***Psychotherapy and Spiritual Healing - Part 1.

The Names that can be given
Are not the Absolute Names.
The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth;
The Nameless is the Mother of All Things.
---Lao Tsu

I find myself in a peculiar position where everything I am going to tell you is inhererntly wrong. Words and linear language are inadequate to describe the deeper psychological, subtle energy and spiritual experiences in the domains of healing. Even were they adequate, the fact that we will focus in this discussion on sub-sections of the whole will introduce severe distortions into our understanding of the complexities of spiritual healing. For healing, along with everything else in life, is not to be delineated by precise descriptions and definitions. Healing is both/and rather than either/or. Healing is the ability to let out anger and negativity but at the same time to forgive and accept the inevitable frailties of others, and even more difficult, of oneself. Healing is the finding of the quiet and simultaneously of the sublime spiritual song that lies between the notes in the discords and harmonies of existence, in the deep silence of the soul which knows that it IS eternal and that it is loved with an infinitely compassionate, unconditional acceptance that is so blissful as to be painful to the nerve ends that ache for a bit of this painfully sweet balm to assuage the hurts of earthly existence.

Nevertheless, as linear language is our primary mode of communication, I shall do my best to outline my understanding of how healing works, counterpointing the text with various observations that suggest poetic, humorous, and mythic perspectives that touch on the fringes of that which is beyond words.

I write from the viewpoint of a healer, medically trained doctor, psychiatric psychotherapist, researcher in healing, and grateful recipient of healing for physical and psychological improvements.

I believe that life is a lesson chosen before birth by the soul in consultation with very wise advisors. These advisors guide us towards spiritual growth - through the costumes of flesh we put on and the personality roles we assume in each lifetime on the stage of earthly existence. For life is an improvisational drama we choose to live through with other actors who agree to participate in the lessons we all have to learn and to teach. The choreographers for these plays are our higher selves, in continuous consultations with more advanced and refined spiritual advisors -- on planes of awareness that we can barely perceive and cannot begin to truly comprehend while we are engaged in the performance.

Within this framework, life itself is a healing in the progress of the soul towards unity with the All. Not a single bit of life -- no event or encounter, no so-called misfortune or episode of ill-health -- is a chance occurrence if we are aware and awake to ponder it and to fathom its message.

Healing is the pursuit of wholeness in body, emotions, mind, relationships (with other people and with Gaia, our planet and everything in the cosmos that is a part of this wondrous stage for our play), and spirit.

Spiritual healing offers us help in dealing with all levels of our pursuit of wholeness. Often it starts with a focus on our physical selves - with symptoms such as a pain, a malfunction or a physical disease. These are messages from out body that tell us that something is out of harmony inside. Spiritual healing may help us to identify intuitively the causes for physical problems and to restore harmony and health to our bodies. Sometimes spiritual healing alone is sufficient to bring us back to a state of wholeness. At other times healing may be a complement to allopathic medical interventions, to counseling or psychotherapy, or to any of a variety of complementary therapies.

As I write this, I glance at my left ankle, elevated on two pillows on a chair, in a plaster cast, with the toes wrapped against the chill of winter. The cast protects the marvelous work of the surgeon who screwed the tip of my fibula back to its shaft, holding the ankle bones in place after I fell last week. Self-healing made pain medicine unnecessary in the ten hours prior to surgery.

I am grateful for the laying-on of hands healings Rita has been giving me, during that I felt intense warmth in the ankle and foot. This eased some of the discomforts of having to elevate the foot constantly.

Spiritual healing can help with psychological problems. Anxieties, fears, and emotions that result from current or past conflicts can be considerably relieved with healing. Healing facilitates the building of rapport between therapist and client, with immediate awareness of care and love that are a part of the experience of giving and receiving healing. The love experienced in healing is a deep, unconditional acceptance that is beyond words.