Spirituality and Energy Medicine

Spirituality and Energy Medicine

Reimar Banis

I. Life force and Spirituality

Life force is a virtually nonexistent factor in Western religion – unlike India, where enlightenment and activation of the life force (Kundalini) have been closely connected for ages. For Asians, being enlightened means also having a shining Aura, not just (as in the West) a purified soul. Of course, the West also has a shining Aura, namely the nimbus (halo), but, amazingly, no one has shown much interest in what exactly is shining there.

Happily, the East-West dialogue has since initiated a change of viewpoint, for life force is immensely important to spirituality. Catholic priests use Eastern meditation techniques and speak openly of Prana as a divine force. Subtle-body energy methods are spreading more and more throughout spiritual circles (Yoga, for example). Older energy medicine techniques such as Radionics, as well as electronic “mind machines”, are used in an attempt to artificially induce spiritual growth and even enlightenment. The promoters of these methods seem to think, naively, that enlightenment is achievable through technological means; that mystical experiences should be democratic and thus easily accessible to all – which is of course nonsense, since we are talking here about an intensive spiritual transformation process. Nevertheless, energy medicine techniques can indeed help one along the way.

More and more, energy medicine is beginning to open up to spirituality, after originally having had little to do with it. Chinese acupuncture, the oldest energy medicine procedure, has no spiritual goals – aside from the modest Confucian idea that man should live in harmony with the cosmos. It is only in Tibetan medicine that one then sees a development toward deeper religiosity, in which Buddhism and Chinese medicine have entered into an intimate partnership. Another energy medicine is Samuel Hahnemann’s homeopathy. A product of the French Enlightenment, he gave no thought to religiosity. The ingenious combination of both methods – e.g. internist Reinhard Voll’s Electroacupuncture – allows us to measure, for the first time, at the acupuncture point, that homeopathy does work and that it alters the energy system.

A quite different direction was taken by the pendulum method (Radiesthesia), long influenced around the turn of the previous century by Catholic priests such as Abbé Mermet. These religious impulses led to widespread pendulum swinging in spiritually oriented circles, reaching a high point in the mystical Radiesthesia of Rudolf Mlaker, who, with the aid of detailed pendulum tables, determined people’s level of spiritual development, the rotation of their Chakras and the luminosity of their Aura. In England it was David Tansley who, as the representative of technical Radiesthesia (Radionics), brought about a very similar fusion of Eastern ideas, emphasizing the Aura, Chakras, enlightenment and subtle-body energy.

Energy medicine has meanwhile diverged in two recognizable directions, of which the first is more scientifically oriented and practiced mostly by physicians. This includes (besides the aforementioned electroacupuncture) vibrational medicine using inverted signals – i.e. substance vibrations that have been artificially “flipped over” by a technical device (resonance homeopathy). 2 Also counted in here are modern procedures such as Vegatest, Biological Information Therapy (BIT), computerized homeopathy, and methods that work with electromagnetic frequencies.

The second energy medicine group consists of spiritually oriented procedures used mainly by interested lay therapists and a few naturopaths. I have already mentioned Radiesthesia and Radionics – and I should also mention that the boundaries here to faith healing are fluid. Significantly, Radionics uses highly technical devices that work just as well even if they are merely sketched on a piece of paper. Upon closer investigation, this turns out to be faith healing with technical aids to gather one’s thoughts and healing powers by means of Radionics devices.

My system of Psychosomatic Energetics makes use of kinesiology, a specific testing device and test ampoules (for more detailed information, please see the Bibliography at the end of this article). Although this healing method is closer to the above-named medical procedures than to Radionics or Radiesthesia, it nevertheless has a strong spiritual orientation. It thus combines both camps of energy medicine and leads to interesting insights that I’d like to go into in what follows.

II. How to test for spirituality

According to ancient Yoga texts, the energy that flows through a person and that person’s level of spiritual development are closely related. This can be confirmed by testing with a special diagnostic device (Rebatest®). Spiritually highly developed persons who test out with maximum values on all four Aura Levels (vital, emotional, mental, causal) are generally more open spiritually and seem more emotionally mature than those with lower readings. The causal reading in particular reflects a person’s spiritual openness and maturity. In this context, one should know that the Causal Level is the highest vibrating and corresponds to what is known as the deep subconscious, where intuition, creativity, dynamism, healing powers and the renowned “sixth sense” are situated.

Average people have causal reading of around 40%, while those with readings of 80% and higher exhibit increasing spiritual interests and capabilities – including telepathy, intuition and an improved ability to empathize with others. Very high causal readings of 100% are, almost without exception, signs of a pronounced spiritual orientation. I have encountered virtually no one with such high readings who denies the existence of God or of reincarnation. Above a certain causal reading, certain spiritual ideas seem to become certainties, since one knows them deep in one’s heart instead of merely believing in them intellectually.

After decades of work as a physician with a predominantly energy medicine orientation, I now regard many diseases differently from the usual view. Not infrequently, this has to do with a purifying maturing of the soul and subsequent higher spiritual development. Higher spiritual development helps resolve emotional conflicts more permanently and profoundly – but above all less painfully. Everyone has these conflicts. They appear to be primarily 3 responsible for our lower spiritual development and bad moods, but also our infection susceptibility. There is a broad therapeutic spectrum for resolving and eliminating these conflicts, ranging from prayer to psychoanalysis, although many procedures work very unreliably. The system of Psychosomatic Energetics which I have developed succeeds in most cases in quite reliably and permanently eliminating conflicts. But this also means that modern energy medicine procedures can be used to make unexpected spiritual progress by means of conflict resolution. There are risks, however, in the inappropriate application of certain energy techniques, as reported below.

III. Spiritual crises from an energy medicine viewpoint

In earlier times, risky spiritual practices were only accessible to an adept elite; people had learned from painful experience that certain practices could be dangerous. Thus, ancient Indian texts warn against a premature awakening of so-called Kundalini energy, a conglomeration of subtle energetic powers (also known as the “snake force”) in the pelvic region that can be aroused by certain techniques and which then shoots up with explosive force from the pelvis to the head. If the Yoga student is not ready for this overwhelming experience, it can lead in extreme cases to insanity and even death. Around 1920, the Indian teacher Gopi Krishna inadvertently awoke his Kundalini with intensive Yoga exercises. He described his experiences and his years of health problems in a diary whose publication in the West caused a major commotion. He was the first to point out to an astonished public that Yoga and similar practices are not always advantageous for practitioners, but can hold great dangers for certain people.

In the past few decades, beginning with the Hippie movement, numerous spiritual practices have become established across a broad front which had earlier been considered secret occult knowledge. Today, anyone can attend workshops in which Kundalini is awakened, where esoteric tantric techniques are taught and where strong emotional transformations are attempted in the shortest possible time. The organizers don’t usually check whether the attendees are personally mature and stable enough. This has led to an increasing number of people suffering long-term damage from these spiritual practices. The late Cypriot wise man and guru Daskalos tells of legions of young people seeking his help who, thanks to inexpert application of eastern spiritual practices, had suffered irreparable permanent damage.

In my own practice, I see more and more cases in which spiritual practices, as well as supposedly safe medical devices have provoked considerable long-term damage. I’d like to describe two of these, and show how this damage comes about, and how one can avoid it:

Claudio S., 41 years old, is a highly sensitive public health services therapist and is very interested in esoteric procedures and naturopathic healing methods. He is already familiar with numerous different spiritual practices and (according to his own testimony) always reacts very strongly to them. Two years before he came to see me, he self-therapized himself with a light-wave device very popular in alternative medicine circles, which the manufacturer’s literature claimed was completely safe. Right after a brief irradiation of certain energy centers, he suffered a total collapse and the onset of schizophrenia that rendered him unable to do his work. He is undergoing long-term therapy with a psychiatrist and is taking antipsychotic medication on a permanent basis.

When I test him with Psychosomatic Energetics two years after the outbreak of his illness, Claudio has a shockingly low Mental Level of 10%. Since the Mental Level is usually around 100% and is related to the sense of self and rational thinking, people with such a low reading can neither think 4 clearly nor have a stable sense of self. Enormous conflicts are found that have to do with disturbed thought, restlessness and severe inner tension. I also test out on Claudio an unusually high Causal Level of 100%, which is typical of very high sensitivity and unusually high spiritual transparency. After six months of prolonged therapy, he begins slowly to improve. The conflicts are dissolved with homeopathic complexes (emotional remedies) and now – after another 2 years – Claudio S. is able to work again on a limited basis. Since then, he tells me that he goes out of his way to avoid any and all contact with strong energetic adjuvants such as pyramids, Orgone boxes, etc. Because of his own good experiences with it, he has begun training as a Psychosomatic Energetics therapist, so that he will be able to help people in similar situations.

The second case is that of Herbert U., a 45-year-old man, also highly sensitive, who works in social services. He is interested in spiritual matters and has attended a number of courses. He is chosen to be a disciple by a grand master of an Asian therapeutic school, to carry on the special orientation of this spiritual therapy. As part of his initiation, the master awakes Herbert’s Kundalini, even though, in his role as a disciple, he had always warded this off. Yet the master is of the opinion that Herbert will agree once he has personally experienced the blessings of this role, and he continues the initiation against Herbert’s will. After an enormous energy floods his body, Herbert is no longer able to think clearly. He then loses his sense of self and is internally very uneasy and tense. Because the master, despite repeated efforts, cannot put an end to this condition, which involves a total collapse, sleeplessness and inability to work, Herbert then consults numerous psychiatrists, various natural healers and undergoes treatment in a number of clinics – all to no avail.

Testing with Psychosomatic Energetics reveals an extremely low mental reading of 20%, typical of prolonged personality disorders, as well as a very low emotional reading of 10%, such as is found in cases of depression and severe exhaustion states. As in the first case, Herbert has an unusually high causal reading of 100% (40% is normal), which indicates an unusually high spiritual endowment, such as few people have. The conflicts found are monstrous energy blocks with the themes Restlessness and Panic, especially affecting the sixth energy center (Brow Chakra), the site of vegetative regulation of the body. Herbert’s treatment is still in process, and it will probably take at least a year to eliminate the enormous conflicts with specific homeopathic complexes (emotional remedies).

These two are by no means isolated cases, but rather turn up every few weeks in our practice. Extrapolating these figures upward to all the German-speaking countries yields a shockingly large number of people who have been harmed by the esoterica boom of the past few decades. Just as in the above-mentioned example of the Indian village teacher Gopi Krishna, whose unexpected awakening of Kundalini caused him to struggle for years with headaches, disorientation, suicidal impulses and numerous other ailments, it has been our experience that a similar fate befalls many others who have performed certain spiritual practices. The professional jargon speaks of “spiritual crises” – which actually understates the often-observed dramatic nature of these horrific conditions, 5 as if they were merely transitory travails, when in fact such people can be totally destroyed by their experiences and suffer permanent damage.

A closer look at the conditions of these collapses reveals some commonalities:

1. Spiritually highly developed persons with high causal readings (> 80%) are at particular risk. Much like a highly-sensitive measuring instrument, their reactions to strong external psychoenergetic influences are particularly strong and prolonged. People with high causal readings need to be treated with special care, and all those who get involved in spiritual practices should first find out what their causal reading is.
2. Large conflicts seem to be activated by certain practices and techniques, so that the external energy thrust stimulates not only the individual but also the person’s inner emotional blocks. We have observed similar processes (albeit in much weaker form) in Psychosomatic Energetics with Hellinger’s Family Constellations. Therefore, large amounts of external energy should only be introduced after a person no longer has any active conflicts. In fact, one can go farther and say that even dormant conflicts represent a residual risk. It is therefore a good idea to first melt away latent conflicts, since they too can be activated by supplying energy. This is in line with the precepts of many spiritual systems, that require emotional and physical cleansing prior to exposing oneself to strongly transformative psychological processes.
3. Strong psychoenergetic transformations can be dangerous for any emotionally labile person, independently of conflicts and causal readings. Naturally, one cannot pre-administer complicated personality tests to all interested persons before letting them attend a seminar or suchlike, but the organizers should at least be experienced and responsible enough to recognize emotionally labile persons in a brief preliminary conversation, and then exclude them from certain practices. Unfortunately, often all that is required of participants these days is a signature on a declaration that one is acting on one’s own responsibility and has been made aware of the risks, thereby legally absolving the organizers of responsibility – which is by no means sufficient.
4. Certain magic techniques hold particular dangers. Psychoenergetically speaking, they are provoked by the active creation or passive attraction of dangerous spirit beings. In earlier times, one would speak in terms of demonic possession. Any experienced faith healer and psychoenergetically oriented therapist can confirm their very real existence. In this context, the greatest risk of all comes from religious sects that mentally enslave their members and from black-magic practices. Even powerful exorcisms involving incense, visualization of divine light and prayer are often ineffective afterwards. The victims of such practices often become helpless puppets essentially incapable of extricating themselves from the magic enmeshment. I therefore believe that such practices should basically be treated as criminal acts. But even if, realistically, that seldom seems possible – because e.g. no one has (seemingly) suffered physical harm – there is nevertheless considerable hidden damage in the psychoenergetic realm, which society needs to better recognize and morally condemn much more vehemently.

Of course, there are many other objections worthy of mention. Spiritual leaders should not act against a person’s will. Presumably, the patient in the example described above felt intuitively that he was carrying around with him some fairly large anxiety/fear conflicts. These “internal landmines” are just waiting for energy to be supplied from outside, even from a master, even one who has an outstanding reputation and is widely regarded as respectable. I suspect that he is considered above reproach because he acted with the best of intentions. Many a hesitant disciple needs a little shove to get him going. However, this master was evidently incapable of adequately recognizing his disciple’s conflicts, because he would otherwise not have gone through with the 6 initiation. In fact, among spiritually highly advanced persons, this perceptual blind spot seems to be, astonishingly, virtually the rule rather than the exception. It would seem that their system literally blanks out the low-frequency destructive energies of a conflict. Summing up: even masters and adepts need the aid of psychoenergetic checkups in order to sensibly select students.

The problem – with most spiritual techniques as well as many energetic adjuvant methods (such as the light device in the first example) – is much more profound. Bitter experience compels us to regard these seemingly harmless practices as enormously effective implements that (like any tool used inexpertly) have the potential to cause severe injury. Of course, the primary responsibility lies with teachers and organizers, who should know their students’ emotional situation in advance, before overtaxing them and harming them somehow. I therefore propose a voluntary “vehicle inspection” (so to speak) in the form of an energy test, along with a brief interview to determine fitness. This way, one can much better filter out emotionally labile persons with dangerous conflict potentials. These high-risk individuals need to be stabilized first, before exposing them to the hazards of strong psychoenergetic shocks.

Finally, I’d like to emphasize that I consider spirituality to be an indispensable part of a fully rounded human existence. All persons should plumb the depths of their soul, inquire into their destiny and seek out the deeper meaning of life. Although I, as a physician, often have to deal with the dark side of the esoterica boom, I don’t want to give the false impression that I am opposed to it. It’s just that spirituality, like medicine, has side effects and risks as well as healing properties, and one needs to be familiar with these in order to use it sensibly and apply it beneficially.

Bibliography

New Life Through Energy Healing: The Atlas of Psychosomatic Energetics, Gateways Books & Tapes 2008