The Future of Humanity

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Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of humanity. Climate change, overpopulation, unending war, environmental, health, and economic disasters… it goes on and on. It seems like there are only a few ways to face it: bury your head in the sand (business as usual); party while you still can; fight the good fight (whatever that means to you); join the depressed throngs wrestling with seemingly inexplicable meaninglessness; or turn within and live positively as best you can.

But what is really going on? I’ve been thinking about that too.

Permit me to be an armchair philosopher for a bit, and let’s examine things from a larger perspective. As I discuss in my book Active Consciousness, the course of human history has been one of evolution in four interacting quadrants — in the outer world of nature, in our collective social/political culture, in our collective spiritual pursuits, and in our own personal consciousness and level of awareness. Much of this is discussed in the writings of people like Ken Wilber and, as discussed in a previous newsletter, philosopher Jean Gebser.

It seems to me that a driving factor for human evolution has been our growing size. As our population has grown, our natural inclination as human animals has been to try to survive and create mechanisms for this survival. Hence our development of tools, agriculture, mechanical devices, modes of transportation, and now computers and the internet. Similarly, we have had the development of villages, towns, cities, nations, and world organizations. And hence our enlarging focus from family, to clan, to nation, to global citizenship.

The trouble is that our innate human dissatisfaction, which has driven us to create more and more, never seems to be satisfied. Buddhist wisdom tells us that this is because we are trying to derive our happiness from external things, rather from internal wisdom and awareness. I certainly agree. That too, is a key message of Active Consciousness.

But it is also true that without our innate tendency toward dissatisfaction, we would probably have never made it this far! So how can we learn to know when we have enough? As we all know, even the mega rich are always yearning for more — fancier jets, bigger mansions. There is never enough, because just trying to have more things, beyond a certain point of comfort and necessity, does not quench our innate dissatisfaction. In order to do that, we must turn within.

So where are we now? Where does humanity stand in 2013?

Looking in the large, we see that we are still largely focused on creating more and more things. We are like dogs who gobble and gobble and don’t know when to stop eating. In the end, we will just kill ourselves this way. We create genetically modified organisms (Why? Because we can? Because it makes certain companies and people rich?) and we end up destroying our food supply with overuse of pesticides and foods that cause disease. We are also still focused on feeding our insatiable need for more stuff (often made out of plastic that we usually just throw out), as well as so many other unnecessary disposable luxuries. As a result, we are turning our beautiful planet into a garbage dump with huge dead zones in the oceans, polluted air to breathe, and radiation that will last for eons. Let’s face it: we are like dogs that poop in their own kennel, and the truth is, we really don’t know any better! Doing these things seems to be the natural result of our current state of evolution.

There seem to be only a few ways forward, and we now see some of these paths being explored and expanded. Some are positive, some not so much.

  • Develop more energy to support the existing and still growing population. On the negative side — we are seeing more oil and gas drilling and extraction. On the iffy side — there’s nuclear energy (probably not a good idea). On the positive side — we are trying to convert to wind, solar, wave, hydro — i.e., clean, sustainable energy. On the less likely but possible side — development of zero-point “free” energies that some say will occur with the aid of alien off-planet cultures. (But what would be the consequences of that?)
  • Population stabilization/reduction. This can happen in positive ways or negative ways, but ultimately, it’s going to happen. For example: via increased disease, warfare, and famine (not so pleasant); via increases in and acceptance of homosexuality (quite positive in my view); via efforts to reduce the birth rate through education (positive) or governmental control (not so pleasant). There are even signs that human fertility is naturally decreasing as well.
  • Move off planet. Since our population is exceeding the Earth’s carrying capacity this is a natural response, and we are seeing growing efforts to enable commercial space travel and colonization of the Moon and Mars.
  • The development of human movements promoting sustainability. These efforts include: the use of organic farming methods that don’t deplete the soil and poison our food; the move toward eating and using locally made food and products that don’t require expensive transport from across the planet; the use of sustainable energy like electricity generated from solar and wind, and stopping the use of fossil fuels; limiting ourselves to a maximum of one or two children per family; acceptance of homosexuality; models of governance based on cooperative agreement rather than on warfare in order to grab other people’s resources.
  • The evolution of a human consciousness that focuses within for satisfaction. This is certainly one of my aims in writing Active Consciousness. Ultimately, this kind of evolution can help us achieve many of the above strategies, by helping to quench our need for more and more things — especially, more than we really need.

By viewing the current state of humanity in this way — in the large — we can see that we are currently in a process of evolution. And we seem to be at a critical juncture, not only because of the possible disastrous consequences of climate change, but because our innate nature, which has supported and sustained us for so long, is now bumping up against the natural boundaries of our planet.

But we may also be exactly where we need to be. Where we stand is obviously the natural consequence of our past evolution. As I suggest in Active Consciousness, we now need to collectively make decisions that support our continued existence and development. In the words of my own method for utilizing Active Consciousness, we need look within and “CHOOSE JOY”.

As Ken Wilber has suggested, humanity has always tended to evolve, not devolve. So perhaps, the odds are in our favor. In the meantime, it will be quite interesting to see what happens next!

Patients: Have Patience!

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Is it an accident that the word “patient” has two meanings? Of course not. As a patient (noun) we must be patient (adjective). This is especially true when you are the parent of an autistic child.

The dictionary includes various definitions for the adjective “patient”, including:

  • bearing pains or trials calmly;
  • manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain;
  • not hasty or impetuous;
  • steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity;
  • able or willing to bear.

All are qualities that are required of patients undergoing homeopathic treatment of a chronic disease — especially a chronic disease like autism that conventional medicine says is downright incurable. Autism parents taking an alternative path like homeopathy must be all the more “steadfast despite opposition” and “forbearing under provocation.” But they must also remember not to be “hasty or impetuous”.

Of course, as many parents who are trying homeopathy and other alternative therapies for their children are discovering — the allopaths are wrong. Autism is treatable. But it is so important to remember that the course of successful treatment is never a matter of days or weeks. Unfortunately, so many parents forget this key point. They read a story about a cure case like my son Max’s, but they forget that the process took years.

If conventional docs are telling parents that the situation for their child is hopeless, why do so many parents expect that their child to be cured in a month? There are probably many answers, but some include: panic, desperation, exhaustion, unrealistic expectations, denial, and impatience.

Published in April 2003, Impossible Cure has been out now for over 10 years. I get emails daily from all over the world, mostly from parents of autistic children. And one of the most common emails I get goes something like this:

“We have been seeing a homeopath for a month [or a few months]. We are only seeing slight changes so far, like better eye contact and some better behavior and better appetite/bowel movements, etc. But we want our child to speak. When will he speak? Should we try some other kind of treatment [usually an intervention that is more aggressive]?”

My reaction is always the same. “Wow! You are seeing improvements in just a few weeks or months! Rejoice!” You are experiencing a miracle from the standpoint of conventional medicine. They think homeopathy is a placebo, but now your child has improved!

And now, dear parent: “Be Patient!” A child who is autistic, especially one who is not speaking and is locked in another world within him or herself, will not suddenly “wake up” and start speaking to you as if nothing happened! The process will be slow. Better eye contact is one of the first clues that a child is breaking through the wall of autism and trying to join you. Be encouraging! Do not expose them to impatience and nudging. Instead, be gentle and supportive. Make your world one s/he wants to join! A common next step is for the child to start making his or her needs known in a more coherent way — perhaps through pointing or showing you things.

Another phenomenon that can happen at this point is increased stimming. Stimming can be a way for a child to calm themself — much like you might have nervous habits like biting your nails or drumming your fingers. Deciding to “join the world” can be quite scary! So increased stimming can be a strategy a child uses at this point to calm themself. The question to ask yourself is — are you simultaneously seeing signs of them trying to make more social contact? If so, be patient, be supportive! (The increase in stimming is also something to discuss with your homeopath.)

Another behavioral co-factor if your child is locked in autism is that they might be suffering from intestinal pain or neurological stress. If a remedy has helped a child to eat better, digest food better, sleep better or move their bowels more easily, it is also helping them along so that they can start focussing on the world outside themselves, instead of being locked in their own world of pain or discomfort. It is a beginning.

Don’t forget, in homeopathy, the body will tend to heal the most important things first. As far as the survival of the organism goes, it is much more important for your child to eat and sleep and be nourished than to talk to you.

Of course, it is important to stay on top of your child’s progress and not stay with a particular homeopath if you are seeing no change over a long period of time (say 4-6 months). But often, there are changes. You are just too close to observe them! To help you with the problem of patience here are a few crucial tips. Please take them seriously!

  • Set your expectations appropriately. Gird yourself for a homeopathic treatment process that takes months and years.
  • Keep a weekly notebook. Take notes about your child’s behavior, including ups and downs. Over time, this notebook will be your guide and reminder about the progress that your child has (or hasn’t) made. In other words, you will be better able to assess whether you are seeing progress or not. This notebook will also be a handy tool for helping you communicate with your homeopath.
  • Be the turtle, not the hare! You will more likely reach your goal through slow steady progress (including some ups and downs), rather than through some miracle dash to the finish line.
  • Your patience helps your child heal. Your impatience does not, and in fact, might retard their progress. Autistic children are pretty psychic even if they aren’t communicating with you. They will know if you are disappointed or angry. Impatience is not an incentive for them to join you.
  • Rejoice in every gain! Not every child can be completely cured. But any improvement has the potential to dramatically help your child’s quality of life.

Amy and Max Hit the Cover of Organic Life Magazine!

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Check out the April/May issue of a new online magazine — Organic Life Magazine. In the past, Organic Life has run short articles about homeopathy that have appeared in the Impossible Cure newsletter. When they asked for an article on homeopathy and autism, I sent them an updated version of an article that appeared several years ago in Mothering Magazine. What a surprise it was when Max and I  saw ourselves on the front cover! This photo was taken at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles when we were visiting Max at USC.

How Our Technology is Hurting People in the Third World

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It seems that every day we become more aware of how the excesses of modern life wreak havoc on the lives of others half-way around the globe. For example, recently I have become more cognizant of the fact that many of our modern tools such as computers and cell phones are made from minerals whose mining causes suffering to others.   Check out this article:  Your Computer is Killing the Congo.

Let’s face it — while technology has changed our society for the better in many ways, I believe it has also caused much harm — not just on the environment and to many of the people whose labor provides this technology, but on our psyches as well. I write about that in my book Active Consciousness. Indeed, that was one of the many reasons I left the world of computers — I did not feel I was really contributing much to our society.  I knew that my research work would never lead to a product, and besides, what good would another gadget or gizmo do the world?  I knew I  could do much more good elsewhere and have never regretted leaving the world of “Silicon Valley” behind me.

The truth is, I am also somewhat of a luddite. I do not use a cell phone. I do not use computers to keep my schedule; instead I rely on pen and ink and my trusty “black book”. I don’t like my life to be invaded by electronic devices. My need to keep up with Email each day is really the most unpleasant aspect of my life.  We have even removed WiFi, cordless phones, and Smart Meters from our home to avoid their radiation.

But the sad fact is that nearly everyone has become dependent on computers and other devices.  Just as our dependence on oil has harmed countless people in wars and is leading to the devastation of the Earth, we also need to mindful of how our use of modern technologies is causing harm to others.

The article cited above admits that simply stopping to use these technologies would also likely cause  harm to mining communities like those in the Congo.  But we must become mindful and introduce regulations that prevent such abuses.  The real costs to our environment and to others must become felt in the price of the goods we use.

We cannot escape it — we are all interconnected.

 

Hawaiian Wisdom — Don’t Ignore Your Basic Self

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In the October 2012 issue of the Active Consciousness Newsletter, I wrote about my growing fascination with Hawaiian mysticism — sometimes called Huna. My interest in the wisdom of Hawaii was triggered when I began reading the Spiritwalker trilogy of books by Hank Wesselman, who now teaches workshops on the subject. I can also highly recommend another introductory text by Charlotte Berney, Fundamentals of Hawaiian Mysticism.

There is one key aspect of these teachings that, so far, has been both new and profound for me: the concept of what Berney calls the Basic Self. The Huna teachings say that there are three distinct parts of our soul or being — the Basic Self, the Middle Self, and the High Self. The High Self generally corresponds to what I call, in Active Consciousness, the Inner Self. This is the wise part of ourselves that speaks to us from within and journeys with us from life to life. It is the part of us that many of us are trying to listen to and get in touch with through meditation and other consciousness practices.

The Middle Self corresponds roughly to the rational thinking mind. It is the part of us we normally identify with as “I” — the part that is always “talking” in our heads and reasons about things. It functions while we are awake and goes “unconscious” while we sleep. It assimilates data, makes decisions, and directs the body to execute them.

The Basic Self is different. Unlike the Middle Self, it is “the mind that never sleeps.” While it permeates the body and does control its functions — the musculature, the organs, the nervous system, as well as being the seat of emotions, memory, instinct, and survival — it is not simply the body; it is a much deeper and spiritual aspect of our self. Indeed, to view the Basic Self merely as the “body machine” can be a big mistake. It has an awareness and a mind of its own.

Hank Wesselman teaches that this Basic Self is composed of three parts — one inherited from our mother, another inherited from our father, and the third part bestowed upon us by the High Self when we are born. While the Middle Self is usually associated with the brain, the Basic Self is usually associated with the solar plexus and remains dominant in our makeup until we are about eight or nine years old. Then the Middle Self starts to take over.

While the Basic Self is generally subservient to the Middle Self by nature, it is still there, and if we ignore it, we set ourselves up for trouble — often in the form of physical or emotional ailments. When the Basic Self speaks, it is essentially our “gut” talking. For example, our “gut” may tell us that we don’t want to do something. If our Middle Self then coerces us to do it anyway, our Basic Self still remembers.

Today when I was at the pool, I witnessed something that reenacted a key moment in my childhood. A little five-year-old girl had been brought to the adult lap pool by her instructor and “urged” (more like coerced) against her will to do things that I’m sure the instructor thought were for her own good, but certainly were not in alignment with the little girl’s Basic Self. Although the girl was a skilled swimmer for her age, she still did not want to jump off a 3 foot starting block, swim width wise across the pool under each of the lane dividers, and then do another full 25 yard lap. The instructor nearly pushed the girl off the starting block when she balked, and when the girl cried about swimming across the pool, the instructor got in the pool to coerce her physically. The girl cried in protest the entire time. I nearly interfered in what was going on, but opted instead to send the girl love instead. I’m still not sure I did the right thing.

You see, something similar happened to me when I had my first swim lesson at age five. I could only dog paddle at that point. But the big burly instructor decided to take me to the top of a fifteen foot high jump and commanded me to jump off. When I cried and balked, he jumped in first and waited for me to follow. All alone up there, I felt that I had no choice but to jump in too. I’m sure he thought he was teaching me something (I don’t know what!), but I developed a fear of heights from that moment onward — something I only recently have begun to deal with. I only hope this little girl was not similarly affected.

So how should we deal with our Basic Self? Sometimes we just have to do things we really don’t want to do. Sometimes we simply must suppress our innate feelings or tendencies. We’d rather sit on the couch and eat cake, but our Middle Self’s job is to tell us: time to do homework, time to adhere to our diet, time to go to that meeting with someone we don’t like.

The answer is that it’s all about developing a relationship with the Basic Self. You must treat it with respect. You must negotiate with it. You must ask its permission. In the case of this little girl, instead of yelling and admonishing and physically coercing her, the instructor could have said: “I know you are afraid and I respect your feelings. But do you think you can work up the courage to just try this once? You might learn that this is actually fun.” The little girl would then have gone within and asked her Basic Self for permission to at least try.

In my own life, I have discovered that it can also be very useful to ask forgiveness from your Basic Self if you have spent most of your life ignoring it. The benefits can be numerous. For example, as you go through your day and various aches, pains, headaches, and irritations come up, you may discover that these sufferings are actually the result of violations of the Basic Self that you are not even aware of. Simply by getting in touch with what your Basic Self really feels and acknowledging it, your aches and pains may disappear.

We all have duties and routines we adhere to each day. Does your Basic Self agree with them? What does your Basic Self really want to do? What does this part of yourself really think about a certain person you are dealing with, or about some behavior that you have accepted as “required”? You might be surprised by the answers if you truly and honestly engage with this very real and important part of yourself. As Charlotte Berney writes, “Getting to know this powerful part of your makeup and being able to dialogue with it is crucial to the success of the Huna process.”

My recommendation is to begin by using the same meditative strategies I talk about in Active Consciousness. Then simply ask for contact with the Basic Self. For example, you might ask, “Basic Self, what do you want?” Or, “Basic Self, what do you think?” Then listen with respect, comply whenever possible, and negotiate when you cannot. Over time, you will begin to realize that the High and Basic Selves are always working together as a team to support you. They love you and are there to serve you — if you will only pay attention to them!

Receiving — A Gateway to the Art of Higher Dimensions and Synchronicity

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A few years ago, while I was writing Active Consciousness, I was talking to an acquaintance about higher dimensional space and how I believed human awareness could transcend the boundaries of our three-dimensional physical bodies. He immediately said, “You’ve got to read this book — The Ever-Present Origin” and wouldn’t let up until I agreed to check it out.

This amazing and dense philosophical treatise, by German philosopher Jean Gebser (1905-1973), draws upon the history of human art, music, architecture, philosophy, religion, and science to show that human consciousness has changed over time, and indeed is mutating or making transitions that reflect discrete jumps — true transformations into higher and higher dimensions of awareness.

Gebser’s ideas formed a philosophical foundation for the work of many modern thinkers like Ken Wilber, whose ideas I discuss at length in Active Consciousness. As both Gebser and Wilber point out, a particular level of awareness or consciousness continues until it becomes deficient to meet the needs of reality. Stress and chaos (perhaps like the kinds of things we are currently experiencing in the world) herald a shift into a new form of awareness. And with that shift also comes new forms of human creativity — art, literature, music, science.

egyptianart

Gebser also believed that these leaps are directly tied to spatial dimensional awareness. For example, he surmised that Egyptian and other early forms of painted art are two-dimensional (lacking the illusion of perspective, shadow, and other signals of three-dimensionality), not because these people lacked technique, but because their consciousness was similarly two-dimensional. It’s not that the Egyptian eyes were not physically seeing as we do, but that their consciousness and perception of their reality was in some ways more “flat”. Society was structured and fixed. Things were as they must be.
vermeer

With the coming of the Enlightenment in the 1600s came artists like Vermeer and Rembrandt. They used light and shadow in dramatic ways to vividly capture three-dimensionality. And unlike much of previous art focused on religion or political figures and structures, they captured the adventures of everyday people in their quest for personal fulfillment and truth. Awareness had become three-dimensional. We understood ourselves as individuals with the freedom to affect our environment in any way physically possible.

vangogh

But something began to change in the late 19th and early 20th century. A fourth dimension began to pop up in our awareness. At first it was color. Artists like van Gogh shocked their viewers when they painted things in colors, not as they appeared, but as the artists felt them. An extra dimension of energy and light also made itself visible using pointillism and other stylistic techniques. Inherent forms also became dominant, rather than realistic imagery. And then came Picasso.
picasso

I must admit, I never understood or enjoyed the later work of Picasso until I understood it as four-dimensional art. In one image, Picasso captured stylized aspects of the same subject as it moved over time. In other words, Picasso captured the fourth dimension of time. Alternatively, he captured multiple perspectives from different locations in space — even internal views of the subject were sometimes used. All of this is possible from a four-dimensional spatial viewpoint.

That takes us to even more current artists. I believe that many are now working beyond the idea of representing something. Instead, they are receiving their art. Their imagery is coming from some other source, some other wellspring of awareness.

My recent realization of this fact has made a tremendous difference for me in my own art. I am definitely an amateur, but I take up a brush now and then. Despite taking a class in modern art, I still could not get beyond trying to represent something. I could get as far as impressionism, capturing objects in different colors as I felt them, or drawing them in a more basic elemental form, but I just didn’t “get it.” But something has now changed for me. I have now realized that I just need to receive a painting. I don’t even have to know what I’m going to do when I stand before the canvas. All I have to do is enter a state in which I can receive information about what needs to be done.

Of course, all great artists from every era, no matter what their personal state of consciousness, create from a heightened state of the Now and receive their creation. As Michelangelo said of his sculpture of David, “‘Creating The David was easy – all I had to do was remove all that was not the David.” But even Michelangelo knew that his goal was to sculpt the David.

The image at the beginning of this article is one of my paintings currently in progress. It is the result of three steps of “receiving”. First I received a green background with textures. On my next day of painting, I received the idea of the black vortex. And on the third day, I saw images of creatures coming out of the painting, asking to be painted. My plan is to continue this process until I receive information that tells me that the painting is complete.

How liberating! I have learned to create art that is received from some inner space within — from the higher dimensional world of all possible forms and perspectives and even sources of information beyond my own mind or soul. It is literally the art of synchronicity. By entering the Now and trusting that whatever appears is there, not by coincidence, but with meaningfulness, a new creation is brought into physical form. Art, music, writing — even life itself! — can be created in the same way.

Is this the art of the fifth dimension?

Homeopathy and Cancer

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For more information about homeopathy, please visit www.impossiblecure.com

Homeopaths in the United States don’t often treat cancer patients, but homeopathy definitely has a role to play in cancer treatment. First of all, homeopathic remedies can be enormously helpful for alleviating the side effects of conventional cancer treatment, such as nausea and weakness. But homeopathy also has the potential to treat cancer itself.

Unfortunately, medical practice laws in the United States are designed to funnel cancer patients into allopathic cancer treatment. That means surgery, chemo, and radiation. Even MDs who want to develop or use alternative methods face severe penalties and threats if they venture off this beaten track. That is why so many people have to travel to Mexico or Europe to seek such treatment. The power of the American cancer industry is mighty indeed.

One need only learn about the experiences of Dr. Stanislaw Burzinski to understand this. Dr. Burzinski developed antineoplastons as a method of treatment for cancer that mimics the natural mechanisms of the human immune system. In contrast, chemo and radiation actually seriously damage a patient’s immune system along with the cancer. The success of antineoplastons has been remarkable, and in return, Dr. Burzinski has faced harassment and threats of imprisonment for years. He has recently won his battles with the government and is now allowed to treat patients at his clinic in Houston as part of his research activities. You can learn all about Dr. Burzinski via Mercola.com, including a full length movie about his stoy..

Given the experiences of conventional doctors who try to treat cancer in alternative ways, it is not surprising that most homeopaths in the United States prefer not to tackle cancer treatment in their practices. However, in India, where there is no legal coercion to use conventional treatment and where many people have no financial means to attempt conventional treatment anyway, homeopathic cancer treatment is very popular and often very successful.

As I have written before, India is really the center of gravity of the homeopathic world today, with an entire medical system devoted to it — medical schools and hospitals. There are many leading homeopathic doctors there known for their cancer treatment (as well as their treatment of other severe pathological diseases). They include such luminaries as:

These doctors have developed specific protocols and knowledge of specific remedies for targeting a wide variety of cancers. Naturally, there have also been many studies in India about the use of homeopathic remedies to treat cancer. Here are a few below. To view many more research studies on homeopathy, visit the excellent site, www.audesapere.in.

Two recent studies on the use of Psorinum as a cancer remedy:

On the effect of remedies on cancer cells in vitro:

Taking a lead from these kinds of results, there has even been a study of the use of homeopathic remedies for cancer at a leading American university. Moshe Frenkel, MD led a team of scientists at the University of Texas Anderson Cancer Center that studied the use of specific remedies used by Dr. Banerji for treating breast cancer — Carcinosin, Phytolacca, Conium and Thuja. Their in vitro studies showed that these remedies caused cell death (“apoptosis”) in breast cancer cell lines in the laboratory — and even better, did not kill normal cells! You can read all about Dr. Frenkel’s study in the February 2010 issue of the International Journal of Oncology (click on the link under “Publications” entitled “Effect of homeopathic remedies on breast cancer cells”).

Tuning In

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I live in a somewhat rural area on the outskirts of a giant metropolis — the San Francisco Bay Area. When I sit outside, I see mostly trees and fields and a few nearby houses.

But when I quiet my mind, the first thing I notice is the noise. Lots of it. The sounds of cars and trucks rumbling by on a nearby major thoroughfare and the highway a mile away, the whine of a chainsaw or the buzz of a weed-whacker, and the ever present roar of airplanes overhead. When you realize that all of this sound is blaring all around you all the time, you naturally wonder: Why don’t I usually notice this? How do the birds and other animals cope with this racket, and how are they affected by it? The noises of the modern world, when you stop to notice them, can sometimes feel annoying, nagging, almost tormenting.

But a stilled mind can also better hear the birds and the wind in the trees. It’s amazing when you realize how much chirping is going on! So many critters, insects, and birds are all out there, especially right now as springtime emerges. They are doing their myriad animal activities, living in their amazing worlds of natural wonder that parallel our human world every moment of every day. It’s like hundreds of separate realities coexisting all the time, intertwined yet completely distinct and foreign to one another. Amazing!

As I describe in my book Active Consciousness, one of the things my teacher Gary Sherman emphasizes in his teaching is how our consciousness is always shifting, based on where we place our attention. We can focus on the cars or we can focus on the birds. We can focus on our anxious worries or we can focus on our physical pains. We can focus on a painting or we can focus on a symphony. And if we really choose to, we can focus on stillness, or on perceiving and receiving information coming to us from deep within — from another more subtle realm. It’s all about tuning in to the “channel” of our choice. With some practice, we can learn to roll our “dial” and go anywhere we desire.

Of course, sometimes an outside stimulus can be so overwhelming that it is hard to shift our attention away from it. When those road noises are blaring at me, it’s often hard for me to focus on the birds and their sweet music. It’s no wonder that most people simply opt to cover up the noise with headphones, or move inside and listen to soundtracks of nature sounds instead.

But remember this: there is a difference between silence within and quiet without. When you are tapping into your internal silence, the noises without lose their charge. You become more neutral to them. Another trick I’ve used is to imagine that road noise is simply the sound of an ever present ocean. This helps to distance me from my own irritation or “story”, settle myself, and direct my attention to where I want to go.

Of course, dealing with the sounds of the outside world has much in common with dealing with the noise within. The constant drone and blare of our thoughts and stories can sometimes be omnipresent and oppressive. Sometimes we shut it out with drugs or alcohol or distractions. But just as we can find the silence within and become neutral to the sounds of the world, we can also become a more neutral observer of our thoughts. They are simply a part of us. We can achieve this by focusing on our immediate body sensations, placing our awareness in the present moment, and listening very carefully for the still voice within. The more we practice this skill — perhaps through meditation, but even more importantly, by remembering to refocus ourselves as we go about our lives — we become much more adept at directing our attention to where we really want to go.

Remember this: one of the amazing hallmarks of humanity is our amazing adaptability. Although many of us struggle mightily to keep our lives structured and predictable, when unwanted changes do occur, we can adapt — and much faster than we might have imagined possible. Our brains are even built that way. I’ll never forget one trip to Manhattan, when I stayed on the second floor of an older hotel. The first night I couldn’t believe how anyone could possibly sleep there. The clanging and beeping of trucks all night was monstrously loud and annoyingly intermittent, constantly erupting after a brief lull. But by my third night, I wasn’t even noticing the noise anymore. Because my body needed to rest, my brain adapted and tuned it out.

Sometimes we adapt by necessity, just as I did during my visit to New York. But regular practice can also enable us to more easily adapt to whole new ways of being. We simply need to regularly exercise our internal “receiver” — our attention — so that it becomes more fluid, more keen, and more finely tuned. Start practicing today — in fact, right now! — and tune in to where you want to go.

Dealing With Difficult Remedy Reactions

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While it is true that negative reactions to homeopathic remedies pale in comparison to the havoc sometimes wreaked by conventional medicines (disease caused by conventional drugs — also known as iatrogenic disease — is considered to be the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States), the medicinal energies of homeopathy, though dilute, can sometimes pose difficulties. It is therefore important to know the difference between “good” difficult reactions versus “bad” ones, and how to deal with them. For another discussion about remedy reactions, see my April 2012 newsletter or read chapter 8 of Impossible Cure.

The most important thing to remember if you believe you are having a difficult reaction to a remedy is: stop taking the remedy and call your homeopath. This is true whether the reaction is a good one or bad one. If you are experiencing discomfort that you feel has been caused by a remedy, your body does not need any more remedy stimulation at this time. Try to think of the action of a homeopathic remedy as an energetic nudge that sets a ball in motion. As long as the ball is still rolling, there is no need for further nudges.

(Please note that the discussion below pertains to the treatment of chronic, not acute disease.)

There are five basic types of troublesome reactions to remedies:

The “Good” Ones:

Aggravation of Existing Symptoms
This means that the remedy has definitely matched and resonated with you, but the dosing was probably just a little too aggressive. When you stop the remedy, the aggravation should pass (usually within a day or two, or at most a couple of weeks) and afterward, you will probably experience a noticeable improvement of your symptoms. During an aggravation, a patient will often feel better within themselves or show other general signs of improvement, despite the aggravated symptoms. Consult with your homeopath if an aggravation lasts for more than a week or is especially troublesome.

Return of Old Symptoms
This means that the remedy has lifted the outermost “layer” of your disease state and has now revealed previous layers. For example, your asthma symptoms may have improved but now you have eczema that you previously experienced years ago. This is an excellent development. Sometimes, the old symptoms will also disappear after a while. Or sometimes, further treatment of this previous layer will be needed. Be patient and consult with your homeopath.

Cleansing Reactions
These types of reactions involve the expulsion of disease energy from the body. Typical examples include: the development of skin rashes or itching, diarrhea, nasal discharge, or an acute illness such as a cold. Consult with your homeopath.

The “Bad” Ones:

All New Strange (But Not Severe) Symptoms Never Experienced Before
This can occur when a remedy is a partial, but pretty good match. This is especially true if you are otherwise improving, except for these few minor symptoms. The remedy will probably do you good, but has caused a minor “proving” — that is, you are developing symptoms that can be caused by the remedy substance. Discontinue taking the remedy for now. These symptoms should disappear within a few days.

All New and Severe Symptoms Never Experienced Before
This can occur when the remedy was incorrect and the potency was too high for you. Stop taking the remedy and consult with your homeopath. The reaction will likely dissipate over a few days. If not, your homeopath will probably recommend antidoting the remedy. Typical methods of antidoting include drinking coffee (a generally weak antidote) or inhaling strong vapors such as eucalyptus or menthol (which usually lessens and sometimes completely stops the aggravation). However, the best antidote is taking a better remedy. In my own experience, the correct remedy can antidote such a reaction within minutes or hours.

Why do troublesome reactions occur?

While there are some clues that can indicate a patient’s innate sensitivity to homeopathic remedies, in general, it is impossible for a homeopath to know in advance how a new patient will react to a particular remedy in a particular potency (remedy “strength”). Like everything in homeopathy, each patient is unique in their sensitivity. In my personal experience, some people even react best to specific potencies. For example, some people react positively to a 30c or 1M (which is the same as 1000c) dose, but cannot tolerate a 200c dose. Don’t forget, homeopathy is all about resonance to a remedy and potency, and it all depends on the unique energetic signature of the patient — which, unfortunately, cannot be measured.

That’s why formulaic approaches, where every patient is given the same fixed regimen, are generally not advisable. Of course, fixed regimens are de rigeur in conventional medicine, and using them certainly makes prescribing easier for the practitioner. But even allopathic doctors are beginning to learn that one size does not fit all. Tailored therapies for cancer, for example, are just beginning to come into vogue.

Classical homeopaths know well that the choice of a remedy must be tailored to the patient. But dosing management can be even more complex. Because it is logistically impossible for homeopaths to stay in constant contact with their patients, most practitioners develop dosing protocols that work just fine for most of their patients. That is why it is up to you, the patient, to contact your homeopath when a particular protocol does not work for your case.

So once again: When in doubt: stop taking a remedy and call your homeopath!