by judge_mental

Article by Howard G Charing

The ‘bare hand’ or ‘psychic’ surgeons of the Philippines have been one of the most enduring enigmas of modern times. There has been much controversy about the so-called miracle healers of the Philippines. Their ability to open peoples bodies and defies not only conventional scientific and medical knowledge but also challenges what we consensually call reality. How can a human body open and close by touch? How can solid objects become permeable to allow a hand to move through it?

To the Western person, brought up in a paradigm structured and shaped by rational thought, it really does require a huge leap of the imagination to be fully open-minded to the possibility that this phenomenon exists. It is not only a challenge to our individual sensibilities, but also to our thinking which has been shaped by the Descartes and Newton scientific heritage.

This is an immense challenge to the consensual reality in which only the material, solid, touchable, and ultimately measurable is real. The ineffable or that which can not be measured is dismissed, labelled as ‘weird’, dismissed and excluded from mainstream Western culture. Our society has always been dismissive of indigenous healing practices. This is maybe because we do not have an understanding or an explanation of the underlying principles of how this type of healing works. It is a more convenient solution to regard the activities of shamans, folk healers, and of course the ‘bare hand’ surgeons as ‘primitive superstition’.

The current scientific paradigm is quantum theory, a model that opens up a very curious universe indeed, in which nothing can actually be measured since the very action of measuring it changes its material nature and the observer is not separate to the observed.

However we look at it, this ‘thing’ does not exist in its own right. It is the choices we make and our behaviour as observers that gives it reality at all and, even then, how we look at it changes it. We need to recognise that objective reality becomes in essence a flawed concept, and that consciousness as such is an instrument in the creation of reality. So in the words Albert Einstein; “Reality is an illusion, albeit a persistent one.”

Keeping this notion in mind, if we look at the basic purpose of a ritual, ceremony, or prayer it is really to effect a change, or influence the unfolding of reality. This change is usually to improve the circumstances for a person or group of people, typically healing, drawing in benign influences and so on. To extend this, the ‘procedures’ and ‘rules’ for a ritual, in many respects are identical to the ‘rules’ of Quantum Mechanics, and that the ineffable spiritual dimension is actually a rational undertaking of our consciousness to effect the transient probability waves that generate reality in time and space.

From this perspective, what healers and shamans are doing becomes totally rational, and a ceremony or act of healing is an ‘act of intention operating at a quantum level’, whereby this intention is an expression of our conscious desire to alter reality using the principles of Quantum Mechanics.

However the implications of this mean that shamanism and psychic surgery can be explained in terms of modern physics. Psychic Surgeons and Shamans can effect change in local reality (i.e. their clients) through what is called ‘spiritual’ power operating at the quantum level.

The process of psychic surgery is rationalized by the Former Professor of Physics and Chemistry at the University of Dortmund, Dr. Alfred Stelter He defines the process of painless, barehanded operation as thus:”The healers form strong etheric force or energy in their hands through intense concentration. This energy penetrates matter at the cellular or even sub-atomic levels where matter and energy are interchangeable. After the accumulation of etheric forces, the magnetic cohesive energy (force that holds he cells of the bodies together) is separated through unpolarization. And then after the operation, the cells go back to their former appearance.”

Now from a personal view, I always feel, that everything which is manifested in the physical world, has a cause or source. The fact that we maybe are unable to rationally understand, define, or explain is not relevant, as the sages and wise ones say “the proof is in the eating of the pudding”, and in the ten years that I have been working and researching in the Philippines I have come to do just that. So although the Quantum Mechanics principles may satisfy our rational and logical minds, it is not that relevant. The psychic surgeons and shamans certainly do not see their work in those terms. It is always an expression of the great mystery. If we can embrace this as a mystery, it can mean that we may enter this magical world, where reality is not as solid as we think it is. Striving for rational explanations in some way keeps us outside, and prevents us from entering this mysterious world.

The ancestral traditions and the strong folk culture of the Philippines have long provided the background that has fostered a climate of general tolerance and acceptance towards traditional healers, shamans, and psychic surgeons. This tolerance also extends to Government Ministers, Presidents, and interestingly; also to the powerful Catholic Church in the Philippines. There was a very sympathetic feature article titled ‘Priest heals through power of touch’ in a recent national newspaper (the Philippine Daily Inquirer July 30th 2007 Vol 22/ No.232) about Father Fernando Saurez. One of he reasons why he has come to national prominence is that the husband of President Arroyo, was one of those healed by the priest in his celebrated “miraculous recovery” last year. Father Saurez’s healing work is all approved and praised by the church hierarchy.

Filipinos have acquired this tolerance from their old traditions that maintained an awareness and faith in the existence of nature spirits called anitos. These magical beings reside within an extended definition of the boundaries of the natural world. Although the Filipino people broadly regard themselves as rationalists (just as we do), they also as a culture are more readily to embrace the more intangible, enigmatic, and what we know as the metaphysical and shamanic dimension of reality.

This view is endorsed by research from the Asian Studies Center Organisation; “While Christianity has been the major religion in the Philippines since the beginning of the Spanish colonial period in 1565, it has always been mixed with traditional animistic beliefs and practices, giving Philippine Catholicism a particular national character. Another characteristic of religion in the Philippines, whether it is Roman Catholic, Protestant, or Islam, is that its practices openly incorporate animistic experiences and practices”.

Although there is a powerful urban desire propelled by the commercial financial interests to move into a modern ‘shopping mall’ consumer society, marketed as the ‘Philippines Dream’ (part of the global consumer dream). This ‘Dream’ is really focussed on the major urban areas. The vast majority of people live in a more rural environment. There is also a vast gap in wealth between the urban middle class and those in the provincial rural areas. The people who live in the remote rural settlements and outer provinces have a closer and more intimate relationship with the natural world. In addition there is often a considerable distance from modern medical facilities, and finally there is not the money to pay for modern medical treatment and medication. This means that there is still a lot of work for the traditional healers such as the Albularyos (shamans), Herbolarios (herb doctors), and Manghihilot (traditional bonesetters).

If you define “evolution” as an all encompassing metaphysical idea, as ultra darwinists do, it isn’t consistent w any Christianity – by dopderbeck (dopderbeck)



Find More Define Metaphysical Articles

Related Define Metaphysical Products

by Dave.Hull

Article by Exotissimo Travel

Mount Agung is a volcano in East Bali. It is the island’s highest point (measuring 3,142 meters from the ground) and Indonesia’s fifth highest peak. Mount Agung holds both spiritual and biological importance to the people of Bali.

Many in Bali believe that Mount Agung was created by the Hindu God Pasupati when he split Mount Meru (the center of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes in Hindu and Buddhist cosmologies) and a fragment of it became Mount Agung. The volcano’s spiritual importance is further highlighted by the presence of Besakih Temple on the southern slopes of Mount Agung. The fourteenth century Hindu temple is the most important and biggest in all of Bali.

Mount Agung is still active, with its last eruption occurring in 1963. It was one of the biggest eruptions recorded during the 20th century. Historical data on the volcano’s past eruptions are sketchy at best, but the second last eruption definitely occurred sometime in the 1820′s.

The area surrounding the mountain is interesting. Clouds come from the west, so rainfall occurs much more frequently on that side of the mountain, resulting in a green and lush area on the west side. There are hardly any clouds on the other side, resulting in a barren area east of the mountain.

At the lower sections of the volcano, lush forests and humid temperatures dominate. The higher one goes up, the more barren and dry the environment becomes. This is a result of volcanic rock and accumulation of ash from previous eruptions.

What makes Mount Agung a challenge to climb is its quick change in weather conditions and lack of water along the way. Many start their journey in the evening for a sunrise arrival at the peak in a single climb. Others may opt to set up camp along the way. There are three trekking routes at Mount Agung, ranging from difficult (the west route which may take 7 hours to complete), a moderate alternative (the south route which ascends 2,000 meters and may take up to four hours to complete) and a route suited for beginners on the north side. One thing is for certain. No matter which route one takes, a beautiful and scenic view is definitely waiting at the top.

Mount Agung is certainly one of the must-visits in Bali. Our Bali Explorer tour will take you to Besakih Temple on the western slopes of Mount Agung as well as the island’s lesser known attractions and hidden gems. From Candidasa to Lovina, to Munduk to Ubud, this package is perfect if you are interested in stepping away from the tourist crowds and are looking to seek out the island’s culture. See our suggested Indonesia tours page and Indonesia day trips page for other memorable trips into this vast and varied country.

Through the absences registered the density of the things not shown are revealed….the X-ray image is a portrait of matter, a measurement of substance conveyed as an image “What happens when one closes the eyes? One does not stop seeing. What one now sees is not related to the eyes.” (Wittgenstein, Philos. Betr. 103) X-rays, psychoanalysis and cinema seek to expose, respectively, the depths of the psyche, body, and movements of life. These three technologies introduce new signifiers of interiority… The capacity to see through the surface of the object, to penetrate its screen, emerged in 1895 as the unconscious of the Enlightenment. Akira Mizuta Lippit,Atomic Light (Shadow Optics) (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005). “We can only touch on a surface, which is to say the skin or thin peel of a limit … But by definition, limit, limit itself, seems deprived of a body. Limit is not to be touched and does not touch itself, which either never attains it or trespasses on it forever.” –Jacques Derrida, On Touching—Jean-Luc Nancy “There is … an entire physics of surfaces as the effect of deep mixtures—a physics which endlessly assembles the variations and the pulsations of an entire universe, enveloping them inside these mobile limits. And, to the physics of surfaces a metaphysical surface necessarily corresponds.” –Gilles Deleuze, The Logic of Sense

More Metaphysical Definition Products