortion of free flow/expression.  To exploit the message of emotions is to examine those beliefs that are associated with the emergence of feelings of negativity; for it is negative feelings that say that the thoughts you are automatically thinking stem from beliefs you hold that are by their nature impeding the flow of energy through you. 

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Aspects to the Self working to make conscious the message of illness

What part of our selves is responsible for bringing about the physical materialisation of illness and why?

The why part would hopefully now appear obvious ~ because the structure of the self is not working at its optimum efficiency. A fuller answer to why, however, incorporates the necessity for the ego to become more aware of communication between it and other aspects of the whole Self.  The ego (our outer, waking, conscious mind that deals with our everyday reality) tends to disregard communication from other aspects to the Self (hereinafter referred to as the ‘inner self’ or ‘subconscious’) as it firmly believes that it alone is the entirety of the Self.  The physical symptoms of illness are a message from the inner self to the ego that it is avoiding a fairly serious issue.  The issue being that within the Self, the whole Self, there is a pattern of beliefs that is setting up an energy flow anomaly.  Why do we get ill?  Fundamentally because of the ego’s reluctance to communicate with the other ‘layers’ of the Self.  The ego will have its reasons for avoiding the issue, but if the inner self becomes concerned that the distortion is a challenge that needs to be met, then the wake-up call of illness is instigated ~ by the subconscious self.

“ ... Illnesses and various minor and major physical symptoms are often caused as the subconscious tries to speak out, in an effort to make itself heard by the unheeding conscious mind.  If the conscious mind consults with the subconscious, such nagging or sometimes explosive efforts will not be needed.”

(Seth, The Early Sessions: Book 4 of The Seth Material by Jane Roberts, Session 152, p.18.)

The subconscious is the ‘part’ of our Selves responsible for initiating illness and it can be regarded as an interface between the inner self and the outer ego self.  It is a vast and flexible domain that relays information between the two aspects of the whole Self.  Nestled within the subconscious realm of our being, organising and maintaining the physical organism, is the “body consciousness.”  The body consciousness runs the physical processes of the body without recourse to the conscious mind or ego.  As it is ultimately responsible for the physical system of our Self, it inevitably becomes intimately involved with the communication process of illness. It is as if the subconscious forms a pact with the inner self , a collusion that requires the body consciousness to agree to forego its natural predisposition to health in order to give the ego a metaphorical wake-up call.

“The body consciousness, on its own, is filled with exuberance, vitality, and creativity.

Each most microscopic portion of the body is conscious, strives towards its own goals of development, and is in communication with all other parts of the body.

The body consciousness is indeed independent. To a large degree its own defense mechanisms protect it from the mind’s negative beliefs ~ at least to a large extent. As I have mentioned before, almost all persons pass from a so-called diseased state back into healthy states without ever being aware of the alterations.  In those cases the body consciousness operates unimpeded by negative expectations or concepts.

When those negative considerations are multiplied, however, when they harden, so to speak, then they do indeed begin to diminish the body’s own natural capacity to heal itself, and to maintain that overall, priceless organization that should maintain it in a condition of excellent strength and vitality.

There are also occasions when the body consciousness itself rises up in spite of a person’s fears and doubts, and throws aside a condition of illness in a kind of sudden victory.  Even then, however, the person involved has already begun to question such negative beliefs.  The individual may not know how to cast them off, even though he or she desires to do so.  It is in these instances that the body consciousness arises and throws off its shackles.

With free will, however, it is not possible for the body consciousness to be given full and clear dominion, for that would deny large areas of choices, and cut off facets of learning.  The main direction and portent, however, of the body consciousness on its own is always toward health, expression, and fulfillment.

The molecules, and even the smaller aspects of the body act and react, communicate, cooperate with each other, and share each other’s knowledge, so that one particle of the body knows what is happening in all other parts.  Thus, the amazing organization usually works in a smooth, natural fashion.  Many body events that you think of in your society as negative ~ certain viruses for example ~ are instead meant as self-corrective devices, even as fever actually promotes health rather than impedes it.”

(Seth, The Way Toward Health by Jane Roberts (1997), pp.15/16.)

“As we behold your body you are much more an electrical circuit board than anything else.  You are flesh, blood and bone that is clear to YOUR eyes but you are like an electrical circuit board more.  As we visit with you here it sounds to most of you that we are wanting to assist you in using your brain to focus more precisely, and that is true, but your brain is not the only thinking mechanism in your body.

Every cell has a brain.  The cells of your body have been pre-programmed, pre-paved, pre-intended to maintain the continuity of your body.  The cells of your body, as individuals, actually know their function within your body much better than most of you know your function within your physical arena.  All cells do not do the same thing, each cell knows exactly what its purpose and function is.

The cells vibrationally communicate.  They electronically, electrically communicate with each other and with their non-physical source.  So the cells vibrationally ask for what they are needing to maintain the continuity of the body, and the non-physical answers them. This is taking place every waking or sleeping moment of your day or night.

As you are thinking thoughts, if your thought is one of appreciation, then it is in vibrational harmony with the Source of the energy that comes to your body ~ as the cells are asking and the non-physical is answering, there is no resistance.  There is perfect harmony, so the communication process is complete. But, if while the cells are asking and non-physical is answering, if you are frustrated or worried or focused upon lack ~ and it’s easy to do especially when your body is hurting, or when it is not functioning as you are accustomed to it functioning ~ then what happens is, you vibrationally ~ without meaning to ~ offer a resistance, and that resistance slows down the ability of the cells and the non-physical to interrelate. And that is what slows the process of healing.  It is also what causes pain.”

(Abraham, Abraham-Hicks recordings, G-Series tapes, 16th March 1994.)

In illness the body consciousness responds to the call of the inner self for there to be a blatant and physically obvious clue to the ego that there is an inefficient flow of energy occurring within the system of Self.  The ego will already have received more subtle messages from the non-physical self that are for the most part being ignored ~ moments of intuitive insight, moments of inspiration, dream content (day or night dreaming), coincidental and synchronous incidents, and, least understood of all messages, emotions of a ‘negative’ persuasion (fear, anxiety, frustration, guilt, anger, melancholy and the like.)  The creation of illness is an act governed by subconscious forces and inner-self understanding.  It is an act of final resort due to the practised ignorance of the ego self, the part of the Self that imagines that the only information of value is that which is perceived through the five senses, that which it recognises as physical in origin.

The information from entities with a non-physical perspective is crystal clear in its indication of the source of the ‘problem’ of illness.  Illness is a message to look within to our beliefs, as it is our beliefs that instigate our creations ~ be they considered ‘good’ or ‘bad’ creations ~ “there are no exceptions.”  But if the process of illness is governed by the subconscious realm and the conscious ego mind is avoiding the issue, then presumably the individual is not consciously aware of what beliefs might lie behind a problem.

This is very often the case.  The specific thoughts and beliefs that parade through the conscious mind are usually taken at face value as the ego goes about its job of deciphering information from the five senses, assessing the thoughts that run through the mind in relation to the experience (memory of similar experiences), and formulating a ‘best response’ action or behaviour.  Missing from the ego’s equation on action (usually, and more so with the Western male) is information being relayed through emotion from the subconscious.  Negative emotion informs the conscious mind that some of the thoughts and beliefs being utilised in its deliberations are detrimental to the efficiency of the energy system of the Self.  The ego’s currently narrow focus on the physical leads it to disregard emotions and many other communications that it considers outside of its 5-senses remit and therefore irrelevant.  When energy through the Self is being impeded to such an extent that the body consciousness sees fit to manifest illness, the chances are that this sometimes drastic message is constructed specifically because the conscious mind needs to ‘uncover’ and address a hidden belief or set of beliefs as a matter of urgency.  The culprits are not actually hidden, it is just that the ego is either unable to separate the wheat from the chaff or is deliberately ignoring their presence.

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Uncovering problematic beliefs

How does one go about uncovering unconscious problematic beliefs that are responsible for ill health?

What we are really talking about here is identifying thought patterns and beliefs that are using their very real energy to resist or inhibit energy flow that is assigned to actions that are part of the development process of the personality.

“In dreams the personality first attempts to solve many problems, and to give freedom to actions that cannot be adequately expressed within the confines of the physical universe.

If the personality handles his dream activities capably, then the problem action finds release.  When the ego is too rigid, it will even attempt to censor dreams. When the personality in general is too rigid, freedom of action is not entirely permitted even in the dream state.

When this solution fails, the impeding action will then materialize as a physical illness, or as an undesirable psychological condition.  The dream experience, however, is much more richly varied than you suppose.  There are ways which we shall discuss that will enable a personality to deal more effectively with the dream situation.”

(Seth, The Early Sessions: Book 4 of The Seth Material by Jane Roberts, Session 173, p.166.)

Attempts to reconcile an energy disturbance before it manifests as a physical or mental phenomenon are undertaken by the personality in the dream state.  However, the very fact that illness has become manifest suggests that the ego or even the personality of the individual is having its development confined by certain rigidly held beliefs.  It may not be necessary though to insist upon conscious revelation of the errant beliefs involved in the message of illness.  Indeed, it would seem that there are occasions when the conscious ego mind need know very little, or be involved at all in the process of discovery and treatment.  Dreams can be utilised far better than they are at present; they can be controlled and their content deliberately orchestrated to fulfil a solution to an energy flow problem.

“Much work has been done in the attempt to interpret dreams.  None, or very little, has been done to control dreams, or to control the direction of activity within dreams.

Upon proper suggestion the personality will work out specific problems in the dream state, as earlier mentioned.  If the solution is not clear to the ego, this does not mean that the solution has not been found, necessarily.  There may even be instances where it is not only unnecessary but undesirable that the ego be familiar with such a solution.

This problem-solving aspect of dreams is rather important, and can be utilized with rather impressive practical results. ... We have spoken about the importance of expectation.  With practice dream activities can also be directed in this direction.

... Upon suggestion dream actions can be turned toward fulfilling constructive expectations, which can themselves effect a definite change for the better in the personality involved.”

(Seth, The Early Sessions: Book 4 of The Seth Material by Jane Roberts, Session 173, p.168.)

Seth mentions ‘suggestion’ and ‘expectation’ in the above quotation and he does so because these concepts play a major part in the creation of reality.  They did so in the creation of an illness and they will do so in creating a solution to an illness.  Suggesting to one’s self that dream scenarios will incorporate an expected solution to an illness problem may circumvent the need, if need is actually the case, to discover the underlying beliefs.  However, if this more direct route to problem solving is currently beyond one’s capabilities or is insufficient, and we can assume that the revealing of problematic belief patterns will be of benefit to the ego as well as to the Self’s health restoration process, what other methods of revelation are there?

The principle underpinning the concept of belief ‘uncovering’ or examination is that of communication between the conscious mind and the inner self and/or subconscious mind.  “If the conscious mind consults with the subconscious, such nagging or sometimes explosive efforts [i.e., the manifestation of illness] will not be needed.” 

Because the ego has a problem with recognising that there is valuable information available in the subconscious or even that there is such a thing as the inner self, it can be fairly troublesome instigating some form of communication between it and these other layers to the Self. The Seth Material contains various suggestions on how communication may be established and there are several practical exercises provided by Seth, Elias and Abraham (amongst other metaphysical contributors) that assist in this undertaking.  It would not be prudent to go into all the numerous communication methods here, however they are all basically designed to afford the conscious mind a chance of dialogue that does not become threatening to the ever vigilant, overly critical ego.  The oft mentioned phrase “going within”, that is usually interpreted as an act of meditation, is really about establishing a communication pathway between the inner and outer self that works best  for the individual.  Meditation is simply a form of concentration upon discourse offered from the inner self; the ‘quieting of the thoughts’ beginning the process is part of (usually) the need to relax the ego from its grip upon thought production so that the inner self may entertain and present a few of its own.

Meditation in its various forms is of course one method of accessing the vast store of information on beliefs that is held in the subconscious.  It is an uncovering process of choice for many, but there are other important ways promoted by our non-physical informants and also, as I shall be getting to later, some useful contributions devised by some overtly physical individuals working in the field of Energy Medicine.  Of primary consideration though, Seth mentions an as yet under utilised method of consciously exploring the subconscious:

“It should be obvious that there is nothing strange in the fact that the dreaming self and the waking self appear so unfamiliar to each other.  The study of hypnotism will greatly enlarge man’s understanding of human personality in general.  These separate states of consciousness, these multiple levels of awareness, these seemingly unrelated personality aspects, are not unnatural artificial productions, brought about through hypnosis.  Hypnotism is merely a method that allows you to study the personality directly.”

(Seth, The Early Sessions: Book 4 of The Seth Material by Jane Roberts, Session 177, p.187.)

Hypnotism may seem to be offering an inroad to the subconscious belief store that would necessitate employing the services of someone who is practised in the art.  Maintaining a conscious awareness of one’s excursions into the subconscious library through hypnosis would for many require the assistance of a hypnotist, or ‘professional’ travelling companion who can provide assurances for the individual and their wary ego.  Development of hypnosis procedure though can eventually provide individuals with the option to go it alone using “self-hypnosis”, a methodology also elaborated upon within the Seth material. 

It is my understanding that Seth’s support of the practice of hypnotism, whilst providing direct study of the personality, is also based on the discipline’s use of ‘suggestion’ ~ a concept that figures greatly in his messages.  Our understanding of the term is not quite the same as Seth’s however.  Suggestion is in his estimation more akin to expectation, and expectation is a prerequisite state of mind in the process of physical creation.  His definition invokes a feeling tone similar to that of William James’s description of faith quoted earlier.

“... Suggestion, as I understand it, is the culmination of the inner voice that urges action into ever more diverse and creative patterns.

... What you choose to call suggestion operates unceasingly within all aspects of action.

It is this that allows the body its physical manifestation.  It is this that allows for all change.  It can be called on one level instinct, on other levels it is much more.  When it operates at its most efficient level suggestion is indeed the inner affirmation.  Without the ego we do not have what you call negative suggestions, for when action is left to itself it flows unimpeded, seeking its fulfillment along its numberless unimpeded ways.”

(For clarity of understanding, and consistency of vocabulary, the reader may wish to substitute the word ‘energy’ for ‘action’ in the following passage:)

“... The personal subconscious can be thought of as a threshold between the ego and the inner self; not only can glimmerings of the inner self be glimpsed through the subconscious, but also the diverse characteristics of the ego touch this personal subconscious.  When the ego, therefore, becomes too overbearing it attempts to impede the flow of action.  It cannot so impede action directly, for the very act of forming such impediments involves action.  Nevertheless such impediments often set up actions that block the overall movement or direction of the action that composes the whole personality.

The delicate inner mechanisms by which inner reality should be constructed into physical reality therefore become seriously affected.  Distortions occur almost like mutant mental genes, which are then faithfully and duly reproduced.

What you call negative suggestions represent discordant actions.  Unless the main reasons are discovered, the distortive actions will keep reoccurring.”

(Seth, The Early Sessions: Book 4 of The Seth Material by Jane Roberts, Session 160, pp.72/73.)

This appears to be another way of saying that when Source Energy is left to its own devices and its movement and materialisation are governed by inner guidance ~ “inner affirmation”, James’s ‘faith’ ~ the body has no problem with its physical manifestation, and the personality is not distorted in its expression.  It is the ego that affects this natural process of the expression of energy through action as it “interrupts this inner impetus” and develops symptoms ~ negative thoughts ~ to indicate that this is the situation. The prevention of illness is more about developing the ego’s ability to recognise the importance of the various messages given to it by the subconscious or inner self.  And then using that information to instigate a belief modification process that essentially involves the clearing of impeding energy ‘counterflows’ set up by the ego. 

It should be said that there is a danger for the ego to be blamed for its involvement in the construction of illness and for the individual to attempt to ostracise this ‘part’ of themselves. This would be a counterproductive action to take though and if adopted would likely propagate distrust of this seemingly dominant aspect to the Self, which in itself could lead to further problems of a psychological nature.  The ego is designed to be the personality’s interface between its omnipotent, whole Self and the medium of development we call physical reality.  It is actually very well equipped to do this, albeit that at its current stage of development it is ‘forgetting’ some of its abilities and not quite understanding its full role in the overall scheme of things. To truly understand the nature of illness, and to show compassion for the ego’s blinkered approach will lead eventually to the expansion of its capabilities ~ not least its currently under utilised innate capacity to negate the onset of illness.  Here Seth gives an idea of the ego’s fuller role in problem (e.g. illness) solving:

“ ... It is actually more practical therefore to seek the solution [to problems such as illness] in the dream state, or in periods of dissociation [such as meditation or hypnosis] if you prefer. The amount of data available to the subconscious is simply superior in quality and larger in quantity to that available to the ego, and this information can be used effectively through suggestion.

... The ego is indeed equipped to handle physical reality.  Its purpose is the manipulation of the personality within the physical universe. Its most effective method of procedure however is to form the problem concisely, and then to feed it to the subconscious before the personality enters the dreaming [or dissociative] state.

This requires on the ego’s part an excellent ability to perceive correctly the elements of the physical situation, to express it in terms that the subconscious can understand, and to deliver the message properly.  The subconscious will then break the physical data given to it down into its psychic components, translate it into symbols; and the inner self, at the request of the subconscious, will then focus all of the energies at its command to deliver the most acceptable solution, taking the entire needs of the whole self into consideration.”

(Seth, The Early Sessions: Book 4 of The Seth Material by Jane Roberts, Session 183, pp.226/227.)

Notwithstanding Seth’s more in depth clarification of the nuances of suggestion offered in the volumes of The Early Sessions, our more prosaic use of the term can still contribute to an awareness of what may be important in any communication between the conscious and subconscious realms.  Suggestion, rather than instruction, is noted to be the method of communication preferred by the ego when it is being asked to modify its belief patterns.  Because of the ego’s defensive nature, instruction given on beliefs that should be abandoned and beliefs that should be adopted tend to be resisted.  To the ego, instructions, if you will, become what Seth describes as “negative suggestions”, just as negative in energy as the beliefs they are designed to modify.  The practice of hypnosis offers an examination of the personality structure that includes access to troublesome belief patterns.  It also affords an approach to modification of those belief patterns that circumvents the defensive posture of the ego.  Under hypnosis, suggestions for improvement can be made not least through the use of affirmations.  Affirmations are an important ingredient in any cognitive (the way in which we think ~ including the beliefs we employ) treatment programme, and they are integral to the varied approaches used in Energy Psychology.  Affirmations are Energy Psychology’s ‘suggestions’ to someone seeking therapy. Suggestions that may contribute to a profound effect upon the individual.

“The inner senses will also react to suggestion. If you therefore suggest that you become more aware of their activities, then so you shall.  You are giving suggestions, whether or not you realize it, constantly.  You are forming your own physical image with all its strengths and weaknesses whether or not you are aware of it.

Suggestion, well used, with training and knowledge, will therefore allow you to alter the very cells of your body.  The inner senses can be requested to operate in such a way that the ego will accept their communications. ... ”

(Seth, The Early Sessions: Book 5 of The Seth Material by Jane Roberts (1999), Session 202, p.28.) 

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Energy Psychology: a science entertaining metaphysical concepts?

To summarise thus far; it should hopefully be apparent from the metaphysical literature presented that illness, mental or physical, is an experience created by the inner self, in co-operation with the personal subconscious, for the purpose of informing the neglectful ego/conscious mind that certain restrictions have been created in the psyche that are of continuous detriment to full expression of the personality through the medium of physical reality.  The causative factor is a belief pattern within the overall matrix of beliefs that the individual uses to form their reality.  Usually, the individual’s conscious ego mind is oblivious not only to the significance of the problematic pattern but also that physical and/or mental ‘ailments’ are in essence a last-ditch attempt by their inner selves to communicate the status of their energy configuration.  Accepting this concept of the meaning of illness leads one to realise that in order to regain or maintain well-being one needs to address one’s beliefs.  The ‘problem’ of illness is not the illness itself.  The physical manifestation of illness, the symptoms, usually interpreted and reduced to a chemical imbalance, organ dysfunction, or reaction against invasion of the body, is the consequence of a psychological phenomenon.   Treating the physical aspects of illness alone, usually by attempting to balance the chemistry through the introduction of drugs, is unlikely to produce sustained well-being.  To be well involves the engagement of ‘balancing processes’ that address the concerns of the various ‘layers’ to the Self, not just the physical, and not least the psychological.  Our metaphysical friends consistently extol the virtues of looking to one’s beliefs in the search for solutions to problems such as illness.  They encourage the act of ‘going within’ by presenting a variety of approaches which are essentially designed to access the subconscious information library and bring about communion with the inner self.  Illness can be interpreted as a simple reminder that there is a very real need for the ego/conscious mind to engage in a more full and frank communication exchange between itself and the whole Self’s other layers.

Squeezed Into the proverbial nutshell, the message from the metaphysical realm is that to be well we must make sure that Source/Universal Energy is allowed to flow through our Selves unimpeded, and that should this Energy become ‘held’ to the extent where symptoms of illness are experienced, then we need to restructure our portfolio of beliefs.  And we are then provided with numerous exercises [2] designed to bring communion with the outer and inner selves so that belief modifications can be made.  Simple! 

Well, perhaps the principle is, however in my own experience and in my experience of assisting others understand what illness actually means and what is required for relief and sustained well-being, things are never particularly straightforward.  As I began to wrestle with my own errant belief patterns and counsel others on their psychological problems using my knowledge of this principle of well-being and a few exercises from our metaphysical authors, I became aware that a more structured approach may be required.  It had taken me several years to fully understand for myself what well-being was about and therefore to appreciate the practical suggestions given to us by the likes of Seth.  However, when assisting individuals who firmly maintain a conventional belief structure in regard to illness and well-being, a more circumspect therapeutic plan is required.  I began to look for an approach to what is essentially ‘psychotherapy’ that would hopefully adhere to the broad principles of well-being and health put forward in the metaphysical transcripts as well as bridge the quantum leap across the lay person’s belief divide.  I was searching for a practice that looked to maintain energy flows as well as alter belief patterns for sustained relief from the challenge of illness; a practice that would offer understanding of the metaphysical ideas without assaulting the conventional mind’s notions of illness too much.

Energy Psychology (EP) was a term I first came across in 1999, and it caught my attention as the expression encompasses the fundamental aspects of reality creation ~ energy, and its patterning device of the psyche or mind.  Could this emerging branch of psychology be aware of some of the principles regarding the psyche and its relationship to energy as put forward by the Seth Material and other metaphysical information sources?  Could it offer a more holistic approach to the treatment of illness, realising the importance of addressing layers to the Self other than just the physical? 

Dr. Fred Gallo (1999), one of the leading figures in EP, defines the term:

“ ... as the branch of psychology that studies the effects of energy systems on emotions and behavior.  These systems include, but are not limited to, the acupuncture meridians and morphic resonance [3].  Energy Psychotherapy consists of approaches to psychotherapy that specifically address bioenergy systems [4] in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems.”

(Energy Psychology: Explorations at the Interface of Energy, Cognition, Behavior, and Health.  Preface, p.xi)

From my studies of EP thus far, it would appear that the discipline is attempting to take psychology into broader areas of consideration; areas that overlap, interlink and encompass ideas and concepts from other scientific disciplines [5] that will hopefully produce a more definitive paradigm for psychology itself.  It incorporates understandings on human functioning contributed by several mainstream psychological research paths.  Particular consideration is given to the cognitive perspective ~ which examines the interrelationship of emotions and language and the assimilation and processing of sensory information in our thinking and reasoning; as well as physiological psychology, especially neurology ~ which investigates the structures and functions of the nervous system; and biochemistry ~ which looks, for example, to the influences of neurotransmitters (vehicles of communication between cells in the nervous system), hormones and neuropeptides (described as  the “molecules of emotion” by Pert [1997].)

EP looks to introduce the significance of energy fields and forces to the overall construct of a human being’s functioning. It recognises and utilises the information on bioenergy systems that has been accumulated over many centuries in Eastern medicinal practices.  Its basic premise is that illness, whether defined as physical, mental or emotional in origin, is caused by “energy blocks” or “disruption in the body’s energy system.”  As one may appreciate, this premise would seem to reflect certain processes in respect of illness presented by the metaphysical teachings I have referred to.  The word ‘disruption’ would perhaps be more acceptable to Elias’s thinking, as it may be recalled that he suggests, “It is not necessarily a blockage of energy, but a holding of energy.”

Pursuant with this fundamental premise in EP, efforts are made to balance any disruptions and release the ‘blocks’ impeding the flow of energy through the body when treating illnesses.  There is an assumption made that held energy within the bioenergy system of the self is composed of one or more ‘negative’ emotions that are associated to one or more ‘traumatic’ experiences.  Treatment of the bioenergy system is regarded as sufficient in many cases to alleviate the symptoms of illness.  Whereas conventional medicine attributes the cause of illness to disruption of the physiological and biochemical structure (the physical ‘layer’ of the Self), and psychiatric medicine attributes cause to the mental (psyche ‘layer’) and biochemical imbalance, EP assigns cause to the disruption of the bioenergy system (the electromagnetic energy field ‘layer’ of the Self.)  Like conventional medicine, EP does not see the root cause of illness to be purely within the psychological system of the Self as stipulated by the channelled information sources.  In its approach to illness, EP moves the cause of this particular form of physicality away from the baseline of atomic and molecular interaction, to the more subtle fields of energy interaction and transaction.  Away from the strictly physical realm to the more subtle forces at the interface between physical and non-physical.  A step closer, if you will, to acknowledging the source and true cause of all physicality ~ the energy patterning force of consciousness. Importantly, recognition is given to the thoughts and beliefs from the psychological realm that may contribute to the ‘holding’ of energy and the necessity to address cognitive behaviour in order to achieve sustained relief, but the emphasis of treatment is on the electromagnetic energy fields of the body.

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Energy Medicine

The act of treatment or maintenance of the body’s energy fields is referred to as ‘Energy Medicine.’  This involves stepping beyond the purely material or physical structure of the individual.  “Energy medicine is the art and science of fostering physical, psychological, and spiritual health and well-being.” (Eden, 1999, p.2)

Within this discipline fall a wide variety of complementary or alternative medicinal approaches, from acupuncture, applied kinesiology, flower essences, homeopathy, magnets and meridian-based therapies to osteopathy, psychoneuroimmunology, Qigong, reflexology, reiki, shiatsu and yoga. Energy Psychology primarily advocates the use of meridian-based therapies in its treatment protocols, and there are currently a handful of specific modalities that have been developed during the last 15 years that stem primarily from the work of the psychologist Roger Callahan.

If one accepts the metaphysical view that illness incorporates the disruption of the energy system of the body, it would appear to be prudent, if one is unwell, to attend to this disruption.  Choosing an energy medicine for this purpose will depend upon personal preference, perhaps (and preferably) influenced by intuitive guidance.  However, it should be remembered that treatment of the energy system alone may not necessarily lead to sustained well-being.  Belief systems, the psychological issue behind the disruption, may still need to be addressed:

ELIAS: “ ... You may physically, consciously, objectively manipulate your energy centers within you and also be affecting of the energy field which surrounds you, for this is a projection of the energy centers that you hold within you physically.  Your aura, so to speak, is an energy field which is projected around your physical form, which is directly related within energy to the energy fields that you hold within your physical form.  Each energy center within your physical form radiates, and within this radiation of energy it creates an actual energy field around your physical form. Therefore, you may be objectively affecting [physically manipulating] of these energy centers, and in this you may also be affecting of the energy field which surrounds you.

As you continue to focus upon this ... disease, you also affect certain energy centers and their functioning, and in this you alter their spin; and as you alter their spin, you also alter the energy field around you.  This is not negative.  It merely is.

JIM: “So I have an energy center that is spinning out of harmony with the other energy centers?

ELIAS: “Correct, and you may objectively within your waking consciousness be affecting of this.  You may examine these energy centers, and you may align them and balance their spin also.  You hold the ability, although I express to you also that I am very aware that this is SOUNDING to be quite simple, and within objective awareness, within physical focus [everyday reality], it is not quite so easily accomplished; for you may view an energy center which is not within balance or harmony to the other energy centers, and you may also hold difficulty in realigning that particular energy center and balancing its spin to be within harmony of your other energy centers.  This occurs for you hold belief systems and issues within certain areas, and THAT be what is affecting of the imbalance, and if you are not addressing to the issues and belief systems, the imbalance may continue; although I do express to you, within all reality, that even without addressing to belief systems and issues, you may instantaneously realign an energy center and create a balance and harmony once again.