Dreams—The Ultimate Feedback Mechanism

How would you like to have accurate feedback for the state of your health and for every important decision you make in your life? Often, we find ourselves in a quandary: Did I do the right thing? It may be about a job offer, the choosing of a partner, the selection of a doctor, a major purchase, or any one of several other things that are important to our happiness and wellbeing.

 

I have often heard women expressing their frustrations to friends about their choice of a boyfriend or partner. A common refrain is the plea: Why do I always choose such losers? Obviously, there is a problem with their decision making. Maybe they are just too trusting and don’t recognize the real intent of the other person. Regardless of the reason for their plight, I think there is an answer for their problem.

 

Nature has provided a mechanism for evaluating our conscious decisions. A deeper level of consciousness is always watching and evaluating everything we think, do, and every decision we make. It is a natural process that is there to help us maintain balance in our lives and fulfill our purpose on this Earth. It seeks to guide us to a life of balance and harmony so we may be complete.

 

The mechanism I am referring to is the dream state. Every night our dreams provide feedback on the day’s activities and provide guidance so we may have a better life. It cost nothing; it functions whether we pay attention to its messages or completely ignore them. It is an inner guru that is always there for guidance and advice. However, I issue a caveat here. The help you receive is not necessarily in the form your conscious mind wants, and you cannot use the dreams for selfish purposes without consequences.

 

Many believe that after our deaths, we will experience a review of our lives and be judged accordingly based on how we have lived. Some have likened dreams to a daily review by your soul of how you have done that day. You cannot fool the unconscious mind; it knows your every thought and intent.

 

If this inner guru has this power, you may well ask why everyone isn’t using this all-knowing advisor. In my books, I go into detail about all the reasons that dreams are mostly ignored. For this post, I list the key reasons: fear, laziness, and unawareness.

 

If you could know your future, would you want to? I believe most people really do not want to know. They especially don’t want to know how their daily activities are judged. They don’t want to see themselves objectively; they would prefer to keep whatever illusion they have about themselves. And some are terrified of what they may see and what the future may bring. They would rather not know.

 

Some people are just too lazy to spend the time recording their dreams and learning to interpret them. They may believe that dreams do contain valuable messages, but they just never get around to investigating them. They tell themselves that is for another day.

 

Finally, I think most people just don’t know anything about dreams. They think that for the most part they are just some meaningless constructions of the mind while they sleep. Few are taught anything about dreams, and science is still undecided about the purpose of dreams. So, the general population has no idea that the answers they desperate seek already lie within themselves.

 

The reason I authored my books on dreams was to do my part to correct the lack of awareness about dreams. Everything I say you can through your dreams I have done in my own life. In my book The Inner Guru, I present examples from my own life to show how my dreams have helped me in every aspect of my life. Some authors of dream books provide numerous examples of dreams various people have had to illustrate their points, but you learn little about the role they have in the author’s life. I decided to make it more personal and show that I have done everything I claimed you can do through your dreams. By taking this approach, the reader can see how to apply them in totality to their own lives.

 

You are not alone without help; the help is always present. You just need to learn the language the inner source of help uses to communicate with you. The source is within you and has your best interests as its purpose. It is a part of you, but not one limited by the physical and consumed by its demands of this world. It can see beyond all the pettiness and silliness that often engulfs you; it is your inner guru. It is your spiritual advisor and practical guide to a better life.

 

As a final caveat, the quality of our dreams is affected by our purpose. If you seek to live a better life, you will receive help. If you have selfish and petty motives, you may find your dreams of little benefit. If your dreams are just meaningless muddles, that may be because that is the state of your conscious mind. Dreams occur at various levels in the unconscious. To reach the level of spiritual awareness and guidance, your purpose must reflect that desire.

COVID-19 and Your Health

We have seen an explosion of articles about vaccines and various treatments for COVID-19. But far fewer articles have appeared that include natural ways to strengthen your immune system. Of course, they are not like a vaccine; you are not going to see results in a few weeks. Nevertheless, there are ways to strengthen your immune system over time so you either will not get COVID-19 or any infection you do get will not be serious. My comments do not apply to just COVID-19; they apply to disease in general.

 

In previous posts, I have written about some ways through diet to protect yourself from viruses, but because of the surge in cases from the delta variant, I think some of it bears repeating. Also, this post is an opportunity to add to my earlier comments.

 

A good diet is not a secret; countless articles have been written recommending daily consumption of fruits and vegetables. Salads, whole grains, and certain fruits are very beneficial, often in ways not readily apparent. They contain important antioxidants and other chemicals for keeping us healthy. The history of COVID-19 infections and deaths over the past year and a half clearly indicates that people with weak or compromised immune systems are at the greatest risk.

 

Sometimes we will see a news article about a healthy young person contracting COVID-19 and dying. However, the good health of the person prior to getting COVID-19 is an assumption. A weak immune system cannot be determined by just looking at a person. The young strong person might have little resistance to a virus because of a weak immune system, which could be from a bad diet, stress, or other factors.

 

If you want to give yourself the best chance of staying healthy and avoiding a serious infection, follow the guidelines for a healthy lifestyle: good diet, regular exercise, and reduced stress. If you smoke, drink, eat the wrong foods, and often get inadequate amounts of sleep, you are a prime candidate for contracting COVID-19 or some other disease. Even one of these items can weaken your immune system.

 

Some supplements can help strengthen your immune system, but they should not be viewed as a substitute for a good diet (see https://health.clevelandclinic.org/eat-these-foods-to-boost-your-immune-system/). There is no secret to good health. It requires a balanced lifestyle where diet, exercise, and mental state all play a role.

 

Excessive stress can weaken the immune system. It has been shown to lead to high blood pressure and is a factor in hearth disease. Because of its effect on the immune system, it can lead to premature aging and open the body up to diseases that a healthy immune system would fight off. This is one reason that it is important to practice regular meditation. The period of meditation need not be a long one. Like with exercise, even a brief period of five minutes can be beneficial. I meditate in the morning because this helps me start the day on a positive note and prepares me to meet the challenges of the day.

 

The key word and one stressed by Edgar Cayce in his readings is “balance.” Excesses in any area can lead to problems. We can easily see this for many of the celebrities who are frequently in the news. They emphasize one area and may achieve prominence, but it is often at a high price. In recent weeks, several news articles about psychological problems experienced by top athletes have appeared. Without a balance of body, mind, and spirit, we can quickly find ourselves in trouble.

 

Now, a few words about religion and whether church attendance will protect you from COVID-19. I think the answer is clearly no; multiple infections and deaths among members of congregations have shown that not only are church members not spared, but the gatherings provide a breeding ground for the virus.

 

You might wonder why God does not protect the believers. My view is that God has provided ways for humans to prosper. We have a conscious mind and ability to reason. Science has determined what we need to do to maintain good health. Just because someone is in church every Sunday does not mean they are leading a balanced life. In fact, many are leading very unhealthy lives. Yet, they want God to say that is OK. They ignore all the natural laws and think they should be protected because they enter a building called a church once a week. I am not saying that you shouldn’t go to church, and I am not saying that spiritual people don’t attend church. Attending church is a personal decision. However, going to church alone does not make you spiritual or exempt from natural laws.

 

True faith may be able to overcome disease and many other limitations. But I believe few people have true faith, which is why faith healing often fails. True faith is much more than saying the words: yes, I believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God. Or I believe God can heal me. There cannot be a single shred of doubt in your mind. If you ask for a healing, but deep down don’t think you are worthy. Or if you think that God may not grant your request, you have defeated yourself and do not have true faith. Saying I hope God heals me or a loved one, does not demonstrate faith.

 

The people I have known in churches I attended often had the same doubts as those who never attend. Many desperately wanted to believe that there is a God, but they still had some doubts. They hoped that God exists and would recognize their weekly church attendance when they are judged. But few demonstrated the faith needed for healing to occur. Some were good people who tried to do what was right in their lives. But they lacked the requisite faith.

 

I think that few people believe in faith healing. From the time we are a young child, we are raised within a system of medicine that relies heavily on drugs to treat disease. As pointed out by Seth in the Jane Roberts’ book The Nature of Personal Reality, people strongly believe in that system. They expect it to work and for many it does work. They do not know how to activate faith healing, so if they suddenly gave up their prescriptions and traditional treatment, they would be in real trouble.

 

For those who do not want to be completely dependent on drugs, I think a good approach is to explore some areas of alternative medicine. As they begin to reduce their needs on prescriptions and see ways to improve their health though diet, exercise, meditation, and other therapies such as spinal adjustments, they will change their views on healing. And some will reach a point where they can heal themselves with few, if any, visits to a doctor.

 

My approach to good health requires time and commitment. But the benefits are enormous. COVID-19 may not be the last virus humanity encounters, or even the deadliest. We meet ourselves; we meet what we have built as individuals and as a society. We have created the conditions for viruses such as COVID-19 to flourish, just as we have created the conditions that led to global warming. We need to reestablish balance in our individual lives and our interactions with the Earth. If we continue to treat the Earth as something to plunder and our garbage dump, we will experience disease and eventually a wasteland will replace our lush forests.

 

I am amazed at the hostile reaction of so many people to the COVID-19 vaccines. Some of these people angrily cry out that they will not put that poison into their bodies while they puff on their cigarettes and down their drinks in the bars. The women wear makeup that often contains extremely toxic chemicals. And the food that many consume is likely to be far more harmful than any COVID vaccine. They have few, if any, concerns about living a healthy lifestyle, but the vaccine is taboo. If they get a sexually transmitted disease, they will be at the doctor begging for a shot or prescription to take away the discomfort and pain. And do those who practice unsafe sex know what is going into their bodies. If I were a betting man, I would wager that a considerable amount of that took place at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally recently held.

 

Many have made the vaccine a political issue. Some consider it their constitutional right to not wear a mask or be vaccinated, but I doubt that many have ever looked at the constitution, let alone read it. They must acquire a driver’s license to drive a motorized vehicle, purchase a hunting license to hunt, pay property taxes, dress appropriately to enter certain businesses and government buildings, etc. But they feel they can strike out at the government by rejecting the vaccine. Unfortunately for them, the ones they hurt the most are themselves. They do not come across as people who value their freedom; they just come across as ignorant and misguided.

 

I believe some people are just afraid of vaccines of any kind. I suggest you do your homework to understand the way the vaccines work. I think you will find that the risk from COVID-19 is far greater than any side effects from a vaccine. You probably do things in your daily life and consume food and other items that present as great a risk as the principal vaccines.

  

What Climate Change Will Mean

This post contains my thoughts about what climate change will mean to us. My dreams have shown a challenging situation that will worsen for most of the remainder of this decade. My thoughts about what this will mean are not from my dreams; they are the result of my conscious reflections on the likely consequences of climate change. I continuously monitor my dreams for any new insights. As they occur, I will post them on this blog.

 

Some politicians believe they can keep fossil fuels and remove the greenhouse gases to make them safe. I fear that by the time that happens we will all be gone. Maybe they know something I am unaware of. So far, I see little evidence of that happening. Research is being done in this area, but many question that it will supply the reductions in CO2 and methane we need to avoid catastrophe.

 

President Biden wants a 50% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030. And based on the current pace of efforts, that is probably very aggressive. Unfortunately, I don’t think we have until 2030. I think it will be a different world by 2030 and the major effects of global warming will already have occurred. We are already seeing dramatic, even catastrophic, temperature changes in some areas, and we are only in the year 2021.

 

Behind the scenes, I hope that the government is preparing a plan for mass relocation of people because that is what we are facing. Many areas will not be inhabitable. It is likely that every part of the country and world will be affected in some way. Already, some people are looking for a new place to live to avoid the heat or storms. And they are struggling to find places where they can be certain they will not experience the effects of global warming. Many are still in denial that global warming will have any significant impact on their lives.

 

The Federal Reserve believes that the inflation we are seeing is temporary. I don’t believe they have fully factored in the effects of global warming. Food prices are increasing, and some states are reporting big decreases in crop yields because of the drought conditions. If you want to get a picture of the effect on prices, go to Yahoo Finance or CNBC and look at the symbols CORN or WEAT. They are funds that deal in futures for those crops, and you can see the trajectory for prices. If you want to see the effect of climate change on water, look at American Water Works (AWK) for the last five years. This company provides water and wastewater services for the United States.

 

If California becomes a dust bowl as my dream of 6/25/2021 implied, we will see an enormous impact on food prices. And California is not the only state being affected. Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, and some midwestern states are already experiencing problems with drought. Scientists are saying it will get worse, so what does that mean for food prices and inflation? I think the answer is obvious; food prices will go up and inflation will not be transitory, at least for essentials such as food. The Federal Reserve may be forced into raising interest rates in a slowing economy. Or we will see price controls.

 

In the past few weeks, we are seeing an uptick in earthquakes and volcanic eruptions—three in Alaska alone. Watch for reports of further activity. I believe that an increase in activity will portend major changes. In my books, I describe a dream I had early in my teenage years that showed me the course of my life. In my later years in the dream, I saw major Earth changes that included volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. People were in a complete state of panic. I was urging them to pray to God for help.

 

We have repeatedly seen that despite good intentions the government is very limited in its ability to respond to major disasters. Weeks or months can go by without help. Right after Katrina struck New Orleans, we all watched as FEMA was unable to get water to people in the Superdome for five days. If we experience major upheavals from Earth changes because of global warming and other activity such as earthquakes, you are likely to be on your own for some time. Now is the time to learn how to contact that source of strength within you where fear does not exist. If you wait until a disaster occurs, you are likely to be numb from fear and meditation will be impossible. Things can unravel very quickly as we are now seeing with the latest surge in COVID-19; what you and others think cannot happen may not be the case.

 

The person who can remain serene and composed in the time of crisis is one who has faith and knows how to turn within for guidance. You are not likely to suddenly develop faith when things are collapsing around you. It is something you must have already developed through daily application in your life. Those who have based their sense of worth on material possessions will have a difficult time.  They may see them evaporate in an instant.

 

If the United States has widespread power outages and food shortages, I expect to see food and fuel rationing, price controls, and many other restrictions.  Those who are wealthy on paper with stock and property holdings might suddenly find them worthless. We might not even have a stock market as we know it today.

 

Some will seek a place in the country away from cities. They may even turn to weapons and plan to defend their family and possessions to the death. This is the wrong approach. While it may be a good idea to move to a rural area, the taking of lives is wrong and thinking that you can separate yourself from the rest of humanity is an illusion. We are all united at the most fundamental level and must work together if we are to survive. Perhaps climate change will provide the impetus for people to finally begin to cooperate to deal with a challenge to our very existence.

 

The differences that separate Democrats and Republicans may disappear when we are forced to focus all our efforts on the survival of the nation. Maybe this is our last great challenge. Will we come together to face the challenge of climate change as one, or will we still be divided with our efforts diluted and even in opposition? Time is running out for this decision. We must come together quickly, or we will surely break apart as a nation.

Politics Aside, This Is Insane

In this country, we continue to have violent disagreements about the benefits of masks. They have become a major political issue. I believe evidence has shown masks are effective in reducing the transmission of COVID-19, and they are recommended by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (see CDC: Your Guide to Masks, updated Aug. 13, 2021). Yet, several governors have chosen to oppose any mask mandates. They have reasons that have little to do with preventing the transmission of disease. We fund government agencies to supply guidance in situations like pandemics. But many would rather take the advice of a politician with no medical training.

 

According to Wikipedia, Dr. Anthony Fauci graduated from Cornell Medical School first in his class. He has a history of over fifty years’ service in various capacities in government health organizations and is an expert in infectious disease. He has advised every president since Ronald Reagan. In comparison, Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, graduated from Yale as a history major. He eventually obtained a law degree from Harvard. Governor DeSantis has no background in health care, and probably would be challenged to describe the scientific nature of COVID-19. Yet he believes he knows better than Dr. Fauci and all the other medical experts who have recommended masks. He says mask mandates don’t work. Many experts in the United States and around the world disagree with that conclusion.

 

Ron DeSantis is a follower of the Trump school, which is I know better than everyone else. And if I say something often enough, people will believe it. The people dying are the unvaccinated, and the unvaccinated are often the ones seeing no need to physically distance or wear a mask. The hospitals are filled with those with regrets. You don’t go to a plumber when you need surgery, so why would you listen to a history major for medical advice.

 

I have a problem with conservative pundits because they aren’t interested in facts. Instead, they spew speculation, conspiracy theories, beliefs based on disinformation, and unfounded rumors. Many lack much formal education, especially in science, but they have answers for everything. They heard or they just know…. There are times, like now, when real science is important. And the best thing Ron DeSantis and some of the other governors can do is get out of the way and let the experts do their job.

 

I live in Florida, and I can attest to the fact that the response to COVID-19 was never handled well. I live in a 55-and-older community, and it was a nightmare trying to get an appointment to get vaccinated. Governor DeSantis left it up to the individual counties, and the county websites often crashed. Those 65 and older often spent many hours just trying to set up an appointment. We would sit for hours logged in to a site only to be told no more reservations were available. It was chaotic at best.

 

DeSantis’s position on COVID-19 has encouraged the young adults who frequent bars and nightclubs to do so without regard to infection. There are few masks worn and little concern that they are in any real danger. Popular beach spots are packed, and the disease has spread across Florida. He has shown no leadership and bears responsibility for many of the deaths in Florida.

 

COVID-19 should never have become a political issue. It is a health issue and should have been handled as such. But we had our past president holding rallies across the country with no physical distancing and few masks being worn. He treated it like the common cold and his followers believed it was not a serious threat. And recently, we had Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, extoling the virtues of the Sturgis motorcycle rally during a pandemic, where over a half of million bikers gathered for ten days. Is she insane!

 

Social media has supplied benefits for many people, but it has also resulted in some serious problems. One of the most significant is the fact that misinformation abounds because there is no effective way for the social media service to remove mistaken information. Monitors of the sites are not traditional editors who require that their reporters follow certain standards. They can probably catch only a small percentage of even blatant misinformation. Anyone with an account and the time to post messages can add to the swamp. Everyone is an instant expert whose opinions during an earlier time in history would been disregarded as either nonsense or unsupported. They would never have found publication.

 

Don’t turn to social media for your source of news unless it is just a posting of a story from a legitimate news source. Question the source of everything you read, even from respectable sources of the news. Unfortunately, they often use headlines that are misleading to gain readers; when you read the details you realize the headline was misleading. And everyone says or believes something is not a valid reason for accepting it. The statement is obviously not literally true, and even if most people accepted something, that still does not mean it is true. Don’t listen to someone who works as a plumber for advice on whether or not you need surgery. And don't take medical advice from a lawyer.

The Quick and The Deadly

In my posts, I have said that there is a big problem with the approach to healing in the United States. Recent reports such as the one placing the quality of US health care dead last in all major categories except one among 11 industrialized countries is only one indication (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/05/global-health-rankings/).

 

A 2016 report by Johns Hopkins says that the third-leading cause of death in the United States is from medical errors. According to the calculations of their patient safety experts more than 250,000 deaths each year are from medical errors ((https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/study_suggests_medical_errors_now_third_leading_cause_of_death_in_the_us).

 

Adverse reactions from drugs among hospitalized patients is said to exceed 100,000 per year according to one study (https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-interactions-labeling/preventable-adverse-drug-reactions-focus-drug-interactions#ADRs:%20Prevalence%20and%20Incidence). And that doesn’t include nursing home reactions or reactions that occur at home.

 

The above articles should give you concern. We are spending more on health care than other countries and getting less. For those of you who think universal health care is a bad idea, the performance of US medical care compared with countries that have universal coverage suggests otherwise. Medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy in this country (https://www.thebalance.com/medical-bankruptcy-statistics-4154729). We are bankrupting families and delivering poor health care. If we had a stellar system in terms of results, then there would be a case for not changing anything. But we do not. The health care system may be keeping people alive for a little longer, but I would argue that it is not healing them.

 

We are a drug society with more than four and a half billion prescriptions filled last year (https://www.statista.com/statistics/261303/total-number-of-retail-prescriptions-filled-annually-in-the-us/). am not arguing against all prescription drugs; some are necessary and are a lifesaver for many people. But drugs do not treat the cause of poor health; they treat symptoms and may make it possible for people to function in their daily lives. They rarely heal people. And sometimes, they are quick, but deadly, solutions. If the cause of poor health is a weak immune system, the drugs prescribed for a disease may inhibit the symptoms of that disease. But they do not address the cause of the weak immune system.

 

I am not blaming medical doctors for the situation. They are trained with a certain focus that is strongly drug oriented. Also, for some, huge student loans mean that they must see many patients each day just to keep their practice open. Then, if they recognize that lifestyle is the underlying cause of their patient’s problems, there is little they can do to make the patient change. One doctor told me that when treating obese patients, she often gets the question: Can’t you just give me a pill to help me lose weight? Few really want to change their lifestyles.

 

I know many people are suspicious of government programs, especially when it comes to their health care. But the current system is not working very well for many Americans. I believe there is a better way, and universal coverage is one answer.

 

Our neighbor Canada has a form of universal coverage for its citizens. Some in the US have criticized it and claim it doesn’t work well. I have met several residents of Canada who spend winters in Florida to avoid the harsh winters in Canada, and I have asked them what they think of their health-care system. There is universal approval; some Canadians may be dissatisfied with their system, but I have yet to meet one who would trade it for ours.

 

I am not a politician and do not intend to propose a new health-care system for the United States. If you investigate, you will discover that each country that has universal coverage has implemented it in a unique way that is best for its citizens. Most of the systems differ in some respect. If one were implemented in the United States, it would probably differ from all the others in some respects. Instead of proposing a new system, my focus is on real healing and keeping you out of the doctor’s office and hospital in the first place.

 

I think to change the popular concept of healing and the understanding of disease we must start with the very young. We must link the physical outcome in a person’s life to their thoughts and beliefs, as well as diet and exercise. Physicians recognize stress as the cause of problems such as ulcers, high blood pressure, and heart disease. But less recognized, stress also affects the immune system, and a weakened immune system opens the person up to a multitude of diseases. Scientists are now recognizing that it can affect the aging process (https://www.health.harvard.edu/topics/stress). Studies that have been done on the reasons for the long longevity of some people clearly show the importance of the mind as well as care of the body. In fact, the mind may be the most important factor for having a long life.

 

Humans are complex integrations of body, mind, and spirit. The body is the product or result of what occurs within the other aspects of a human. If you want to heal the person, those aspects must be brought into the proper balance. Drugs affect the body, but they do not bring about that rebalance in the case of disease. Healing is not just getting relief from symptoms. It is restoring the person to a harmonious state with a balance of mind, body, and spirit.

 

We are all going to die someday. The physical is not our natural state. All bodies will decay and at some point, will no longer support our consciousness. But we can achieve a harmonious and fulfilling life by following certain principles, and balance is key. Some think the answer is to live life by experiencing as much physical pleasure as possible and ignoring everything else. I have met several such people during my lifetime, but I can’t think of any who did not have regrets when their lifestyles began to catch up with them in middle-age. We create our lives. If the physical experience alone is what you want, then that is your right. But accept the results. You have created them.

 

If you want to know what life may be like after death, then pay attention to your dreams. Cayce said that after death, the subconscious becomes the conscious mind. In your dreams, you experience your subconscious. The rules are different from the physical life, and you no longer have the constraints of a physical body. But you are not suddenly all knowing. You will meet what you have created on a mental level. In my dreams I have met people on the other side; some seemed happy, but others were confused and lost. I believe we always meet ourselves, what we have created. If you don’t like your current life, then find out why and change it. The death of your physical body is not going to suddenly take you to nirvana.

 

My approach to a healthy life is to be proactive; I want to live without constant trips to the doctor. The less I have to do with the medical profession, the better. So far, I have been quite successful in my approach. But I still carry with me the scars from my youth and early adult years. We meet what we have created.

 

The effort must start when you are young and continue throughout your life. Neglect in the early years will catch up with you in the later years. If we can get people to understand that and try to live a healthy, balanced lives, the health care costs in this country would plummet. And then the cost of health care for all would not be prohibitive, and people would not need to decide between food and drugs.

 

A heart bypass operation can easily cost $100,000 or more, and cancer treatments can also run up the price tag. I have known people who exceeded the million-dollar maximum allowed by their insurance company. Most of these situations should never have happened, but a new approach is required.

 

I recall a woman from my corporate years who was diagnosed with cancer. She underwent treatment for many months and was proclaimed free of cancer. After she received the news, the group she worked in had a celebration for her. A few years later, she died from the cancer. Perhaps she was free of the cancer when the testing was done. But she was not healed. A weakened immune system would allow the cancer to come back, which appears to be the case. The treatments destroyed the cancer that was present and caused a remission in symptoms of in sick body, but they did not heal her.

 

The above comment is very relevant to a future post in which I examine faith healing in more detail. If you are healed, regardless of the method, it does not mean you can return to a lifestyle that most likely caused the disease in the first place if you want to remain healed. If you are a smoker, have lung cancer from it, and get a remission through treatment, you cannot return to smoking if you want to remain free of cancer. And to keep the cancer in remission, you may need to do more than just quitting smoking; you may need a radical change in your entire approach to life, which includes your thoughts, beliefs, relationships, habits, and job.

 

There is no quick fix for an unhealthy body. The cause is the product of a lifestyle that includes many factors, and in some cases the cause is congenital. However, I believe that most people could dramatically improve their health with the proper education and support from the health-care community and government. In recent years, smoking has been targeted with some positive results, but it is only one of many factors. In our schools, school lunches often consist of food I would put down the garbage disposal. Despite the cries from diet experts, white bread or rolls and processed meats are often the choice instead of whole grains, healthy proteins, and salads. And the beverage may simply be a sugar drink.

 

Many people want relief from disease in their lives, but they don’t want to address the cause of the problem. They are unwilling to make the dramatic changes that are necessary to properly address the problem, so it will only get worse. If you want real healing and not just a band aid, then you must examine your whole self and begin to properly balance your mind, body, and spirit. You must establish a purpose with both an objective and ideal that promote health and healing. And you must live your life according to them.

Stories of Two Approaches to Healing: Faith and Holistic

 

In the last post, I promised to relate my encounters with a faith healer and a man who received a health reading from Edgar Cayce. I describe them in the order in which they occurred.

 

In my mid-twenties I was investigating various aspects of religion. When I learned that a famous faith healer was conducting a crusade and healing service close to where I lived, I decided to attend. I was curious about what occurred, but I was not a believer in faith healing (no longer the case). Also, I had not yet become acquainted with the readings of Edgar Cayce.

 

The faith healer was Kathryn Kuhlman, who was an American evangelist known for miraculous healings at her services, and her event was held in Columbus Ohio. The auditorium hosting the event was packed with people when I arrived, and I had to remain in an adjacent room off the main hall. I was stunned by the sea of cots with bedridden people with their crutches and canes scattered about. Many people were in wheelchairs, some were grievously ill, and most likely all hoped that they would receive a healing.

 

Ms. Kuhlman began speaking, and I pressed into a group that was able to get a peek at the stage through an open door. I don’t recall how long she spoke, but I do remember the point when she asked people to come to the stage to receive the Holy Spirit. By now I had stepped into the main hall to get a better look. Suddenly, heeding her request, people began to rush to the stage. I was caught up in the surge and literally swept onto the stage. I had not intended to go onto the stage with thousands of people watching. I was there as an observer, not a participant.

 

She began her signature act of saying a brief prayer as she touched a person on the head. The person would then collapse into the arms of men who stood behind the person as catchers. The catchers then gently laid the person onto the stage. Kathryn Kuhlman repeated the gift-of-the-Holy-Spirit process with three or four people ahead of me in line, and soon it was my turn. I was skeptical of the whole business. It was hot and I just wanted to get off the stage. She said her prayer, touched me on the head, and I was soon lying on the stage like the others before me.

 

I describe what happened in the following way. I felt as if every concern I ever had was lifted from me as a curtain of light moved horizontally across my field of view. I felt wonderful and did not care that thousands of people were watching me. I don’t know the length of time I spent on the stage, but I was soon back off the stage watching as she concluded her service by describing various illnesses such as cancer that she saw among people in the audience. She would point out the person, name the disease, and declare the person healed.

 

Now, I had no way to know if the people experienced a healing. Over the years that she was active, thousands claimed healings. According to Wikipedia, Jamie Buckingham, author of her biography Daughter of Destiny, claimed that the most rigorous medical standards were applied before declaring that a healing occurred. For some basic information see the disputed article: Kathryn Kuhlman. (2021, July 29). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Kuhlman

 

According to the Wikipedia article, others found no evidence of cures. A doctor followed up on the reported healings from a fellowship in Philadelphia and did not find evidence of cures. The article doesn’t describe the criteria he used or how he judged success. He was criticized for only attending one healing service and not following up with reported healings. Nevertheless, she had her detractors.

 

I did not attend her event for a healing, but I certainly experienced something I never experienced before. I cannot say if anyone was healed of a physical ailment after receiving her gift of the Holy Spirit, but her fame had spread because of the reports that people were healed.

 

I will elaborate on faith healing more in a future post. In this post, I suggest that for a healing to occur, a degree of faith is needed on the part of the person seeking the healing. Someone may experience the Holy Spirit but lack the faith for a healing to occur.

 

The second encounter I describe is with a man who received a reading from Edgar Cayce. This encounter occurred in Dayton, Ohio, and at the time the man was retired. He said that as a young man he became extremely sick and went to various doctors for help. However, he did not get better and said his weight dropped to 85 pounds. He began to have frequent blackouts and became desperate for an answer. He heard about Cayce from an article in a national publication and sent in a letter requesting a reading. He said he did not really think he would get a response, but sometime later (don’t recall the exact time) he got a letter with his reading. The reading described his condition in detail and said the blackouts were caused by a medication recently prescribed by his doctor.

 

He did not share the details of the reading with me. But he said it had dietary recommendations, exercises, a recommendation to meditate, and other changes he did not care to discuss. He said that he felt he had nothing to lose and began diligently following the advice. He did not get better at once, but he said that gradually his health improved. After about 6 months, his health was fully restored.

 

These two stories may appear to illustrate two different approaches to healing, but there is a common denominator. In addition to physical changes such as diet and exercise, Cayce recommended regular meditation. He said that setting up a spiritual purpose was important for a lasting healing to occur. For both types of healing to be meaningful, a faith in a Higher Power (Cayce’s philosophy is Christ centered) is necessary. People wanting a healing must believe in a Higher Power and that the Higher Power can and will heal them.

 

In the next post, I will elaborate more on these approaches to healing. This will include answering the following questions and criticisms. Why are many people who profess faith and ask for a healing not healed? Did people really get better by following the Cayce readings? Does alternative medicine work or is it just a charade to take advantage of the gullible? If faith healing works, where does traditional medicine fit?

 

If you are in poor health, life can quickly become a burden. In my own family experience, my son has struggled for fifteen years with health problems, some caused by a genetic deficiency. I have watched him go to specialist after specialist trying to just get an accurate diagnosis. It took over ten years of tests and doctor visits to even understand the nature of his illness. They now say he has an autoimmune disease, but the cause is unknown. So, I am aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional approach to healing through the medical profession. Despite great strides in technology, there is much they do not understand.

 

Three years ago, my son had part of his thyroid removed because of a large tumor. The doctors who had examined him previously were not aware of the tumor, but his subconscious was. A series of dreams led him to insist on his physician ordering a scan of his thyroid, which revealed the tumor.

 

The medical profession still does not understand the value of those messages we receive every night for maintenance of our physical health. Some doctors and scientists are beginning to understand that disease is first reflected in our dreams before manifesting physically, but little real progress has been made to use dreams as a diagnostic tool.

 

After my son’s experiences, I decided to author a book that is a review of current medical practices along with a description of what I believe is missing. I show how dreams can be an important and effective diagnostic tool through examples from my own life and that of my son’s. My book is thoroughly researched and contains numerous references covering all aspects of health care. A separate chapter is devoted to alternative medicine.

 

Unfortunately, none of the literary agents I contacted expressed an interest. I am not a MD and do not have a PhD in a field such as neuroscience, so it is difficult to find interest. For non-fiction books, agents take a hard look at the credentials of the author. I believe that if I had medical credentials my book would already be published. I am contemplating serializing it and proving it in chunks on my blog. Amazon has a new service called Vella for serializing books and publishing them in installments, which may also be a possibility.

 

I hope the readers of this post are following the latest revelations and reports concerning climate change. They are all saying that climate change is happening now, will get much worse, and we are out of time to avoid total disaster. The timeline for gigantic upheavals in the form of higher temperatures, worse floods, endless droughts, and violent storms is this decade, which is what my dream showed in 2015 (see the post that is dated 8/18/2015 titled A Dream About Edgar Cayce and Climate Change).

 

If we do not make major changes now, we will experience the worst. We can no longer avoid some of the changes that will occur this decade. The scientists have said that some of the changes are already irreversible (see Intergovernmental Report on Climate Change released on August 8, 2021). I believe that as my dream showed, the major changes will conclude by 2030. But what will be left of the world as we know it? It is up to us to decide.

Healing, Dreams, and Edgar Cayce

In this post, I address the complex and controversial topic of healing. My perspective is not shared by everyone, but maybe you will gain some new insights from my thoughts that help you in your life. As a young man, the information that others shared with me though lectures and books helped me change my life for the better. I did not miss a day of work the last twenty years of my working career because of illness. In retirement I power walk daily, and I am not on any medications for a health condition. I attribute my many years of good health to the adoption of the perspective I share in this post.

 

Healing can be physical, mental, and spiritual. Some who are atheists may argue that that spiritual aspect does not exist, and healing is simply a physical process, which can be affected by the mind. Of course, there are people who appear to be healthy physically, but are suffering from a mental disease. Their healing is brought about by restoring their mind to what is considered a healthy state.

 

The physical ailments and diseases seem easier to understand. The body is not able to function properly, and various measures exist such as blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing to determine the state of the body’s health. In addition, a variety of measures of the chemical composition of the blood help a physician determine the health of the body.

 

Science has made great strides in diagnosing diseases, and many labels are used to describe an underlying condition. However, determining the cause of a disease is a different story. Many autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis are not well understood, and their causes remain elusive.

 

In recent decades, interest in alternative medicine has grown as many have sought help when traditional medicine has not provided answers. People have turned to homeopathy, acupuncture, meditation and other techniques and practices to obtain relief from their ailments.  Many treatments that are considered alternative medicine are found in the psychic readings of Edgar Cayce. In fact, some consider him the father of modern holistic medicine. He recommended special diets, exercises, spinal adjustments, intestinal cleansing, electrical treatments, and other natural treatments. Most important, he advised the person receiving the reading to establish a spiritual purpose and to meditate daily.

 

Cayce saw physical effects caused by mental and spiritual issues in the person’s life. In many cases, he stated that the body could not be healed until changes were made in the person’s relationship to their Creator. This often involved changing their perspective on life and their fellow humans. Cayce remarked that one could not heal heart disease and maintain hate for their neighbor.

 

Although many physicians now acknowledge a relationship between mind and body and attribute the mind as the cause of certain symptoms, only a few diseases are thought to be psychosomatic in origin. For the most part, the search is for a physical cause for a disease and little attention is paid to the persons mental and spiritual state.

 

I think it is not an exaggeration to say that medical doctors (MDs) overwhelmingly treat symptoms with an enormous reliance on drugs. Often the drugs work; at least they get rid of the symptoms. But ever more powerful drugs are also creating harmful side effects, so another drug is prescribed to reduce the negative side effects of the first. But the second drug has its side effects, so the patient must choose among the unpleasant effects: the original symptoms or the side effects of drugs to treat those symptoms. Lost among the drugs is the cause of the disease.

 

Antibiotics have been over prescribed to the point that super bugs have been created. And one must ask the question: Who oversees health care in this country? If you have spent any time in a doctor’s office, you will have seen pharmaceutical reps promoting their latest drugs. And you cannot watch a TV program on cable without the onslaught of drugs advertised to help you with some serious condition. The side effects are mentioned, but usually so rapidly you would be hard pressed to remember them.

 

I am not saying that all prescription drugs are bad, or that doctors do not care about healing their patients. But I believe the focus is wrong, and it starts with the training of doctors in the medical schools. I will elaborate more on this later in this post and in another.

 

Another problem is that medical care in this country is a business. It is big business with enormous expenditures and profits. The industry has been effective in convincing people that any kind of universal coverage would harm the quality of their health care. This is the representation even though the US is far down the list for quality of health care. We spend far more per capita than other countries and get less for it.

 

I believe that one reason for the situation is our approach to health care. It is reactive and not proactive. We do little to promote lifestyles that will lead to good health. Obesity is a national problem. But the problem is not simply with bad diets and lack of exercise; stress and lack of a spiritual focus are equally important. Simply put, we do not view the whole person when we consider health. Good health and a long life require more than just having a good diet and getting regular exercise.

 

I recall a discussion I had many years ago with a business colleague. He was a man in his early fifties and had just been told by his doctor he needed a triple heart bypass. The doctor told him there were three main controllable causes of heart disease: bad diet, lack of exercise, and stress. The last one, stress, was his problem. Heart disease is one disease where a causal relation with stress is recognized. I suspect there are many more that are not yet recognized.

 

In his readings, Cayce stressed balance in one’s life: balancing the physical, mental, and spiritual. If one of these areas is out of balance, our overall health will suffer. We are integrated systems where thoughts and beliefs matter. Cayce was fond of saying “mind is the builder.” The life you live, including your physical body, is the result. As medicine is practiced today, the focus is almost entirely on treating physical symptoms without understanding the root cause.

 

Now, Edgar Cayce is no longer alive, and even if he were alive, few people would be able to obtain a reading. Fortunately, he provided a solution that everyone can pursue. When I started reading about Cayce in my twenties, I was struck by two of his claims: we could do what he did in our dreams and every significant event in our lives in foreshadowed in our dreams. This led me to begin to record and interpret my dreams.

 

The following example will illustrate just how powerful this can be. Before I retired, I began to have pain in my lower right hip. At first, I ignored it a temporary situation, but it did not improve as the weeks passed. Then one night I had a brief dream about my hip. A man who appeared to be an advisor said, “The problem is deep; you should see an osteopath.” Fortunately, I had a neighbor who, along with his wife, was under the care of a female osteopath not far away. I made an appointment and explained the problem. She did an adjustment on me that day and for several weeks at weekly intervals. The pain lessened and in a short time was gone. I go to her for monthly spinal adjustments for neck and lower back issues. Now, more than ten years later, my lower right hip is without pain. I may get an occasional twinge, but my monthly adjustment prevents any return of the previous pain.

 

Several of my neighbors who are also retired have had hip replacement surgery for similar problems. Now, I don’t know if their problems were identical, but I suspect that they only saw MDs for their problem, who have no training in osteopathy or chiropractic medicine. This is not my first experience with limitations of medical training for MDs. In my mid-twenties, I went to my family doctor with a problem relating to a cyst. He was honest and said he did not think he could treat it properly, so he sent me to a surgeon.

 

I made an appointment with the recommended surgeon. While in the waiting room, I heard the doctor ask an assistant if they had checked me for health insurance. She said she forgot to check, and he berated her loudly. When he came into the waiting room, I assured him I had insurance. He did a cursory examination and said I should schedule surgery with the receptionist. I was already convinced I did not want him cutting on me, so left the office without scheduling anything. I have never had any problems since and never had surgery or any other treatment for the condition.

 

I believe there are many fine doctors who care a great deal about their patients. Unfortunately, some go into medicine only because of the promise of a high income, particularly for some of the specialties. I have had similar problems with dentists. I once had a dentist recommend very extensive and expensive work that was not necessary, which I confirmed with visits to two other dentists.

 

I am not blind to the enormous strides in technology that are responsible for keeping people alive who would have died only a few decades ago. Modern medicine really shines here with its ability to perform organ transplants and reconstruct horribly damaged bodies from accidents or war. If I break my arm or suffer a severe cut, I am not going to an alternative medicine specialist. I am going to a surgeon. But I am not going to a surgeon if my problem is with my immune system.

 

If medical care continues to be operated as a very profitable business, we are not likely to see any focus on the human being who is the recipient of medical care. For doctors to treat the whole person, they will have to spend much more time with each patient. They will need relief from the enormous cost of a medical education, so they do not feel pressure to see ever more patients to repay medical education loans.

 

I believe the education of doctors is inadequate, especially in understanding the origin of disease. When it comes to a topic such as dreams, a doctor’s knowledge may be a few bits of information they recall about Freud, whose theories are outdated and do not deal with the whole person as a spiritual being. There are still psychiatrists who are practicing Freudians, but my own dreams have shown me he was limited and wrong in some of his beliefs. I believe that Carl Jung presents a far more accurate picture of the purpose and function of dreams, which is also like the Cayce view of dreams.

 

The subconscious mind is a vast area for research, and little progress has been made by science since the theories of Freud and Jung. This may be the greatest unexplored area of human nature, and I believe an understanding of this area solves many of the problems humanity faces, particularly in the field of health. Scientists have already seen and routinely use this power when they evaluate the efficacy of drugs. The placebo effect is a real effect, and sometimes participants who receive a placebo in an evaluation will score as high as those who receive the drug. It is because they think they have taken the drug and believe they will experience certain results. Studies in hypnosis have shown that remarkable results can be achieved by suggestion under the right conditions.

 

My dreams continuously monitor my health. I have provided one simple example here; many more examples are provided in my dream books. They show that dreams are a feedback mechanism that is constantly reporting on the thoughts we have, actions we take, and condition of our health. Disease does not just happen one day; it may suddenly be discovered by a doctor’s visit or from a medical test. But the disease has been developing long before the conscious mind is aware of it. The subconscious mind is aware of it and is trying to bring it to your attention through dreams long before you receive the medical diagnosis.

 

I am not recommending that people stop seeing their doctors or give up their prescription medications. I think for most people it would be disastrous. I share a view espoused by Seth in the book The Nature of Personal Reality by Jane Roberts: many people firmly people that doctors and drugs are the only way to heal. They believe they must see a doctor and take the prescribed medicine to get better. Since that is their belief, which comes from many years of indoctrination, they must continue with it. If they were to suddenly drop that approach without a change in their beliefs, they could find themselves in real trouble.

 

A real change in your beliefs, one so substantial that you can experience healing, is not a superficial thing. I believe this is the reason that often people are not healed by faith healers. They think they believe that God will heal them, but some doubt in their mind prevents the healing. You cannot finesse yourself; you can pretend you believe, hope to believe, or want to believe, but that is not the same as believing. Some who have achieved miraculous healings had to spend many weeks or months in deep meditation trying to reach that point of surrender within themselves to achieve results. Others were not able to regardless of their desire to be healed.

 

Champion athletes do not say, I hope I can win this event or complete my exercise without error. They see it as reality without any shred of doubt. They see it as done. The higher levels of mind are activated by the singleness of purpose without any doubt. The healing of illness through faith is no different. If you want to heal without drugs, begin the journey of knowing yourself: beliefs, desires, and fears. As you begin a spiritual journey into yourself, you will find that certain old habits and needs begin to drop away. You will find improvement in your physical heath because of changes in your mental and spiritual life. At some point you may no longer need the drugs you had been taking, but that process will occur naturally.

 

You have the power and means to heal yourself. Begin to examine your dreams to get an assessment of your overall health. If you are on the wrong track for a healing, your dreams will point that out. If a drug you are taking is harmful rather than beneficial, your dreams will warn you. If you need to see a doctor, your dreams will guide you to the right doctor or type of doctor. But if you believe that only doctors can help you and that prescription drugs are the answer, you will be locked into that paradigm for the remainder of your life.

 

In my next post, I will relate the stories of my encounters with a famous faith healer and a man who received a health reading from Edgar Cayce.