Spiritual Medicine: A Guide for Clinicians, Educators and Researchers
Michael R Basso
This book is dedicated to my daughter, Lisa, and to my many teachers over many years.
Smashwords Edition 2010
eBook Version 1.0
Copyright © 2010 By Michael R Basso
About the Author
Dr. Michael Basso has significant experience as a college level educator in psychology at Yale University and the University of Connecticut. His experience also includes being a consultant, researcher, newspaper columnist, engineer and organizational leader. Michael is the president of the CT Holistic Health Association.
As a lifelong learner and educator, Michael holds four advanced degrees and a variety of professional certifications.
Dr. Basso has a Ph.D. in professional psychology and biomedical systems, an MS in engineering science, an MBA with a focus on international executive leadership and an advanced interdisciplinary professional development diploma (PD) in pathophysiology, neural systems, and education. He also holds a BS in electrical engineering as part of his relevant undergraduate education. Michael is also certified in a variety of quality systems and health related areas.
Michael has made a rigorous study of religion, metaphysics and philosophy, and has published several related articles for the Yale Journal for the Humanities in Medicine.
Michael Basso has also published several articles in the area of clinical neuroscience.
Preface
I, Michael, procrastinated about writing my books for ages, until one day I got a wake up call that came out of the blue. The ambulance and fire truck arrived early on a Saturday morning at my neighbor’s house. Next came the police. When we didn’t see anybody being put on the stretcher, the situation was becoming clear.
Then came a priest, followed by a mini van driven by two gentlemen with black suits. They sat in the driveway for hours. Seeing my relatively young, fit, active and perpetually smiling neighbor being carried out in a body bag was a reminder to all about how fragile life can be and the importance of time. Seeing his elderly mom walk out of the house that day really drove the concept of applied spirituality home. As her hope turned to despair, it was clear that both concepts are part of the same continuum and that energy medicine is only part of the spiritual healing system.
I was once at a seminar at the Mayo Clinic and had the opportunity to ask some leaders what they thought the medicine of the future might be about. The reply was interesting to say the least. These leaders suggested that it would be more like the medicine on Star Trek: light, sound, electro-magnetic fields, robotics, and other forms of high tech yet to be invented. This experience and others have made it clear that it may not even be necessary to see, touch, or be near a patient to facilitate healing, even in conventional medicine. Distance healing is considered a real possibility by many credible scientists today; as is has been for eons in many traditional cultures.
Ideas about healing through photographs and the concept of the ‘healing channel,’ on TV, are not as far fetched as they may have been before the invention fMRI and a deeper understanding of the quantum world have emerged. The real thing,of course.
How did Jesus heal anyway? Was it him doing the healing or ‘his dad’ – or what some may call the father/mother/it called God? Or was it Jesus and God working in harmony?
Note that this little book it meant to be used as a stand alone guide or as a companion to the book - The Thirteenth Step: The secret of becoming a co worker with the higher power of God
Prologue
While the human energy field has been considered to be an integral part of human healing for eons of time, the relationship between the energy system and human emotion are now being viewed from a teleological, or goal driven, perspective.
As the goals of emotions and thought are both becoming clearer and the underlying neurobiology and physiology are becoming more understandable, the intrinsic and extrinsic motivational drivers of human survival and existence are paving the way for the emergence of the true holistic model of human existence.
The true healing system may rightfully be considered to be that of a bio/psycho/social one, which is constrained by culture, influenced by technological innovation, and regulated by a higher spiritual power that is within and outside of us.
In some cultures, the source of neurological and psychological troubles may very well believed to be the result of the doings of members of a very well defined and broad demonic hierarchy; the antithesis of the angelic one. In other, more scientific,‘cultures,’ the root of some of these problems are believed to be most likely caused by problems associated with NMDA regulated glutamate channels leading to epileptiform activity within the medial temporal lobe of the brain. Still other ‘subcultures’ may entertain the idea that the glutamate channels are regulated in part by zinc and magnesium and that these nutrients are in turn regulated by other nutrients, including the B Complex and that Vitamin C and Omega three fatty acids must be in balance along with a host of other factors.
The purpose of human love will be explored within the domains of survival on the one hand and divine love within a broader, more universal, context.
The truth of the matter is that it is truth that matters most, and authority which does not espouse truth, wherever it may be found, matters least. So if you find an idea or a reference that you don’t resonate with, consider that the person who wrote the material, regardless of their credentials, may be at least as smart as you are in some way and that you may learn something useful that you overlooked; if even just a small amount. Might want to jot some things like that down.
A couple of pages have been added at the end so that you make notes from this book or from whatever sources suite your purposes.
Throughout this text we will discuss a variety of disease processes, including what might aptly be called the spiritual diseases. These are the diseases that make sufferers appear as though they have had taken away their spirit, like they don’t have a soul.
Or more appropriately:
The soul doesn’t have an effective body and mind to work through properly
This category includes those disease processes that affect our ability to connect our higher cognitive brain functions with our innate spiritual essence. This grouping would include, but not be limited to:
1) Addictions
2) Alzheimer’s Disease
3) Antisocial Personality
4) Anxiety
5) Borderline Personality
6) Depression
7) Epilepsy
8) Schizophrenia
9) And so forth
Note that a brief list of ‘spiritual alignment goals,’ from the companion book - The Thirteenth Step: The Secret of Becoming a Coworker with the higher power of God, has been included in Appendix I
Over the years, I have noted some things that have lead to success and shut the door to errors in many areas. This list contains some of them in a hopefully catchy list that is easy to read, remember, and understand.
Feel free to modify this list and to create your own as you see fit.
This gist of the list is that God tends to help those who try to help themselves and that once we make the effort to take responsibility for our lives; we tend to find an inner strength to accomplish or goals. When we are successful, our sense of self esteem grows and our confidence in our abilities grows in leaps and bounds and manifests in accomplishments.
We are aligning our lower selves with the lower aspects of a higher power that is greater than ourselves, and that may be called upon when are at our limits of self effort, and that will stop any potential dark force, real or imagined, in its tracks.
Once we are on track we are in a better position to help others and may indeed be asked to do so, without being taken advantage of.
The reader will find that through didactic materials, anecdotes and even some conjecture, that:
They will enhance their ability to help themselves or others to study, or to teach about spiritual concerns by better understanding clinical diversity from a systems perspective.
Through enhanced understanding, they will seek to find continuously improving ways to responsibly allow patients the respect, tolerance and freedom to be co- creators and even teachers in the therapeutic process.
Through the deeper understanding gathered and the enhanced self-esteem gained, the more confident client will naturally be in a better position to be healed, and even self healed, once the blocks to enhanced self-esteem are removed piece by piece.
While the spiritual empowerment process is facilitated through living philosophy, religion, metaphysics and common sense, aspects of the natural sciences, including medicine, psychology, neuroscience, and stress leadership, are seamlessly integrated into a powerful gestalt, which I like to call Spiritual Medicine.
Some thoughts about some very practical clinical ideas, like ways to free a patient’s spiritual essence through nutrition, fitness, laughter, fun, programmed dreaming, counseling and even distance healing, are explored.
Spiritual medicine also includes ideas concerning ways to align the being of the patient with spiritual domains of art, architecture and music on the one hand and ethical social/societal concerns on the other.
Provocative topics, including divine love and death, dying and traumatic grief, are explored head on through scientific explanation, as well as indirectly through anecdotal evidence and sensible conjecture.
The spiritually inclined researcher will be more apt to explore evidence based, as well as anecdotal ideas, from reductionist as well as holistic views.
Please note that while the title includes reference for clinicians, researchers, and educators, that this book was also created with the student and interested layperson in mind.
Contents
Teleological Perspectives on Human Existence
Theological Views on Spiritual Healing
Fairy Tales and Mirror Neurons
Death, Dying, Bereavement and Traumatic Grief
Hope, Despair & Learned Helplessness
Nutrition, Fitness and Spirituality
Architecture and Sacred Spaces
Music and the Human Nervous System
The Spiritual Organization of the Future
Appendix I
The 13th Step: The Secret of Becoming a Coworker with the highest power of God
Appendix II
Abbreviated Experimental Protocol for suggested studies on Traumatic Grief
References and Suggested Readings
Introduction
During the period when I was a quality and reliability engineer at a fortune 500 company, I was exposed to a variety of energy medicine systems and participated in lots of related courses, seminars and workshops. As an evidenced based statistics expert, while I was quite interested in the field, I was very skeptical about lots of claims and had expected to debunk much of what I was exposed to. To my utter amazement, the skepticism was most often proven otherwise, many times over, and in the most powerful and thought provoking ways.
In once instance, I, along with an engineer from another fortune 500 company, happened to take an energy healing course together.
Not only were we bewildered at what we saw, we were actual participants in this very strange world. At least it seemed that way at first.
In one case, an older woman, who was a fellow student, was not able to rotate her shoulder freely form more than 30 years. After a group of students worked on her energy field, ‘Without touching her’ in any way, she went into a very deep trance like state for almost 20 minutes.
While in this altered condition, she muttered something about being in a marketplace long ago and having a robber stick a knife in her shoulder. She shrieked a bit, then jumped up and rotated her arm like nothing was ever wrong with it.Hadda be there, but she tried everything imaginable over the years with no success at all and was about to give up.
While there are a variety of views on what really happened; such as a genetic memory being erased, a past life time reprocessing, or a metaphor that she was ‘making up at some level’, the absolute reality was that her arm was really free and we did not touch her at all.
In another case, I was attending a Ph.D. seminar in psychology, when, for the fun of it after class one night, someone applied healing energy to the field around my wrist.
During the experience, I felt like I too was experiencing several events from ‘the distant past,’ somehow.
The next morning, there was a short red line on my wrist that looked like a knife cut. The red mark lasted for about a month and then formed a small scar that is still visible in his wrist almost 20 years later. Once again, no one physically touched my wrist.
In more recent times, I had the privilege of witnessing an experiment at the University of Connecticut medical school in which healing energy had been applied to human bone cell cultures. In one dish, the cells were healthy osteoblasts and the other dish contained human bone cancer cells, called osteosarcoma.
When healing energy was applied to the healthy cells, there was evidence that the cells were thriving in statistically significant and measurable ways. The cancer cells began to die simultaneously. Again, no one touched the cells.
Many anecdotal experiences have also occurred in which both mental and/or physical conditions have been ‘healed’ at long distances; in some cases many miles away and in some instances without the person even knowing about the healing; the ethical issues notwithstanding.
In one case, a relative was about to undergo a biopsy for suspected metatastic liver cancer, that appeared objectively on a CAT scan.
The night before the surgery, a women who I had never met before told me that my relative “had been given another chance and that I would know what she meant the next day.”
The next day, I spoke with the surgeon who was flabbergasted. He said that the biopsy was negative, so he decided to perform a laproscopic analysis of the liver, through a small tube placed through the abdominal wall; again nothing was found. The procedure was then followed by opening the abdomen and palpating the liver. Nothing was found at all, no one toughed him and the healing was done at a distance of several miles.
The relative got real cocky and promptly returned to his bad health habits, so the case also brought to mind some ethical issues and thoughts about karma, healing others without explicit permission, etc.
I also recall as story of a person who had dental problems with no apparent and logical reasons. He would also have a recurrent dream about being in a past war and knocking out someone’s teeth with the butt of a rifle. When, coincidentally, a very intuitive person told this person that that was the reason for the dental issues, got that person thinking.
I have also witnessed several cases in which an intuitive person would accurately diagnose a disease in another person from a distance of many thousands of miles in some cases.
A variety of ethical issues also came to the fore during this era of exploration. Some of these observations and considerations also made clear several benefits about distance healing; besides the fact that it can really work.
Goal driven, teleological survival mechanisms, were also very apparent
Common Meditation Mantras
HOO
Ra Ma Da Sa Sa Say So Hung
Om Mani Padme Hum
Om Nama Shivia
Om
Aum
Amen
One
Teleological Perspectives on Life
All living things are driven by two main goals that have been described in many ways and in many cultures through eons of time, a plethora of scriptures, and through just plain observation and common sense. Strive to survive as a physical being or strive to die so that higher goals, perhaps those that may be called spiritual, may be accomplished in another form – or with no form at all. Goals may also be called teleological drives.
A teleological perspective on living systems means plain and simply that there is a goal or are goals that may be explicitly in place or implicitly implied from an unconscious perspective. In reality, there are many interconnected goals in the complex world that we live in; some of which are mutually supportive and others which may be in conflict with each other.
In the chapter on stress, it may become clear how and why these conflicts may lead to excessive maladaptive stress and associated mental, emotional and physical illness. In this chapter, a general overview on stress will be provided.
An example of an explicit goal are the forces that help healthy baby squirrels to survive and which make mother squirrels want to help their babies thrive and to grow into healthy capable adults.
At another level of teleology, nature may put forces in place to facilitate the quick demise of a squirrel that was born with a serious defect.
In the human condition, the same forces may be at work at a variety of different levels.
For example, at one point in an illness, the patient may want very much to do whatever it may take to overcome death and to live on.
At a later point in the life of the patient, the person may have the goal to survive as a spiritual being, which could perhaps include a sub goal to die a speedy death as a physical being and another goal to live on in another physical form or survive as a spiritual being in another level of existence, in what one may call a spiritual world or heaven.
The family of the patient, who really wants to be freed from their earthly chains, may have yet another goal driven perspective on the matter at hand. They may want their mom or dad, who once had a lot to do with their survival, to live forever, so that at some level the family members may perceive that they have a better chance of survival, even if they may lose their life savings, by forcing the patient to live on, who may want to move on, in opposition to the goals of the family.
This very complicated state of affairs on planet Earth has some very deep and distant roots into our genetic past.
Flowers, trees, and even so-called weeds have the built in goal to survive. This innate force driving us to this survival state is so strong that it may cause the plant in question to spend its precious resources on ‘crazy stuff’ like creating thousands of seed pods to assure that genetic material is passed on, or to develop thousands of leaves to capture enough sunlight to thrive regardless of future weather conditions.
Now, we humans have been around this planet for a long long time. We have been the predator and the prey and our symbiotic relationships with the plants on our planet are absolutely necessary for our survival goals to be realized.
The cues associated with survival are so hardwired into our nervous systems that even viewing a painting of the African savanna has been said to decrease a hypertensive state in some patients. Why so?
Well, the trees are readily climbable, so they can be a place to hide while in search for prey or edible vegetation in the open countryside on one hand, and/or to hide from becoming a meal on the other.
We can readily see that the survival goals of the trees are in alignment with the goals for human survival. The survival goal for the hungry lion or shark, with an interest in a human meal, may be quite another story at yet another level or domain of survival which is in opposition to that of human survival.
The survival cues that may help us to avoid swimming in waters where dangerous sharks may be present are just as real as the tree cues from Africa, but for different teleological reasons.
Since our genetic (and/or spiritual) ancestors have been food for others in the past, there is something built into us that may automatically be getting us to prepare to fight or flee at the mere site of a dorsal fin on the other side of the next big wave, or on the movie screen for that matter.
While there is some dispute about the topic, and much of our reactive behavior is indeed learned, humans tend to respond more to things that are logical dangers from the past, like dangerous animals, than they are man made dangers from more modern times.
Unless of course, when someone becomes the victim of a modern traumatic experience, such as from a war injury or that experienced during a car accident.
Someone who has been shot from a helicopter may shudder at the sound of a safe traffic chopper flying over head.
In this case, their goal to survive facilitates another goal within their nervous systems; the development of neural circuits that ‘tell’ the organism that danger is near (real or imagined) and that in order to best survive that we must pay close attention when the traffic copters fly overhead, or we could die.
One of the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, is hyper vigilance; an uncomfortable state of over arousal and constantly paying attention to potential danger.
Thankfully, nature has also built in mechanisms that may help the organism to habituate or to eventually get used to the helicopters flying overhead. Sometimes the patient may have to re experience and process the memory of the war trauma before habituation can occur.
The human nervous system is also run rather expensively on glucose; which needs oxygen and a variety of other nutrients, such as the B Vitamins and certain minerals, to be metabolized.
Therefore, the goals of the digestive, circulatory and respiratory systems also need to be realized to give the nervous system enough energy to process the traumatic memories.
In order to keep the goals of an expensive nervous system intact, nature provides mechanisms to facilitate learning such as language acquisition at specific times, called critical periods of development.
During those periods of enhanced synaptic inter connecting, called synaptagenesis, the goals of survival are realized in Boolean logical functions, including the basic AND, OR and NOT functions which program the nervous system for optimum survival.
The goals related to reliability of the human system are also enhanced by a series of ‘techniques’ that may also be found in human industrial designs. Redundancy can be readily noticed in beings who may have two eyes, two lungs and two ears; while derating - having more than you need - can be implied within subsystems that are adaptive in nature. In these cases, there are reserves in place, like extra fat or glucose, just in case.
Divergent logic may be found in important structures, including the mammalian retina. These logical systems help to assure that nothing is missed, while convergent systems are in place to improve the signal to noise ratio of real images to garbage.
Going beyond the biological and psychological domains, the social goal seeking processes within the human system are also readily apparent and will now be considered from a clinical perspective.
While the goal of the healer may be to do something to someone, like heal them, whether they want to be healed or not, the goal of the patient may be to heal themselves, to ask god to heal them or to even unconsciously go through a trying experience on purpose to learn something important. Well, how and why Jesus died by crucifixion is something to ponder as well.
Patients may have goals that purposefully exclude attendees, including medical sales people, in terms of gender, age, methodologies or even style. The patient has the right to exclude anyone they may want to, including residents, students, observers or even their own family. Also within the social arena, patients have the right to include family members as they see fit.
When the spiritual goals of the patient are in opposition with the power and efficiency goals of the clinician, serious problems can result.
I once knew a woman who had a child with a serious liver disease that could have been helped significantly by the use of protein types that are readily found in chicken eggs.
This woman’s spiritual goals precluded her and her child from ingesting anything made from egg products. This goal was so strong that she let her child die rather than have her ingest egg products.
Had her goal been to convey the message to her physician in a timely manner, and her/his goal have been to listen carefully, they may have come to a mutually agreeable solution in the form of a suitable vegetarian protein source which may have possibly saved the child’s life.
The survival goals of the patient and her family were more in alignment with survival beyond the physical plane than within these worlds of matter, energy, time and space (47).
There are some religious ideas that are focused on healing associated with the material worlds and others that are more in alignment with what many religious and mystical systems call the higher planes of existence (105, 98, 99).
While there may be variation among the various details, the general idea is that there are what is commonly called the astral plane, which is supposedly like the physical plane, but comprised of more subtle matter.
Beyond, or perhaps within the astral plane is what many believe to be the causal plane (88) of existence. This realm of existence is believed to be where information from past deeds, called karma in eastern lingo, is stored. In fact, many patients believe that their current illnesses may in some way be associated with something that they did in the past, even before this lifetime, in many cases.
I once knew of a gentleman who had issues with his teeth that were unexplainable in terms of any physical of psychological causes. Shortly before serendipitously meeting and then chatting with a medical intuitive on the matter, this man had had several dreams in which he remembered being a soldier and knocking out the teeth of an enemy soldier with the butt of his rifle.
Astonishingly, the intuitive told this man a similar story and that this was the reason for his dental problems in this life.
While many believe that the goal of karma is to teach us lessons, others believe that much more complex processes are in place that are related to past and current life traumatic memories associated with: what we have done to others, what others have done to us, what we have done to ourselves, and what we have observed others doing to others (45).
These processes, while supposedly connected to the causal body are associated with the yet more subtle bodies of the deeper mental planes, included the unconscious mind.
Some believe that dreams and goal driven processes associated with relieving the effects of these past traumas are required to alleviate the associated illnesses that have manifested in present time.
At even more subtle and deeper levels, many religious tenets suggest that beyond these bio/psycho/social planes of matter, energy, space and time, that there are regions comprised of various gradations of pure spirit that humans also exist simultaneously on. (99,100,105,106)
While some religions suggest that it is the goal of human life to strive to reach these higher heavens, others believe that it is more important to bring spirit down to the material world, while yet others believe that it is the birthright of all humans to excel in both major divisions of existence, the material planes and the spiritual planes (51).
In any event, prayer, contemplation and meditation have been used extensively over eons of time to help humans balance themselves in this world. Some also believe that meditation is the key to consciously entering the more subtle spiritual planes which are said to consist of pure light and sounds, including what many religions consider to be the word of god (98, 51).
Regardless of the associated belief system, the right type of meditation for the right person can help one to relax (117) as manifested in changes in brain wave frequency, skin conductance and heart rate.
Of course, in some types of mental illness and depression, some brain regions are already oscillating too slowly, and may not adapt well to meditation. In these cases, specific types of neurofeedback, visualization, and/or music entrainment may be useful to ‘speed up or slow down’ one side of the cortex to achieve balance prior to commencing a meditation practice.
In any case, many believe that the meditative process is a natural one that is akin to a cat or rabbit purring with the built in goal of achieving balance, and that balance may also be achieve through the meditation itself.
The following exercise may be useful to the patient, clinician, researcher or educator alike and is easy to do, is done by oneself and can be very effective.
First choose one of the meditation mantras on page 18 of this book
Take ones own pulse for one minute and record that number
Sit in a comfortable position, with back straight and feet on the ground or in a lotus position
Take a few deep breaths and close ones eyes
Gently repeat the mantra to oneself for about 5 minutes, gradually increasing the time to 20 minutes over several weeks
Gently open the eyes and retake pulse and compare change in heart rate
The pulse taking part of this exercise is optional and may be used initially and occasionally to get an idea about changes associated with meditation
Note that it is important to gently ignore any intrusive thoughts or other distractions that may arise during meditation
Gently observing that breathing may be helpful to help one stay focused on the mantra
Note that some folks may prefer a longer mantra because paying attention to the mantra helps them to not pay attention to distractions
A side benefit for doing something for one self is the shift of responsibility back to oneself. Once successful, the associated increase in self-esteem for helping oneself will also increase self-efficacy (6), or the perception that we can be productive and successful.
Since successfully completing ones goals breed’s future successes, those who take responsibility for their lives tend to be successful at being in balance, which in turn helps bring on more successes, and so on.
The Philosophy of Philosophy
When patients are seriously ill over long periods of time, it is not uncommon to find them desperately trying to learn from religion, philosophy, and many forms of what one might call, spirituality. The spiritual provider can not even come close to understanding their patient’s purview unless they understand their personal philosophy. In this section, I have included an integrated synopsis on philosophical concepts that may be related to health and wellness.
It is recommended that not only the hospital chapel, but the spiritual practitioner’s study areas also include a broad array of reading materials in religion, philosophy and metaphysics.
I agree with some broad thinkers that there is a golden thread running through the whole of philosophy which is a roadmap towards optimal human survival and health.
Some say that the primary goal of evolution is to spread successful genetic material far and wide. The most robust ‘genotypes’ would then presumably have the greatest chance of producing successful ‘phenotypes,’ given the constraints and limitations of the environment. Nature and nurture could then be considered as allies in the game of evolution and survival.
As each biological system struggles towards optimal and enduring survival, other systems may be competitors, while still others form symbiotic relationships. As biological systems developed in more complex environments, more complicated strategic alliances began to emerge on the survival front. For example, the common crow may use a complicated array of communication techniques to simultaneously secure food and safety. Survival of the individual and the successful group are testimony to the spread of stronger genes. At a variety of levels, some conscious and some not, new and important survival techniques would evolve over time. An appreciation for beauty, love, and eventually wisdom, would emerge as powerful techniques to assure optimal survival and genetic evolution.
Through untold eons of time, human systems developed complex emotions and cognitive processes to help win this struggle of life over death. As new cultures emerged, the notion of survival took on a variety of different approaches. Survival for family and working groups, plants and animals, and eventually an appreciation for tools and shelters became paramount. As more time passed, survival through the gates of death itself became the ultimate strategic goal for many.
Seers and mystics of various and sundry types would eventually emerge. These special individuals would communicate their ideas in every language and from many perspectives. Among the early outputs of these survival systems were included the ancient Vedas and Upanishads. Some say that there were much earlier tomes on survival.
The common task, from the subatomic particle to the zebra, and throughout humanity, appears to be survive, survive, and then survive some more. Even the drives towards the creation of art, music, dance, and verse, could be boiled down to this common denominator by the clever thinker.
As our cognitive machinery proceeded to become more refined, philosophy rose among the greatest of the healing arts in a way. From the early dawn of civilization, natural philosophers would not only develop complex strategic plans, but also detailed tactics, to insure optimal survival. From the East, systems of fitness and health were inextricable linked with divine and metaphysical overtones. Systems of yoga, Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, and a variety of related systems would eventually emerge among many other related systems.
I think that the theme of health and survival may also be seen throughout the evolution of Western philosophy. In many ways, the true philosopher is the soul of medicine.
At a variety of levels, humans have evolved a collective consciousness. Within this scheme there are those who tend to resonate with certain aspects of survival and others that resonate with other parts of the whole. However, the whole of philosophy may be considered to be the global view, complete with universal truths mixed of course with its share of untruth and conjecture. I see the individual philosopher as a facet reflecting part of the whole. However, none except the true eclectic philosopher would be capable of representing the whole system of philosophy and only the complete picture could reflect the optimal survival strategy.
To illustrate my point, I see the ‘philosophy of philosophy’ as an idyllic archetypical thread that links the best of philosophy with a universal theme: survival. Using the Hegelian dialectic (28) as a model for the evolution of the ‘philosophy of philosophy,’ each universal truth might be considered as a ‘thesis’ in itself. As a new facet gets added to this grand scheme, the new construct might be perceived as supporting or as being the ‘antithesis’ of the original construct. However, true universal constructs would add to the synthesis of the whole of philosophy. Innate drivers that mold every form, as Aristotle postulated, would of course be among the teleological factors goading survival intrinsically. The Kantian (28) view of solving scientific problems by combining rational thought and empirical observation would certainly have its place in this idyllic scheme.
For example, I think that the Nicheian (28) concept of the ‘superman,’ while debatable in its details might in ways reflect parts of a universal prototype for optimal individual survival. At yet another level, ‘The Republic’ of Plato (28), while being perhaps full of its own dross, can be viewed as a reflection of a higher level archetype. This time the archetype is reflective of a group of groups, each one potentially reflecting a unique facet as part of an optimal survival strategy for group collaboration and cooperation.
When viewed as a composite whole, the ‘golden thread through all of philosophy’ takes on a very special meaning. Paramount within the meaningful aspects of the whole philosophical system may be seen as a puzzle with a very important goal strewn amidst its pieces. To ensure optimal survival is to ensure ‘optimal health.’
From this proposed vantage point, I think that the ‘golden thread through philosophy’ may be seen as the ultimate health and wellness model. Of course, the ongoing realization of this lofty model would only be accurate if it reflected the all of philosophy that ever was or ever could be.
I think that the outward manifestation of the ultimate health and wellness model would then be reflected in archetypical beauty at a variety of levels and planes. Within this idyllic schema many universal philosophical constructs might be seen as drivers towards the compendium of axiomatic universal truths. The moral views of Francis Bacon (28), the importance of strength as noted by Nietzsche, the empirical thinking of Aristotle and the introspection of later philosophers are all examples of these universal drivers.
Thus, the ‘universal axiomatic truths’ as plucked throughout the whole tree of philosophy, including before the Vedas, might be seen as a roadmap. This roadmap, if viewed in its entirety (including links to all of science and religion), would ideally be a preventive systems model leading to optimal survival as reflected in optimal health. Not just optimally healthy individuals, but optimally healthy groups, and systems of groups. Of course, the focal place of human disease, the workplace, would eventually take on its true level of significance in preventive medicine as the philosophy of philosophy manifests.
Now, given the utopian realization of the philosophy of philosophy, what might be the role of ultimate physician? I think the role of doctor would then take on its true original meaning as teacher.
It is interesting to me that the father of medicine, Hippocrates, was not only a physician, but a philosopher as well. Like Descartes, Hippocrates was also a dualist (28). He believed that the soul ran the body, but was also a separate entity in itself. Would the archetypical physician also have a spiritual inclination, as well as being a teacher? If so, then the ideal physician could help to assure higher standards throughout the sum total of minds, or a manifestation of God in Spinoza’s purview (28). Would the natural evolution of the ‘philosophy of philosophy’ be the manifestation of optimum survival, health, and beauty throughout the ‘higher planes of existence throughout eternity’, as untold philosophers have postulated?
If so, then would the genetic systems eventually ‘reset’ themselves towards optimal health after generations of living the ‘philosophy of philosophy’ manifest? Of course, nutrition, stress management, and fitness protocols would have been optimized is this utopian paradise. And what of the physician/teacher? Would the new focus be upon agronomy, architecture, art, music, nutrition, balanced exercise systems, and stress leadership? Would it also require a significant knowledge of emergency medicine, just in case? And even then would the art and science of emergency medicine being practiced within the strictest of cultural and ethical guidelines?
I think that the practical manifestation of the ‘philosophy of philosophy’ would be deeply rooted in aesthetics and demonstrated in myriad forms of beauty: beauty of body/mind/spirit within the context of social systems, living spaces, and multicultural diversity. Kabalistic philosophers would certainly agree. Perhaps the most important yardstick to measure success by might be called a universal aesthetic template. Beauty would be the outcome of ‘golden thread through philosophy’ manifest over long periods of time.
Of course, humanity has a very long way to go before the manifestation of ‘the philosophy of philosophy’ could even remotely become a living reality, if indeed it was meant to be. However, we as human systems have a very unique tool: our imaginations. That tool is constantly changing medicine, the arts, and the humanities. Schopenhauer (28) reminds us that the intellect tires but the will works even in sleep. I think the will towards survival is the driver of the imagination. Imagine well, my fellow humanists!
Keep in mind that patients and research subjects are in hospital settings for one of two reasons; to survive and live or to die. In accordance with these innate drives, they will resonate with people, places and things that will help them to fulfill their goals, one way or another.
Those with self destructive tendencies may find lots of ways to get attention, have people help them to hurt themselves, or to even try hard to die.
Even the most serious of accidents may not be an accident at all! Please do not underestimate the power of self destruction and fear of abandonment.
It is also important to consider that belief has lots to do with someone’s actions, whether they may be conscious of unconscious in nature.
For instance, those who believe in an afterlife, or another life for that matter, may have very different solutions to their perceived roles as a physical being and/or a spiritual being.
Much of Theology evolved out of philosophical ideas.
~Does the Body have a Soul or does the Soul have a Body or Both? ~
Theological Views on Spiritual Healing
To really understand your study subjects, clients or students, it is important to communicate clearly with them about things that are important to them. To reach an understanding about where they may be spiritually, it is very important to reach a state of reality with them by knowing materials that are pertinent to their spiritual backgrounds.
A side benefit of knowing the religious systems that they resonate with would also be a better understanding about their levels of hope, their views on an afterlife, and their levels of tolerance and special requirements.
For instance, a person who is planning a special way to pray several times per day may be best rooming with a hospital mate that is tolerant and accommodating. And please assume that the requirements of devote followers are not negotiable.
By having a broad background regarding common and uncommon religious systems, the spiritual advisor will be better able to predict relevant stressors and pertinent behavior patterns.
Having gained an understanding about a variety of religious systems, a better view on common themes and differences, the spiritually trained clinician will also have the opportunity to gain greater tolerance of those with differing belief systems.
A sick and highly stressed person will readily pick up on those who are in disagreement with them, especially when it comes to the things they may be ready to even die for; their religious convictions.
When I was a kid growing up in Connecticut and New York State, it was common to hear of a few faiths, including Catholic, Protestant Sects, Jewish, Baptist, and occasionally Islam. As I got older, religions, including, Buddhism, Hinduism, Wicca, Christian Science, Radhasoami, Scientology, and even Satanism with its many sects, were becoming popular in the media and among people that I knew and hung out with sometimes. Even TV shows about Pentecostal snake religions began to emerge in the media.
Mystical/philosophical groups including Astara, Theosophy, The Rosicrucians, Freemasonry, and Self-Realization Fellowship are among the many that have become popular, albeit often controversial, in the United States alone.
Popular books, including The Secret Teachings of All Ages (40) by Manley Hall, have shaken the roots of nearly all conventional, and perhaps many not so popular, religions that your patients have once believed wholeheartedly in. The hospital chaplain or the pastoral counselor unaware of such ‘modern’ views may have as much hope of instilling hope in their patients as they would of raising the dead, without the proper training, if there is such a thing; as some eastern religions claim as well. Voodoo followers and groups with similar beliefs currently abound in the US, and are likely to be among your patient, student, and research populations, and have yet another take on raising the dead – in the form of zombies. Talk about ethical conflicts in some cases.
Some religions are focused upon processes that are related to moral, ethical or social themes; while other are focused on miraculous events and related saviors and saints. Still others may be light and sound type of religions which are centered around meditation, contemplation, or even listening for the sounds of creation and/or supposedly being hooked up to the sound current by an inner teacher or one’s higher self (51,99,100,105).
There are religious tenets that propose that spiritual salvation is based upon proponent’s belief about, and accounts of, the lives of, past spiritual leaders; others that claim that a leader must be a living one and yet others that believe that a spiritual text can be ‘ the living guru’ (98).
There are even modern day stories of chelas (students) who claim that their teachers have ‘appeared’ to them after death and as solid as ever as though they had never died (116). Claims of Tibetan lamas being able to create living phantoms that appear as though they were real people, called tulkas (24), and are also part of your client’s collective views on religion.
Oxford scholar, Evans-Wentz (29), proposes that not only are the yogic powers of the so-called ‘adepts,’ including teleportation and raising the body temperature, very real, but that they may be undeveloped human capabilities that are also teleological in nature; like a baby animal learning to adapt to freezing weather or the eagle soaring high in the sky in search of life sustaining food.
Some religions are based upon elaborate dress and ceremonies and some are clearly based upon magic in a variety of possible forms.
There are also religions that are based upon human interactions with the so-called elemental kingdom, including, but not limited to; elves, fairies, devas, (115) and other nature spirits including those that are claimed to be involved with the creation and operation of entire galaxies.
Still other religions are involved with interactions with common angels, archangels, and those much higher levels of angels mentioned in the spiritual scriptures throughout the world. Like it or not, still other patients and students are involved with religions that are associated with the so called ‘demonic hierarchy,’ and may even include animal and human sacrifice and ceremonial magic, as part of their religion. More and more of your clients may be focused upon systems based upon mystical fellowships, including the Great White Brotherhood (57, 58), or the Variagi Masters (105), and so forth.
I know of at least one religion that is based upon the processing of extremely traumatic events that are claimed to have occurred over vast periods of time in the regions of matter, energy, space and time and that are claimed to be recorded at both genetic and spiritual levels (47).
These traumas are said to have happened to ‘us’ through the evolution of a myriad of forms, including mineral, plant, animals and human kingdoms.
Serious interests in particle physics (110), astronomy, evolutionary biology and human consciousness are sure to breed many new and innovative religions that are based more on hard scientific facts than they are on philosophical, theological, or metaphysical constructs.
Scientists already know of at least 100 sub atomic particles that comprise the matter within 100 billion known star systems typical of more than 130 billion known galaxies (111) that make up a part of a universe which is believed to be part of a group of universes called a multiverse (112).
Now, lets us think of how modern views on astrophysics might be integrated with more traditional views. For example, there are many mystical texts that divide existence into three broad categories; the grouping of planes that correspond to physical existence, those that pertain to ‘pure’ spiritual essence and those that are a hybrid between the physical worlds and the spiritual worlds, or the spirito-material worlds (51, 99,100,105). To complicate matters further, it is commonly accepted that these more spiritual worlds are much larger and comprehensive than the billions upon billions of star filled galaxies within the physical universe. The theosophical ramifications are astronomically mind boggling.
With more than 2000 religions already officially in existence, the multi culturally savvy educator or clinician has her/his work cut out for them if they want to provide a culturally sensitive environment for their patients or those that their students may one day interact with.
A common practice in industry is to have multicultural days and related communications strategies. During these multicultural events, foods from different ethnic backgrounds are often provided to participants for free or at a limited cost. Innovative hospitals can help make patients happy and proud by following similar suit.
Another practice that is common in industry is the use of newsletters, online posts and posters that give a short synopsis about unique religions that employees may be a part of. With Wikipedia and other online information groups out there, the task of communicating about patient’s religions is not such a daunting task these days.
Perhaps having an information ‘e terminal’ or written materials in interfaith chapels in healthcare settings is not such as bad idea.
When trying to understand diverse religions, it is most important to look for core themes that may be relevant to the clinical population of interest. Here are a few to think about. Please fee free to add your own themes of relevance as you become more culturally sensitive.
Basic tenets and history, including when the religion was started and by whom
Who are the major players of interest and what did they stand for, such as angels, saviors, spiritual masters, etc
Critical events of significance, such as healings, returning from the dead, speaking in tongues
Heavens and other planes of existence, including explanations in spiritual texts of diverse origin
Ethics, morals, and sins
Gender considerations regarding practitioners, interactions with other patients and family considerations
Food constraints, such a vegetarianism, Kosher blessings and restrictions, etc
Remember that religious convictions can be among the most powerful concepts known; wars have been fought over them, people have been burned to the stake because of them and buildings demolished due to disagreement about them.
I once knew a Jewish Rabbi who included a form of energy medicine in his spiritual practice and swore that it was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, that it was a highly effective treatment modality and that it was harmless in the worse case.
Around the same time, I knew someone from a Christian sect who felt that forms of energy medicine are the work of the devil and represent evil personified. Other Christians had very positive perceptions about this very popular healing modality.
A common theme that I gathered from these and similar conversations was that there is a belief that if we are in a state of balance so that the holy spirit may work through us, then the person being healed is being healed by the grace of God. On the other hand, there is another common idea that if we get in the way, by psychically trying to direct healing energy to where we think it needs to go, then were are in essence playing with witchcraft, especially if we direct the energy without the permission of the recipient.
There are people who feel the same way about prayer and tend to pray to declare themselves to be a vehicle for the Holy Spirit. This is similar to saying out loud or to oneself, may God’s will be done. While some declare that Gods will is always being done anyway, others claim that by this type of prayer, that the Holy Spirit may readily use us as to somehow facilitate healing in another.
Remember that patients want to feel good about what they are doing, that they can have a sense of hope in this lifetime, and a feeling of confidence and peace in an afterlife if that is in their belief system.
Since some clinicians may be more motivated by power, achievement and self-actualization than what is best for their patients, they may have to put their preconceived notions about what their patients are OK with aside. They may also have to ask themselves if they are planning to do what is in alignment with the patient and his/her family’s spiritual convictions or what the clinician wants for their own benefit or for reasons related to students, residents, fellows or sales persons that may be contrary to customer requirements. Gender issues and concerns may be considerable. They may have to be reminded that ‘it’s not about them or their careers.’
A customer requirements survey can be a great way to capture things that are important to customers/patients before they are subjected to any processes that may be contrary to their convictions. To be effective, requirements may be broadly categorized accordingly into:
1) Critical
2) Important
3) Would like to have
4) Can live with
For example, the survey might include requirements such as:
Patient Requirements Information
Area Requirement Importance Comments
Diet
Vegetarian
Critical
No eggs
Attendees
All Female
Critical
No male students, residents, fellows, salesmen, etc
Dress
Discuss
Critical
Discuss
Noise
Quite after ____PM
Important
Roomates
Outdoor
Every day
WD Like
No wheel Chair
It is important to make appropriate extended conclusions from this initial customer requirements survey.
For example, the female patient who asks for only female attendees would not want a salesman present during her colonoscopy and might want any photos taken to be restricted for modesty and kept only in area that she agrees on.
The coordinators might also include that these may also be requirements of her chosen religion and that that religion, in addition to her individual preferences, might have very strong influence over her. A breech of religious conviction might also put other patients under extreme stress, or put them in great danger due to possible religious retaliation, and must be taken as a potential safety issue of the highest priority. In some cases, inconsiderate treatment by the wrong person could be worse than the disease itself!
Remember, parents have gone as far as to let their children die for their religious convictions, and that many patients rather die than eat unblessed food, for example.
It is also important to keep in mind that the patient may not be interested at all in helping you train your healthcare students, residents or fellows and may not want them present, or to participate in procedures for many reasons, including safety concerns.
With popular press reporting a typical average mortality rate of nearly 100,000 per year, patients are taking their rights as customers very seriously these days, and may not want students or residents distracting others, let alone be performing procedures.
Of course, the importance may change with varying situations and at different times, so the questionnaire may need to be comprehensive in nature and need to be repeated often; throughout a hospital stay for instance.
Differing views on a common theme are also critically important to consider from the viewpoint of the patient, research subject or student.
For example, the Theosophical Society’s take on the Holy Eucharist is quite elaborate and mystical in nature and is related to the planes of existence. One the other hand, while the position of the Catholic church may also be mystical in nature, the pomp and ceremony of the Catholic Mass may have lots to do with the perceived importance of the process on the one hand and may indeed be successful in invoking the holy spirit enter the bread of the host.
Regardless of the true efficacy of the healing oils used during the Lenten healing mass or the candles used for the blessing of the throat, perceived importance can make all the matter in the world.
So then, the perception of the client or patient regarding the importance of a spiritual intervention must be ascertained before the intervention is implemented.
For example, the use of shamanic drumming may be useful to help alleviate hypertension in the patient who not only understands the concept of entrainment of the human nervous system by musical rhythm; the patient must also feel good about the importance of and overtones associated with shamanism to want to participate.
What do you think the impact on the patient’s blood pressure will be if they think that shamanism is of the devil?
So then, how the spiritual intervention is packaged is critically important for it to be successful.
Custom tailoring for individual patients may also be useful to maximize positive impact. For example, one patient may think that shamanism is cool, while another may shun the process unless the word shamanism or psychic or energy medicine is eliminated from the intervention package completely.
Of course, cost considerations are always an issue, and in some cases must be discussed carefully with the patient, including a recommendation to another facility that may more readily accommodate their requests.
Keep in mind that the world is getting smarter and that many patients may know more about lots of things than the clinician, researcher or educator; including the complexity of neuroscience.
The Neurobiology of the Soul
This chapter is designed to help the reader understand the relationships between physical world anatomical structures and what might be considered to be higher functions.
These ideas can be helpful for the professional who may tend to think in highly structured physical terms to think in more ‘out of the box’ ways.
Conversely, those who may tend to think in more ‘etheric terms’ – come on you know who you are!- may be prompted to think more concretely.