-In Tune Series Part 9-
Demystifying controversial beliefs within the field of sound healing and modern-day spirituality.
When there is illness, what is it that causes the organism to heal from the roots? When there is an intense mental obstacle or emotional burden, what is it that enables one to transform and heal from the roots? As frequencies do not bear any inherent healing power, who or what is responsible for the healing process in a sound healing or any other holistic healing practice? What is it that heals? According to the holistic perspective it is Nature that heals in the first place. Healing is a quality inherent to Nature.
Introduction
According to the holistic vision the true healer isn't any method or technology that stems from the mind. As the human being is a complex phenomenon, there is rarely just one singular cause prior to an illness. There is rarely one singular healing method that 'does it' either. Finding out what are the true healing forces doesn't come with simplistic answers. Yet, understanding Nature and the complex organisms that She designed just a little more deeply, does contribute to healing on a deeper level. With this article I offer a humble contribution to this deeper understanding.
In the earlier articles I’ve been focussing intensively on some aspects that are falsely claimed to be the healing agent in a sound healing. I investigated some particular myths and erroneous theories that circulate within the new age and sound healing fields. This is the concluding article within the In-Tune-series, in which I will sum up what I believe to be the true, essential healing agents in holistic healing and sound healing in particular.
Causes of disease
Whether 'dis-ease' manifests in the physical body or at the level of the mind and emotions, the core causes are the same. Whether the dis-ease got stamped through a medical diagnose or is simply a direct experience of pain and discomfort, or both, the root causes are the same.
Here are the main factors that initiate an illness:
- Psychological factors (contradictory thoughts and unbalanced emotions)
- Unhealthy diet and lifestyle
- Environmental factors (noise, environmental pollution, radiation, etc.)
- Harmful viruses, fungi, bacteria or parasites
- A high dose and/or long-term use of allopathic drugs
(*1)
Although dis-ease is always a complex matter and causes usually are many, I believe the number one cause is to be found in the mind. Remember, from a holistic perspective we are interested in the ‘roots’ of the disease and not so much in the surface. Only in severe cases symptoms should be suppressed, due to the danger of the many possible side-effects of the allopathic drugs and the act of suppressing itself. (The core distinctions between classical and holistic healing were already discussed in my previous article: The Healing Frequency Myth)
The main factors that initiate an illness are of a psychological nature and consist of contradictory thoughts and unbalanced emotions. The latter can either be suppressed emotions or extreme emotional reactivity (as in indulging in destructive emotions).
Side note:
Changing paradigm (or mindset) might have a disempowering or even eliminating effect on the disease (as discussed underneath in 'placebo'). It has to be said that, although the mind is responsible for the majority of illnesses, not every illness at all is healed merely through a change of mindset! Especially severe and/or long-term illnesses should be approached more with kindness, acceptance and care opposed to merely through mental understanding. Therefore the motivation behind this investigation is in the first place to contribute to the prevention of illness as well as a purification of internal imbalances.
3 holistic healing agents
Andreas Moritz, a German holistic and Ayurvedic healer, in his book "Timeless Secrets for Health and Rejuvenation," describes 3 possible explanations of why and how healing can occur. (*2) These are the 3 main aspects through which a healing process could be facilitated, activated or accelerated.
These 3 aspects are:
- Nature
- Placebo
- Non-suppressive therapy
I will elaborate on all 3 of them and speak about the last one from the perspective of sound healing.
1) Nature
If the mind is not sabotaging natural health and there are no other ill-making factors into play (as described above), Nature tends towards harmony. Inherent to Nature there is the true healing power. That means that if we trust and allow Her, healing happens by itself! The problem is that many people have gone so far off the natural track that they don’t have any clue what it means to listen to Her and allow Her. As the body is a part of Nature, I might as well state that most people don’t have any clue what it means to listen to the body.
For many millennia, possibly hundreds of thousands of years, man has lived as part of nature. From archaeological surveys and studies, it is assumed that humans saw their selves as part of nature, not separate from it. This changed from the period when man began to cultivate the earth and engage in agriculture. This is also the point in history when patriarchy was born. Little by little, cultures developed, and within these cultures an image of man developed that was entirely different from natural man. The more urbanized and industrialized humans began to live, the less they came in direct contact with nature and thus began to lose connection with it. The growing technocratic society we live in today is further away from nature than ever before. At the beginning of this period, from the first farmers, mental seeds were planted; the belief that "man is outside of nature" is one of them. Another related belief is that 'nature should be dominated.'
The domination of nature may now be reaching its climax. Man has indeed managed to strongly bend the forces of nature to his will, overcoming many of the inconveniences of the old days. We can live an extremely comfortable life. Despite its advantages, contradictorily, many people 'suffer' (rather than lead) a comfortable life. Nevertheless, this 'victory' brought out in man a very strong seed: 'man is superior to nature.'
This sense of superiority is strongly reflected in the contemporary ideology of science (which contrasts with actual science). (*3) The ideology of the technocratic man runs along the same lines, stating centrally that human thought can overcome any discomfort, disease, or even death. (*4) In line with this view is allopathic medicine. Contemporary medicine assumes the superiority of the human intellect and the ultimate superiority of the technology created by this human intellect. According to the allopathic vision, it is the doctors, surgeries, chemical medications, etc. that are the healers.
This contrasts sharply with the holistic view. Despite the commonly held view of man and the world that places man outside of Nature, the holistic view has endured and is once again gaining recognition. In the holistic worldview, the human being is connected to and part of Nature (with a capital letter), and thus not superior to it. According to the holistic view, it is Nature that heals. Man, or the healer, can indeed direct or influence the forces of Nature, but is assigned a supporting function here. And, once again, in severe cases indeed it might be helpful to intervene on the symptomatic level. Impactful human interventions (e.g. surgery or chemical drugs) are included in the holistic view, but aren’t recognised as the common treatments.
"The natural force in each of us is the greatest healer of disease.
Hippocrates (*5)
2) Placebo
Placebo (from Latin: 'I shall please') is the phenomenon that occurs when a person believes that a medicine or treatment will eliminate their symptoms or cure them. The "belief in a positive outcome" is central. In allopathic medicine, placebo is dismissed as a phenomenon limited to the psyche, and thus not affecting the physical body. Here we bump into a massive difference of view on reality between East and West, as well as holistic and classical health care. Didn’t we all learn in school that our thoughts sprout in our (physical) brain? In the commonly western paradigm it is believed that the mind and consciousness are by-products of some physical chemical reactions in the brain. Physical matter is considered ‘reality’ and the foundation for evolution. From the paradigm of holistic healing as well as Yoga, Tantra and most (if not all) of the Eastern philosophies it is viewed the opposite way! Matter, including the physical body, is seen as the outer layer of the human organism and a consequence of the essential consciousness. Everything sprouts from consciousness and finds itself within the overarching and interpenetrating field of consciousness. Consciousness interpenetrates everything, including the mind. The mind interpenetrates all matter. Therefore every single thought is felt by the body and causes a very direct effect on the body. Repeating thoughts as well as intensified thoughts or emotions will have the strongest effect on the body. This explains why placebo isn’t a weird or unimportant phenomenon. It merely points at the power of the mind and the constant influence it exerts on the body.
For healing to take place, it always requires faith. The Ayurvedic physician Vimalananda used to say that there are 2 ways to heal a disease. First, faith can be placed in the healer, doctor, a deity, spirit, grandmother or someone else. In that case, you trustingly allow another person to be a channel for the healing power. You put all your trust and faith in another person. A second way of healing is when you fully trust in your own self-healing abilities and thus heal yourself (*6).
Another aspect that is crucial to ensure the healing effect of a (sound) healing is the (sound) healer's own belief in the method. Passion for and trust in the method and the holistic approach as a whole, as well as trust in Nature must be present in the healer. This passion and trust is consciously or unconsciously absorbed by the client. This is a bubble of mental power, a kind of field that creates the fertile ground for effective healing. This bubble itself is the basis of holistic healing.
"The doctor as a living placebo-provider can be more powerful than his treatment."
Andreas Moritz (*7)
3) Non-suppressive therapy
When an illness or imbalance manifests, we can completely trust in the power of Nature to bring us back into balance. However, this does not mean that we should sit by and do nothing! Yes, simply doing nothing is a possibility, and if faith in the healing power of Nature is strong enough, it can work. But in many cases, Nature will urge us to actively participate in the healing process.
Andreas Moritz emphasizes here the importance of a non-suppressive treatment. Symptoms are effects of a natural healing process, and should not be treated as an enemy. Symptomatic treatment will rarely contribute to healing the roots of an illness and can only eliminate specific symptoms (often temporarily). Non-suppressive treatment is a healing method in which one enters into cooperation – opposed to a battle - with Nature.
Two essential ingredients in any holistic therapeutic method are:
- Loving, human presence
- Skilful application of the method
A non-suppressive therapy intends to ignite or accelerate the natural healing process. It’s like finding the right button to press, which enables the great mysterious healing force to be awakened more strongly than before. This ‘button’ can be pressed through multiple ways depending on the method. One essential ingredient within ALL holistic healing practices is the loving presence of the healer or therapist. It’s the direct human connection that is one of the main factors for activating the natural healing process. Sri Prem Baba, my master, always stated very clearly who the healer is; "There is only one medicine and that is Love." Love is the healer. We could also give this unnameable force other names. Andreas Moritz calls this force ‘Nature’. We could call it ‘God’ as well. Compared to the terms Nature or God, ‘Love’ includes also the direct human connection.
Another very important factor is the mastery of the technique that is applied. A sound healer that truly masters his instruments will have much more chance of ‘pressing that healing button’ opposed to someone who doesn’t master his instrument. In the same way an experienced and skilful massage therapist will have much more chances to activate healing opposed to a beginner. The union between loving presence and technical skills is what truly bears fruits.
Essential healing agents for a sound healing
Particularly in sound healing these are, in my opinion, the most essential agents for healing activation (described briefly):
- Drone and repeating patterns. Through exposing the listener / receiver to a continuous fundamental tone (drone) or repeating a pattern (as a rhythm, melody or frequency) relaxation occurs and the natural healing might be activated.
- Pure intervals and the ability to play them. This requires technical skills, a musical development and a connection to the overtone scale and possibly the just intonation system.
- Empathically resonating with one another and the ability to connect sound vibration to the human energies that are empathically sensed. This is a very subtle aspect of the art of sound healing and requires a developed ability to intuitively sense the being of the receiver and anticipate on this intuition through sound creation.
- The awakened presence of the healer. This is something mysterious, impossible to grasp through the mind. Though on the surface it may be perceived through the silences that naturally occur in between the sounds that are created. The more liberated is the healer the more freely pure awareness can flow through and activate healing in the listener.
- Awareness of the listener through the cocoon-experience. By closing the eyes and simply opening one’s being for receiving sound, the listener is able to withdraw from the external world and feel more deeply into his/her energy body. It’s the opportunity to ‘stop’ the inner noise and truly listen that brings forth awareness. The awareness of the listener activates a healing process.
Conclusion
The human being is complex and isn’t to be reduced to numbers, frequencies or any other mental concept. Opposed to the modern-day technocratic paradigm, from a holistic perspective we cannot fully comprehend the human being through our mind. Therefore it is not possible to fully heal the organism through the mind only. There is a greater force – call it Nature, Love, Consciousness or all of these together – that underlies the phenomenal reality. This underlying force is the source of true healing.
There are two types of sound healing. Frequency-based sound healing, as elaborated on in most of the previous articles, erroneously assumes that particular frequencies are responsible for particular healing effects within any listener. On the other hand there is a type of sound healing that doesn’t sprout from pseudo-scientific theories. The emphasis of a truly holistic type of sound healing is on the opening-up for the unique individual and the present moment. It requires both technical and intuitive skills to connect sound vibration to human energies that are intuitively sensed.
When one masters an instrument and senses intuitively, beyond the rational mind, the energy of the receiver, sounds may flow through, freely, without an obstruction of the mind. Moment by moment, humbly opening up for the Mystery, one may be the most powerful channel for healing sound and music.
Written by Maarten Surya Adriaenssens
Sources
1) Inzicht in ziekte en gezondheid – De Levensschool
2) Timesless Secrets for Health and Rejuvenation – Andreas Moritz (chapter 1, p.6) – Andreas Moritz
3) De psychologie van Totalitarisme – Mattias Desmet
4) Epoché 001 met Mattias Desmet - https://www.youtube.com/watchv=hp255mGRJ0w&t=2248s
5) Timesless Secrets for Health and Rejuvenation – Andreas Moritz
6) Prakruti – Robert E. Svoboda
7) Timesless Secrets for Health and Rejuvenation – Andreas Moritz
Photos by Greenery forest and Ilse Raps
About the In Tune Series
This series contains articles and occasionally videos on vague, mystic and often controversial topics within the field of sound healing and modern-day spirituality. I’ll shine some light on some very ‘settled’ beliefs within this field, and investigate whether or not they really are ‘in tune’ with ‘truth’.