There is that in you which knows.  Life is not revealed

by building layer upon layer of stored information. 

This becomes knowledge.  Knowledge is information
 
made static.  Life is revealed by “knowing”.  “Knowing”

is information in movement, kept free, spontaneous.

Talking with Nature, Michael J. Roads 

www.michaelroads.com

 

      If  I asked you, "Does your heart think?", what would be your

response?  Most people would respond without hesitation, “No, I think

with my brain!”  We have been taught that thinking is a logical process

and logic finds its domain in the mind.  Inasmuch as it may seem

perfectly logical to concede to the truth in the statement that logic’s

domain is in the mind, there is still yet a deeper truth that goes

beyond the limitations of the logical mind, into the far reaches of our

Beingness.  Have you ever known something so deeply that you just

knew it in your heart, yet had no logical proof that it was so?  Where

does this knowing come from?

    
     Throughout our educations, our training has taught us to “use our

heads” before making important decisions.  This training tells us to

look at the concrete facts and based upon those facts, then make a

logical decision that conforms to logical rules.  Because we have

learned so well that we “think with our heads”, it rarely occurs to us to

use other faculties (senses) than our head to think.  Intuition, a sense

just like sight, hearing, touch, etc., and just as valuable as our other

five senses, is often discounted as contrary to our logical minds.  In

our culture, logic has come to be valued far above intuition to the point

where we very often, if not always, question the "knowing" in both our

"guts" and our hearts.  Therefore, in most cases, we logically decide

either to override our intuition in favor of logic or ignore it

altogether.  Many of us have learned "what " to think as opposed to

"how" to think, at the expense of our intuitive longings.  When

fulfilled, these deeper, intuitive longings hold the key that unlocks

the potential for our hearts to sing. 
    
How many times have you shared a longing with a loved one only to

be told that you are just being silly and impractical?  Consequently,

how many times have you pushed aside your deepest longings in favor

of what is practical and logical?  And how often does your heart take

you back to those longings that take on the form of inner promptings

(reminders) that you experience as regrets, feelings of emptiness or

lack of fulfillment? 

    
     Despite our technologically oriented educations, if we allow it, Life

itself will teach us to use our hearts' "knowing" ...  if we are willing to

listen.  We learn from our families, our environment, our experiences,

television, books, friends, schools, jobs, etc..  How we feel about all

of the above and how we see ourselves, greatly impacts how we live

our lives.  How much of our identity is learned from our perception of

our experiences, and how much of how we see ourselves (let alone

each other!)  actually taps in to and aligns with the Essence of who we

really are?

     We all have stories.  The stories I will be sharing in this book may

sound different from yours, but your stories have shaped your life,

just as my stories have shaped my life.  The question, therefore, is

not, "Have your stories shaped your Life?", but "How have your

stories shaped your Life and your identity?"

     In the process of living our lives, loving and caring for each

other, we learn that though love, prayer, intention and caring are not

necessarily illogical;  however, neither are they the same as logic. 

Love, Prayer, Intention and Caring are not limited by time and space. 

We can love, pray for and care for others no matter how distant they

may be, even after they have passed on in death.   Because of our

deeply ingrained training in the importance of insisting on the need

for proof  in order to justify validity, our limited human minds have a

difficult time grasping the existence of an energy that defies time

and space, that is everywhere at once, yet seemingly impossible to

measure or even to see.  Can we measure qualities like Love,

Compassion, Understanding, Passion and Intention?   Even more

importantly, are the effects that these different energies exert on

our minds and our bodies also measurable?   

As we learn more about the nature of the energy that

feeds our Life Force, our passion for life, our intuitive longings and

our creative instincts, we will be amazed at what we also learn

regarding our Potential.  We learn about our own nature by “listening”

to the messages that are continuously nudging us to pay closer

attention.  These messages come both from within us and all around us

and act as our guide posts for the fulfillment of our Potential.

      How many times have you instinctively done the opposite of what

your logical mind told you to do and found that it served you better

than the logical alternative?  A perfect example of this is when I was

leaving my house one day, and s I walked out of my apartment and was

in the process of locking the door and closing it behind me, I clearly

heard the words, "Don't close the door!"   I stopped for a moment,

quesioning these words, and decided to look in my purse for my keys. 

To my surprise, my keys were not in my purse as I had assumed!  Upon

re-entering my apartment, I found my keys (to both my apartment and

my car) on the kitchen counter.  Had I simply left, ignoring the

message in my head, I would have been locked out of both my

apartment and my car and unable to make my appointment. 

What is the driving force that moves us to do what we know to be

right, even when we, ourselves, don't fully understand how we know? 

Metaphysics and, more recently, quantum physics seek to explain this

and countless other energetic phenomena.

      Carolyn Myss clearly states this growing need: "We have reached

a point in our evolution that requires us to learn to speak 'energy'

fluently. Our search to understand the essence of health as well as

our new found passion to form a more mature relationship with the

spiritual dimensions of our lives, has led us to this crossroad." 

Anatomy of the Spirit (Caroline Myss 1996)

      If you believe that this “energetic” approach to health and well-

being is a bit far-fetched, just take a moment to reflect on your own

day to day energy level.  Do you have all of the energy you need to fly

through your day with enthusiastic fervor?  How often do you jump

out of bed in the morning, ready to embrace each moment with joyous

anticipation for what your day may bring?  How often do you struggle

to find even a hint of meaning in your day, your life, or a particular

aspect of your life?  How do you explain to yourself the difference

between the days when you feel enthusiastic and ready to respond to

any situation and anyone with ease, and the days that you just can’t

get out of your own way?  How would you rate your average level

of energy in each of these two cases?  However you may rate those

levels, in the former case, you are plugged into the current of Life

Force flowing through you, and in the latter case, there is just not

enough of that energy to go around.  

     My goal in writing this book is to show you how

to access Life Force energy that is always available to each of us, that

the quantity of this Life Force energy that is available to us is always

infinite, and that it is our varying ability to access this energy that

fluctuates.  The amount of this energy that we are able to access in

our daily lives may be measured in direct proportion to the level of

quality of our very beliefs, values, thoughts and emotions that

ultimately, create our experiences.   It is our reactions to those

experiences, based on our beliefs, values, thoughts, etc…, that

determine how those experiences serve us – or not.

      Because conventional science has no concrete, logical proof of the

existence of this "Life Force" energy, it has yet to validate its

existence (Although this is soon to change!).  However, how “logical” is

it to deny the existence of something that every human being knows

what it feels like to have it and also knows what it feels like not to

have it?  When our energy flow is blocked or disrupted during illness

or times of stress, there is no denying that we are lacking something

absolutely essential to leading a fulfilled and happy life.  Having an

awareness and recognition of this Life Force energy and actively using

that recognition to enhance the quality of our lives is the key to our

feeling whole and complete.  It is a recognition and acknowledgement

of our Body, Mind and Spirit connection – for we cannot be whole

when all of our parts are not fully recognized, acknowledged and

embraced. 

      Throughout our history, there has been a constant flow of wisdom

regarding this energetic or Body/Mind/Spirit link to optimum health: 

      Almost 300 years BC, the ancient Far Eastern Emperor Juagn Ti,

said, "When minds of the people are closed, and wisdom is locked out

they remain tied to disease."

    
      Albert Einstein has been a more recent source of valuable wisdom

infiltrating into our scientific theory. Although he warned us that,

"science without religion is blind, and religion without science is lame,

we have often assumed that we had to choose between science's 'hard

logic and religion's 'Blind Faith"'.  (Pearsall 1998)

      This assumption, that we have to choose between “hard logic” and

“Blind Faith” has not only divided science and religion-it has created a

division within each of us.  We have divided our world into the

categories of "substance" (matter) and "function"(energy), to the

point where we are now facing a new challenge of putting them back

together again, for a deeper understanding of the whole, and like

Humpty Dumpty's men, our task of putting all the pieces back together

again, seems overwhelming.

      If we return to the idea of "substance vs. function", and we say

that our physical bodies (and all matter) are the substance, then how

can we explain or define the function?  Our autonomic nervous system

is designed to allow an automatic level of functioning at the cellular

level, which includes functions like the rhythmic beating of our heart

and circulating blood to reach every cell of our body.  It also includes

the functioning of our lungs, allowing the circulation of life-giving

oxygen (via the blood) to reach every cell in the body.  We do not

have to remember to breathe (thankfully!) we just do it automatically

with little or no thought to the unfathomable number of functions that

are going on simultaneously and continuously, as a result of every

breath that we take in and release.  These autonomic (automatic)

systems within our bodies are driven by some force beyond our

understanding.  How many times have you forgotten to wind up a clock

or change a battery causing a mechanism to simply stop running? 

Aren’t you grateful that our bodies come with ”no assembly required”

and “batteries included”?  Since we all know that batteries run on

energy, what is the driving force that makes our mechanism

(substance) “keep on ticking”… or not?  Is function separate from

substance, or is the presence of one integral to the presence of the

other, making the two, one whole unit?  After all, substance is nothing

but lifeless matter without energy driven function and what good is

function (energy) without matter/molecules/substance to contain it

and give it purpose?  So if we know that the substance of matter

(atoms and sub-atomic particles) is actually energy, and that function

is also energy, then what is the function of energy?

      Given the miraculous ability of our bodies to basically take care of

themselves in spite of what we most often unconsciously put into them

and how we abuse them, how do we explain mal-functions, or

interruptions in normal, optimal functioning of the body systems?  If

we see the "functioning" of the body as separate from the "substance"

of the body (the physical matter), then it is easy to understand how

conventional medicine views the body from a mechanistic perspective,

either replacing the "malfunctioning parts" without regard to the

system as a whole, or prescribing drugs to correct a specific function,

again, without regard to the whole body picture.  This latter example

is most evident when we see that the list of side effects for most

prescription drugs on the market today is longer and more intimidating

than the list of potential benefits, not to mention the fact that many

drugs prescribed by physicians including antibiotics and chemotherapy

are designed to kill invading microorganisms and diseased cells (which

happen also to be live, functioning beings themselves!).  The problem

is that, particularly because of the overuse of antibiotics, it is

becoming easier to see that killing life to save life may not be the

most beneficial, let alone wisest, approach.  As a matter of fact, it

makes as much sense to me as fighting a war for peace!  This approach

has been tried relentlessly since the beginning of time.  It seems to

me that if it were going to work, we would not still be fighting wars. 

What amazes me most is that we have not even come close to the

realization that peace requires understanding – not war. 

      There are two basic approaches to disease.  One is the concept

that disease is caused by invading micro-organisms and the only way

to cure disease is to kill off the invaders.  This concept birthed

penicillin, anti-biotics, chemotherapy and many other pharmaceutical

drugs on the market today.  The other approach is that all Life,

including human Life, is an eco-system.  When the eco-system,

whatever it may be, is in balance and harmony with Life Itself, then all

Life thrives.  When it is out of balance and harmony with Life Itself,

than all Life is diminished.  The goal, then, is to create/establish

environments that are in harmony and balance with All Life.  Using the

latter concept in the bigger picture of both medicine and world peace,

we would stop our “wars on poverty,"wars on disease" and our "wars on

terrorism" and begin to embrace through understanding, the problems

that created those imbalances in the first place.  Implementing this

premise with the purpose of restoring harmony and balance, if peace

is what is needed/lacking, we cure that lack by introducing peace into

the equation, not by introducing war.  If healing is what is needed, we

introduce what is missing (unconditional love, understanding and

acceptance) rather than poisonous drugs designed to "kill off" the

invaders, because the "invaders" are only an issue due to the fact that

an imbalance or void or lack existed that allowed them in.  Killing off

the invaders, (whether bacterium, viruses, cancer or terrorists) does

not fill the void that created the opening or the invitation for the

invaders to come in, in the first place! 

     If the fence around your garden is broken and deer and other

animals are continually coming into your garden, eating all of your

vegetables, via this hole in your fence, you have two choices - kill

every invading creature that enters your garden…or mend the fence! 

In medicine, we have chosen the former rather than the latter, when

ultimately mending the fence is much more effective, safe and much

less costly on all counts.