Raising Energy Awareness

Raising Energy Awareness by Stephen D Evans

Prescriptions for Healing and Medicine by a Pentecostal Christian

Raising Energy Awareness Copyright © 2006, by Stephen D Evans All Rights Reserved Published in the United States of America, Los Angeles

Cover Art: Pentecost, by Estella Canziani, 1939

Raising Energy Awareness It was April of 2006 (the day of my third grandchild’s birth), I went surfing to find some sense behind various forms of energetic therapy. Writings of one such practitioner, Robert Bruce, challenged me to experiment with a technique that appeared harmless enough. He called it ‘energy raising’. I was startled by immediate success. However, I went away still doubting the theories underlying these therapeutic practices. It seemed to me that it was awareness of energy movement enhanced, not necessarily new energy being ‘raised’ from an alternate dimension. In fact, compared to my years of familiarity with the movement of God’s Spirit, it seemed a tired and rather wayward soul-level energy. My reflections were documented in a paper titled, Why Energy Therapies Work. That concluded with my determination to learn discernment of the spiritual origins of such ‘subtle’ bio-energies. So I sought further among accounts of Christian healing and restoration. I was led to study the ministry of an outstanding Christian woman from the early 20th century, Agnes Sanford. Her personal experience clearly corroborated my own, and I discovered a simple but practical guide in her ‘stages of a prayer of faith’ (The Healing Light): 1. Relax into the peace of God’s grace and forgiveness, same time and place, twice daily. 2. Meditate on the reality of God's Light as external natural life given to all through Christ. 3. Request needed increase of the indwelling Life of Christ’s Spirit and visualize the desired correction. 4. Give thanks now that what is imagined in faith and shared as God’s creative Love is also being realized. Mrs. Sanford proposed no fancy words or creeds, no diagnostics or devices. All that is needed on our parts is yielding, trusting and obedient attitudes, and the Spirit of Jesus does the rest. This is exactly what was taught my whole life. Could it really be so simple and so free? A prayer of faith is not merely our expression of worry or wishful thinking, rather it is trusting that the God of Creation has placed his own Power at our disposal to be exercised in Love according to His good purposes. Jesus himself told his disciples that they would be charged with authority to open or to shut, bind or release. Here I offer expansion of these same stages of prayer to describe my own growing awareness of spiritual life activity. So far, I am persuaded that every prayer of faith results in a profound release of healing and balancing energies, whether or not anybody actually senses its movement. However, it does help that somebody is given to witness directly the ignition and flow of vitality, whether at the soul or spirit level. This at least encourages continued faith and persistence in prayer. Like most Christians, my tendency was to give up too fast, concluding it must be God’s will that this person suffer. Now, at age 48, my future prospects for personal health

1

Raising Energy Awareness

and comfort have changed dramatically for the better. Prayer has been transformed from a mere mental exercise of reluctant good hope into a genuine service whereby I can actually feel that hope as Life coursing through me like volcanically charged mineral waters. I sincerely hope other seeking souls may realize as much relief and refreshment in spirit. A couple of definitions: I use words like energy and energetic to mean metaphysical life at the soul level. This is consistent with how many Christian healers use such terms. I describe both soul and spirit dimensions of life energy as spiritual, again meaning beyond or behind the physical. This seems unavoidable. But I also distinguish between soul and spirit qualities of life, and for the latter I will usually capitalize it as Life. The same will be for Spirit, as the indwelling Christ, as distinct from other spirits, human or not. And please don’t be offended by my use of the subject ‘It’ for the Spirit. By focussing thus at times upon the Power aspect of His Being, I don’t mean to detract from His Person. I realize that such a discussion risks branding this evangelical Christian as a New Age visionary. I have no intention of fusing or reconciling Eastern and Western traditions of spirituality. And I think it will be evident, as you read further, that I don’t fit that mold. Some may be put off, rather, that I adhere to a fundamentalist cosmology and anthropology. For these reasons, I decided to structure this presentation first in the form of experiments. Then, for those who remain concerned about the where-from and what-gives, I follow with background and theoretical notes for each stage. Finally, I will begin listing questions that I continue to ask myself, also my answers thus far in my own quest for understanding.

Experiment 1 -- Just a Moment of Peace Enter your 'peace', whatever and wherever you find it. Designate a time, at least twenty minutes each day for this, preferably morning and evening. Where is your safe place, in mind and in space? At first, make reasonably certain that you will be undistracted physically and socially. You can deliberately admit distractions later to exercise focus and control. You may find it tricky to relax without falling asleep, assuming you can truly relax at all. Begin with the classic exercise of dissolving tension one muscle at a time, as if releasing individually stretched rubber bands. This should help to focus your mind and quiet emotions, and you will discover layers of nervous stress hidden beneath chronic muscle and joint pains. The same may be true of other discomforts, like nervous twitches and itches, even gastric and breathing disorders. Allow your breathing to regulate itself (no Yoga or TM techniques needed for this experiment). Though I have found it effective to breathe out slowly through both nostrils, exhaling pain and stress like ‘bad air’. As you become less distracted physically, your imagination will tend to wander. A mild stimulant may help, such as a spearmint leaf or a coffee bean. I find early

2

Raising Energy Awareness

evening best (rather than habitual bedtime) to resist relapse into a dream state. Your intent should be always to maintain and increase mental focus, but without forgetting who you are and why you do this. With eyes closed, arrest a wandering mind by focussing upon a single thought image, something simple and familiar but with no strong emotional attachments. A candle flame or rose blossom may do. The point here is to sharpen imaginative focus. Make the mental image touchable. Set aside for now any triggered memories, ambitions or feelings. You should pursue other forms of selfexamination, but do that later, seeking resolution and absolution, in preparation for further peace-seeking sessions. Next extend your imaginative focus past the mental image out into the empty space beyond. At this point, I come to realize that darkness does not reign here. A powerful light source hovers just outside my inner peripheral view, even in the darkest room. Whether or not you actually see it, I suggest that you shift sharpened focus now to gaze upon your best idea of the Light and all it means to you. To me it feels as if that Illumination is potent as the sun, its warming rays telling exactly where to seek, without having to look directly into it. Assuming your experience is similar, you probably won' t be able to turn and face the Light at this stage, even if you dare. Don't worry about that now. At the right time, the Spirit will guide you further up and further in. Practice daily until you learn to enter this peaceful rest at a thought, in almost any setting, despite outside distractions.

Experiment 2 -- Gulps of Eternality Identify the specific something that fills you with a sense of awe every time. Mark a time to revisit it every day for a week –maybe a sunset view, a work of art, baby sleeping, wildlife foraging, whatever—this with the intention of reawakening that experience of wonder repeatedly for self-examination. Note the character and location of the initial energetic response. For instance, I might call it "a fuzzy tingle, starting back of the head, then flushing the whole body, sometimes prompting shivers of delight". Just write it down or record it, first impression, in your own words with no analysis. Now recognize some basic facts: First, the energy vibration generated is not a material sound or physical touch sensation. I may describe it as a cool fire or inaudible ringing, but I also know that the sense would be distinctive regardless of internal or external temperatures, even were my physical hearing to fail. Our scientific tendency, of course, is to reduce this sensitivity to the least complex neuro-chemical model, though very little is actually known empirically concerning mind/body connections. Resist that “rational” impulse, for now. Pretend at least, that you may be sensing an objective metaphysical reality. Quantum bio-physicists would suggest as much, anyway.

3

Raising Energy Awareness

Second fact, (similar to lack of physical sensation) your energetic response does not follow subjective mood or emotion. Spiritual experience may trigger a mood change: Your body may start sweating afterward, feeling suddenly limp or inexplicably more energized --a sprig of mint or pinch of salsa may do the same following a taste or smell sensation. However, the spiritual sense is independent of your emotions or beliefs, and it may in fact prove to be completely opposite of your soul's prior orientation. CS Lewis credited his Christian conversion in part to this experience of the numinous beyond logic or reason or circumstance, being 'surprised by Joy'. Third, much like physical emotion or acts of will (pursuing, grasping or speaking), the energy of your first response is itself responsive to thought. In other words, you may tell it where to go. Some will take this as proof that it's all inside your head after all. However, such would defy my first two observations. (Later exercises will deal more with this.) It may be the thought that counts after all. Try it out. A thought as intention, as denial or worry can interact with the energetic sense, allowing it full expression or changing its current and character, interfering or stifling it altogether. The latter may predominate a person’s experience by the implicit decision to disbelieve or discredit any such phenomena. Next week, choose a different eternal virtue, such as joy, health, meekness, maturity, innocence, beauty, rightness, wisdom, excellence, gentleness, might, wonder. Do this in order to examine each as a spiritual sense experience --truth, justice, even righteous indignation. It may be the same sunset prompting a different (though related) illumination about existence. Greet and embrace all such gifts of spiritual intuition. Pause and partake, as if they were actual breaths of fresh air or bites of food. Think gulps of eternality. Observe what is unique about the initial energy response. Where does it start? How does it travel around your body? Compare this new description with other subtle energy sensations you have already identified. Recall expressions from your cultural language, idiomatic phrases that indicate what your sense may share in common with the experience of others, even generations past: "My heart was in my throat ... I felt a knife in my belly ... It gave me the shivers." The Other body Exercise a daily concentration upon your own hand, an arm, leg, torso, or head -distinguishing energetic from physiochemical sensation. You might start by focussing upon a thumb only, filtering out any material sense of touch or temperature until only an energy glow remains, perhaps feeling subtle waves of pressure surrounding the appendage. There is an energetically formative body that can actually be felt to fit the physical frame like a glove. It is one form of the 'living soul' that enables a body to grow, heal, move, sense and reproduce. This same energy motivates the mind to mature, seemingly on its own, quite unconsciously. It

4

Raising Energy Awareness

is the impetus behind humankind’s spiritual longings, elevating mere animal desire to ‘reach for the stars’. You may feel this formative energy like a thick sock of cotton gauze around your foot, your leg, hand and arm. It is similar to what you sense when a foot or arm ‘goes to sleep’ due to restricted blood circulation. However, that feels vacant and disabling by comparison. Imagine one hand stroking or squeezing the other, then extend that awareness to the whole arm, as if brushing it with imagination slowly up and down. Do the same for your head, down neck and spine, then up again. Eventually your whole body or any part thereof will feel ensheathed, as if glowing with light and sound energy. Many people discover this energy ‘body’ responding also to environmental stimuli, such as sunlight, moving air or water, aromas of food or flowers, taste and touch. I find such sensations re-energizing, as if my body is drinking in the radiant essence underlying physical appearances. But encounters with eternal virtues, as this experiment first explores—these provoke far stronger answering buzzings and glows within my energetic being. It can feel like moving about in two bodies, connected, interpenetrating but essentially very different from each other. Take charge of thoughts and sensations as energy vibrations thrumming the length and breadth of your body. Extend that awareness to fill your room. Occupy your whole house, your neighborhood, your commute to work as a spiritual being, there and back again in a moment of thought. Practice ability to shift focus, like changing channels of awareness, from physical to spiritual and back, emotional to sentient to cognitive to eternal truth and back to material appearances. Recognize a spectrum of 'colors' and 'shades' characterizing each plane of awareness, then the various cycles of motion. Observe also that all these may be modified or directed by thought intention, the imaginative will.

Experiment 3 -- Plugging in Begin with the Stage One and Stage Two experiments, assuming a posture and attitude of worship for your God and Savior, the cosmic fount of incorruptible Life. Make certain all prejudices and obsessions are confessed as ‘sin’ and released to the forgiving and cleansing ministry of Christ’s Spirit. Perhaps I have already scared off some readers. But Christians will know very well what I mean and how to approach this discipline. Yield your will, your emotional self and idea self to the Spirit, genuinely desiring (and daring) to know the heart of God. Become like clay to His hands forming a vessel designed uniquely to serve His Love and His Life at the banquet table of human community. Again, this is all imagery of metaphysical reality that Christians will understand. As the hymn repeats, “I consecrate myself, O Lord, to Thee.” The most profound experience of Spirit begins with this simple, common

5

Raising Energy Awareness

sacrifice of soul. And for the practiced believer, it requires only a moment of reflection –no ceremony or high-sounding prayer necessary. This practice will silence the soul and open the human spirit to receive New Life from on high. That reads like a statement of religious faith, and so it may be. However, I mean now for the seeker to regard it scientifically. I am invoking a set of spiritual laws, just as the skydiver places faith in the natural laws of gravity and aerodynamics. Surely, this is how God designed the interface between our material and supermaterial bodies. A higher degree and quality of Life is available to those who learn to trust heavenward. One has only to pause and wait, with the attitude of humility, with respect and gratitude (in a word, worship) in order that the crown of his spirit may open and receive a renewed flow of spiritual Life. Recall having ever experienced this sensation during worship-- the crown of your head opens and flickers like a sparkler of cool fire. Perhaps it was part of your last ‘mountaintop’ spiritual encounter. You might feel it as part of a larger phenomenon during a song and prayer gathering, when ‘waves of mercy’ are perceived to pass over the heads of worshipers, feeling as if ‘It’ moves with awesome Personality: Power, Intelligence and Purpose. Back to our experiment-- Pause, worship and wait expectantly. As promised, the power of Christ’s Spirit refreshes, flowing from above, filling your body for the express purpose of flowing outward again as you pour yourself out in service to others. Eventually, as the physical brain learns to switch attention channels, you are sure to feel something of this surge. And you will know immediately how very different is this Spirit Life compared to the subtle energies explored in Experiment Two. Living soul is flawed, conflicted and exhaustible, with very limited capacity to renew itself. Spirit Life does not suffer such limitation; from our human perspective it is inexhaustible. Soulish power may be turned and distorted to cause harm. True Spirit power will always work for good, even what contrary soul powers intend for ill. Another caution here: Rival spirits—they may be seen to counterfeit the movement of Christ’s Spirit. Sometimes this deception emerges as the combined soul power of a church gathering under the well-intended direction of a gifted leader. But again, the maturing Christian is best able to discern the truth, dividing soul from Spirit power. The most obvious difference between soul power and Spirit power will be its character and intensity. For instance, I know that the Living Spirit massaging my bones is just as able to explode forth in gargantuan mountain-moving force. I can feel its potential, however gently it moves at the moment. More differences are evident in long term results.

6

Raising Energy Awareness

So, give this a try, for at least a week’s attention. Wait and see if you don’t begin to sense energy entering your open crown. Otherwise, you can always return comfortably to stages One and Two. But persist, and you may notice the Power itself pause to gather and glow at the back of your head, then rush to your throat and down your spine. Feel it swell in your chest and begin pumping in waves out your arms and hands at a moment’s prompting as you think and pray for others. Whether or not your being is awakened to sense it directly, remember that this energy springs from the Person of Jesus Christ resurrected and poured out to regenerate your body, soul and spirit. In accord with His pleasure, energy is poised to respond as you will it. And so, you may one day feel it leap like lightening to melt pain and stress from every corner of your being. Or you may simply say, as I often do, “You, Lord, know best where I need correction and refreshment … You show me and minister to my body where it requires.” Then sit back and watch how the Fire seeks out and destroys problems in places you weren’t even aware of yet. But just as often His answer to me: That’s why pain was given to you in the first place, so that you will learn to conduct this Symphony called flesh and use the pain as this day’s concert program. The pain or discomfort, like the touch of a hand, serves to signal and guide healing energy to where it is most needed. As the pain drains away, I move on to the next challenge.

Experiment 4 -- Passing it on Give it away. Start with your own loved ones at home. I find a threefold happy result! It is first the very best way of returning thanks to the Father and Jesus our Redeemer. Next, I am honored and blessed to be used in service to benefit another seeker of Light and Life, even where that one searching hardly knows as yet that true fulfillment will be found in Christ. Finally, prayer for others has proven to be a most efficient way of keeping my own body free of chronic maladies. As I massage my wife’s back and neck, energy pulses down my arms, even before a hand touches, released by simple intention. All the while, my own body is being bathed in liquid Light as if I were actually sitting up against Jacuzzi jets. As I pray for my own children’s resistance against colds or flu bug-of-the-day, I feel my nasal passages loosen and mucus flowing to purge my system of pathogens also. You can try practicing a healing touch on your own lower body, as if it were somebody else. Extend your hand over a hip or knee joint. When I do this, the energy 'glove' of my hand prompts an answering glow from the life permeating flesh and bone of my leg.

7

Raising Energy Awareness

Scan problem areas with hands or extended fingers. I do this while massaging gently, either myself or another, but it actually works best without touching. If there is no energy response, I press or tap at the spot to awaken it. If there is still no response, I scan further up the connecting joints, as pain may actually be radiating from another cause. We were meant to function collectively, not only symbolically but factually as a Body. We were designed to be interdependent and codependent for our bread and breath upon the Living Waters of the Spirit of Truth. These are highly imaginative words for a very practical, everyday reality. As Jesus himself put it, I am the bread of Life, the most ordinary and humble mode of energy transference, one person to another.

From here on, I indulge in more detailed discussion for each stage of prayer. Please realize that I don’t consider myself any kind of authority regarding the following. I approach this rather as an explorer. I think that any reader, whether Christian or otherwise, must acknowledge that nothing “occult” is proposed here. Also, no drug or hypnosis or dissociation from normal daytime awareness need be involved at any stage. (The regular sleep state presents a far greater challenge to normal consciousness.) If subtle energy is real and our brains are designed to register its activity, perhaps it is merely a matter of fine-tuning one’s attention to perceive the spiritual, at first anyway. This re-tuning of awareness happens every day as people attend church, listen to music or read poetry. Much of everyday perception works the same way, as we erect cognitive filters or disengage those filters. That’s what forensics is all about, for instance, also archeology and the scientific method itself. If the Spirit is present and willing, it is entirely His prerogative to respond or not and lead the seeker safely into all wisdom.

Stage One – Peace Every spiritual act –healing, service, study, discipline-- must begin with worship, the attitude of gratitude and veneration toward our Father in Heaven. This actually awakens heightened consciousness as the physical body rests, or even while it repeats habitual activities (chores, commutes, ritual or ceremony). In other words, I never think more clearly than when I acknowledge the worship-worthy. Note, I don’t mean a trance such as might be induced by certain medications or hypnosis. In general, one should avoid any exercise or substance that compromises selfcontrol, unless it is under direction of a trained therapist and for a specific purpose. A truly peaceful precondition requires first the release of worry, obsession, guilt and grudge, all mental distractions –at least these need to be momentarily forgotten, like a child is naturally able to do. As adults, we must consciously choose to relax mind and body, and do so without allowing either to lapse and wander again into habitually negative patterns, to do it without falling asleep. Relaxation, like sleep, can itself relieve many ailments and clarify causes. Repenting of all sin and

8

Raising Energy Awareness

accepting the forgiveness of God through Christ is ultimately the key, though the agnostic or pagan may achieve momentary peace by other means.

Stage Two -- Eternality Notice how sensation of life energy is on a metaphysical level, even though you may describe it as occupying or traversing parts of the material body. This awareness is not new, rather something familiar to most everyone. It is first awakened, often at a very young age, by subtle but definite encounters with eternal Truth. I don’t mean merely the thought shadows that adult humanity calls ‘ideas’ as debatable principles. It is rather supra-cognition of a presence, momentary recognition of eternal virtue, spiritual fact not necessarily echoed by personal emotions or prior beliefs. Fundamental to all spirituality is the sense that there must be more than material existence. Bible imagery calls it the Promised Land or Paradise. In Arthurian legend, it is glimpses of Avalon through the mist and later the Quest for the Holy Grail. Except in works of literature (i.e., Wind in the Willows) only humankind of this earth suffer numinous experience. And because fallen man wants or needs so much to deny responsibility before anything like an Eternal Spirit, our modernist/humanist culture tends to identify even spiritual experience more with our animal than divine relations. In ancient times, the natural life of the soul (Gr., psyche) was dying fast, with diminishing hope of regeneration. It was rekindled for extended generations by the sacrifice of Christ and the resurrection of his body to renew Nature, the very life (zoë or animus) of Earth and each physical form. Our planet, as a body of life, is perceivable also as light energy, electromagnetic fields and currents, atmospheric heat and movement. This same life courses through our physical sensations of eating bread, breathing air, perceptions of form and color. It is evident in animal processes of healing, growth, reproduction, instinct and ecology, even geological and meteorological patterns of order and change. Again, our physical and mental processes are merely shadows, the echoes of spiritual realities Who as living entities rarely (if ever) put on any other material form. Living spirits are embodied by our thoughts, our words, gestures and written expressions, our dress, ceremonies, institutions, inventions and constructions. Regarding the human body, one can learn to distinguish energetic from physical form and response. Amputees suffer awareness of this energetic body, long after the operation, as a ‘phantom limb’ that continues to feel pain, to move and reach and grasp at will –though, of course, nothing physically follows the intention. Awareness of the energy body (soul life) may yield power to relieve some physical problems temporarily, but Spirit Life (pneuma) is required for long term correction, also motivation to change life attitudes and habits. This is never a mere imagination. By such exercise, you are in fact stretching spiritual limbs.

9

Raising Energy Awareness

Stage Three -- Renewal I don’t expect this experiment will work for the seeker who is not first a Christian. In fact, I won’t recommend it unless one has placed faith in the Lord of Creation, the Judge of all powers. Most energetic therapies go no further than Stage Two as described above. They don’t want to. Priests and shamans of nature religions or mystery cults brave the real risk of interference by rival spirits. Even Christians who experiment with oriental disciplines or westernized New Age spiritisms will fall prey to deception by foreign spirits willing and able to counterfeit the presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit. The maturing Christian, however, is best equipped to distinguish truth from deception, also dividing soul from spirit forms of energy. Upon request, a new inner Presence is ascertainable as the very fount of spiritual Love and Life, inspiring hourly renewed compassion and energy to heal, motivation to act according to Heaven's purposes. However, this potential awaits one's freewill invitation as heartfelt intention. Our bodies are being rebuilt by this same Power to function as temples, or rather mobile homes for the Spirit, but also as humble clay pitchers. Picture a beverage carafe set out for breakfast, for lunch and dinner every day. It is placed there ready to fill and refill whenever emptied into the drinking cups of all attending this ordinary family table. Never is it absolutely necessary for success of a meal that all partakers hear the sound, feel the weight and vibration of the vessel’s use as it is being emptied and refilled again. But it certainly helps that somebody at table attend and notice when the pitcher needs refilling, so as best to serve the needs of those gathered. Spiritually also, one must determine daily to just do it –refill and recharge. We have to keep going back, as mortal creatures in time and space, returning to the Eternal Fount to humble ourselves and ask for New Life. These are the images provided by Jesus himself, as well as the final scene presented by his star pupil, John, in the Book of Revelations, the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb. I believe what is shown there is the very same cosmic feast we enjoy daily, even hourly, as our bodies and souls are refreshed by the promised Comforter, our heavenly breakfast host. Therefore we celebrate Holy Communion at our churches and no less holy communion at potluck agape feasts. But heed the apostle’s warning –partake of such a banquet with any other than Love’s intention, and sickness or death is likely to follow. Intention is everything, and personal touch is instrumental (though not always essential) as a ready expression of that intent. This is why all forms of placebo (pills, ointments, tonics) or energetic devices (magnetics, kinesthetics, homeopathics, etc.) will have some effect, often dramatic at first. The same dynamic releases soul power from one person, or group of persons with combined intent, to another. Just as a sluice gate holds back the irrigation waters, so the intent of our thought and action will hold or release the healing power of the Spirit in our

10

Raising Energy Awareness

community, our church, our families and neighbors, and within our own frail bodies. Intention needs only a sliver of belief in the form of expectation that something more can and may result when one turns toward the Light and waits, especially trusting on behalf of another. Here also, vigilance must be maintained to discern spirits and their influences. Therefore the character and occasion of a spirit's visitation is telling. Does this ‘presence’ emulate the nature of Jesus? Are freedom of will and integrity valued and preserved… or compromised? This is the same standard of veneration from stage one above. Do mercy and forgiveness prevail, or is it a power struggle by means of accusation, guilt and manipulation? We are commanded to test the spirits. Suspicion and doubt regarding manifestations of spirit have important roles within Christian fellowship (however tempered and measured by humility and grace). If the saints suffer consequences of spiritual deception, it is their own fault. Church pastors and teachers, especially, will be held accountable for their timidity or carelessness to judge what is good and true and profitable or not. The larger Church’s reluctance to embrace indiscriminately the various Charismatic and Pentecostal movements may be well founded. However, it is foolish and disrespecting of our Lord’s specific instructions when pastors and teachers delegitimize categorically any evidence of spiritual life and knowledge. Jesus equipped and directed his disciples to begin functioning in spiritual power during the earliest years of His ministry. And these were not your typical seminary valedictorians. Distinguishing spiritual from physical responses to truth, beauty, greatness, order, etc. --these sensations may indeed be described in bodily terms, though they don't actually register physically. Likewise, attributes of soul must be distinguished from eternal Spirit from whence they spring, even as I attempt here to describe spiritual encounters metaphorically in terms of mere soul abilities. It may be impossible to find other words. (I will reserve more detailed guidelines for right discernment of spirit for another presentation.) Resurrection Life of Christ's Spirit enters from the crown. I often find it already active, flowing from head down and out. I actually perceive an opening at the very top of my skull and a tingling glow, like cool electricity or liquid fire. Then it changes to a swelling at the back of my head, moving further into the throat and heart. Sense of another body's pain is felt from the throat and through the gut into my spine, resonating like strings of an instrument. Renewing energy pulses and surges in the breast, flowing out my arms and hands, and sometimes through eyes and imagination to visualize restored health. Surely this activity is re-energizing, redirecting natural soul life processes in others with whom I connect, physically or spiritually. How could it be otherwise? The energy has to go somewhere. When a spiritual influence is not the Holy Spirit, it may be experienced creeping from pelvis upward, an invasive and disruptive force, even painful, emotionally

11

Raising Energy Awareness

disabling or sexually confusing (research kundalini and reiki). There will be a strong sense of spiritual vacancy, wherein the fallen 'soul life' attempts to fill and function in place of Spirit, seeking (in disabled fashion) to reorder and balance the self-consuming thoughtful, emotional and willful members of the soul self. Even a Christian ‘awakening’ (known biblically as 'baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire') carries risk of raising dormant soul forces prematurely to renegade activity. This is why it is crucial to awaken only to dependence upon the Holy Spirit, Christ's Spirit as distinguished from rival spirits or other energetic systems. Soul power reactivated carries the burden of responsibility for doing as much harm as good. It must be consecrated, moment by moment, exclusively for service of the Spirit Self. The alternative, ultimately, is subservience to forces of ‘black magic’, because no human soul can stand by its own power against enemy entrapments for long. The self-described New Age ‘christian’ healer is vulnerable to just such deception, born of a failure to discern spirit and truth. However well-intentioned is this one so soulishly gifted, so religiously determined never to judge another or himself, the Lord must say in the end, I never knew you (Matthew 7:21-23).

Stage Four --Interdependence When a person dares to imagine the correcting results of New Life --this is faith, a renewed capacity for gratitude and wonder motivating any number of lifestyle adjustments. Here begins a renewing cycle of increased healing and ministry potential. But even renewed hope requires New Life --the real thing—and Life replenished every day. One must keep on obeying the Doctor to realize restoration of wholeness and freedom. I now consider daily worship, prayer for my body’s health and prayer for others to be spiritual medicine, food for the soul, a program of therapy prescribed by the Great Physician. I lived for some years in farm country, where irrigation canals were as common as roads. Some canals were always filled full, and some ran dry until the farmer needed them. A ditch can’t water trees growing upon its banks from just a trickle seeping through its gate. Hope begins when the sluice is lifted, letting the flood pass through to fill up the furthest canal ways. Then will the waters overflow canal banks to bathe tree roots all around. My energy body seems to work the same way, for myself and for others. That’s why the scriptures are filled with images featuring water – cups, jars, wells, rivers, floods, showers and fountains. And this is imagery that matches experience. To find healing, we must literally awaken atrophied sensitivities. That risks exposing suppressed pain. Let us take up our sleeping mats and walk, go on to sin no more, determining rather to follow the Master unto Life Eternal. Eventually we will all live and breathe incorruptible spirit bodies. Spirit Life enables even humans to think and feel, to consort with spirit beings in heavenly places, this instead of merely entertaining their shadow ideas and impulses. So we may also commune

12

Raising Energy Awareness

with each other in spirit and in truth. Such is the great mystery of divine incarnation, confounding even the loftiest angels. The mystery is promised likewise to all reborn of the New Adam, Christ who is the Life and the Light.

Q&A Why does the energy of the Spirit wait for my decision to be released? I find this question rather haunting. And I am grieved that I cheated myself, apparently, out of so many years of relief and refreshment. It seems now that the ‘good news’ proclaimed by Jesus is literally true: the kingdom of heaven is right here within reach. I have only to extend my hand and partake of New Life, just as easily as taking a cup of water. Natural life is like the hidden water of a well –it serves my being autonomically, like respiration, digestion and blood circulation, not requiring my conscious participation. The life of the soul can remain mostly unconscious for a lifetime before it finally yields to mortality. True Life of the Spirit is different. It is ‘living water’, gushing and flowing out under the sunlight. That’s the picture Jesus presented to the Samaritan woman. I think that was one significance of his asking her to give him a sip of well water, so that he could offer his own fountain in return … a far superior source, not subject to stagnation or pollution or drought. And one doesn’t even have to work to draw it up out of darkness –simply turn and stand under its dazzling flow. But the key is that Jesus offered the woman New Life. It is to be Love’s intention. It is never imposed. The Spirit doesn’t just take over unbidden. Instead, I am appointed to learn the art of irrigation, directing the living water’s flow to wherever I see fit to send it. And if this fount is given ultimately to water the whole earth, one can hardly go wrong. So long as I am certain it is the true Water of Life released. How does worship work to restart energy flow? I am reminded again what Jesus told the Samaritan woman. We are called to worship in Spirit and in Truth. There are other kinds of worship whose fruits may prove to be the very opposites of love and truth, though they increase power, fallen latent soul power. I was startled at first when feelings of anger and revenge (while watching a TV drama) triggered increased energy. It originated from lower regions of my being, however, not my crown. Though this cannot be evil in itself –no more than the energizing of food or sex or the hunt—it reveals the power potential ensouled in misappropriated rites of worship, many involving fornication, sacrifice of innocents, enslavement, torture or terror. It is a fact of existence that worship releases power, one tenet of the ‘deep magic’ organizing this universe. It all depends upon the object of my worship as to what nature and purpose that power will serve. The same object determines also where the energy springs from, whether from above (the deeper magic) or below.

13

Raising Energy Awareness

This is truly no fairy tale or fable. Spiritual forms of power are governed by their own laws, those of Heaven’s kingdom, just as gravity and electromagnetism observe those laws characterizing the mineral kingdom. Why is my body chronically weak and so prone to injury or sickness? I can re-energize daily or hourly, but certain familiar aches keep returning. It’s true that injuries heal faster, headaches are further between, and I feel generally more resistant to sickness. But the joint stiffness of a hardening frame keeps telling on me, reminding me that this body wasn’t designed for Heaven’s realm nor for more than a blink of eternity. I am beginning to recognize that recurring pains, such as neck and other joints, are my aged body’s response to the assaults of ever-present viral mutations. They always attack first where this mortal flesh is weakest. Even so, I see evidence that my household of loved ones is growing more resistant and resilient because of my improved health attitude. Is this for real, or is it merely positive thinking? I ask myself almost daily whether my sense of energy movement is somehow selffulfilling or only a vivid imagination. But then, almost every day, I subject this experience to a new test, proving yet again that the energy originates outside of “me”, independent of my biological being. I am startled each time how the energy flow is so very responsive to thought. It also impresses me afresh each time how the energy changes ‘shape’ or ‘color’, in patterns that I am learning to recognize, as it moves through different regions of my being. But it is most wondrous how that same energy --when I decide to let it choose its own course—will pursue a ‘seek and deploy’ mission of its own, clearly directed by intelligence deeper than my familiar mind can boast. Does this experience satisfy a subconscious wish or need? In other words, perhaps I feel a hidden need for empowerment, lately provided by apparent energy awareness. It’s true that I never did ‘make the cut’ for the A-team of my religious subculture. But I really believe that issue was resolved very early in my life, even at an unconscious level. There is clearly no basis biblically or experientially for elitist claims to spiritual power as defined by early 20th century Pentecostals. In fact, I am persuaded more every day that a person does not really need to feel power movement (whatever the ‘evidence’ a la mode –tongues, laughter, shaking) in order to participate in life-restoring ministry. My Life partner, Linda, has only to place her hands over my stiff neck for new energy to blossom there, dissolving my discomfort. I feel the effects of restored normalcy as I move my neck again. But I also feel implosion of Life power the moment it is released, triggered by her touch and intention, even though Linda doesn’t yet sense it directly. What she does sense is the outflow of concern and compassion turned into a thought or word of prayer for heaven’s help. And that’s all it really takes to make It –the Spirit-- matter. As Jesus himself assured over and over, it requires only a little faith and only two or three ‘believers’ to connect in agreement for the kingdom of Heaven’s power to be

14

Raising Energy Awareness

released upon the natural kingdoms of earthly life. And it doesn’t feel strange or extraordinary at all. It seems to be how Nature was intended to function from the beginning.

So, is this all invalidated if/when I get sick again? I don’t have to ask. After more than a full year free of cold or fever symptoms, I did catch a virus… or else it caught me. But energy awareness definitely changed the experience. Judging by the symptoms, my immune system was able to shorten a six-week battle (per other’s experience with this virus) to under three. Real discomfort lasted only a week. I was never seriously disabled, went to work for some hours every day. Generally, symptoms were disarmed as discomfort reminded me repeatedly to initiate another energy wash. Spiritual therapy took the edge off a sore throat or headache, much like an analgesic. I regularly set boundaries, saying to myself and the pathogen: You will go no further. So the symptoms of infection remained restricted to my throat, where it first appeared, though I could feel it threatening constantly its own intention of spreading to ears, sinus, bronchioles and even lungs. Some drug remedies were disabling of energy work, others co-operative. A simple analgesic and water did not impair energy awareness; in fact, their benefit seemed enhanced by the energy flow. A decongestant had the opposite effect: though certain symptoms were relieved for awhile, my sense of energy flow and my cooperation with that work was numbed. Successive doses of the medicine declined in effectiveness. (I suspect that antibiotics and stronger anti-inflammatory chemicals would perform similarly.) Blessed water or simple bread probably carries as much relief potential as Nyquil, without the energy disabling consequence. — Spraying salty water (saline) into your nose can help reduce the symptoms of pain and congestion that accompany long-term infections of the nasal passages. --July 2007 Chronic Rhinosinusitis: Washing Nasal Passages With Saline Can Help

— Setting another kind of boundary, I prayed constantly seeking to inform immune systems of family members per the biblical promise, You and your household … When the throat infection receded, there was no lingering nervous cough, as has been my tendency after such a bout. The sickness served to purge my system. I emerged feeling cleaner, leaner and more resistant … certainly more vigilant.

15

Raising Energy Awareness

Further, I learned some important distinctions about energy work: Touch and focussed intention of others --such as when Linda prayed for me-- is definitely more effective than energy therapy performed on myself. This was clearly true, even though she did not perceive directly any energy flow, also when my energy awareness was inhibited. The significance of touch is not primarily to make physical contact that may facilitate transfer of energy. Any touch, even eye contact, serves to focus intention and thereby establish a spiritual connection that transcends limits of physical and temporal contact. I suspect this is how some animistic practices got started, such as using only a subject’s name, forming a clay image or possessing a mere talisman once attached to the person –hair brush, jewelry, doll, etc. I am always reminded the moment I have lapsed into reliance upon my own strength or power: I quickly tire, physically and emotionally. But as soon as I "turn up the Fire" again, this fatigue melts away and my will is refreshed.

Anticipation and Intention, Physical results The verdict is in … though the medical industry has hardly noticed. A series of university studies have confirmed that certain people (a third to half of each study group) as “placebo responders” are so gifted that their expectation of relief actually triggers brain production of natural “opioid” pain killers. They not only “think” they feel better; their brand of thinking actually produces the very physical/chemical that helps their bodies feel better. And the other people –those who are not so skilled or graced with such good faith? Many of them actually feel worse: the intended placebo becomes a “nocebo”, apparently because they don’t or won’t believe and anticipate good results. — U-M brain-scan study shows the body’s own painkillers may cause the “placebo effect”. Thinking the pain away? --August 2005 “This deals another serious blow to the idea that the placebo effect is a purely psychological, not physical, phenomenon,” says lead author Jon-Kar Zubieta, M.D., Ph.D

— Pain Relief Effectiveness Down To Mind-set? --December 2006 Pain Relief People's responses to placebo or "dummy" pain relief varies according to their way of thinking … any treatment's effectiveness would relate to how much we wanted it to work, believed in it or trusted the person administering it.

—

16

Raising Energy Awareness

Why The Placebo Effect Varies From Person To Person --July 2007 Great Expectations The extent to which a person responds to a placebo treatment is closely linked to how active a certain area of their brain becomes when they're anticipating something beneficial.

—

More observations after 18 months of energy awareness Having reread sources (see end notes, Reading List), comparing observations of others to my own, I can reassert the following. An energy “connection” established between myself and another transcends physical space and time. A prayer after the event or one offered from the other side of the globe will be effective, so long as a spiritual connection exists. I have confirmed repeatedly that the purpose of a touch or anointing is to establish such a spiritual bond or network of bonds through which Life energy may flow most efficiently. But the flow is not so much from one person to another as a renewed receptivity to energy from an ever-present common Source. This would be true regarding a common source Other than the Body of Christ, such as a yoga or reiki master. And the connection would facilitate a curse as well as a blessed intent. Some substances may block or inhibit energy connections (synthetic clothing, plastics, wood, leather); some appear to conduct or even amplify it (natural fiber clothing, metal, water, oils). I have worried some about my sweaty hands --but perhaps the concern is unfounded. Sweat, like shared tears, might actually help to reconnect one soul to another. There is a definite role for conscious breathing, at least to maintain energy awareness --especially emphasizing every exhaled breath. If I direct pain to follow deliberate exhales, I will feel fresh energy flooding the back of my head and neck at about the third inhale. When I proceed then to coordinate rhythm of my breathing with the energy flow, it is intensified and prolonged. This actually feels to be a natural entrainment --I was doing it intuitively the very first hour of energy awareness. (Others have concluded from this experience that all healing is a "matching" of vibrational frequencies, however that still seems an unnecessary material reduction --And there is no consensus yet about a physics of subtle resonances, which may in fact be the material result rather than cause of spiritual bonding.) Some weeks ago, I was challenged by another virus attack --throat infection, accompanied by high fever and an additional week of nagging cough. No telling how long it might have persisted without energy work. But again, I found the real crisis to be a problem of Will, especially as my fevered state would numb all sensitivities. At a definite point in the cycle of sickness, I simply didn't care anymore. I didn't want to. It was at this time that I needed Linda to “care” for me, to re-inspire my will and help reconnect me with superior Life. Just her caring

17

Raising Energy Awareness

touch would re-ignite energy flow, and my energy body would continue to buzz for an hour or more. Most recently, I suffered my first attack of gout. Just days before, I remember walking and wondering, What will be the real test against serious pain? I noted then that anything disabling my daily walks would be most disrupting. It is during walks that I conduct habitual energy work. Perhaps that dependency is not the most beneficial, a sort of crutch compromising full energy consciousness. Thankfully, my evening chair also serves to re-awaken the flow, being the favored place of my crisis of awakening, May 2006. (More on this ‘shrine’ phenomenon below.) It was during the gout battle that I made a significant discovery. Apparently, the neural-plexes and lymph nodes function as centers for energy transference. Again, this may be a physiological counterpart rather than cause of spiritual activity. But I could access my gouty foot more readily by focussing intent upon the lymph area of my knee or even further up at the pelvis. Since, I found a Youtube.com appearance by Robert Bruce, wherein he also stated that the legs may be key to stimulating the immune system. He also noted that a virus must be confronted early to prevent a sinus infection; else the affliction may be shortened by determined energy work. My latest resolution, remaining vigilant to the very first signs of headache or respiratory attach (sneezing, throat dryness, nasal itching, etc.) hoping so to shield my body (and my family) from any number of daily virus encounters. I suspect that common discomforts, such as headache and fatigue, most often signal stress upon the immune system triggered by a virus, fungus or other pathogen. I am theorizing that good diet, daily exercise, hydration and sleep habits --like breathing-- will have cleansing and restorative virtues. So how (other than genetics) was I susceptible to a toxicity ailment like gout? It was certainly a wake-up call and a further course in Life energy application. It forced a cleansing or purging of my system, much like a cold virus has done. One vital aspect of the energy work is catharsis --much like tears, dreaming sleep and the sneeze-- a necessary exhale to clear energy-ways for inhaling new life. I am searching for the key to staying “plugged-in” 24/7, whether waking hours, working or especially sleeping. How does one continually live in the spirit? Apostle Paul indicated the prerequisite spiritual emptying (read exhale). I suspect it is also a matter of removing distractions that inhibit hourly reconnection, such as worry, anger, sadness, doubt, sin and guilt. One more piece of the puzzle-- I am on the lookout to identify more spiritual shrines along the way of my quest, my life pilgrimage --those everyday postures, places, rituals and attitudes that will expedite reconnection. My walks are one, so long as they aren't reduced to mindless habit. Same goes for the ‘seats’ where I have practiced spiritual energy awareness, my rest chair and (curiously) the car's driver seat. Usually, new energy begins flowing as soon as I take one of those seats again. (If only my bed could do it too.) Internally celebrating a good news story has

18

Raising Energy Awareness

the same effect, likewise hugs from my wife, the meals she prepares, a joke shared with the kids, a customer's compliment. I'm sure these energy shrines will present themselves again and again if I only keep consciously seeking.

Whenever I take time to reconnect with the Life of Christ, the whole Body is strengthened, starting with my own household: Religion = reconnection Reconnect = synchronize, resonate, entrain, inform I am learning to keep physical manipulations (cracking joints, massage, pressure) very gentle, else there is risk of causing greater soreness. I use the pain, once its center is located, to help focus energy. The healing energy will itself serve to realign muscles, nerves and joints as I move normally. Further notes for aiding another person: Try to remember cause of an injury. Just that, in itself, can jumpstart healing – especially as anxiety over an unknown cause is released. It’s okay to allow an injury time and protection, also to consult professional help to heal. Never proceed under pretense that an injury isn’t real. Always treat the whole body immune system, thus confronting the real possibility that inflammation is caused by a pathogen or allergy. Treat a complete skeletal system (spine, limb) and all connecting joints in case it is actually secondary pain radiating from injury centered elsewhere. Train a subject to focus attention and intention wherever pain exists, following where it moves and locating a probable root source. Help them reconnect to the true Source of Life, healing and health via a shared mental or verbal word of worship. Instruct them to proceed then with normal life but remembering your shared connection, imagining your hand continues to touch across the separation of space and time. The Spirit of Christ is ever present and never constrained by distance or duration. Dwell upon all the good gifts and evidences of God’s love and power, social or physical. Mentally celebrate a tasty meal, a deferential spouse, an obedient child, news of a wrong righted or virtue displayed, sunlight, a sunset or beautiful landscape, the unique properties of water, the adroit play of squirrels in the trees or intelligent competitions of birds, etc. Acknowledge these common observations as miracles of the Creator. Resulting feelings of veneration and gratitude will transform to refreshed healing energy. You may feel it sprout like a fountain at the crown and blossom at the back of the neck/head to flow at will wherever the body needs it.

I am experimenting with energetic influence of over-the-counter aids, such as Advil and Zantac. I hold the dosage in my hand and run energy from that hand to the target area (head, neck, stomach). With less than a minute of concentration, the results appear positive –this without actually ingesting the chemical and without

19

Raising Energy Awareness

toxic side effects or compromised potency. When such a ‘dose’ of ibuprofen wore off, I considered getting up to revisit the medicine cabinet. However, just the mental picture of holding those green capsules again had similar effect. It seems that my energy body remembers the energy signature of a substance well enough to retune itself according to my intent, just as if some residual of the chemical had remained in my system to keep replaying the energy signal. Standard chemical therapy is a strategy based upon last century’s old idea of treating illness with electrical shocks; even minimum doses are like molecular lightening strikes when measured on the quantum level. It is a basic misunderstanding of how drugs work best. The chemically coded instruction is blasted across the cellular horizon, a deafening broadcast blitzing all other internal signals and paralyzing cellular capacity to process all but that one self-interested payload. Those systems responsible for internal manufacturing of necessary compounds are shocked and awed into a body-wide information shutdown –a biospiritual blackout. And from there on, throughout the term of prescribed drug therapy, the body remains dependent upon the rationed provisioning from foreign aid agencies. Yet when a simple gallon of fresh milk is requisitioned, wires may get crossed, so the body is just as likely to receive a truckload of vinegar instead. It’s a form of biological tyranny thanks to the terror of bombing raids. When a healthy body seeks to restore equilibrium, endogenous doses of messaging hormones is miniscule, more like injecting a catalyst, ringing a doorbell or tooting a courier car horn –then the cells are free to respond to a multiplicity of subtle messages, some of which will be contradictory and requiring wise discernment of priorities. As far as the body is concerned, the regulatory cells need only a whispered order to instantly ramp up or scale down factory chemical production as appropriate. Rather than overwhelming all systems with a flood of toxins, the body wants only to read the coded signature of a messaging molecule for retransmission where actually needed across the network. Every cell throughout the body may serve as a transceiver of friendly chatter. Survival as well as good health depends upon keeping those message lines open and operating.

When it rains … a Convergence of evidence The year 2009 has seen a surge of interest and research into the mental aspects of healing and medicine. It is affectionately called the ‘voodoo effect’ – whether a blessing or curse, positive or negative, placebo or nocebo. More evidence is collecting that we are dealing with a body’s endogenous chemistry; its ability to respond to pain, to release and regulate natural opioids and other neuro-transmitting proteins or enzymes from lower and higher regions of the brain. Some people are genetically inclined to experience a placebo effect by virtue of believing in a given therapy or therapist’s efficacy. Others are predisposed otherwise. Group dynamic has much to do with the effect, positive or negative. A person’s history suffering pain and stress –even pre-conscious experience—records itself as a biological predisposition for or against pain regulation. This suggests a key role for the new

20

Raising Energy Awareness

science of epigenetics. The researchers continue to call the supposed placebo mechanism a ‘mystery’; however, there is no longer justification for dismissing it as merely a trick of imagination or social hysteria. New brain and body scanning technologies are allowing us to actually observe active centers of bio-response. One is identified at the base of the brainstem, where it meets the spine –precisely where I experience awareness of healing energy dispensation. The scans have confirmed that some of the pain-relieving chemistry happens there. My own developing energy awareness allows me to trigger that effect with a thought intention rather than a leap of faith or unconscious belief. Some of the latest articles: The Nocebo Effect, New Scientist, Sept. 2009 How Infant Pain Changes Sensitivity In Adults, Science Daily, Sept. 2009 It's Not All In Your Head, Science Daily, Aug. 2009 Learning More About The Placebo Effect, Science Daily, July 2009 Scientists Control Living Cells With Light, Science Daily, Aug. 2009 Physicists Turn To Radio Dial For Finer Atomic Matchmaking, Science Daily, Oct. 2009 (This research suggests one answer to the mystery of subtle bio-chemical mechanisms of communication.) Placebo effect caught in the act in spinal nerves, New Scientist, Oct. 2009 Pulling Together Increases Your Pain Threshold, New Scientist, Sept. 2009 Genetic Evidence For Why Placebos Work, Science Daily, July 2009 Breaking the voodoo spell, New Scientist, May 2009 Power Of Water And Positive Thought Structured Water Vitalizer Plus New Insight Into Water's Strange Bulk Properties, Science Daily, Aug. 2009 (So some water may really be holy or blessed at the molecular level.)

21

Raising Energy Awareness

Reading List: Gospels of Jesus Christ Acts of the Apostles Epistles of Paul Epistles of John and Revelations Sanford, A - Healing Light Wimber, J - Power Healing Upledger, J E - Your Inner Physician Gordon, R - Quantum Touch Bruce, R - New Energy Ways McTaggart, L - The Field Lipton, B H - Biology of Belief Strassman, R - DMT: The Spirit Molecule

22