by Maurie D. Pressman, M.D

Balance is the name of the game: balance both within and with that which surrounds us. This is the name of the game in energy healing, in returning to energy flow and maintaining it, both within and in communication with all that surrounds us: the planet and the universe and the cosmos. For instance, we now recognize that imbalance is signaled by disease. Disease symptoms are an ally which tells us that we had better attend to the disorder within ourselves and in our relationships.

This is the principle of homeopathy, a science of healing so different from our present conservative view of medicine. It is a science which takes as its basis a true understanding of the human being . . . not of the symptoms but of the underlying human being, and addresses that in a unique and tailor-made style.

There is a wonderful book that deals with this, called Radical Healing, by Rudolph Ballentine, M.D., a psychiatrist who was trained in the best conservative tradition. In short order and with true pioneer spirit, he became dissatisfied with the existing order of things and began seeking elsewhere. He went to India and pursued training in Yoga and Ayurvedic (traditional Indian) medicine. In the course of time he met Swami Rama, who advised him, "If you want to know psychiatry, study homeopathy." And so he did.

Homeopathy is the healing science which cures like with like. In the beginning this seemed so anathema to my training, my common-sense logic: how to cure something with the very thing that created the disorder?! How to cure something when there is no material substance in the medicine administered?! This seemed so far fetched, so flaky to me. But I have come to understand Homeopathy better. I have come to know that by diluting the medicine to the point where the molecules (the chemical substances) disappear, there remains still the energetic signature.

The energetic signature itself becomes more powerful when there is no longer a physical something with which to compete. Released from this competition and potentized with its own energies, it can address the etheric and astral energy bodies that surround the individual. From these bodies, the physical body has descended. So ­- by bringing corrective vibrations to the etheric and astral bodies, a series of steps are set in motion whereby energetic balances are installed. From that point, changes in life style are set in motion. There is no magic nor any free lunch. We have to work for the changes continually, to reinforce and correct imbalance.

This is a wonderful thing. It betokens the similarity, indeed the identity, between nature and our individual selves. We are a part of nature; we are a part of the holographic whole that is called the universe and the cosmos.

As an example: When someone has osteoporosis (a thinning of the bones of the body) the homeopathic substance recommended is Calcarea Carb. This is made from limestone (in fact, ground up oyster shells). Limestone is described by homeopathy as the spine, the backbone, of the planet. Therefore, administering the energy signature contained in Calcarea Carb addresses a deficiency in the energy body of the individual, a deficiency that causes the osteoporosis. In the same sense, it brings Nature to bear upon the nature of the individual, correcting inner balance within the individual and the outer balance between individual and the planet. This is a wonderful thesis, a wonderful idea, a wonderful insight into the community we are within Nature itself. It is also a grim warning against the continual destruction of Gaia, our Mother Planet.

Having pursued Homeopathy, Ballentine brings to our attention the fact that at bottom, the whole idea of Homeopathy is to understand the individual in exactly the same way that I, as a psychiatrist-psychoanalyst, try to understand the individual in deeper and more total dimension. Understanding that individual correctly brings the correct prescription for the administration of homeopathic or other natural medications and sets in motion a correction of character distortion and life-style distortion. This is exactly what we try to do in good and insightful psychotherapy, to be followed by correction in the life of the individual.

So everything comes back to consciousness -- but consciousness in the very largest sense.

Consciousness is not an emanation from the mind. Consciousness is rather the larger self, the Self that embraces all of God's creations including the cosmos. Einstein it was who said, "The more I go on, the more I come to believe that the universe is one great thought."

Consciousness again! Consciousness can and does create the body. Consciousness can and does heal the body. Consciousness can and does direct the way we live our lives. Consciousness can and does unite us with the larger consciousness of the larger human community, the largest Nature community, the largest astrological and universal community.

The imbalances which are established within ourselves create the dissonance called disease, and the disease within ourselves creates and contributes to the dissonance of the human community; the dissonance in the human community creates and establishes the dissonance in the planetary life of Gaia herself. The more we destroy our planet, the dissonance thus created brings forth havoc with our weather conditions, with earthquakes and droughts, and with our life-substances as they are experienced in our individual fates.

Dr. Ballentine deals with more than just homeopathic substance. He deals with flower essences, which are vibrations obtained from flowers. Flowers are essential communicators between God and man, as are all plants which derive their energy from the sun and communicate that energy to us as we ingest them -- or as we receive their wonderful vibrations in the form of colors and fragrance and general purification of the atmosphere. Again, flower essences bring like to like. For example, the flower essence called "Impatiens" is used to address the imbalances of impatience, irritation, tension and intolerance. In a similar fashion, herbs (as used in Herbology and Naturopathy) are used to correct vibratory deficiencies in the body. And they work! They are a part of this great movement of our citizenry toward the use of, the demand for, natural medicine.

In line with this, an admired teacher (Elmer Green of the Menninger Clinic) once told me that visualization could correct anything. I was very doubtful, but as time has gone on, I have encountered Olympic athletes and their tremendous improvement of performance by using visualization; with the remission of cancer by positive imagery; and with cures of character style by a similar approach. I have come to know ever more deeply that consciousness, properly addressed and properly used, can cure anything.

And why not? We are descended from Light-Love-Consciousness called God. His/Her/Its intermediary called the soul lays down energy bodies known as the mental body, the astral body and the etheric body. In the course of time, the soul re-creates our physical selves. This occurs not only every lifetime but during the life time, wherein consciousness will re-create the bodies of which we are composed -- day by day, month by month and year by year according to our desires and life experiences. Therefore, all is consciousness -- ultimately. Therefore, all is lifestyle. Therefore, ultimately, all experience is the return to the holographic balance called our return to God, our return to the All.

MAURIE D. PRESSMAN, M.D. is the author of Enter the Supermind and co-author (with Patricia Joudry) of Twin Souls: A Guide to Finding Your True Spiritual Partner.

Dr. Pressman is Emeritus Chairman of Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Temple University Health Sciences Center. He is Medical Director at the Center for Psychiatric Wellness, clinics that operate in Philadelphia and Haddonfield, N.J. These clinics bridge traditional and spiritual psychotherapy. Dr. Pressman can be reached at 200 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106; telephone 215-922-0204; fax 215-922-3008.