What is Spiritual Healing?

Posted On April 8, 2015 / Written by Dr. Linda Gadbois

Many people feel a bit confused in regards to what “spiritual healing” is because we’ve been taught to think of our body, soul, and spirit as being different things, when in reality they’re different aspects of the same thing. We also have very different ideas about what each of these terms mean, especially in regards to the soul and the spirit, and because of this, we can have a discussion while believing we’re talking about the same thing, when in reality we’re talking about completely different things. We believe that words mean the same thing to everyone else as they do to us, yet this is never the case, and because of this fact, we have to start by defining the terms themselves in order to understand the larger processes of which they’re apart. In defining these terms however, I’m not trying to build a case for what they actually mean, and therefore what they should mean to you, but simply as a way of creating a “working model†that allow us to see how something operates through a dynamic and intrinsic relationship.

The spirit, which we can also think of as the mind (consciousness), exists in a dual form (like everything) as what we could think of as the universal mind (mass consciousness) and the individual mind (personal consciousness), that in both cases exists as vibratory frequencies as ideas that are “seeds†for applying at the physical level to create personal realities. We act as a transmitter and receiver for frequencies that we draw into us (conceive of) as ideas that form thought processes in the individual mind, by how the idea enters into relationship with the unique composition of the individual mind (combination of body and soul) and is shaped into an internal representation as a unique variation of the original idea. So the spiritual component of the individual is the mind as the electromagnetic energy field produced by the energetic combination of the soul with the body.

The soul is a mediator between spirit and body as the means of converting a universal idea (archetype) into a personalized version as a dynamic process of adaptation. Everything is constantly undergoing transformation based on how it enters into relationship with everything else, and reformulates the basic idea as a frequency into one possibility for creating reality as a personal experience. The soul, which is comprised of memories attained through experiences afforded by its relationship to the body, creates its experiences by how the universal is used to produce the personal. The soul is the medium that undergoes adaptation by borrowing ideas as principles from the spiritual realm, modifying and conforming the idea to the body and the life conditions in which it exists, that uses it to first create an internal representation of the idea that becomes the structuring mechanism for organizing the outer experience to be of the same nature and express the same meaning. The soul, is the operation of thought and emotion (of the astral plane) to direct the actions of the body to produce a corresponding outer experience that then becomes the memory of the subconscious mind which is a combination of the soul-mind and the body-instinctual mind, who build themselves up by way of shared memories.

The soul is of both the spiritual realm of pure mind (ideas as Principles), and the material world of pure substance. Substance is programmed by the universal mind as memory that are living patterns that initiate growth processes as cycles of growth, that produce both unconscious and automatic processes as well as the opportunity for processes created through self-awareness and the ability to direct our attention away from unconscious tendencies. The soul, being dual in nature and providing the conversion process for energy to become a physical reality, regulates the process as the natural relationship that takes place between thought and emotion. These two are always connected as the equivalent of each other forming a singular pattern. They are polar opposites that stimulate each other into an active state that together produce a common reality as the combination. A thought is developed according to the emotion we associate with it. The same idea as a thought coupled with a different emotion will produce a similar (outer) reality with a whole different type of experience (inner reality) in it. The idea is the seed that contains the thoughts and emotion as inherent potentials, that based on how their combined, form different variations of the same basic idea.

The unification of an idea, what thoughts we form out of it and the emotion associated with it, create the inner template that forms our perceptual lens for interpreting our outer reality, shaping it through the meaning we give it, which determines what type of story we tell about it. The story we tell that expresses and makes the meaning real as our experience, becomes the basis of our memories and programs us to those combinations, making them habitual. It’s easy to notice that as a general rule, we’re all living out of distinct types of stories that become our life’s theme for creating experiences. This theme as our stories that create our experiences as dynamic patterns that form our memory while simultaneously expressing out of our memories (self-propagating), is what’s commonly called karma. Karma forms behavioral tendencies as interactive patterns based on how we act to naturally interpret the outer reality to create our personal experience of it.

So to heal at the spiritual level, means to heal at the soul level by breaking patterns that are largely unconscious, forming new combinations in their place, that create new experiences by the story we tell out of them. Karma translates into habitual tendencies as our general mindset that forms our personality as the relationship we form with everyone and everything around us, that continues to live out the same patterns as a theme for our life, that continues to define us by way of our own creative ability to form our experiences. Our spiritual aspect is purely psychological in nature and acts to determine our emotional and physical aspects. It’s recognizable by the theme as the basis for our “life’s storyâ€, which is the story we’re always telling ourselves “about†things that give them meaning and significance, that simultaneously create our experience of life, and how we sense ourselves in relationship to our own thought-creations. As we tell ourselves a story about things, creating an experience of them, we simultaneously get a sense of ourselves as “who and how†we are because of our story, and as we identify with our own thoughts, they serve to shape our character. Naturally because our character is shaped by way of the same type of story, it strengthens and fully supports our ability to continue telling the same type of story. By developing ourselves according to our own story about things, and therefore becoming the perfect character for telling more of the same type of story, we get locked into that story, and fail to grow beyond it or be able to intentionally train ourselves to be able to tell a new kind of story. What we identify with becomes who we are. It determines what vibration as a pattern for reality we exist as one with, and create all our experiences out of as a result.

When we move outside of the physical level as the manifestation of a physical condition of some sort, and look at life from the eternal level of the soul and spirit, we can realize that life simply acts to set the stage for us to “become†by way of the experiences they afford us. How we use our life circumstances to create ourselves by how we choose to respond and interact with them, is the only real purpose of our physical life. We are not our body in the ultimate sense, but our body provides us with the means to create experiences of ourselves by way of the relationship we form with our body and all of life. We enter into and become one with our body and co-create realities born out of memory as frequencies inherent in both the DNA (memory) of the body, and the DNA (memory) of the soul, both of which are formed by combining pairs of opposites to form a new whole that’s unique in an of itself. The soul unites with the body through sympathetic resonance, that form coherence as an adjustment to both, that then co-creates realities together supplying them with more of the same type of memories as a form of energetic programming that’s actually regeneration. The soul and the body undergo transformation together as a unique combination that produces a variation as its evolutionary growth, that’s either produced by the emotional nature of the body controlling the thoughts of the higher mind, or by way of the higher mind taking control of its own emotions. However these are combined, determines how we act and what assumptions we make, and determine how we continue to express by the story we live out of, and who we become because of that story.

So to use the term “spiritual healingâ€, means to heal the body using the mind to form new behaviors and habits, that are what acted to create the health problem to begin with as its actual “causeâ€. While the spirit isn’t particularly concerned with the body itself, which is temporary in nature and simply the vehicle for the soul to evolve itself by way of the body, when we look at an illness or disease we have to immediately direct our attention to the creative opportunity in terms of how we respond, and what qualities and traits it acts to naturally call forth in us as a means of either rising to it, or being overcome by it. Many illness and disease completely change the course of our life, and develop different aspects of our character as a result. This “character development†feature is the only real concern of the soul-spirit, which only accumulates experiences as memory in relationship with the body. We “become†by way of our physical conditions. The body, which is ultimately going to die and cease to exist at some point, isn’t the concern or objective of the soul, but rather the means for creating new types of experiences that require it to utilize new aspects of it’s character that up to this point, may have laid dormant inside. By activating new aspects of ourselves, and sometimes drastically changing the story we act to naturally tell, we hit turning points in our life that cause us to move in new and often completely unexpected directions, offering us a rich and fertile ground for developing ourselves by way of telling a different kind of story.

To heal at the spiritual level, is to identify the psychological and emotional component to our physical conditions and life circumstances, and work at that level to change what we’re doing, how we’re thinking, what meaning we’re giving things as the basis for telling our story about things, which shape us as the author and main character of that story. The story we live creates the memories that program our soul to the vibratory frequency of that type of reality. This memory becomes the foundation that creates our natural tendencies, how we perceive and interpret our life experiences, and how we end up feeling as a result of our own creation. These memories exist as the fundamental programming of the subconscious mind and produce automatic reactions and behaviors. We do and think them without realizing that’s that what we’re doing. As long as we remain unaware of the fact that we’re actually the one creating our own life experiences, we remain in unconscious mode, and are powerless to change it. Only through self-awareness that brings realization where we can begin seeing our own tendencies can we begin working directly with them in the moment when we’re in the process of creating out of them, and redirect our mind to disengage from the emotional component, focus on different ideas, and intentionally choose what type of story we want to tell by how we feel and think.

The greatest secret that continues to elude mankind is that we are actually very powerful creators and have the ability in every moment to wake up within our lives, begin self-reflecting and gaining awareness of our own tendencies, and imposing a new direction on things based on the type of story we really want to tell with our life. By deciding what type of person we want to be, and what type of story we’d have to live in order to become that! We have the ability to use our mind to direct the physical processes of our life, not by controlling the outer world, or other people, but by reshaping our inner world which becomes the lens for perceiving the outer world. Our perception as an interpretation that’s always shaping our experience through our own internal dialogue as our thoughts that are always in the process of explaining, describing, and giving things meaning by telling ourselves a story about them, can be brought into conscious awareness, and realized as our own tendencies, and directly worked with out of the awareness we form around them.

By taking control of our own thoughts and how we respond to the events of our life, we can regulate our emotional state and practice giving things a different meaning that form the basis for telling a new type of story by how we choose to live our life that transform us into a new type of person as the story-teller and the main-character of our own story. In every moment of our life, we are choosing how to be. The only question is are we doing it unconsciously through knee-jerk reactions and automated patterns, or are we making choices with full awareness and conscious participation? Are we deciding who to be in our own lives, or simply ending up the way we are with no perception of choice?

When we realize we’ve formed an illness, disease, or cancer of some sort, how do we respond to that realization? Do we wrap ourselves around it and begin telling stories about being sick and diseased, creating a feeling of helplessness? Programming ourselves to that identity? Or do we recognize what behavior or belief acted to facilitate or outright create the problem, and choose to eradicate it by changing the very behaviors that acted to create them? Do we rise to the idea determined to take corrective action to transform it by changing the behaviors causing it? Or do we accept it and work on developing new parts of ourselves necessary as the means of adjusting our lifestyle to manage in spite of it? Do we give into it and let define us by overcoming us, or do we overcome it by rising to meet it? At the spiritual level, what happens to the body is ultimately beside the point; it’s who we become by way of the body and the life conditions it provides us with. Many health problems act as catalyst for helping people to find the strength they need to make the lifestyle changes they need to make in order to heal. When our life conditions and situations change, it’s an opportunity to tell a new kind of story. The choice is always ours as to how we use life to self-create and evolve our soul accordingly.

Dr. Linda Gadbois

Transpersonal Psychologist, Integrative Mind-Body Health Consultant, and Spiritual Teacher