Appendix 6. Extracts from
‘The Way Toward
Health’ by Jane Roberts
If people become ill, it is quite
fashionable to say that the immunity system has temporarily failed –
yet the body itself knows that certain ‘dis-eases’ are healthy
reactions. The body does not recognise diseases
as diseases in usually
understood terms. It regards all activity as experience, as a
momentary condition of life, as a balancing situation.
It is … fashionable to say that men and
women have conscious minds, subconscious minds and unconscious minds
– but there is no such thing as an unconscious mind. The body
consciousness is highly
conscious. You are simply not
conscious of it.
You might say [instead] that varying
portions of your own consciousness operate at different speeds.
Translations between one portion of consciousness and another go on
constantly, so that information is translated from one ‘speed’ to
another.
………………………………………………………………...
Many psychiatrists and psychologists now
realise that a disturbed client cannot be helped sufficiently
unless the individual is considered along with his or her
relationship to the family unit.
The same idea applies to physical illness
as well. It is possible, however, to carry this idea even further, so
that a person in poor health should
be seen by the physician in
relationship to the family and also in relationship to the
environment.
Old-time family doctors understood the patient’s sensitivity to family members and to the environment, of course, and they often felt a lively sympathy and understanding that the practitioners of modern medicine often seem to have forgotten.
Old-time family doctors understood the patient’s sensitivity to family members and to the environment, of course, and they often felt a lively sympathy and understanding that the practitioners of modern medicine often seem to have forgotten.
………………………………………………………………...
Modern medical science largely considers
the human body to be a kind of mechanical model, a sort of vehicle
like a car that needs to be checked by a garage every so often.
As an automobile is put together at an
assembly line, so the body is seen as a very efficient machine put
together in nature’s ‘factory’. If all the parts are in their
proper place, and functioning smoothly, then the machine should give
as excellent a service as any well-running automobile – or so it
seems.
All of the automobile’s parts, however,
are alone responsible for its operations so long as it has a
responsible driver. There are, however, hidden relationships that
exist between various parts of the body – and the parts themselves
are hardly mechanical. They change in every moment.
The heart is often described as a type of
pump. With the latest developments in modern technology, there are
all kinds of heart operations that can be performed, even the use of
heart transplants. In many cases, even when hearts are repaired
through medical technology, the same trouble reoccurs at a later
date, or the patient recovers only to fall prey to a different,
nearly fatal or fatal disease. This is not always the case by any
means, but when such a person does recover fully, and maintains good
health, it is because [their] beliefs, attitudes and feelings have
changed for the better, and because the person ‘has a heart’
again; in other words because the patient himself has regained the
will to live.
Many people who have heart trouble feel
that they have ‘lost the heart’ for life. They may feel
broken-hearted for many reasons. They may feel heartless, or imagine
themselves to be so cold-hearted that they punish themselves
literally by trying to lose their heart.
With many people having such
difficulties, the addition of love in the environment may work far
better than any heart operation. A new pet given to a bereaved
individual has saved more people from needing heart operations than
any physician. In other words, a ‘love transplant’ in the
environment may work far better overall than a heart-transplant
operation, or a bypass, or whatever; in such ways the heart is
allowed to heal itself.
People have been taught to trust 275a
picture of what is happening in their bodies, and cautioned not to
trust their own feelings. Some public-service announcements stress
the ‘fact’ that the individual can be gravely threatened by high
blood pressure, for example, even though he or she feels in excellent
health.
In many cases people exercise quite
simply because they are afraid of what will happen if they do not.
They may run to avoid heart disease, for example, whilst their own
fear can help
to promote the very eventuality they fear.
The body’s health is an expression of
inner well-being. Poor health is an expression also, and it may serve
many purposes. It goes without saying that some people become ill
rather than change their activities and their environments. They may
also become ill, of course, to force
themselves to make such changes.
I do not mean to imply that exercise is
detrimental to good health. It is true, however, that the reason you
exercise is more important than the exercises that you do perform.
The reason can promote your good health or actually impede it.
………………………………………………………………..
The concept of survival of the fittest
has had a considerable detrimental effect in many areas of human
activity – particularly the realm of medical ideology and practice.
Politically as well as medically, such
distortions have led to unfortunate conditions; the Aryan supremacy
biological ideas fostered in the second world war, the concentration
upon ‘the perfect body’, and other distortions. The idea of the
ideal body has often been held up to the populace at large, and this
often sets forth a stylised ‘perfect’ physique that actually
could be matched by few individuals.
Any variations are frowned upon, and any
birth defects considered in the most suspicious of lights. Some
schools of thought then, have it that only the genetically superior
should be allowed to reproduce, and there are scientists who believe
that all defects can be eliminated through judicious genetic
planning.
The handicapped are often given messages,
even by the medical profession, that make them feel like misfits,
unworthy to survive.
………………………………………………………………..
Your ideas about yourself are, again
vital in the larger context of a healthy lifetime. The condition of
your heart is affected, for example, by your own feelings about it.
If you consider yourself to be cold-hearted or heartless, those
feelings will have a significant effect upon that physical organ. If
you feel broken-hearted then you will also have that feeling
reflected in one way or another in the physical organ itself.
…. each individual also has many
options open. Everyone who feels broken-hearted does not necessarily
die of heart failure for example. The subject of health cannot be
considered in an isolated fashion … each person will try to fulfil
their own unique abilities, and to ‘fill out’ the experience of
life as fully as possible.
If an individual is hampered in that
attempt strongly and persistently, then the dissatisfaction and
frustration will be transformed into a lack of physical exuberance
and vitality. There is always an unending reservoir of energy at the
command of each person however,
regardless of circumstances. …
…………………………………………………………
Thoughts and beliefs do indeed bring
about physical alterations. They can even – and often do – change
genetic message s.
There are diseases that people believe
are inherited, carried from one generation to another by a faulty
genetic communication. Obviously, many people with, for example, a
genetic heritage of arthritis, do not come down with the disease
themselves, while others indeed are so afflicted. The difference is
one of belief.
The people who have accepted the
suggestion uncritically that they will inherit such a malady do then
seem to inherit it: they experience the symptoms. Actually the belief
itself may have turned a healthy genetic message into an unhealthy
one.
………………………………………………………………..
…pain and suffering are also obviously
vital, living sensations – and therefore are a part of the body’s
repertoire of possible feelings and sensual experience. They are also
a sign, therefore, of life’s vitality, and are in themselves often
responsible for a return to health when they act as learning
communications.
Many diseases are often health-promoting
processes. Chicken pox, measles and other like diseases in childhood
in their own way
‘naturally inoculate’ the body, so that it is able to handle
other elements that are a part of the body and the body’s
environment.
When civilised children are medically
inoculated against such diseases … to an important extent the
natural protective processes are impeded. Such children may not come
down with the disease against which they are medically protected,
then – but they may indeed therefore become ‘prey’ to other
diseases later in life that would not otherwise have occurred.
I am not advising people to refuse to
have their children vaccinated, since you now have to take
vaccination into consideration because of its prominence in society.
It is very possible however, that science itself will in time
discover the unfortunate side effects of many such procedures, and
begin to reevaluate the entire subject.
……………………………………………………………….
… no person dies ahead of his or her
time. The individual chooses the time of death. It is true however,
that many cancers and conditions such as AIDS result because the
immunity system has been so tampered with that the body has not been
allowed to follow through with its own balancing act.
Again, however, no individual dies of
cancer or AIDS, or any other condition, until they themselves have
set the time.
…no consciousness considers death an
end or a disaster,
but views it instead as a means to the continuation of … existence.
……………………………………………………………….
People with life-threatening diseases …
often feel that further growth, development, or expansion are highly
difficult, if not impossible to achieve at a certain point in their
lives. Often there are complicated family relationships that the
person does not know how to handle … In all cases, however, the
need for value fulfilment, expression, and creativity are so
important to life that when these are threatened, life itself is at
least momentarily weakened. Innately, each person does realise that
there is life after death, and in some instances such people realise
that it is indeed time to move to another level of reality, to die
and set out again with another brand new world.
Often, seriously ill people quite clearly
recognise such feelings but they have been taught not to speak of
them. The desire to die is considered cowardly, even evil, by some
religions – and yet behind that desire lies all of the vitality of
the will to life, which may already be seeking new avenues of
expression and meaning.
There are those who come down with one
serious disease – say heart trouble – who are cured through a
heart transplant or other medical procedure, only to fall prey to
another, seemingly unrelated disease, such as cancer. It would
relieve the minds of family and friends, however if they understood
that the individual involved did not ‘fall prey’ to the disease,
and that he or she was not a victim in usual
terms.
This does not mean that anyone
consciously decides to get such-and-such a disease, but it does mean
that some people instinctively realise that their own development
does
now demand another new framework of existence.
Much loneliness results when people who
know they are going to die feel unable to communicate with loved ones
for fear of hurting their feelings. Still other kinds of individuals
will live long productive lives even while their physical mobility or
health is most severely impaired. They will still feel that they had
work to do, or that they were needed …
……………………………………………………………….
Many cancer patients have martyr-like
characteristics, often putting up with undesirable situations or
conditions for years.
They feel powerless, unable to change,
yet unwilling to stay in the same position. The most important point
is to arouse such a person’s belief in his or her strength and
power. In many instances these people shrug their shoulders, saying
“What will happen, will happen,” but they do not physically
struggle against their situation.
It is also vital that these patients are
not overly medicated, for oftentimes the side effects of some
cancer-eradicating drugs are dangerous in themselves. There has been
some success with people who imagine that the cancer is instead some
hated enemy or monster or foe, which is then banished with mental
mock battles over a period of time. While the technique does have its
advantages, it also pits one portion of the self against the other.
It is much better to imagine say, the cancer cells being neutralised
by some imaginary wand.
Doctors might suggest that a patient
relax and then ask himself or herself what kind of inner fantasy
would best serve the healing process. Instant images may come to mind
at once, but if success is not achieved immediately, have the patient
try again, for in almost all cases some
inner picture will be perceived.
Behind the entire problem, however, is
the fear of using one’s full power or energy. Cancer patients most
usually feel an inner impatience as they sense their own need for
future expansion and development, only to feel it thwarted.
Again, we cannot generalise overmuch, but
many persons know quite well that they are not sure whether they want
to live or die. The overabundance of cancer cells represents
nevertheless the need for expression and expansion – the only arena
left open – or so it would seem.
Such a person must also contend with
society’s unfortunate ideas about the disease in general, so that
many cancer patients end up isolated or alone. As in almost all cases
of disease however, if it were possible to have a kind of ‘thought
transplant’ operation, the disease would quickly vanish.
Consciously you might want to express
certain abilities, whilst unconsciously you are afraid of doing so.
……………………………………………………………….
For all of life’s seeming misfortunes,
development, fulfilment and accomplishment far outweigh death,
diseases and disasters. Starting over can be done – by anyone in
any situation, and it will bring about some beneficial effects
regardless of previous conditions.
Behind all maladies, in the most basic
manner lies the need for expression, and when people feel that their
areas of growth are being curtailed, then they instigate actions
meant to clear the road, so to speak.
Before health problems show up there is
almost always a loss of self-respect or expression.
In the matter of the disease called AIDS,
for example, you have groups of homosexuals, many ‘coming out of
the closet’ for the first time, taking part in organisations that
promote their cause, and suddenly faced by the suspicions and
distrust of many other portions of the population.
The struggle to express themselves, and
their own unique abilities and characteristics, drives them on, and
yet is all too frequently thwarted by the ignorance and
misunderstanding that surrounds them. You end up with something like
a psychological contagion.
The people involved begin to feel even more depressed as they
struggle to combat the prejudice against them. Many of them almost
hate themselves. For all their seeming bravado, they fear that they
are indeed unnatural members of the species.
These beliefs break down the immunity
system and bring about the symptoms so connected with the disease.
AIDS is a social phenomenon to that extent, expressing the deep
dissatisfactions, doubts and angers of a prejudiced-against segment
of society.
Whatever physical changes occur, happen
because the will to live is weakened. AIDS is a kind of biological
protest, as if the homosexuals are saying: “You may as well kill
us. We might be better off than the way you treat us now” …
The attitude of doctors and nurses
towards the handling of such patients shows only too clearly not only
their fear of the disease itself, but their fear of homosexuality,
which has been considered evil and forbidden by many religions.
Yet AIDS can be acquired by those who are
not homosexuals, but who have similar problems. It is a great error
to segregate some individuals, like a modern colony of lepers.
Many other conditions that seem to be
spread by viruses or contagions are also related to the problems of
society in the same manner, and when these conditions are righted the
diseases themselves largely vanish. It should be remembered that it
is the beliefs and feelings of the patients that largely determine
the effectiveness of any medical procedures, techniques or
medications.
Unfortunately, the entire picture
surrounding health and disease is a largely negative one, in which
even preventative medicine can have severe drawbacks, since it often
recommends drugs or techniques to attack a problem not only before
the problem emerges, but simply in
case it emerges.
Many of the public-health announcements
routinely publicise the specific symptoms of various diseases, almost
as if laying out maps
of diseases for medical consumers to follow.
The body’s own healing processes are
forever active however – which is why I so strongly advise them
being relied upon along with whatever medical help seems appropriate.
But the individual, even as a patient, must always have a choice, and
the right to refuse any treatment being offered.
……………………………………………………………….
You cannot divorce philosophy from life,
for your thoughts and opinions give your life its meaning and
impetus. There are some people who believe that life is meaningless,
that it has no purpose, and that its multitudinous parts fell
together through the workings of chance alone. Obviously I am
speaking of scientific dogma, but such dogma is far more religious
than scientific, for it also expects to be believed without proof, on
faith alone.
All of life is seen as heading for
extinction in any case. The entire concept of a soul, life after
death, or even life from one generation to the next, becomes
doubtful, to say the least. In such a philosophical world it would
seem that man has no power at all.
… those concepts can have a hand in the
development of would-be suicides, particularly of a young age, for
they seem to effectively block a future.
……………………………………………………………….
For centuries it was taken for granted
that God was on the side of the strongest, richest nation. Surely, it
seemed, if a country was poor or downtrodden, it was because God made
it so.
Such ideas literally held people in
chains, fostering slavery and other inhumane practices. The same
unfortunately applies to Eastern concepts of nirvana and to the
Christian idea of heaven.
There are many differences between the
ideas of nirvana and heaven, but each has been used, not only to
justify suffering, but also to teach people to seek pain.
Quite ordinary people often believe,
then, that suffering itself is a way towards personal development and
spiritual knowledge. In matters of health, such beliefs can have most
unfortunate results. They are often responsible for needless
sacrifices of physical organs in imprudent operations.
Some individuals become anxious and
worried if they think they are too happy – for them it means they
are not paying sufficiently for their sins. They may be threatened by
some undeniable danger, until finally, in one way or another they
seek out their own punishment once again – wondering all the time
why they are so frequently besieged by poor health or disease.
This kind of syndrome can affect
individuals, families, and to some extent entire nations. They
mitigate directly against man’s health, survival and exuberance.
Constant fears about … catastrophes can
also fall under this classification.
This is true of individuals, but it also
applies to many so-called survival groups, who congregate in one or
another portion of the country.
Most such people expect a period of
chaotic time, in which all laws are broken down. Another version
stresses the economic area, foreseeing the collapse of the economy,
anarchy, and other conditions that pit one individual against
another.
Some use religious dogma and others rely upon scientific dogma to prove their cases …
Some use religious dogma and others rely upon scientific dogma to prove their cases …
Good mental or physical health can hardly
flourish in such conditions.
Such ideas affect every level of life,
from the most microscopic onward. It is not that plants understand
your ideas in usual terms, but that they do indeed pick up your
intent, and in the area of world survival, they have a stake.
I do not want to romanticise nonhuman
life either, or to overestimate its resources, but nature also has
its own ways – and in those ways it constantly works towards the
survival of life in general. Nature may
not bail you out, but it will
always be there, adding its own vitality and strength to the overall
good and health of the planet.
Communication flashes between viruses and
microbes, and they can change in the wink of an eye. Once again then,
ideas of the most optimistic nature are the biologically pertinent
ones.
………………………………………………………………..
This is a good place to bring up some
extreme food practices, such as over-fasting and an obsession with
so-called natural foods. I am not talking about a natural and healthy
interest in the purity of foodstuffs, but of a worrisome overconcern.
Behind many such attitudes is the idea
that the body itself is unworthy, and that starving it somehow cuts
down on the appetites of the flesh. You usually end up with a flurry
of different types of diets.
Some concentrate almost exclusively on
protein, some on carbohydrates – particularly rice – but in any
case the large natural range of foods and nutrients are cut out.
This keeps the body in a state of
constant turmoil. Some people are so convinced, in fact, that eating
is wrong that they diet until they become ravenously hungry, then
overeat and force themselves to vomit up the residue.
Other people, in a well-meaning attempt
to watch their weight, skip their breakfasts entirely – a very poor
procedure.
It is far better to eat moderate amounts
of food in all of the food ranges, and to consume smaller portions
more often … four light meals
a day will overall serve you
very well.
These food ideas are important, since
they are often passed on from parents to children, and parents often
use food as a way of rewarding a child’s good behaviour, thus
starting the youngster out towards the condition of overweight.
……………………………………………………………….
If you do have health problems, it is
much better to look for their reason in your immediate experience …
… try to understand that the particular
dilemma of illness is not an event forced upon you by some other
agency. Rather realise that to some extent or another your dilemma or
your illness has been chosen by
you …
If you realise that your beliefs form
your experience, then you do have a very good chance of changing your
beliefs, and hence your experience.
You can discover what your own reasons
are for choosing the dilemma or illness by being very honest with
yourself. There is no need to feel guilty since you meant
very well as you made each
choice – only the choices were built upon beliefs that were beliefs
and not facts.
If you are in serious difficulties of any
kind, it may at first seem inconceivable, unbelievable or even
scandalous to imagine that your problems are caused by your beliefs.
In fact, the opposite may appear to be true. You might have lost a
series of jobs, and it may seem quite clear to you that you are not
to blame in any of these circumstances.
You may be in the middle of one or
several unsatisfactory relationships, none of which seem to be caused
by you, while instead you believe you are an unwilling victim or
participant. You may have a dangerous drug or alcohol problem, or you
may be married to someone who does.
In most cases, even the most severe
illnesses or complicated living conditions are caused by an attempt
to grow, develop or expand in the face of difficulties that appear to
be insurmountable to one degree or another.
An individual will appear to be striving
for some goal that appears blocked, and hence he or she uses all
available energy and strength to circumnavigate the blockage.
[In fact] the blockage is usually a
belief which needs to be understood or removed rather than bypassed.
……………………………………………………………….
You are not healthy … no matter how
robust your physical condition, if your relationships are unhealthy,
unsatisfying, frustrating or hard to achieve. Whatever your situation
is, it is a good idea to ask yourself what
you would do if you were free
of it. An alcoholic’s wife might wish with all her heart that her
husband would stop drinking – but if she suddenly asked herself
what she would do, she might – surprisingly enough – feel a tinge
of panic. On examination of her own thoughts and feelings, she might
well discover that she was so frightened of not achieving her own
goals that she actually encouraged her husband’s alcoholism, so
that she would not have to face her own ‘failure’. Obviously this
hypothetical situation is a quick example of what I mean, with no
mention of the innumerable other beliefs and half-beliefs that would
encircle the man’s and the woman’s relationship.
Each person is so unique that it is
obviously impossible for me to discuss all of the innumerable strands
of belief that form human experience …. you may discover not just
one you, but several you’s, so to speak, each pursuing certain
purposes, and you may find out furthermore that some purposes cancel
others out, whilst some are diametrically opposed to one another.
Such cross-purposes, of course can lead to mental, spiritual,
emotional and physical difficulties.
Large numbers of people do indeed live
unsatisfactory lives, with many individuals seeking goals that are
nearly unattainable because of the conglomeration of contradictory
beliefs that vie for their attention. They are at cross-purposes with
themselves.
Addendum: from ‘The
Individual and the Nature of Mass Events’ – a Seth Book by Jane
Roberts :
Many therefore “fall prey” to
epidemics of one kind or another because they want to, though they
might deny this quite vigorously.
I am speaking particularly of epidemics
that are less than deadly, though danger is involved. In your times,
hospitals, you must realize, are important parts of the community.
They provide a social as well as a medical service. Many people are
simply lonely, or overworked. Some are rebelling against commonly
held ideas of competition. Flu epidemics become social excuses for
much needed rest, therefore, and serve as face-saving devices so that
the individual can hide from themselves
their inner difficulties. In a way, such epidemics provide their own
kind of fellowship – giving common meeting grounds for those of
disparate circumstances. The [epidemics] serve as accepted states of
illness, in which people are given an excuse for the rest or quiet
self-examination they desperately need but do not feel entitled to
otherwise.
I do not mean to assign any hint of
accusation against those so involved, but mainly to state some of the
reasons for such behavior. If you do not trust your nature, then any
illness or disposition will be interpreted as an onslaught against
health. Your body faithfully reflects your inner psychological
reality. The nature of your emotions means that in the course of a
lifetime you will experience the full range of feelings. Your
subjective state has variety. Sometimes sad or depressing thoughts
provide a refreshing change of pace, leading you to periods of quiet
reflection, and to a quieting of the body so that it rests.
Fears, sometimes even seemingly
irrational ones, can serve to rouse the body if you have been too
lethargic, or have been in a rut psychologically or physically. If
you trusted your nature you would be able to trust such feelings, and
following their own rhythms and routes they would change into others.
Ideally even illnesses are a part of the body’s health,
representing needed adjustments, and also following the needs of the
subjective person at any given time.
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