Perennis

I ran into this article the other day on cracked.com. It’s normally a humor site, but this article by David Wong is actually extremely perceptive and intelligent about unraveling the atheist/believer conflict. I highly recommend it as required reading for anyone attempting to debate religion.

One of the greatest religious thinkers and debaters of any age was my patron Thomas Aquinas. His particular strength was his ability to put himself into the minds of his opponents. He could understand, and explain their positions even better than they could themselves.

People are much more willing to listen to someone who they believe truly understands them. On the contrary, feeling misunderstood is one of the greatest obstacles to communication – especially in a contentious situation. David shows a remarkable ability in this article to understand the mindset of both sides of the equation.

The link is here

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“Always remember – you are only the facilitator for a person’s energetic healing”. This phrase was a core part of my formal training in bodywork over ten years ago. After that training, it took another year or so of heavy hands-on work to merge what I had been taught with things I already claimed as a knowledge base.

As a facilitator, I have been privileged to be present for many as they experience a grace of sorts – gifts of deep insights, visions, and emotional breakthroughs, extraordinary experiences which lead them to new levels of integration for the mind, body and spirit. It is humbling to witness the extraordinary impact bodywork has for so many.

So – why are ideas about the energetic aspect of a person; mind/body connections and the use of intuition and energy to effect healing discounted so heavily by so many? Personally, I think some of the issues revolve around definitions and the difficulty of putting the realm of nonverbal experiences into words.

In energy works, healing has a different meaning than curing. Sometimes illnesses do not go away. Sometimes they do. Sometimes pain is alleviated. Some times a person learns to live less stressfully with a chronic condition. Some times emotional or psychological changes take place. Energy techniques are generally seen as a compliment to other therapies and a way of interacting with a person’s non-material being in a manner traditional medicine does not provide.

One thing I have found through use of energetic modalities for myself and others is the core of truth involved with the ideas. I think most of us identify ourselves as a personality, but there is a component to all people I would call the essential self. Energy work brings out the truth of who we are at a subtle level.

I intended to write more – about how incredible intentional touch is and what it can do. I intended to write about intuition and the part it plays in energy work. I also intended to write about what intuition is and whether it is available to all people and how it can be developed. I wanted to write about the astounding universe our bodies are – millions and millions of cells, trillions of molecules and the mechanisms in which the body speaks to itself. These mechanisms may be why it is possible for each of us to interact with each other on an energetic level.

But before I do all this – what are other people’s thoughts on this stuff? Anyone have any experiences or insights in this area they would like to share?

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