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Part 9: This is the ninth article from my book called THE NEW IDEALISM that deals with the relationship between the New Idealism, medicine, and applied philosophy.

The New Idealism, Medicine and Applied Philosophy

Because of the New Idealism many new branches of philosophy have been developed. The relationship between medicine and the New Idealism is particularly exciting because it is an area where philosophy is very much an applied art.

Western Medicine and the Newtonian Paradigm

In the section titled “Health, psychology and the New Idealism” I mainly examined the psychological health aspects of the New Idealism. However, the area of generalised medicine should certainly not be overlooked.

In that section I touched very briefly on the philosophies of medicine of the East, as practised throughout India and China. But what must be pointed out is that the New Physics actually verifies much of what alternative medicine has been philosophically saying for many years.

A great deal of Western medicine is deeply rooted in the Newtonian Cartesian tradition and is thus based on a science that has been well and truly superseded. Many medical practitioners fail to realise the full significance of the New Physics. For example, the treatment of cancer is still seen in Newtonian terms. Oncologists tend to use Cartesian Newtonian treatments — if a cancer has become secondary they surgically remove the particular area that has cancer. If a leg is cancerous, they chop off the leg. This, of course, is not consistent with the New Physics because quantum theory clearly shows that a system of energy is connected throughout and that a disorder cannot be the product of one localised situation. This type of medicine is extremely reductionist and obviously very dangerous.

Consciousness, Energy and Matter

The amazing aspect of the claim by the New Physicists is that when they say that Consciousness is producing reality, or matter, it is very much in agreement with some of the ancient medical models. The well-known Australian healer Ian Gawler says that many people fall short of grasping the implications of Einstein’s famous equation, E=mc². E stands for energy, m for mass, and c for the speed of light. Gawler says that the equation is saying that mass is a product of energy and light which is as esoteric a statement as formulated by any ancient sage.

But Gawler says that this is the most remarkable thing of all. He says that as the modern physicists probe deeper into the nature of matter, they are forced to look at energy and to seek to understand it. If all matter is made of energy, why does one block of energy come together to build a rock, another a tree, another a human, asks Gawler.

He says the physicists such as Fritjof Capra and David Bohm are prepared to ask the most vital question, “Why?” and are forced to introduce the concept of Consciousness. Gawler agrees with them when they say that consciousness produces energy which, in turn, is interpreted by our five senses as the thing we call matter.

“What a concept. Consciousness produces energy which produces matter. Thought precedes form. It leaves me concluding that my physical form is the result of the sum total of my consciousness. I must presume, therefore, that I and all those around me are all essentially reflections of our overall consciousness. Further, given our highly ordered world, I must presume an all-pervading consciousness to provide the basic framework in which it all happens,” writes Gawler.

The Seven Levels of Consciousness

Gawler writes that if people examine Eastern thought and metaphysics, there is a recurring model which both makes sense of the phenomena and provides a framework in which to operate. He points out that most major civilizations have had a tradition of esoteric science in their culture. In the esoteric lore of the Ancient Egyptians, Chinese and Greeks, the Indians of North America and the Incas of the South American continent, the Polynesian Kahunas and Filipino healers, the Vedic seers of India, the early Christians, and more recently, the medieval alchemists and mystics of Europe, there is this reoccurring vision of humanity. All these people saw the physical body as being the end result of a series of inter-related and interdependent subtle levels of consciousness.

Gawler then outlines his perspective on history with what he concludes is the central element of his healing and medical philosophy. He says that these old philosophies saw humanity as basically being the sum total of seven levels of consciousness and that to each level there was assigned a form of an energy body. Only the physical body has the energy which is dense enough to register immediately with humanity’s five senses.

Gawler then goes on to stress that the other energy bodies can only be deduced by inference or perceived directly by clairvoyant or extra-sensory perception. Many healers, particularly New Age philosophical healers, base their diagnosis on perception of the subtle energy of the health aura. The seven levels of consciousness are given various names.

Part of this philosophy stresses that the mind acts as the fulcrum between physical and spiritual humanity and that intellect transmuted into intuition to bridge the gap. The purpose of our lives is to make that leap and our goal is to be freed of the limitations of personality, which is part of our lower self, before we can “soar free as spiritual beings”.

This relates directly to healing, as Gawler points out, because consciousness impinges on physical health. This is centred on seven chakras. A chakra is a Sanskrit word used to describe the concentration of this subtle energy which is said to be located in the seven different regions of the spine and head. Gawler points out that each chakra is a reflection of one level of consciousness and, in turn, relates most directly to one particular endocrine gland.

“Disease, then, can be due to purely physical causes, as in the case of a true accident, or, more commonly, is due to aberrations in the energy flows. Such aberrations reflect disharmony in the local areas of the patient’s attention,” writes Gawler.

Super Energy and Alternative Medicine

Gawler’s seven levels of consciousness as expressed in the energy bodies of humans fits in very nicely with David Ash’s conception of super energy. Also, this concept is widely held in virtually all esoteric cultures and religions and especially those people who follow the New Age.

Virtually all alternative medicine talk of an “energy” body, surrounding and permeating the physical body. Acupuncture says the energy body has definite flow lines called meridians. Reflexology is based on the principle that blocks in the energy body can be released by massaging the soles of the feet while homoeopathy regards illness as an imbalance in the underlying energy pattern or vital force of a person.

Ash and Hewitt claim that the concept of super-energy removes the stumbling block of an intangible life field. “It points to the possibility of forms of energy existing beyond the physical world. It also explains how such a life energy field could permeate and interpenetrate a physical body,” they write.

Applied Idealism in Medicine

Basically, what is also being described here is what could be termed “Applied Idealism” – or rather, applied philosophy. For most of the 20th century philosophers have tended to downplay their profession but the New Idealism actually clearly leads the way for philosophers to enter the medical field and make an active contribution.

One very practical area with the New Idealism is in the area of meditation. I have personally experimented with most forms of meditation and have mastered the art of many of them. In fact, I used meditation to overcome two severe illnesses. To me, this is the New Idealism in action.

Integral meditation clearly proves that the power of human thought alone has an effect on other levels of matter. This is an extraordinary claim but, I feel, is the basis of a new medicine, a medicine that needs to be explained philosophically.

Deepak Chopra and Mind-Body Medicine

Where the New Idealism cuts deeply into philosophical terrain is in the area of mind/body medicine. One extremely well-known mind/body medical practitioner Deepak Chopra claims that healing is the ability of one mode of consciousness (the mind) to spontaneously correct the mistakes in another mode of consciousness which he calls the body.

He says that contrary to the germ theory of disease, the real conflict is being waged “in here” or inside the body. There is a network of information that holds our bodies together. Chopra says that the whole living world is bound up in DNA.

Chopra believes that this is an absolutely fascinating aspect of the entire process. He says that what is really happening is that one bit of a person’s DNA (immune cell) is dismantling another bit of DNA (the host cell). “You would think that such mistakes show the imperfection of the body’s intelligence, but that is too superficial. What is actually happening here is an exquisite example of quantum healing at work,” writes Chopra.

According to Chopra, nothing that happens to DNA is lost. It all stays within the self-enclosed system. This intelligence that Chopra writes about is the consciousness or thought aspect of the universe. It could also be seen as the Consciousness or thought aspect of matter, particularly living matter.

Chopra says that it is wrong to think that conflict is the norm and that, in general, a state of peace exists between a person’s DNA and the other DNA “out there”.

The underlying philosophy in cancer treatment, says Chopra, is that the mind will just have to stand by while the body endures devastation. Chopra believes that the vital issue is not how to win the war but how to keep peace in the first place.

Ayurveda tells us to place the responsibility for disease at a deeper level of consciousness, where a potential cure could be found. Ayurveda therefore pays much less attention to surface emotions that current mind-body medicine does.

All things in existence, says Chopra, are tied to our senses, and our senses are tied to our brains. A disease is not a molecular contact of some outside organism with the molecules of a person’s body. According to Ayurveda, a disease is a sequence of moments that a person lives through, during which the person appraises every iota of the vast input that comes pouring in from all quarters of the world, including their body.

He says that infinite choice is open at every second for them to alter the shape of the world, for it is no shape other than what a person gives it. The reason why meditation is so important in Ayurveda is that it leads the mind to a “free zone” that is not touched by disease.

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First published in 2002, The New Idealism has appeared in multiple international print editions and is now available in digital format through the author and at CrystalWind.ca.

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