Healing is Belief

Its time we realize our thoughts are powerful, potent energy. You can use this energy to heal yourself and reach your fullest potential.

If you need proof this is so, consider the placebo effect.

 

The Power of Belief and the Placebo Effect

The belief that you are getting help, such as a treatment for depression or cancer, can actually cause your condition to improve. It might be easier to see how placebos influence depression with its more direct connection to thoughts, but it is also true that thoughts have an effect on something as concrete as the growth of cancer cells or blood pressure.  A review of relevant literature by Straus and von Ammon Cavanaugh (1996) show how placebo effects are widespread, known  in medication, psychotherapy and even surgery!

Interestingly, it is not only the patient’s but also of the physician’s belief that effects how well a treatment works. For instance, patients on placebo in the Coronary Drug Project (1980) with good relationships with their physician, (and who presumably believed in them), showed lower mortality rates.  Also, as discussed by Suedfeld (1984), a doctor with a pessimistic attitude may block the effects of real medication .

 

Are Alternative Remedies Just Placebos?

I have heard others criticize so called alternative remedies like acupuncture, stating that anyone who found any benefit was merely experiencing a placebo. I think many who make such statements do not fully appreciate what a placebo is. In medical and psychiatric journals they may refer to it as “non-specific effects” which is just a fancy way of saying “something worked but we don’t know what and we don’t know how.” Thus with no means to explain how acupuncture works within the framework of western medicine, any effects are attributed to placebo.

In the West, people are conditioned to believe that pills work, and as the placebo effect demonstrates, whether or not the pills are actual medicine, they do. Interestingly, there is growing mistrust in mainstream medicine and more and more people in the West are looking to traditional Eastern methodologies. The recent interest in medicinal practices like ancient Chinese medicine, acupuncture and Ayurveda as well as their reported effectiveness may be related to the doubts people hold in mainstream medicine and a growing faith in ancient wisdom to be more effective. For these people, alternative methods are as (and sometimes more) effective than mainstream westernized medicine.

So what is a placebo? Put simply, it is belief or the power of thought.

 

Harnessing the Power of Thought

The placebo effect should not be discounted, it is demonstrated proof our thoughts and beliefs have real measurable effects on our ability to heal ourselves.  If placebos work when the person is essentially tricked, imagine how powerful the conscious application of thoughts and beliefs could be for healing and realizing our full potential.   If we could learn to harness this potent energy, our potential may be limitless.

References:

Coronary Drug Project Group (1980).   The New England Journal of Medicine  303, 1038–104.

Straus, J.L., von Ammon Cavanaugh, S. (1996). Placebo effects: Issues for clinical practice in psychiatry and medicine. Psychosomatics 37, 315-326.

Suedfeld, P. (1984).  The subtractive expectancy placebo procedure: a measure of nonspecific factors in behavioural interventions.  Behaviour Research and Therapy 22, 159–164.

The Power of Intention

My grandfather had this trick to getting up in the morning.  He believed you don't need an alarm clock.  It was my mother who told me about it.  She explained he used the power of his will alone to wake up every morning by repeating : "I'm going to get up at 7 o'clock, I'm going to get up at 7 o'clock...."  multiple times before he went to bed.  Then, he would go to sleep.  No back up method, nothing.  Apparently his method was fail safe and he never slept in when he didn't want to.

When my mother told me this, I was intrigued.  Being a really deep sleeper, I have always had a fear about sleeping in.  I cannot count how many nights I suffered, restlessly tossing and turning before important exams, job interviews, etc, worried about really falling asleep and missing my alarm.

Fed up with feeling a slave to my alarm clock,  one night I decided to try my Grandfather's trick.  To my astonishment it worked!  It worked really well. I have used it many times over the years and it has proven extremely valuable. The trick is to repeat your intention, focus and trust in it. 

But how did it work?  Especially when I usually need 3 different alarms and to hit the snooze a minimum of 10 times.  The answer eluded me until I started to learn more about the power of intention.

Your  intention is like a sculptor, collaborating with the universe in molding your future.  How defined your desired outcome is formed in future potential depends on how much you believe in your personal power when you form your intention.  I came to know this profound truth over time by studying the power of intention in individual as well as in our lives as a collective. 

Although this is a complex idea, I wanted to share my Grandfather's tick because its an easy way to illustrate the power of your intention, especially if you are somewhat skeptical.  So try it out!

I suggest you try it on a night you don't have to wake up for anything important.  For instance, don't rely on it for the first time after studying all night for an exam you have to take the next morning.  This is because you will likely sleep more naturally, deeply and without worrying, which I believe will help you gain trust in the method.

You are powerful, believe it and the universe will show you it's true :)

Namaste

 

Earth Consciousness

You may be aware there are different levels of consciousness and that consciousness evolves from lower to higher levels of awareness.  You may also know of the "universal consciousness" that connects and effects us all.  Did you also happen to know that planetary bodies have consciousness?  Ancient traditions the wold over were aware of this, which is why they assigned planets with  particular archetypal personalities, the remnants of these are still found in astrology.  I'd like to discuss our plant's consciousness evolution and what it means for us.

 

Properties of Consciousness

In the same way that your hand is a hand and also part your body, so consciousness consists of parts that are linked to the whole.  The consciousness that manifests in individual beings has particular goals and lessons it would like to learn.  Yet all  individual consciousnesses are connected.  The purpose of this complex interplay is to help the universe learn about itself.  You are like the eyes and ears of the universe, showing it different possibilities and aspects so it can learn and evolve.

The Earth is a Conscious Being

The earth, like all planets, is a conscious being.  The first goal of our earth was to use conscious intention to form minerals and these into rocks and crystals. Crystals are thus infused with particular perspectives and expressions and we can connect to these energetically.  It is almost as though the earth left us a scavenger hunt of billions of little crystal USB drives containing energetic messages like love or protection that we are able to "download."

Then the earth set out to create the conditions necessary to support more and more complex and diverse life forms, ultimately leading to the conditions right to support humanity. In this way our consciousness is connected to the earth, both influencing and supporting each other.

The Earth is Evolving in Consciousness

The earth is evolving in consciousness, which is related to and influences our conscious evolution.  Two features of this transition are the so called “quickening” of time and increased synchronicity.

The Quickening

Have you noticed time seems to be speeding up?  There is a purpose to this:  To make the consequences of our behavior more salient. Picture yourself in the middle ages writing a letter to family who live far away.  In your letter you convey some disappointing news that will ultimately change your family's lives forever.  Think about how long it would take for the letter to reach them and for you to hear back from them and experience the consequences of your letter.  Now flash forward to the present, in the same situation, distance does not have the same impact: You can chat online in real time with individuals practically anywhere and thus influence and effect one another across vast distances.  This is just one example but it is meant to illustrate the different significance time holds today.
The quickening of time ultimately shows us our individual effect on the greater whole.  For example, instantaneous news via the internet has allowed many to become aware of the consequences of things like unchecked capitalism and environmental destruction.  With the ability see and feel how our decisions affect the greater whole, we may chose to vote with our dollar, opting for sustainable, environmentally friendly options when possible.

Synchronicity

We can also expect to see increased synchronicity to  help us understand the divine connection of the events in our lives.  Synchronicity is the notion of seemingly unrelated things coming together in a way that holds great significance.  For example, have you ever had a thought, perhaps about things happening in your life, plans to take a trip or a goal you'd like to achieve, only to find later that day you overhear complete strangers discussing the vary thing you were thinking about and then maybe a TV show you watch that evening has to do with the very same thing as well?  This is synchronicity.  For many, the illusion our lives are composed of purely random "chance encounters" is evaporating.  This is meant to demonstrate  we are here for a reason, and nothing in your life is void of meaning.

These elements work to increase our awareness and facilitate higher consciousness.  There is nothing that occurs in isolation. What you do to and for yourself you literally do to all. If you let this guide you, you can be sure to evolve with the earth into higher states of awareness.

Information about earth consciousness informed by Indigo Adults by Kabir Jaffe: http://www.amazon.ca/Indigo-Adults-Kabir-Jaffe/dp/1601630670 
Image Credit: Alex Grey (http://alexgrey.com)

The Illusion of Separateness

“Those trees are your lungs. The earth recycles as your body. The rivers recycle as your circulation. The air is your breath. So what do we call the environment?”
— Deepak Chopra: Physical Healing, Emotional Well Being

A new paradigm is emerging out of the ruble of the reductionist model.  This new paradigm dissolves the illusion of separateness between anything and anyone.

As we research smaller and smaller units of matter, it becames clear that there is perhaps no final unit waiting to be discovered but a fundamental unity to everything.  Physicist David Bohm, whose work is described in Michael Talbot's the Holographic Universe, calls the fundamental unity at the end of all matter the implicate order.  David Wilcock makes reference to the Source Field.

A popular metaphor for the universe in this new view is that of a hologram that projects what we experience as matter, light energy, etc.  An important property of a hologram is that information contained throughout is contained within any unit.  For instance, if you cut a piece of holographic film with a picture of an apple in half, both halves of the film will still project the whole apple!  (This is only true of real holograms produced by shining a laser through holographic film, not of the hologram type pictures and stickers like those found of credit cards).  

One phenomena in quantum physics that supports this view is known as "non locality."  Briefly, 2 quanta (photons, electrons, etc.) can become "entangled" that is, influence each other even across vast distances.  Physicists were blown away by this because it seemed like these particles were communicating faster than the speed of light.  This lead to the notion that on some level these quanta are existing without location, thus no "speed" is needed.

Since this is so contrary to our experience and how we have been taught to view things, it can be a bit mind boggling to think that somewhere particles are "speaking" to each other where this is no location.

Advocates of quantum biology such as Deepak Chopra point to the similarities between phenomena in quantum physics and biology.  It can be said that the cells in your body are doing the same thing, communicating on a non local level.

What is this "non local" level of you and of the universe?  Well, it is consciousness.  Your sense of self and continuity of experience is not contained within anything in your brain or body in any physical way, since the cells of your body die and are replaced continuously throughout your life.  It is consciousness that remains and gives you this experience.   

What is becoming clear is what we experience as separate things is actually an illusion.  Since there is only a fundamental unity then the idea that you are somehow separate from the environment begins to fade.  The earth in which you live, is you, you are the earth and everything within it.  You are the universe, everything it takes to make a universe is contained within all of us.  Remember, consciousness has no boundaries, the only limits to your consciousness, is your imagination.

Spiritual Work: Change Your Perspective II

Take the Perspective of Others by Considering the Context

Consider this -
Maybe the last person who was rude to you did not upset you because they are a mean person.

Too often in our daily interactions with people, particularly if they were unpleasant, we attribute fault to the person themselves:  “They forgot my order because they are dumb/bad at their job/don’t like me,” etc.

Did you know we also tend to attribute our own mistakes not as  faults but arising out of the situation?  For instance: "I wouldn’t have made that mistake if it wasn’t for the fact that X happened."

The tendency to attribute the behaviour of others to personality and our own to a situation is known in psychology as attribution bias. Attribution bias occurs through peripheral processing, or unconscious automatic processing.  This is a type of information processing our brains do to make sense of the extensive amount of information coming in through our senses all the time.  Instead of analyzing every bit consciously, overtime our brains take our past experiences and create short cuts that help us understand a situation or individual very quickly.  Because the situation that lead to an individual's behaviour is often hidden to us, many people have taught themselves to understand motives as inherent to the person.

There are, however, those that tend to give others the benefit of the doubt more often than not.  Although this route of processing takes more effort, it has been shown that people that make this tiny extra effort tend to be happier overall and are generally more psychologically healthy. 

You may not be able to imagine the context to everyone’s behaviour, many peoples actions seem completely unwarranted to us. However, remember that just like you, they have a context. That may not excuse their behaviour, but it is good for conscientiousness to know and be aware that people are not “good” “bad” “stupid” “ignorant” “mean” people just because you saw them act that way. Some of us have lost sight of our light, but there really is no “better” or “worse” only perspective.

The Challenge

Next time you have an unpleasant interaction, a disagreement or argument, take the other person’s perspective.  I know you’ve heard it a thousand times, imagine if you were the other person, how would you feel. But its really works! Especially in a moment when things are heated and the last thing you want to do is see things from the other person’s view because 1. they appear not to give a damn how you feel 2. you are too busy trying to show them how they made you feel/hurt your feelings. But, this is when taking the other person’s view is the most important. I have experienced the greatest amount of growth in my relationships when I perform this at the height of least feeling like it.

The result:  Anger melts and you are solution oriented almost instantaneously.  This allows you to learn from the interaction, which is the purpose of interactions in the first place. 

What are your thoughts?  Do you find putting yourself in the other person's shoes is good for consciousness? 

Spiritual Work: Change your Perspective I

Take a moment to consider how everything and everyone is connected

We all have those moments -

• When others are rude or inconsiderate
• When you witness extreme disparities of wealth in those around you
• In a conversation where cultural differences, differences in opinion or understanding leads you to question whether you are on the same wavelength as your conversation partners

Do you find yourself, in moments like these, questioning how we can all be one?

Spiritual teachings emphasize everything and everyone is connected. The unified field theory, M-Theory and the view the universe is a hologram provide a scientific basis for a connectedness of all things. Thus, we can come to know intellectually we are all one. But how can we feel like this?

Well, the next time you have a moment like the ones above, where you feel isolated, different, or unconnected, challenge yourself to see everyone as one.

Oneness Visualizations

 

Light Body/Soul Connection

Try it while commuting to work in the morning, for instance.  Everyone is on their separate missions to their various jobs, (no one minds their own business and is as isolated as when in their morning commute mode).
Here I might picture us all as part of the body of the source field. I try to visualize the energy that connects all our light bodies/souls together. I find after doing this, I am more engaged with others. I smile more, find the time to hold the door for others a little longer, am just a little more patient in the line up at the coffee shop.

See the System

You can also picture yourself and the people around you as a system, an ecosystem that provides and supports consciousness or the subtle energy connection to spirit. To enhance this system you might consider your individual impact, how you can choose to enhance or degrade the level of consciousness that all energy flows to and from?

For instance, take an ordinary decision you make during your day, maybe its what to have for lunch or where to get your coffee. Maybe it matters to you where your coffee came from, whether it is fair trade, or maybe it doesn’t.  Maybe it matters to you whether you are eating a lunch made with organic ingredients or sustainably produced products, maybe it doesn’t.  I would argue the very act of making these considerations, just thinking about where that burger meat came from, will help you become more aware and awake in this life.

If you are interested in raising worldwide consciousness, doing this kind of work is a great start as it increases the level and connectedness you have to your own decision making power and the impact that has to the greater consciousness field.

So, the next time you want to purchase an item of clothing, consider whether you know how the fabric was produced, think of the plants, animals and people involved in putting the material in your hands.

Do you feel okay about the process?
Do you wish something was different, what would you change?
Is there an alternative that fits your values better, is it worth pursuing that instead?

Our products and services do not just land in our laps, there is a huge process that brings these into our hands. By becoming more in-tuned with the vary notion that there was a process, and not taking it for granted, I believe you will naturally move more in synch with your own core values. The more inline with your values and beliefs you become, the more aligned you are with your connection to the spirit and source of all. This strengthening of connections leads to higher consciousness as consciousness is the awareness of these connections.

What are your thoughts? How do you preform spiritual work?

Atlantis - A Lesson from a Lost Civilization

Whether you believe there was a lost civilization known as Atlantis or not, there is a profound message from ancient societies contemporary to the supposed Atlantis.


Humans are much older than we previously thought (and are still being taught), and there is solid evidence for large scale hyper advanced societies existing at least 10,000 years ago (and probably earlier). For more information, I direct you to works by Gram Hancock and Micheal Cremo.


However, what I have always found to be truly relevant about Atlantis in terms of our society is that Atlantis, or more specifically, its demise, reveals something extremely important about our current predicament:


To put it simply: As spiritually decreases, war, strife, greed and subversive power increases. This can be seen both in the archeological record and in Plato's account of the fall of Atlantis.


First of all, Atlantis was an empire and its influence was spread beyond the main continent or land mass known as "Atlantis." Modern researchers and Atlantis chasers know this and are aware of archeological evidence existing on continents currently above sea level in sites dated as old as 15,000 to 10,000 years BCE that were most certainly under Atlantic influence. I won't go into the details of the exact proofs here but interested individuals can refer to this book and this one too.


Basically what these sites tell us: In the earliest periods a great value was placed on spirituality. During the earliest times people seemed to live longer, peaceful lives. No evidence of any weapons or conflict is apparent.


This is also where the cave paintings are the most stunning and technically adept.


Looking at how these societies evolved over time: As spiritually became de-emphasized, the production of weapons increased. During this phase, individuals seemed to live shorter lives, often dying as a result of conflict/murder/war etc. The cave art reflects a degradation in artistic skill (comparatively to older examples) and the subject matter is often shown to glorify war, death and power won with violence.


So, it seems there is a relationship between power/greed/violence and spirituality -> as one increases, the other decreases.


Plato sums this up nicely in Critias when he discusses the state of Atlantis right before its demise:


"...but when the divine portion began to fade away, ... and the human nature got the upper hand, they then, being unable to bear their fortune, behaved unseemly, and to him who had an eye to see grew visibly debased, for they were losing the fairest of their precious gifts; but to those who had no eye to see the true happiness, they appeared glorious and blessed at the very time when they were full of avarice and unrighteous power." (Plato, Critias).


This quote seems to imply that to the untrained eye, or to the unaware/asleep, Atlantis right before it fell seemed like it was at the top of its game, gaining more and more power and material wealth. However, to the awakened individual, the inevitable downfall was completely apparent, for it would be obvious they had lost sight of what is truly important.


Here we are today experiencing, what I hope, is the pendulum about to swing the other way: power/greed/violence etc. may be heightening, but more and more people are becoming awake and aware. There is also a resurgence of spiritual growth and quest for enlightenment/higher consciousness.


So I think the answer to the our current predicament is pretty clear here, one way history (or the subverted/forbidden history I should say) teaches us to combat greed/violence/war is by questing for spiritual growth and empowerment.


Sources:
Mary Settegast's Plato Prehistorian:10,000 To 5000 B.C. Myth, Religion, Archaeology (1987). Find it here.

Phillip Coppens' The Lost Civilization Enigma: A New Inquiry Into the Existence of Ancient Cities, Cultures, and Peoples Who Pre-Date Recorded History (2012). Find it here.