Energy
Medicine is a really important topic for both massage therapists and their
clients. Mention the subject in a room
of therapists and you will observe people taking pro and con sides
immediately. The same thing happens in
church. This subject is important for at
least a couple of reasons:
1.
If Energy based approaches are quackery then the public is being deceived
and/or ripped off and therapists are deceived or lying and stealing.
2.
If Energy based approaches are of the occult the public is being subjected to
demonic influence and this is being done through their therapists.
Part
of delving into this subject is to determine what is meant by the term “energy
medicine.” We need to do this because if
we do not define our terms at the beginning we will fail to communicate. We will be talking past each other without
even knowing it. The definition is all
important.
One
attack against the use of energy medicine is that no such thing is possible
since energy is simply the ability to do work.
The energy practitioner does not describe or define energy in this
way. The critic has set up a concept
that the energy practitioner does not hold and dismisses the concept as
untenable simply on the basis of the use of language. I find this type of argument unsatisfying.
The
belief of the energy practitioner (EP) is that there is some type of force or
“energy field” that the EP can feel in another body. They believe that they are able to manipulate
this “energy” in such a way as to have a positive influence on the health of
the person they are treating. This is
frequently described in terms of heat.
What
are we to say to this as Christians? How
are we to evaluate such claims? I have
some ideas that I want to share but I think it is imperative that before I give
any such information I do so with an important caveat. We need to evaluate each person in terms of
what they actually believe. If a person
tells us that they do not use power symbols, spirit guides, or other occult practices
it is important that we accept that claim.
We may need to ask a few more questions to actually clarify and be
sure. If the person maintains that they
are not participating in the occult and our only evidence is the name of their
method – we should treat this person charitably and not attribute to them what
they actively say that they are not doing.
One
of the biggest issues that I have with the concept of treating an energy field
is that in at least 2 studies I have read the participants were not able to
identify one under controlled conditions.
[i],[ii] A 1,000,000 challenge by
the James Randi Educational Foundation has been offered to anyone who will
demonstrate the existence of a human energy field under controlled
conditions. This has not been done.
It
is not as if I have not had exposure to people who do this type of work. I have on a number of occasions. It is not that I am ignorant of the science
behind the ideas – I have read some of the best books on the subject.[iii] [iv] [v] [vi]
It
is certainly of concern that it has not been shown that the energy field
exists. The books and web sites that try
to lay a foundation for the practice often begin with occult or
pseudoscientific explanations of the topic. Spiritually, the occult foundations
and practices are of much greater importance than the lack of proof for the
energy field. The first raises spiritual
concerns and the second intellectual issues.
Deu 18:9-15
"When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you,
you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall
not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through
the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who
interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a
spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an
abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God
drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your
God. For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and
diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you. "The LORD your God will raise up for you
a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear…”
This
passage alerts us to the spiritual issues.
We find here a veritable grocery list of occult practices. The magicians and sorcerers of old are the precursors
of many of our “modern” energy healers.
They too had rituals to prepare them to intervene in the health of
others. We need to be as wary as the
original hearers of this passage were to be.
The contrast could not be more clear.
The final section about the prophet is referring to Jesus. There is a contrast between those using
occult/spiritual methods of healing and Christ.
The
practice of Reiki requires an attunement.
This is a spiritual happening.
The following is an explanation of why one needs this as an initiation
into Reiki:
“I am sure that there
are those who worked with energy work much longer than I had when they took
their first Reiki class. They may question why it is necessary to be initiated
into something that they believed already existed within them. I would have two
responses to them. Would the neophyte believe in this natural gift from Spirit
of healing self and others without the ritual? Secondly, as the “Oxford
Dictionary” indicates, initiation is also “admission to the knowledge or
instruction in the elements of any subject or practice.” Is this not the
process that Dr. Usui went through when he received the Reiki keys to healing
from Spirit?
As a teacher I have seen my students many
reactions to the process of receiving an initiation. In varying degrees each
student has been touched in some special way by Spirit. Initiations are a part
of the process of reconnection to Spirit and a beginning of a new or renewed
walk down the path of life. Many doors are opened in this sacred ritual.” [vii]
Notice
the description refers to the “Spirit.”
Dr Usui is said to have received the “Reiki keys to healing from Spirit.” This certainly sounds like occult
practice. It is certainly not the God of
the Bible giving out this information. These
ideas of an energy field are wedded to a view of the world that view “energy”
as a manifestation that all that exists is one.
This is a view that is inconsistent with the biblical concept of the
creator creature distinction in my previous post (http://christianpainmanagement.blogspot.com/2014/02/massage-therapy-and-creatorcreature.html). If you are not familiar with this concept you
should read that post before continuing.
We
see the same thing in Therapeutic Touch.
The practice was developed by a medium and each visit the practitioner
is to “center” themself in ways that mirror that background. Look at this description of the process:
“From this extemporaneous account one
realizes that the importance of sustained centering throughout the healing act
is that it becomes an act of interiority, an act of self-exploration. This
shift in consciousness sets up conditions that attract the TT therapist’s inner
self to take an intimate part in the therapist’s life activities. We have
profiled the changes in the TT therapist that are characteristic of this shift:
There is a rapid psychomotor quieting of the
physical body,
A significant lessening of usually uncontrollable
verbalizations (“monkey chatter”) in the brain,
A sense of timelessness pervades,
A profound stillness and a sense of peace,
A diminution or shift of egocentric focus
* There is greater clarity in recognition of
compassion as power,
An increase in self-confidence,
A strong grasp of intuitive insights and
access to deep inquiry,
A tacit understanding of the power of
effortless effort when, for instance, working from the crown chakra, and
The amazing realization that the deeper one
goes within oneself, the easier it is to heal.
It becomes apparent that this is increasingly so as the inner self
becomes the secret ally on this healing path, the Guide, the Teacher who helps
the TT therapist become self-aware, an attainment that is the stated goal of
this Newer Age quest into who we really are.
Experientially, at least, we now realize that
Therapeutic Touch is an opportunity to touch another level of consciousness, a
new path of self-realization of our ability to compassionately help those in
need, an inner journey to what we are in the depths of our consciousness. This
understanding comes with the conscious liason of the individual’s inner self.
If the TT therapist is doing Therapeutic Touch correctly, she will not be
personally attached to the outcome of the TT interaction, for she is calling
upon a source other than her self-willed persona. From this more impersonal
stance she can reflect and, as a model, perhaps open up for the healee a
glimpse or an impression of the healee’s own inner experiences with his own
inner self. He then may find out that the very act of believing that the inner
self is accessible lends courage and decisive purpose to one’s life. Life
itself then becomes more meaningful, more interesting, and … more fun ! [viii]
Here
we see the therapist reaching into themselves but this time to somehow make it
easier to manipulate the patient’s energy field. Of interest is the other source, “the secret
ally on this healing path, the Guide, the Teacher who helps the TT therapist
become self-aware” – the one other than her self willed persona. How would one know that they were in contact
with some deeper level of themselves as opposed to say – a spirit guide? How would knowing oneself better make them
better equipped to manipulate another person’s energy field. Therapeutic Touch is certainly dealing with
spiritualistic practices here.
Training
to do Reiki and Therapeutic Touch both cause the learner to involve themselves
in occult activities. This is something
that a believer should not be doing.
This leads to another problem.
Believers
have told me that they have taken these trainings and do these techniques but
instead of calling on spirit guides or channeling energy they instead rely upon
the Holy Spirit. It is certainly
commendable that they immediately see the issue and seek a solution. The problem is with the solution they have
chosen.
We
as Massage Therapists like to help people.
We like to see them get better. This
sometimes makes us think of ourselves as healers and when we do that we
sometimes think that we have the biblical gift of healing. Once we take that step it is not difficult to
turn to these energy medicine techniques, baptize them by throwing in a dash of
Christian terminology, and poof – we are Christian healers who use energy
techniques by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We need to stop doing this. Only
the Holy Spirit speaking through the Bible can disavow us of this notion.
There
are a number of ways of going about this.
I like to look at what actually happened in biblical healings and
contrast that with what happens in treatment rooms of EP.
We
see Jesus and the apostles doing a number of healings. Take the man born blind in John 9. He receives his sight. What happened? Jesus spat on the ground, made clay, and applied
the clay to his eyes. The blind man was
then given directions to go wash the clay away in the pool of Siloam. The man returned as a man with sight. Notice that Jesus did not need to spend time
centering himself. He did not move his
hands over the man in any particular order.
The healing was complete. This
man did not require booster healings.
Look
at Lazarus in John 11. He was dead. He
had been in there for four days. Jesus
orders the stone away even though “there is a stench.” Jesus spoke and out came
Lazarus. Again, He did not move his
hands over the man in any particular order.
He was not even near the body, nevertheless, the dead was raised to life.
In
Luke 6 a man with a withered hand is at the synagogue. Jesus tells him to stretch out his hand. He did not move his hands over the man in any
particular order. The man stretched out
his hand as commanded and the healing was complete. Notice that as with the other 2 that this man
did not require booster healings.
There
is a pattern here. I am not aware of any
case in scripture where anything similar to the attunement ceremony or the
centering process was done before a biblical healing occurred. Whatever is happening today in energetic
healing bears no real resemblance to what was done by Jesus and the
apostles. There is no resemblance
because biblical healing is qualitatively different from what is passing for
healing in these energy based healing disciplines of today.
But
we have believers who do energy work.
How do we explain their effectiveness?
We especially need to consider that these practitioners deny that they
use occult methods. We have already seen
that what they do does not approximate what was done by Jesus and the apostles
but they say that what they are doing is in the name of Christ.
If
what they are doing is of Christ it will look like what he did. What they do does not look like what Christ
and the apostles did. Therefore what
they are doing is not of Christ. This leaves
us with a few alternatives. We will look
at those in my next post.
[i]
Rosa et al. A Close Look at Therapeutic Touch, JAMA April 1, 1998 Vol 279, No. 13 pg. 1005-1010
[ii]
R. Glickman and E. Gracely. Scientific
Review of Alternative Medicine 2 , No 1 (spring/summer 1998)
[iii]
J. Oshman, Energy Medicine in Therapeutics and Human Performance, 2003 Elsevier
Science
[iv] J.
Oshman, Energy Medicine the Scientific Basis, 2000 Elsevier Science
[v] R.
Becker and G. Selden, The Body Electric, 1985 Quill
[vi]
Y. Jwing-Ming, The Root of Chinese Chi Kung:
The Secrets of Chi Kung Training, 1995 Yang’s Martial Arts Association
