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AUGUST SALON: A TIME TO HEAL

Aug 8, 2005

Once a year Caroline dedicates a Salon to the entire Myss.com community, please enjoy!

The more I explore the field of healing, the more intriguing it becomes. And it certainly becomes more complex in terms of the reasons why people do heal, or don’t, or can’t, or won’t heal. For years, I sat on the sidelines as an observer in this field, in spite of the fact that I actively practiced the science of medical intuition for twenty-years. I never considered myself a healer during those years as I never stepped over the line the divided my work as a medical intuitive to a practitioner of any healing art. Still, my observations of the activity in the field led me to write, “Why People Don’t Heal” because ultimately I was as baffled as were the many people I continued to meet through the years as to why all their efforts toward their own healing were not resulting in the full recovery of their health.

So many questions emerge in the study of healing and as I sit here organizing all my notes and thoughts on what I want to write in this Salon – and what I could write if I let myself go – I am realizing that this could end up being one of the more controversial Salon’s that I have ever written. Controversial because I have developed a rather critical eye toward much in this “new-age” field (that is not, by the way, “new” any more. It’s middle-aged now and needs to mature a great deal, but we’ll leave that for another Salon.) A Time to Heal is the topic I’ve chosen for this Salon because I have crossed over the line and the practice of healing has become a part of my life. And I am once again reviewing why people do and don’t heal, but as a practitioner, and not as an observer. To that, then, I have these points to offer that I would invite you to think about:

The first one is just theory: How responsible are we for the breakdown of our health? Obviously, bad health habits affect health. The absence of exercise affects one’s health – period. A defect in one’s DNA is a fact of one’s life. These are physical agents that contribute to the quality of one’s health, some of which can be remedied, and some cannot. What can be remedied should be remedied – period. So that takes care of that. Now why someone would not remedy what can be improved is sub-question here. To that, I have several – countless, in fact – examples of how people I know personally have approached their healing. They fall into two categories that can be essentially divided like this: the people who tend to maximize their healing respond with, “Is that all I have to do to recover my health?” after they are given the list of “must and should-do’s”, such as changing nutritional programs, clearing out emotional debris, losing weight, exercise, giving up bad health habits, and everything else that’s required. Nothing is too much for these people who see the recovery of their health as a goal worthy of every ounce of their time and effort.

The other category is the, “I’ve got to do all that?” one, in which the folks complain about how much effort their healing program requires of them. Everything is difficult and they approach their healthier lifestyle as if it were a burden, cheating endlessly on their diets, negotiating their exercise programs, and slipping back into bad habits as if they are outsmarting grade school teachers who gave them extra home work. So there you have it – the “Is that all?” group versus the “All that?” group – an obvious division of the wise use of psychic power and energy.

Next observation gets a bit more complicated because we now turn from external habits and behaviors to internal ones, to the territory of the psyche, heart, archives of belief patterns and attitudes, and archetypal patterns. This is mission control, the power battery of the body. And now, for my first bit of critical feedback on commonly held beliefs in this health culture of ours, namely that negativity is responsible for illness. As a blatant belief that covers every single health challenge that a person can develop, to that I say that attitude is nonsense and high risk. Negativity is not the sole cause of any illness and to believe that only adds to a person’s grief. (And let me say that if negativity were the sole cause of illness, I know a number of people who – given that simplistic formula - should be seriously ill, especially when you factor in honesty and integrity (personally or in positions of public leadership) among the qualities of the spirit that need to be kept healthy…I won’t mention names.) Negativity does influence a person’s health; there is no doubt about that. And certainly, negative attitudes interfere with a person’s capacity to heal, how can it be otherwise? That is just spiritual common sense. But you cannot credit being negative – a category that includes personal acts of dishonesty, lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, rape, jealousy, envy, abuse of any type including abuse toward others in the form of actions, words, deeds, thoughts, and gossip, and all acts of betrayal toward others – and I think that about sums it up, leaving out the biggies like murder. Do you realize how many people would be ill if we listed a category of “crises of the spirit” that included a breakdown of these personal acts? And why should we not do that? How can we set about the task of “spiritual healing” and continue to avoid actually naming the illnesses of the spirit? Why do we avoid examining the role our “conscience” plays in terms of recovering the health of our spirit, much less adding to it’s illness? And we do avoid it – relentlessly. We prefer the term “consciousness” and very carefully avoid, “conscience” and we certainly sidestep listing the illnesses of the conscience – and yet, there they are, gang. But “consciousness” sounds better….it has that certain “spiritual” something quality, like music…it’s lofty and nice and harmonious and implies peacefulness and green pastures and ashrams and retreats and Whole Foods, where health is but an organic vegetable away and the prices are way out of line – organic or not. And most important of all, the word, “consciousness” directs one’s attention to the world “above” and not “below”, where you actually live, scrape your knees, hurt your neighbor, neglect yourself, your family and God knows what else. In short, the world you really live in. Consciousness is theory; conscience is fact. Healing requires serious work at the level of conscience. That’s where the hands-on work of forgiving takes place, not to mention confession and the release of personal guilt and grief.

And let me be very clear that the point of self-examination of one’s conscience is not personal humiliation but the discovery of the power of humbleness, a quality that the mystic strives for with great determination. Humbleness breaks through the spiritual sound barrier – literally – because it opens a person’s receptivity to a quality of interior life and guidance that hubris would otherwise block. This healing work is not about a public display of “bad behavior”, but an interior release of Humbleness breaks through the spiritual sound barrier – literally – because it opens a person’s receptivity to a quality of interior life and guidance that hubris would otherwise block. This healing work is not about a public display of “bad behavior”, but an interior release of psychic and emotional lead that is of no use to the quality of one’s health, much less one’s life.

Healing is tough work; it’s not pretty and it’s not gentle – not if you really want to heal. And there comes a time when you have to decide whether you really want to heal…and if so, you have got to head into the trenches of your conscience and do some heavy duty work. (But then you can wrap yourself up in oils and massages and all those goodies, with aroma therapies, etc…..only THIS time, their capacity to cleanse your cell tissue actually works. Opening your Pandora’s box – the doorway of your conscience, not your consciousness, but your conscience – is what cracks open the energy canals to your cell tissue. THEN the high quality of grace that comes through this powerful energy healing techniques can genuinely penetrate into the body, maximizing their effective healing potential.)

There is, of course, much more that I can say on this topic, which is the reason why I decided to begin a series of workshops and seminars on healing with an emphasis on the material that I am now writing about in my next book, entitled, ENTERING THE CASTLE. This work is an exploration into your soul, step-by-step. I believe so deeply that many of you are “mystics without monasteries”, individuals who are longing to engage in a more intimate relationship with the Sacred, including learning how to channel grace toward acts of healing, as well as learning the prayerful ways of the classic mystics, only made appropriate to our contemporary spiritual lives. I believe that the time is right, at least in my life, to enter into the sacred territory of mysticism and healing and to make that world available to people whom, in turn, can bring the sacred into their world.

So now let’s continue with yet another perspective about healing and this one is the more impersonal perspective and by far the one that requires the most discernment. I am referring to a question of consciousness as a whole and has this new age really helped us to become more conscious and if so, more conscious of what, exactly? In the early 60’s when this new age exploded on the scene, the emphasis in the social atmosphere was one of social change and making a difference in the world. That’s why and how so many social, spiritual, sexual, anti-war, political, and environmental got launched. People were pro-active because they saw themselves as a part of making a difference in the world. They wanted to become more conscious so that they could make the world a more conscious planet.

Then, something happened...we turned inward.
The new age awakened the world of the psyche and psychic activity and an interest in intuition and archetypes and past lives and soul mates and “speaking one’s truth” emerged. Healing was an umbrella interest that included variations of all of these categories. Included in this awakening of the collective psyche was the forceful presence of the Wounded Child archetype, along with the Abandoned Child and the Orphaned Child, all of which revealed the powerful voice these archetypes had on forming the childhood of every individual. Eventually we had to realize that as a society, we were largely comprised of wounded child-adults en route to healing, but wounded nonetheless.

The okay part of that equation is recognizing the depth and texture of one’s interior psychic life; the not-so-okay part of that equation – and the one that specifically affects the ability of a person to heal – is that all too often, once a person turns inward for reasons related to being wounded, he or she stays there. The Wounded Child finds comfort in the Victim and together these patterns unconsciously – or consciously – allow a person to retreat from the world, maybe not socially, but definitely in terms of becoming an empowered force of action in the world. Healing becomes not just a temporary focus due to a health crisis, but a lifestyle that includes support groups, health spas, counseling, organic food, acupuncture, massage, yoga, meditation, studying intuition, becoming a shaman, etc.

Now, introducing all of these alternative health and lifestyle enhancers are wonderful; however, here’s my point – they are all about “you”. They all focus on the individual…”me-me-me”. They are not about becoming empowered and healthy enough to re-enter the world. They are all about staying within the self and closing down….learning more about personal boundaries and keeping people “out” unless you tell them to come in. Few if any of these practices are about building a personal soul with stamina or about evaluating this world to see where you could make a difference. And I’m not talking about opening another healing center, God knows…I’m talking about becoming a strong enough person to renovate your own life just as it is. When I listen to people say things like, “I don’t watch TV. The news is just so negative,” I could scream. I think to myself, “I you, who consider yourself to be ‘conscious’, can’t take looking at this world, than what are you doing calling yourself someone of spiritual service? Who exactly are you serving??? One might prefer to serve only the people in the tranquility of the green mountains of the lovely beaches of Hawaii, but is that service or self-service??????? After all the energy you pour into working on your spirit, you should be the first to say, ‘I’m heading into this world, not away from it.’”

What is THAT about???????? Healing is NOT just for the SELF!!!!! Healing is NOT meant to be a selfish act, although you certainly can make it one. People ask for the healing assistance of others, and yet if they hold in their hearts the attitude, “But this world is a negative place and I don’t want to look at it, much less help it out. I only want to help myself because I’m so spiritually sensitive now that I’m so conscious,” well, I think we have a problem here. And I’m not even talking about turning the world up-side-down. I’m talking about redefining what it means to be “conscious” as including an awareness of the world around you and living according to the principle that your ability to channel grace to this world is a genuine pipeline of Divine authority. But you have to be willing to look at the world to do that. This is “mystical activism” at it’s best; this is you as a healer in the silence of your own life, no matter who you are, no matter where you are – this is you knowing how to use the ability to channel grace through your soul and into this world.

After all of that, this is what I’ve come to realize:

There comes a time in every one’s life when they must make a choice as to whether they have the courage to heal – and then they have to get on with that task. To really understand healing requires that you understand the nature of the soul and not the body. There are many ways to do that. There are many spiritual teachers. My way is to teach you to “enter your Castle”, to enter into a state of consciousness in which you can dialog with your soul, which is in an alignment with the Divine. I believe that at the end of the day, the most natural choice in the life is the choice to allow healing to occur within you and to be of service to the healing of others. Getting to the place where you understand the power of that simple truth is where the journey comes in. But I believe that the time has come for many people to take that journey, which is why I have chosen to teach this now, at this point in my life. I am hoping that many of you will be a part of this new area of my work.

A SALON HEALING NETWORK

Now then, to bring healing more immediately into our lives, I am initiating a healing network via the family of Salon members. I decided to do this because I have come to believe that healing is possible and that every time people gather to pray for each other and for personal healing, that grace is given. I would like us to, therefore, participate in the sharing of this ability to serve one another and the human community as the world is in need of prayers as well. So, in addition to a Salon article on a different topic each month, beginning next month, I will also include a section on healing with specific instructions on how to work as a group to heal at a distance. The topic of the September Salon is, The Practice of Healing At a Distance. I mentioned this in an earlier piece announcing in which I announced a workshop on ENTERING THE CASTLE that will be held in Austin, TX, in which I encourage(d) people to attend who are serious about personal healing.

The intention of the healing work through the Salon network is to share the ability to channel grace through a group of committed individuals who agree to dedicate ten minutes of their day to the practice of channeling grace to the people whose names are on the list. I will include prayers that are shared by all of us as the core of our healing practice, although individuals are certainly welcomed to add their own prayers.

Please send your healing requests to: Amy@myss.com and list whether they are private or if you are comfortable with your name placed on the Salon prayer list. Also, please briefly state your prayer intentions, as your entire letter cannot be transferred to the Salon newsletter. You may also wish to add your email address and note that you are open to having people contact you regarding any information they may have to offer in terms of your own healing journey, or you helping them.

I hope you will consider joining the Salon newsletter and now Salon Healing network. I consider both a part of my own area of service and it keeps me in touch with you. Let me close with these thoughts of Thomas Merton’s:

“We do not pray for the sake of praying, but for the sake of being heard. We do not pray in order to listen to ourselves praying but in order that God may hear us and answer us. Also, we do not pray in order to receive just any answer: it must be God’s answer.”
- from Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton

And as an aside, can summer really be almost over?
Love,
Caroline

To register for the Caroline Myss Salon