The concept of "healing" has always bothered me, but I never could put my finger on exactly why it did. Until recently. I attended a series of three seminars by a remarkable man, Dr. Richard Bartlett, who has named the energy he works with as "Matrix Energetics."

One of the main tenets of Matrix Energetics revolves around the concept of "less is more"--the less you actually try to do for a person, the more effective what you do do is. This is a very deep concept, and it took me a while to wrap my head around it.

But, through a series of personal experiments and by observing carefully, suddenly one day, it became obvious to me. And here's why. What we are noticing about the world is what we're creating. This statement is backed up by years of research in quantum physics. What is observed, changes. It's as simple as that.

When that concept is applied to the physical body, emotions, and life experience, it has far-reaching consequences and ramifications. By fully accepting that statement, what you've said is that when you observe something about your body, for example, it begins to change. What does it begin to change to? Your intent.

For most people intent is what their expectations are. In physics experiments in the 1930s, it was found that when researchers expected to see light behaving as a particle, it behaved as a particle. When they weren't watching, or had no expectation of what they were seeing, light behaved as a wave. As a result, when one refers to characteristics of light, it is said that it is either a wave or a particle depending on how it's viewed or measured.

In other words, consciousness affects the physical world directly. This is because what we call the "physical world" is made up of consciousness. When consciousness changes, the entire world changes. As humans, we generally accept the illusion that our thoughts have no direct effect on matter, and have set up a myriad set of beliefs to substantiate this illusion. If these beliefs were not in place, then whatever we thought would instantly manifest in front of us, which could have very unsettling results.

Instead, we agreed to the rule of time, or physical linearity along a timeline. We've added a bunch of things such as memory, past and future--but these things are dependent on belief more than physical Reality. The reality of this is that the only time is NOW. Everything is happening now. There is no past, there is no future. Nothing can be directly measured in the past, nothing can be directly measured in the future. The belief that everything is "moving forward" is a value judgment and an illusion. A very convincing illusion, but an illusion nonetheless.

So this brings me to the problem of "healing." Healing assumes there is something to be healed. There is something sick, ill, damaged, or malfunctioning that is in need of being healed. From the perspective of the present moment only (all there is) all that is really there is a configuration and a value judgment. There is a broken leg bone, and it needs to be fixed. The surprise comes when you consider that the very observation that something needs to be healed (intent), has already changed the thing to be healed into a thing that has been healed.

In a series of parapsychological research experiments done by the Defense Department in the 1960s, various Native American shamans were invited in to be studied for their abilities to change physical bodies at a distance. In one instance, the subject "to be healed" had lung cancer. The shaman arrived, laughed a bit, and said, "He has no lung cancer." Immediate testing revealed that indeed, there was no longer cancer in the subject. The shaman was able to simply observe the subject as not having cancer, and there was no cancer.

In the Matrix Energetics seminars I personally observed Dr. Bartlett remove a TMJ condition, stop a smoking addiction, and pop a shoulder back into place without touching the person. He is able to do such feats because he can notice that these conditions are no longer active in the person. Dr. Bartlett's intention with the seminars is to teach this so it can be reproduced with anyone who has consciousness. In the workshop part of the seminar I was able to remove a headache and a sore throat in one of my workshop partners, and since then have been able to elicit changes in physical conditions and even in inanimate objects by simply suspending the mind and observing the change as it follows my intent.

What ends up happening with most "healing," and certainly what happens in the medical paradigm, is the naming or diagnosing of a condition. The belief is present that you have to know what it is to be treated before treatment can begin. This cements into reality the condition, and then requires a series of actions, medications, treatments, whatever, to change the condition.

What is more helpful is to observe what is not the condition, and to set the mind's attention on that and let go of the other. As a result, the "condition to be healed" now has an alternative way to be, and can either change instantly, or change over time. But by naming a condition, it adds the energy of all the other similar conditions and non-healings that have taken place in all of history. So that doesn't make things any easier!

Because a disease or condition is basically a belief that a series of symptoms or sensations together are called such and such, it can only be that in the mind. The reality is that a person feels an ache in the back of the head, feels a sore throat, and feels congestion in the nose--not a "cold." Now, where is there no headache? Where is there no sore throat? Where is there no congestion? Observe that, and there is no "cold."

Complicating all this are unconscious or subconscious commands that oftentimes run our thinking. Such deep-seated beliefs as "I am not healthy," or "I don't deserve to be well," or "I have an incurable disease," these are all commands that the universe is carrying out all around you, and that your physical body is having to cope with. Other good ones are, "Nothing changes for me," or "No matter what happens, I'm never going to be healed." These are statements that are runnning through all the person's observations of life, so it is a very helpful exercise to observe your thoughts and reactions, being on the lookout for such declarations. Once they are spotted, they lose their power. See the article, "Values and Memes" for more ways to spot unconscious thoughts and attitudes that may be causing unwanted effects.

So, "healing" pre-supposes that there is sickness present. Thus, it is a very counter-productive concept. I prefer "transformation" because that is closer to what is actually going on. When something I see I would prefer be something else, it is "transforming." If I am experiencing a pain in my leg, I observe how the leg is transforming into one that has no pain.

Working with these concepts in day-to-day practical living has revealed some startling truths about reality to me, and has really rounded out my understanding of health, and how the physical body reflects conscious (or sub-conscious) intent.

Some ailments I have had over my entire life have simply disappeared, while others I'm finding take longer to dissipate, so to keep the mind distracted from focussing on the ailment, I'll do things such as change my diet, take a supplement, have some tea, do a sauna or yoga class--all the while noticing what is changing. Because, I've found that focus on an ailment strengthens the experience of it. This follows nicely with all the concepts I've covered here. Thus, I train the mind to focus on what is NOT the ailment, and what is changing, and more often than not, it fades away. For conditions I am still experiencing, I continue to observe where they are not, and they, too, are diminishing.

We are all transforming into what we are paying attention to. Let's pay attention to how healthy, prosperous and joyous we are. That's the key to living a vibrant life.