# 484: BOOK OF THE WEEK — “Anatomy of the Spirit”
Story behind the Book Choice
This time I have to admit: I have not made it through the entire book yet. That is not because it is in any way difficult to read. I just did not devote enough time to reading this week. Still, I wanted to write about the book because every page I read is illuminating in its own way. I came across Caroline Myss on YouTube. If you are into “spiritual stuff” (whatever that means to you), you get pretty good suggestions sometimes. And when I saw some of her talks, I knew I had to get one of her major books.
When you google people like Myss, you will find dictionary/Wiki entries that are quite elaborate on the scientific and practical background of an “expert” and on their achievements. And then there is a phrase at the end that kind of goes like this: “… but the findings and practices represented by xyz have not been scientifically proven so far.” That is the case with most spiritual healers and representatives of alternative medicine who do heal people and those people are forever grateful for this. But since that healing power is so powerful and thus magical in a way, the rational mind cannot cope with it and thus needs to challenge it.
From a scholarly point of view, that is good and it has to be done. Otherwise, every charlatan could do whatever with people… Well, many of them actually do that. After all, it is up to each and every individual who is a grown up and mentally sane to decide for him- or himself whether or not someone is trustworthy. In the case of Myss, her teachings resonate with me and I consider myself sane and intelligent enough to assess this. And my assessment is not just based on reasoning and the credibility given to her — it is based on experience.
No, I have never been to a talk by her or benefited from her healing power in any way. But, as many people who feel a lot and sense a lot, we can immediately relate to the idea that the human body constitutes an energy field that can be felt by other human beings. That in and of itself is being studied in physics and there is not much spiritual mysticism about it. The additional component that requires “faith” in the philosophy of human energy studies is the aspect of healing. If you trust that energy can be felt and studied and assessed by someone like Myss who is also able to “see” hidden diseases, you need a lot of trust and faith in the things that human beings naturally cannot “see” because even scientific instruments cannot measure them.
Myss has that ability and I find it fascinating.
Her book is not some bogus.
It consists of many examples that show how much energy determines our lives.
And the best thing is:
Myss does not claim to have some magical power.
She teaches all of us to just be open to this and thus nurture our own sensual capabilities.
- Biography becomes biology
In this foreword, Norman Shealy, a scientist and founder of a Comprehensive Health Care Institute, introduces one of the essential ideas of the book: our biography becomes our biology. And that in and of itself is something that should not be too hard to understand, I think, even if you are completely hostile to any kind of “energy and spiritual healing” talk. Do not tell me that you never observe people in the street. Do not pretend that you never judge them. And if you see a homeless person in the train station or someone sitting next to you on a train with a bent back and really submissive gestures — what is the story that occurs in your inner eye?
Do not tell me nothing comes up…
Of course, we see people and their bodies and that kind of screening, even if it happens unconsciously, tells us something about their past. Sometimes this might be more obvious as in the case of people who have obvious wounds. And sometimes it might be more subtle because people might look “fine” at first but then you notice certain physical characteristics which convey information about their psychological well-being. And psychology cannot be separated from physical well-being — you do not have to believe in alternative medicine to get that logic and see some truth in it.
So, what I am trying to get at is this: If you dive deeper into this, if you study how your cells and thus every part of your body stores information about life events and the related emotions these events trigger, your body becomes such a rich story book. It is an encyclopedia filled with information about your life and even about your current state of mind. And that is also where the power of this book starts: Myss wrote it in a way that the reader can actually take steps towards healing him- or herself by simply studying one’s own body. You do not need any special intuitive capabilities or skills yet. The very fact that you give in to this idea that your body reveals your biography tells you everything you need to know in order to change something about your life, your well-bing and ultimately also about your body.
2. Intuitive ability
I do not want to write much about this passage because it is very straightforward but still crucial enough for me to quickly mention it. Myss in the preface simply defines her journey to becoming the energy healer she is today. Her professional path took her from being an “ordinary” employee and business founder to a student of theology before deciding to actively use her intuition. And intuition is something she comes back to again and again because that is at the center of everything energy-related. You can only feel energy, you can sense it, you cannot objectively measure it with some smart trick (even though people are working on that too).
What I want to highlight about the passage is that Myss describes the unfolding of her abilities in a way that it happened organically. She never planned on getting into this field. Rather, life forced her into it because it sent her people who needed help — help that was simply not attainable in the classical medical system. And the great thing for me whenever I read stories like this one is to notice how “normal” skills like the one of Myss are in the eyes of the person who has them. After all, it was not just some big-bang experience and they suddenly appeared. No, usually people grow up with this special ability. But since all of us just live our own lives and we cannot look into other people, we cannot know what is “normal” to them — how they see the world. Thus, even outstanding intuitive abilities are not a big deal if you have never seen or felt the world differently.
Myss later describes how much experience and skill it takes to actually use your intuition in the way she does. After all, if you assess a patient and you tell him/her that he has cancer at a very early stage, a point when not even modern medicine might be able to detect it yet, you have to be very sure of what you are feeling and doing. Still, even for an expert like Myss, everything starts with this simple willingness to TRUST your intuition. We all have it and most of us deny it because we have learned to value our rational judgement more. That is the cause of much suffering and diseases. What happens if you violate your intuition is that negative feelings arise and these negative feelings end up being negative energy.
It is so simple if you are willing to see it that way and to start changing your life if you feel you are “sick” in some way.
3. Healing
I have to say, this verb “healing” has gained a completely different meaning in my life since I started dealing with it in a spiritual way as well. Of course, as a kid, you know what it means to fall, scratch you knee and to then try to “heal” quickly; meaning your skin is supposed to renew itself and the wound closes. But the kind of healing Myss is talking about is much more comprehensive and thus holistic. And that is also why I agree that healing can never be completely done by “outside” forces — be it a doctor, a therapist, even a natural healer.
The only person who can fully heal you is: You
In order to do so, it simply takes one thing:
Your decision to heal.
It is true that in some cases, your body has stored so much negativity and turned it into negative energy that your healing process, even with all your will power, might come too late. But that does not mean you should not even try. I think, what separates many spiritual from non-spiritual people (I do not want to use the term “religious” here) is that the former have this inner longing for healing. Again, both groups can still live happy and even healthy lives — as seen from their own perspective. These judgements always depend on the perspective from which you are looking at them. But Myss just encourages all those who do believe that there is more in life than can be seen with the naked eye to start the journey and take their health and happiness into their own hands.
Yes, that is powerful and even reading a book like this can have a healing impact on the mind.
That is more than many therapy sessions and treatments might offer.
And that is also why reading itself has healing power.
Reflection Questions
1) Do you believe in the concept of “energy healing”? Why/not?
2) Would you say that you fully trust your intuition? In which situations do you suppress it?
3) If you were terminally ill and had tried every conventional therapy the doctors offered to you. Would you try methods that others declare “unscientific”? Why/not?