THE MEDIUM, THE MYSTIC and THE PHYSICIST

Lawrence LeShan

Aside from the everyday, common sense metaphysical system (the Sensory Reality) in which one comes to understand the world around us in the context of animal bodies and concrete laws of physics as experienced through our senses, there is another way of viewing life called the Clairvoyant Reality, the characteristics of which are, according to Bertrand Russell:

1. That there is a better way of gaining information than through the senses

2. That there is a fundamental unity to all things

3. That time is an illusion

4. That all evil is a mere appearance

LeShan reviews the works of mystics (religious, etc.), philosophers and physicists and points out common features from all these sources as to the higher of the two realities, with a subsequent focus on psychic healing.

Type I Healing - The healer goes into an altered state of consciousness in which he views himself and the healee as one entity - there is no attempt to "do anything" to the healee, but simply to meet him, to be one with him, unite with him; a "tuning-in" process which is conceptualized within the mind of the healer, wherein both personalities are seen as separate but joined for a few moments (example - two trees growing on separate sides of a hill, their roots meeting/joining in one mass - the image being of two trees being one, inseparable - the root mass affecting the earth, the rocks, the planet and cosmos). Such a symbolism as this, in the mind of the healer, not at an empty mental level but through love and caring focused on the healee, may trigger a feeling within the healee that he is "back home" in the universe, no longer cut off; and that biological healing is triggered within him as a result of this knowledge. The healer does not "do" or "give" anything to the healee; instead he helps him "come home to the All, to the way of unity with the Universe, and in this "meeting" the healee becomes more complete and this in itself mobilizes his self-repair mechanisms. Type I is the healing process used by Christian Scientists.

Type 2 Healing - The healer perceives a pattern of activity between his palms when his hands are "turned on" and facing each other - a centering sphere of activity or "flow of energy" and when the palms are placed on either side of the patient's pathological area, a "flow of energy'" is perceived to "pass through" the troubled area. The patient may feel heat or cold in an area only if there is a physical problem there. In Type 2 the healer "tries" or wills the healing process, and is different in that regard from Type I in which the healer only `unites' with the patient, it being the patient himself who triggers his own healing mechanism. Type 2 is in a way a "cop out" on Type I in which both parties say, in effect "We are both too frightened of all this closeness and uniting that is part of psychic healing so let's pretend that all that is happening is a flow of energy coming from the healer's hands". Type 2 is seen as being a more transient remedy than Type I.

LeShan's training exercises for students were designed to:

1. Strengthen the structure of the ego (i.e. personality callisthenics).

2. Loosen the trainee's usual concepts of dealing with space, time, location of the self, etc. and to make him emotionally aware that there are alternatively valid ways of conceptualizing in these areas.

3. To move in a step-by-step progression (via meditative/contemplative training) until the trainee can arrive at the altered state of consciousness theoretically associated with psychic healing.

After working/training/writing in the field of psychic healing for some time, he reviewed his findings at the suggestion of religious healers, and appears to have experienced a deeper understanding of both Clairvoyant Reality and Type I healing wherein he saw another force at work - the Transpsychic Reality - wherein the healer relates not so much to the patient himself but to the greater One of which both are parts, attempting to send messages to the One to influence it to move to the aid of the other part - in essence a prayer incorporating a deep feeling of love, awe and reverence. Awareness of this metaphysic boosts the effectiveness of Type I and sometimes results in Type 5 healing (spontaneous). The form of prayer itself must be pure, e.g. one can only pray for the best for another part of the whole, for its increased harmony. Anything more specific than that disrupts the Transpsychic Reality, implies a greater personal knowledge of what is "best" for one part of the All by another part, and leads to separation and divisiveness within the All, and returns one to the Sensory Reality state. [This process is the model for practitioners of Science of Mind (Ernest Holmes)].

In all three reality systems (Sensory, Clairvoyant, Transpsychic) it is necessary to know their functions, limitations, coherence, structural validity and believability. One must know it is valid to operate within it. In each of these three, different actions are possible and impossible. The first one - the Sensory Reality, is necessary for biological survival and clearly has a type of priority for us over the other two. The Clairvoyant Reality is the one in which clairvoyance, telepathy, precognition and Type I healing occur. The third, Transpsychic Reality - is the one in which true "prayer" is possible, with its (sometimes) remarkable results.

Tables:

1. Comparison of the Sensory Reality and the Clairvoyant Reality in Reference to Certain Basic Limiting Principles

2. Comparison of Three Types of Consciousness

[The simplest and most basic statement of modern Western religion is the statement most often ignored - or at least misunderstood. The recurring theme "God is Love" appears to mean exactly what it says; that there is a force, an energy, that binds the cosmos together and moves always in the direction of its harmonious action and the fruition of the separate connected parts. In man, this force emerges and expresses itself as love, and this is the "spark of the divine" in each of us.

When this force is acknowledged and reinforced by the culture, it is possible for human beings to relate harmoniously to themselves, to others, to the rest of the cosmos, and to move toward the most unique and awesome self-fulfilment.

When this force is ignored or discouraged, the energy becomes blocked and distorted, and in all human history has been expressed in self-hatred, a hunger for power, materialistic greed and ultimately - as the de-humanization of our time makes clear - the real possibility of man so disrupting the expression of his energy as to end his part in the cosmic design.

It seems that the challenge to science, to man, to the human experiment is, finally and irrevocably, whether or not man can accept that he is a part of the energy of the universe and can only function harmoniously within it through his capacity to love - infinitely.] [ ] = reviewer’s commentary

Table 1 Comparison of the Sensory Reality and the Clairvoyant Reality in Reference to Certain Basic Limiting Principles

Sensory Reality 1. Objects and events separated in space and/or time are primarily individual and separate, although they may be viewed as being related in larger unities.	Clairvoyant Reality Individual identity is essentially illusory. Primarily, objects and events are part of a pattern which itself is part of a larger pattern, and so on until all is included in the grand plan and pattern of the universe. Individual events and objects exist, but their individuality is distinctly secondary to their being part of the unity of the pattern.
2. Information comes through the senses and these are the only valid sources of information	Information is known through the knower and object, being part of the same unitary pattern. The senses give only illusory information.
3. Time is divided into past, present, and future and moves in one direction, irreversibly from future, through now, into the past. It is the time of one thing-followed-by-another.	Time is without divisions, and past, present, and future are illusory. Sequences of action exist, but these happen in an eternal now. It is the time of all-at-once.
4. An event or action can be good, neutral, or evil, although its consequences often cannot be seen until long after the event.	Evil is an illusion, as is good. What is, is, and is neither good nor evil, but a part of the eternal, totally harmonious plan of the cosmos which, by its very being, is above good and evil.
5. Free will exists and decisions that will alter the future can be made. Action can be taken on the basis of will.	Free will does not exist since what will be is, and the beginning and end of all enfold each other. Decisions cannot be made, as these involve action-in-the-future, and the future is an illusion. One cannot take action but can only participate in the pattern of things.
6.Perception can be focused by the will in any desired direction, unless it is externally blocked, and thus specific knowledge can be acquired.	Perception cannot be focused, as this involves will, taking action, and action-toward-the-future, all of which are impossible. Knowledge comes from being in the pattern of things, not from desire to know specific information. Perception cannot be externally blocked since knowledge comes from being part of the All, and nothing can come between knower and known, as they are the same.
7. Space can prevent energy and information exchange between two individual objects unless there is a media, a thing-between to transmit the energy or information from one to the other.	Space cannot prevent energy or information exchange between two individual objects, since their separateness and individuality are secondary to their unity and relatedness.
8. Time can prevent energy and information exchange between two individual objects. Exchanges can only take place in the present, not from present to past or from present to future.	Time cannot prevent energy or information exchange between two individual objects, since the divisions into past, present, and future are illusions, and all things occur in the “eternal now”.

Table 2 Comparison of Three Types of Consciousness

	Sensory Reality	Clairvoyant Reality	Transpsychic Reality
Perception Mode	Sensory equipment	Knowledge through uniting with: being one with	Knowledge through being a part of the whole and so perception of other parts through the whole.
Action Mode	Action involving interaction between separate entities.	Uniting with.	“Prayer” - attempts to mobilize the energies of the One for another part of it.
Possibilities	Action-to-an-end. Cause and effect sequences. Physical action. Self-interest.	ESP phenomena. Type 1 healing.	“Coincidences starting to happen”. Type 5 healing
Impossibilities	ESP phenomena. Action without an intervening variable. Type 1 and Type 5 healing.	Action to an end. Wishing or willing. Separate units or entities. Self-interest.	Any entity not being a part of the whole. Self-interest.
Time	“Time’s Arrow”. Steady movement from future to present to past.	The eternal now without past, present, or future, but sequences remain.	The eternal now. Loss of sequence?
Space	Measured in inches and light years	An illusion. All is one.	Real but completely unimportant. Parts of the whole are separated by it, but being one with the One, this does not matter at all.
Energy	A useful concept. The way entities affect each other and the way we describe processes within entities. The ability to produce action or effect. That which does work.	Not a useful concept. One cannot “do work” in this reality. However, being in this altered state of consciousness can affect energies in the bodies of healee and healer from the viewpoint of the Sensory Reality.	A useful concept. Through mental action one attempts to being the immense energies of the total universe to bear on another part of it in order to increase the harmony of that part.
Feelings mobilized by the state	All the variations described by the psychologists and others.	Calm, peace, serenity. Centeredness.	Awe, humility, deep religious feelings. Serenity, calm.

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