In the Western world, healing is a lot like plumbing repair. You fix what is broken. A bad heart is simply a bad heart and you deal with it. And we have developed some simply phenomenal techniques and technologies for doing that.

In more traditional societies the healing process requires that in addition to dealing with the immediate problem, one also must also address the cause of the failure. In tribal belief systems the body is having trouble because of an underlying emotional or psychic cause and both must be addressed if the individual is to heal.

In shamanic practice, what is called "soul loss" is considered to be the source of emotional or physical disturbance. Soul loss can occur from shock or trauma or more typically from habitually refusing to listen to the guidance of the gods or spirits. When presented with cancer, arthritis or heart disease, a shaman will look for the emotional or psychic disturbance which has resulted in an emotional or physical "breakdown." The shaman knows that unless these originating causes are addressed, the disturbance within the client's system will simply either reoccur or manifest elsewhere in another form.

People who know nothing of shamanic practices will often speak of feeling a hole in their spirit. If this separated part is not "retrieved," the person is then vulnerable to both spiritual and physical assault.

Navaho medicine woman Annie Kahn describes illness as "the habit of excluding," which disturbs our natural harmony. She says, "To heal, one must . . . accept. This very act causes healing." Similarly, the Iroquois believe that disease results from the conflict created when the soul's needs are not being met. They believe that the soul becomes resentful when ignored, and then creates difficulties for the individual.

The soul's perspective is, of course, God's perspective. So, to the Iroquois, disease is the result of us turning away from God. In a similar vein, the Mayans see disease as the result of the gods being disturbed by a person's behavior or attitude. The misalignment of man's spiritual nature as the source of physical or emotional trouble is a theme found often in the beliefs of indigenous cultures.

Carl Jung wrote, "When the God is not acknowledged, egomania develops, and out of this mania comes sickness." It has taken many years, but even some Western physicians are beginning to see thingsfrom a larger perspective. Jean Achterberg, a professor of psychology and physical medicine writes, "It is becoming increasingly clear, that what the shamans refer to as soul loss - that is, injury to the inviolate core which is the essence of a person's being - does manifest as despair, immunological damage, cancer, and a host of other very serious disorders."

So, your blood pressure may be high, your cholesterol count may be worrisome, your joints may be stiff or one of your arteries may be weakening, but to traditional healers the heart disease, arthritis, stroke or cancer which could manifest from these things are regrettable, but natural extensions of originating psychic or emotional disturbance.

In ancient belief systems, this is where the concept of sacrifice became important. To the ancients, including our Greek and Roman predecessors, "healing" meant to do service to the gods, or in other words, to make a sacrifice so that one would bring into conscious awareness one's misalignment with the Universal. Sacrifice in its essence then, means making sacred that which has been profaned, i.e., to learn to love that to which one has been closed. In making life sacred, the toxicity of human hubris is drawn out from people as they heal the wounds created by their ego-driven fear. In fact, the origin of our word "gift" comes from a Germanic word meaning that which is toxic to the profane.

In making each act, every moment sacred, life itself becomes sacred. People are then brought back to their essential connection to the universe. Sacrifice becomes an act of contrition, a way to resolve karma. To cure a 'disease' is to heal the spiritual body, which has lost touch with the rest of the universe. Unfortunately, the concept of sacrifice became corrupted in some societies and has been further exploited in our modern understanding by Hollywood's insatiable appetite for sensationalism.

When Jesus healed the sick it was through forgiveness, not through the manipulation of the body. In Christian theology, the Holy Spirit, the third part of the Trinity, is described as the creative, healing and renewing presence of God, which must be reintroduced into a disharmonious system in order to heal it.

In my other writings I address The Universal Rule, which is to: LOVE EVERYTHING. That which we do not love, we profane. And, it is that profanity which can make us ill. In the ancient tradition, it is that which we do not love to which we need to make sacrifice, i.e., to make sacred in order that we may heal.

A corollary to the Universal Rule is Walker's Rule, which states that, "Anything you do not love will become a lesson." Using Walker's Rule, we see the implications for healing spelled out in the tribal philosophies mentioned earlier. Whether it is "the habit of excluding," "soul loss," or "the unmet soul," illness is the natural result of turning away from our God-self.

Close your heart and you will feel discomfort - physical and/or emotional discomfort. That's Walker's rule in operation. Persist, and the contraction will create pain and eventually disease. The Universe is obliged to let you know when you close your heart. That is the purpose of contraction, pain and disease, each operating to awaken at a deeper level of awareness.

We generally think of closing our hearts in relation to other people, but the person we close our hearts to the most is ourselves. As Bartholomew put it, "If you had a friend who treated you the way you treat yourself, you'd get another friend!"

So the process of healing begins with the love of self. And I know it's the umpteenth time you've heard that message, and as simple as it is to say, I also know that it can be a difficult thing to do. What I want to reinforce is that in addressing this issue you also address the core reason you came to earth. You are here to make a conscious connection with your God-self and the most vital part of that process is learning to love and accept yourself.

Learning to love yourself can be problematic and is far too complex a subject to deal with in these few paragraphs, but my two books, Healing The Shadow and Truth were specifically written to address the issues related to self love. But for the moment, it will help you a great deal to become aware of what you do not love.

If you will consciously try to practice the Universal Rule to LOVE EVERYTHING, you will begin to see where there are soft spots in your process. Scan your life and practice loving everything in it. Watch for "blips" or rough spots that indicate a problem. Now turn your attention to yourself. What do you think of yourself? Any lack of love there? AS you do this you will become aware of places where you hold back, where you do not love, where you are reluctant to open your heart. This is valuable information, because it is around these contractions that disease can form if they are left unattended.

If you want to take this further, and I hope you will, you can deal with those issues by learning the Shamanic Journey and Tangible Truth processes taught in my books and CD's. I'm sorry to sound like a commercial, but there is just no way to teach these techniques in a short article. The positive message is that you can do something about the negative views you hold of yourself. Having better health is an important reason, and so is the opportunity to have a happier life.

I will leave you with a thought from my friend Don Robertson:

"What if each waking moment could be used to reveal the love that I am?"

Namiste`
Ross

©2004 Blue Lotus Press.
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