Chiron

Introduction

Journeying with Chiron
     When I was first introduced to planetoid/comet, Chiron, in 1992, I had little idea of where this dark horse planet would lead me. At the time, I was a professional astrologer as a sideline to a major career in music and entertainment. At the same time, I was on a spiritual quest, driven by my feelings of emptiness, powerlessness and absence of Love. Astrology had given me many answers, through personal experience and through working with my clients. However, I had reached an impasse. The answers I sought were not forthcoming. When Chiron thrust its way into my life, it gave me a key by which I could unlock the secrets of my life, past and present.
     Although I had been on a Healing path for many years prior to this, it was Chiron who made me consciously aware of this path and of the true meaning of Healing. Since this time, I have journeyed both into the past and in the present, gradually gathering and integrating an increasingly expansive view of Healing. It may sound as though I invented or developed this view. On the contrary, it has been a process of discovering what was always there, waiting to be acknowledged and embraced. The magnitude of the Plan revealed has humbled me. It has brought many tears of joy, Love and Gratitude, to me and to others with whom I have worked and journeyed.
     In the first book of this series, "Musings of a Rogue Comet - Chiron, Planet of Healing", I related the story of my discovery of and journey with Chiron. We explored the essence of Chiron's musings in relation to Healing and the evolution of consciousness. We looked at the mythology and symbolism of the Chiron myth. We took a sideways glance at the feeling of Chiron. Then, we set out the astrological details and ramifications of Chiron, historically, culturally, metaphysically and spiritually, in the signs and houses and in aspect and transit. We illuminated Chiron's unique place in the astrological tapestry of our lives, personally and collectively.
     In this second book, we will look into the sacred mirrors of the Body and the Mind. We will explore the physiological and psychological details of Chiron's musings in relation to Healing and the evolution of consciousness. We will take the themes, initially introduced to us experientially, mythologically, symbolically and astrologically, and explore their manifestation in our Body and Mind, respectively. We will trace our journey of Wounding and Healing, seen through the issues of health and disease - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

From Book One
As an introduction to this, the second book of the book series under the common banner of "Musings of a Rogue Comet - Chiron, Planet of Healing", it is appropriate to quote some of the exposition from Book One. The first quote sets out the essence and definition of Healing from the perspective of the new paradigm birthed with the discovery of Chiron:

The Essence of the Argument
     A native American prophecy states that when the planet of Healing is discovered in the sky, the ancient sacred warrior teachings will return to the Earth. Enter Chiron. Chiron is reawakening teachings that have their origins in antiquity. These origins predate recorded Western history and subsequently show up in the mythologies, philosophies, religions, arts and customs of virtually every culture, worldwide.
     One of the forms these teachings took was the Hermetic teachings, derived from the ancient Egyptian Mystery traditions. It is important to point out that the Hermetic traditions we find after the 1st century AD had their origins in the Egyptian culture. However, even the Egyptian teachings were passed down from far earlier sources. We will refer to the ancient teachings as the Mysteries. We will be exploring their origins, sources and some of the mythologies that evolved from them in this series of books, particularly in Book Three. In the meantime, what is the essence of our rogue comet's message?
     The essence of the new paradigm that is emerging since the discovery of Chiron is this:
     Healing is synonymous with the evolution of consciousness, globally and personally. Healing is the journey of our consciousness towards greater wholeness, greater integrity, greater balance, greater harmony and, ultimately, greater Love. When our consciousness around any given issue remains stuck for too long, resisting our innate need for evolution, disease manifests. Disease, dysfunction, disorder and disharmony - our Wounds - are our teachers, teachers mirroring the lessons we are resisting learning.
     In terms of the awakening of consciousness, we are a balance of Light and Dark. The Healing process (that we are equating with the evolution of consciousness) is the gradual, ongoing and eternal process of bringing our Darkness into the Light. Along the journey, we gain greater understanding, greater knowledge, greater Truth and greater Being. In this way, Healing is not a pursuit limited to one profession or one area of human endeavor. It encompasses areas of all human endeavor and human expression. It entails a striving towards unity and concordance of all human knowledge and understanding on all levels - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.
      Orthodox medical, psychological and psychiatric therapies attack symptoms first. Deeper therapies look for root causes. The current trend in medical, psychological and psychiatric research is to search for the root 'cause' of a disease/disorder. Current thinking (that pervades orthodox medicine and therapy) is that disease or imbalance - physiological, emotional, mental or spiritual - indicate that something needs to be fixed. If we can find the root cause, then we can 'fix' it. We go to the doctor asking them to 'fix' us - to make us 'better'.
     Both orthodox and alternative Healing professions are leading us into ever-finer realms of human energy systems - of the body and the mind - in search of root causes to 'fix'. In the process, we are learning, in ever greater detail, all there is to be known about ourselves. This will ultimately Serve us in ways that we do not yet see. In the beginning, we employed physical remedies, e.g. surgery, and then moved to chemical and herbal remedies, i.e. drugs, then to electrical, radiative and magnetic remedies. Then there is vibrational medicine and spiritual Healing. Where will it end? The Chiron paradigm says it ends with Spirit itself. It ends with the acknowledgment that the natural evolution of consciousness includes health and disease as homing beacons, pointing us toward ever greater wholeness, consciousness, Truth and, ultimately, Love. In the end, Love will be acknowledged as the greatest Healer. Let's look at this a little deeper.
     The Chiron paradigm calls the root cause of disease, dysfunction, disorder or imbalance: the Wound. By "Wound", we mean a sense of inner hurt, missingness, fragmentedness, injustice, unfairness, incompleteness, aloneness, etcetera. We mean the unresolved, undissolved, unreconciled, and unHealed issues that lie buried within our psyches, awaiting the Healing process. These issues drive us, run us and point us in particular directions in our lives. The Wounding, i.e. the descending journey of fragmentation, separation, disorder, imbalance and disease, is the flip-side of the Healing. One cannot exist without the other. They are two sides of the same coin, as we shall see.
     Chiron says there is a Gift in every Wound... further, that Healing is the process of discovering the Gift. Seeing the perfection of the whole process, we are inspired to say "thank you". Gratitude takes us to Love. So we Heal. Disease, dysfunction, disorder and imbalance - our Wounds - arise from ingratitude. Ingratitude for what? Ingratitude for the 'root causes' of our Wounds, for our lives, for the people in our lives, for the lessons of life, for life itself.
Ingratitude, as such, arises from misperceptions and misinterpretations of the happenings of our lives, i.e. it arises from events, situations and circumstances that we have distorted in our mind's eye. This is the Wounding. We will be exploring the physiological basis of our distortions and misperceptions (and the psychological and spiritual ramifications therein) in Books Two and Three.
     Traditional thinking says the root cause or Wound is 'bad' and that it needs to be 'fixed', changed or otherwise expunged. Chiron says the Wound contains a Gift. By discovering, acknowledging and embracing the Gift, so we Heal. If we could remove the Wound, we would be throwing the baby out with the water, so to speak. In truth, the root cause or Wound cannot be removed, because doing so would be amputating a part of our psyche. If we appear to have removed the root cause, then we have merely succeeded in changing its form. It will invariably show up in some other form until the lesson is learned. How then do we deal with the root cause? Here is the essence:
     Chiron says nothing needs fixing. Disease, dysfunction, disorder and imbalance - our Wounds - are created by our perception of the events, circumstances, situations and people of our lives. In Truth, the world and our lives are already in perfect order and balance. The Wound is our inability to see perfect order and balance. The Healing process consists of awakening to the perfect order and balance that already exists. Such is the process of the evolution of consciousness. The Wound, whether manifested physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually, is a result of our lopsided perceptions, perceptions that exaggerate and express one side of a situation while discounting, minimizing and repressing the other side.
     Most importantly, our lopsided perceptions of disorder, disharmony, imbalance, injustice, etcetera - i.e. our Wounds - take us on a journey. They take us on a journey in search of greater consciousness, greater wholeness, greater Truth and greater Love. The specific way in which this happens is the Gift. Complete Healing only occurs when we look back at a Wound and acknowledge the miracle of how it has Served us in our lives... how it has helped us to discover greater meaning, fulfillment, Truth and Love... how it has given us our special and unique place in the world.
     In the final analysis, it is Gratitude that Heals... Gratitude for the Wound, Gratitude for our lives, Gratitude for being exactly who we are, Gratitude for every event, situation, circumstance and person in our lives. It is seeing, acknowledging and embracing the way in which each event, situation, circumstance and person has Served us on our journey of Healing and evolution of consciousness.
     Said another way, when we have learned the lesson of the Wound and are fully Grateful for the experience, the Wound Heals. At this point, we move on to the next issue in our lives. Each issue is a Gift. Each issue represents another opportunity for Healing, another opportunity for awakening, another opportunity for learning to Love ourselves and our lives.
     In Truth, our whole life is about Healing. Healing is the journey toward greater wholeness, integrity, Truth, consciousness and Love. Every minute of our lives, our innate longing for Oneness and Love pushes us to learn our lessons. Some lessons take a lifetime; others are learned more quickly. If we could understand what the processes of life, learning, evolution and Healing were all about, we could encapsulate all this into a scientific, verifiable, repeatable process of Healing that would change history and Humanity. Instead of taking a lifetime to Heal a Wound, resolve an issue or see the events, situations and circumstances of our lives with greater consciousness, we could move through it all in a fraction of the time. This is exactly what Chiron offers us. The process is known. The knowledge and understanding exist now. The methods and application exist now. The process is already being used. Quantum leap breakthroughs of individual Healing and evolution of consciousness are happening now.

Our second quote from Book One offers further thoughts in relation to the new paradigm of Healing and sets out some conventions I have employed in the writing of these books:

     So, what are Chiron's themes?
     The primary emerging theme of Chiron is Healing - Healing in relation to evolution of the consciousness of Humanity and of each of us personally.
     At the outset of this series of books, it is necessary to clarify some literary conventions that I will employ. I will draw a distinction in this series of books between "healing" and "Healing". When I use "healing" with a lower case "h", it will refer to healing in the ordinary sense, particularly physical healing. When I use "Healing" with an upper case "H", I will be referring to Healing in the broadest sense, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual, covering the full gamut of life, physical and metaphysical, terrestrial and celestial. The fuller definition of "Healing" will become gradually revealed and illuminated as we proceed, as such definition is intimately tied to Chiron's themes and musings.
     Similarly, the use of the word, "Pain", as opposed to "pain", and "Wound" as opposed to "wound" will also be indicative of these concepts in their broadest sense, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual, again covering the full gamut of life. Finally, any other word used in the book that seems to be unnecessarily capitalized, will indicate that the word's underlying meaning is also to be taken in the broadest sense.
     The issues of health, healing, illness and disease - physical, emotional, mental and spiritual - have long been on Humanity's agenda. Particularly in the 20th century, though, we attacked the problems of health and disease with a renewed fervor. Modern medicine has catapulted ahead in leaps and bounds in the last 50 years. In the same way that science is meeting spirituality in the microcosmic world of quantum physics and in the macroscopic world of astronomy, modern medicine is destined to meet Spirit through its ever-deepening study of physiology, molecular biology, neuroscience and psychology of all different kinds.
     Scientific evidence to support the connection between our emotional states and the state of health and disease of our physical organism now exists. This is the beginning. Medical science now knows that emotions affect the endocrine and neuropeptide transmitter systems of the body, that this then affects the electrochemical balance of the physiology and that, ultimately, this affects the cellular functions, manifesting in health or disease.
     Conversely, drugs in their many forms, which alter the body's chemistry, can have marked effects on our emotions and moods. This is particularly evident in the use of psychiatric and psychedelic drugs, stimulants and depressants.
I    ncreasingly, these facts illuminate the question of which of mind or body is the cause and which is the effect. What if it were both and neither? What if both mind and body were mirror reflections of each other and both were reflections of a consciousness that lies beyond both? This is what the Chiron paradigm suggests.
     Advances in physiology, molecular biology, neuroscience and medicine, etcetera, leapfrog advances in psychology, psychotherapy, psychiatry and behavioral sciences and vice versa. Despite the attempts of conservative factions to keep the two areas separate, increasingly there are pioneer individuals pursuing the dream of a Grand Unified Theory of the Body/Mind. To this end, the new Chiron paradigm represents a quantum leap of understanding not only in healing per se, but in physiology, psychology, psychotherapy, psychiatry, behavioral science, remedial therapies, criminal rehabilitation, family dysfunction, substance abuse, morals, ethics, philosophy, education, spirituality, metaphysics and sociology in general. The new paradigm of "Healing" encompasses all this and more. Such a claim, I hope, will entice readers to explore this series of books deeply and to build upon the ramifications herein.
     Ultimately, however, proof is a personal journey and is dependent upon seeing and experiencing the reality of Chiron's musings in relation to our own lives. From here, we can grab the bull by the horns and ride it to larger social and global understandings. The intuition of the genius leaps ahead of proven scientific findings and then works backwards towards developing workable theories and experimental proofs, followed by practical and financially viable applications. In the same way, the Healer works from his own intuitive experience, subsequently developing workable theories, experimental proofs and subsequent practical therapies. What I offer in this book is a quantum leap of intuition from our rogue friend, Chiron. From here, it is up to each one of us to challenge, develop, refine, prove, disprove, accept, reject and expand the material offered.

In this second book, we will explore the physiological and psychological aspects of our Journey of Healing and their connection to health and disease and the evolution of consciousness. In the process, seeking to connect these aspects with the new paradigm offered by Chiron, we will be introducing some metaphysical concepts that we will explore at length in Book Three. Practical application of the ideas and concepts presented in this book (and in Books One and Three) will be set out in a future book.

The Chiron Myth
The Chiron myth, arising in the Greek culture, is a version of the great Story of Life that has been passed down in innumerable forms from antiquity. The Story of Life - also called "the Hero Myth" by people such as mythology scholar, Joseph Campbell - contains the Truth of who we are, where we come from, why we are here and where we are going. Whether we can read the symbolism within the diverse forms of the story is another thing. We are choosing the Chiron version as this relates to the specific themes we are exploring, i.e. Wounding and Healing.
The fact that the astrological evidence, explored in detail in Book One, corresponds so exactly to the essence of the messages and themes set out in the Greek myth confounds our ordinary sense of logic and our ingrained belief in the irreversibility of cause and effect. Nonetheless, this is what we have found. The correspondences are undeniable and are a testament to our assertion that the answers to all our spiritual questions concerning existence are written into the very fabric of Creation. Everything is connected.

     Chiron, in the Greek myth, was the Hero figure of this version of the Story of Life. Mythologically and metaphysically, we are the Hero, journeying towards our Healing and evolution of consciousness.
     In the myth, Chiron takes the physical form of a centaur - upper half man, lower half horse. This mirrors an innate sense of separation between our lower animal nature and our higher human nature, between the reality of the senses and the Actuality of the Heart. From a higher perspective, as we shall gradually see, it is also symbolic of our existence as spiritual beings within a material condition. According to the Chiron paradigm, we are celestial beings having a terrestrial experience, not the other way around.
     Chiron was born of an illicit union between Kronos (Saturn) and Philyra, a sea nymph, although his parents have also been said to be Kronos (time) and Rheia (space). Either way, Chiron's parents were symbolic of time and space. As we shall see, our perceptions of time and space arise from the journey of Wounding, i.e. from our journey into the material condition. This book explores the physiological and psychological aspects of that journey.
     Chiron's grandparents were Uranus (the sky-father) and Gaia (the Earth mother). These are symbolic of Spirit and Matter, God and the Creation, Actuality and reality, respectively. Chiron was descendent from both aspects and therefore contains both aspects, as we all do.
     Chiron was abandoned by his mother due to her disgust at his appearance. This mirrors the Wound of abandonment we all bear in the depths of our Being, i.e. the feeling of being abandoned by the Universe, exiled in a place - the dualistic material condition - where we feel cut off from Contact, Meaning and Love.
     Chiron never knew his father. This mirrors our deep questioning concerning the existence of a God or Creator, the existence of Spirit. In each of us, even hidden within the staunchest atheist, there is an eternal quest to discover God, to Return to our Creator, to Return to Spirit. There is an eternal longing to Return Home to our divine origins.
     Chiron was subsequently raised and tutored by Apollo, the god of the Sun, light, music, poetry, Healing, truth and prophecy. The fact that Chiron was raised by the Sun god is one of the key features of the story and forms the basis for our understanding of the Chiron paradigm, astrologically, astronomically, physically and metaphysically. We explored the role of the Sun in our journey of Healing and evolution of consciousness in Book One. The Sun represents unified, focused and awakened consciousness. It represents a return to balance, harmony, Truth and Oneness. It is the first goal of our journey of Healing. According to the Mysteries, it corresponds to the sign of Libra.
     Chiron, having become a master Healer himself, taught Aesclepius, the father of medicine. This mirrors the nature of our journey of Healing and evolution of consciousness, i.e. we receive the Light and then we pass on the Light. As we Heal, so we Heal others. As we learn, so we teach others. The Healing journey - the evolutionary journey of consciousness - is a hierarchical ladder. The great Russian teacher, G. I. Gurdjieff, used to say in order to climb one rung on the ladder of evolution, we must first bring many others up to the rung below us. The healing journey of medicine is but a holographic mirror of the greater Journey - the Journey of Healing, taken in its broadest sense.
     Furthermore, Chiron was wounded in the leg through various causes, depending on the version of the myth. This mirrors two aspects, each different, but connected. In the first case, it mirrors the sense of separation (the Wound) of our lower (centaur/horse) and higher (centaur/man) natures. In the second case, it represents the essential condition of our lower nature (wounded centaur/horse), i.e. that it lives in duality, fragmentation, illusion, incoherence and disintegrity due, in part, to its dualistic senses. This we shall explore in depth in this book, physiologically and psychologically.
     Although Chiron became a master Healer of others, his own wound remained paradoxically unhealed. For this reason, Chiron is associated with the archetype of the Wounded Healer. The Wound drives us ever onward towards greater Healing, greater consciousness, greater awakening, greater Truth, greater Oneness and greater Love. We never actually 'get there'. We approach these states logarithmically, but never arrive. Such is the essence of the Wound that will not Heal. The Wound that will not Heal represents the Gift that drives us on our journey of Healing and evolution of consciousness. Being an infinite journey towards the infinite, if we were ever to think we had arrived, in would be making the infinite into a finite.
     Chiron, in an extraordinary arrangement with Zeus (Jupiter, in the Roman pantheon), the god of the gods, exchanged his immortal life (endless rounds of incarnation - actually, the bondage of mortality) for the release of Prometheus, the god of fire, and was immortalized in the constellation of Sagittarius. This aspect of our story has many ramifications; some of these we will leave until Book Three when we explore the metaphysical journey of Healing.
     What we can say here, however, is that the exchange of Chiron's 'life' for Prometheus' release is symbolic of the release of our immortal consciousness from the bonds of incarnate mortal existence. It symbolizes Healing and the evolution of consciousness beyond the material and dualistic illusions. It symbolizes transcendence from the transient and changing world of forms in favor of the eternal and unchanging world of Spirit. Prometheus's fire symbolizes the fire of Spirit. The constellation of Sagittarius, being located in the direction of the galactic center of the Milky Way, symbolizes the greater consciousness of the galactic Being, beyond the limited consciousness of our local solar system, beyond the consciousness of the planet Earth (Gaia). It represents the potential for a Return to Truth, Oneness and Love.
     In more recent times, Chiron has been associated with the idea of a shamanic journey into the underworld. Our journey of Healing and evolution of consciousness constitutes just such a journey. We descend into the material condition, i.e. the underworld. (The underworld is not below the Earth... it is the Earth. We will support this assertion in Book Three.) This is the Wounding. Here we have adventures, battles and find treasures. This is the Journey. We then Return Home to Spirit from whence we came, bearing the fruits of our journey. This is the Healing.
     In addition, Chiron has been recently linked to the symbolic idea of the Rainbow Bridge. The Rainbow Bridge, as we explored in Book One, is the bridge returning us from duality, fragmentation, diversity, illusion and Darkness to unity, wholeness, Oneness, Truth, Light and Love. The analogy arises from the nature of light inasmuch as light splits into different colors when encountering a prism. The repeated splitting of Light (meaning all frequencies of energy in the universe) ultimately manifests in Matter (the Wounding). Furthermore, Matter merges again into the coherence of white unpolarized Light (energy, Spirit) by the action of what is called the full quantum collapse process in particle physics (the Healing).
     We will explore the physics of Light in detail in Book Three. Why? Because, we will see then that what we thought was a mere analogy or metaphor - i.e. comparing consciousness to Light - is closer to Truth than we thought. In a moment, however, we will set out the basics of the physics of Light in relation to our journey of consciousness.

Chiron Astrology
     In Book One, we set out the essence and the details of Chiron's messages and musings in relation to Healing and the evolution of consciousness, seen from the perspective of spiritual astrology.
     Basically, Chiron, in the natal horoscope, represents the place of our greatest Wounds, the place where we feel the most missingness and hurt in our lives. It represents our Voids. This, in turn, determines the Values we seek. Our Wounds and their subsequent Values drive us on the journey of life. On this journey, we become the beings we were Divinely Designed to become. It is all part of a larger Plan, as we shall see.
     Using astrology, including Chiron in the equation, we can see our life's path and purpose in general spiritual terms (looking at the Nodes of the Moon). Furthermore, we can see the expression of that path and purpose (looking at the placement and aspects of the Sun). We can see the potential fulfillment of that path and purpose (looking at the Midheaven and the 10th house and their aspects). Lastly, we can see the driving force that impels us along that path (looking at the placement and aspects of Chiron) and its outward expression (looking at the placement and aspects of the Moon). Our Healing journey, whether using astrology or another Healing art as a tool, ultimately manifests in our awakened consciousness and in the manifestation and fulfillment of our Divine Design. Our assertions are supported by the material offered in Book One and will be validated by each of our own inner and outer research and spiritual work.
     In this current book, we will be exploring the psychological basis of the manifestations of Chiron in our lives as set out in Book One. We will also be exploring the physiological origins and effects of that psychology. Then, in Book Three, we will bring together all aspects of the astrology, psychology and physiology we have explored so far, putting it all together within a larger metaphysical context, a context out of which all the rest ultimately arises.

The Essence of the Argument
In this book, we will be exploring the psychological and physiological aspects of Chiron's musings in relation to Healing and the evolution of consciousness. The essence of our argument is that:

1) Health and disease - physical, emotional, mental and/or spiritual - arise directly from our states of consciousness at any given time in our lives.
2) Said another way, our state of health or disease - physical, emotional, mental and/or spiritual - is a perfect mirror of our consciousness.
3) The mirror of the Body/Mind is given to us as a tool for awakening to our true nature.
4) Both health and disease - physical, emotional, mental and/or spiritual - are the normal by-products of Healing and evolution of consciousness.
5) Health and disease - i.e. the mirror of the Body/Mind - are homing beacons, pointing us towards greater Truth, Light and Love.
6) In terms of health and disease - physical, emotional, mental and/or spiritual - nothing needs 'fixing', changing or getting rid of.
7) We are all simultaneously in states of both health and disease - physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
8) Clinically diagnosed disease - physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual - is every one of us, amplified and brought under the microscope of consensus judgment.
9) Love is the greatest Healer, capable of bringing balance, harmony and equilibrium to our Being, subsequently reflected in our Body/Mind.
10) Many of the accepted paradigms of consensus reality are illusions.

Consciousness as Light
     What is consciousness? Medical doctors, biologists, anthropologists, neurologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, philosophers, religious pundits and new-age advocates all generally disagree on a definition. Even within each of these separate disciplines, there are different factions, each with their different viewpoint on the subject. Despite the general disagreement and the diverse opinions, sometimes reflecting seemingly contradictory evidence, we are going to hazard a definition. This definition is based upon ancient understandings as well as the most cutting-edge technology for the altering of consciousness in terms of Healing.
     We will be using the analogy of light in our exploration of consciousness and in our psychological discussions around the themes of Wounding and Healing. From the start, it is important to assert that this is no mere analogy. Consciousness researchers in the past, such as Ken Wilber in his groundbreaking book, "The Spectrum of Consciousness" (1977, the year Chiron was discovered, appropriately), have compared the spectrum of consciousness to the spectrum of light, but have fallen short of realizing that consciousness is light, in Actuality, not just as a metaphor. Therefore, it is necessary to elaborate briefly some of the properties of light.
     Firstly, modern physics views the entire Universe as energy, manifesting at innumerable frequencies. Even matter is considered energy fields. Taken as a whole, everything can be considered energy. This universal energy is also called light, taken in the broadest sense, visible light being just a very small part of the entire energy spectrum.
      (To make the distinction between visible light and the entire spectrum of energy, we will use the upper case word, "Light", to refer to the whole spectrum and the lower case word, "light" to refer to visible light. Similarly, when we use the lower case word "matter", we will be referring to the scientific concept, opposite to "energy", whereas, when we use the upper case word "Matter", we will be referring to the metaphysical concept, i.e. the manifest world, opposite to Spirit, i.e. the unmanifest.)
     From this perspective, all is Light.
     What we normally call "energy" and what we normally call "matter" are both Light. They are different manifestations of the same thing, but seen differently due to our senses of perception.
     From a scientific point of view, if matter and energy are both Light, what is the difference between the two? Simply the degree of polarization. Matter is polarized Light. Matter is Light, broken down, disorganized, fragmented, isolated, separated, divided, dualized, into secondary particles. Does this begin to sound familiar when compared to our theme of Wounding?
     Matter is Wounded Light.
     Secondly, the greater the polarization of Light into Matter, i.e. the manifest world, the greater the chaos and disorder we perceive. The greater the unity of Light, such as we see in the center of stars and galaxies, the greater the organization, order and unity we perceive.
     The most useful example we have of this comes from the Big Bang theory. According to this theory, the Universe began as a singularity. That is, the Universe was entirely unified in a single point of Light. Then the Big Bang occurred. The single point exploded and, through a step-by-step process of splitting, what was unity became almost an infinite number of secondary particles. Out of this explosion came a sea of all the subatomic particles, some visible (matter) and others hidden (anti-matter), which would later form the basis for the world as we know it.
     What was unity, i.e. the One, became many. What was unified and organized became fragmented and disorganized.
     The opposite process, such as that which takes place within stars, is the process of the fusing or merging of matter. This is matter's return to a state of energy. This is what we will be later defining as evolution. This process represents manyness becoming oneness. It represents chaos returning to order. It represents fragmentedness becoming unified. Again, does this begin to sound familiar when compared to our theme of Healing?
     Energy is Healed matter.
     What then is consciousness?
     Everything is consciousness. Consciousness is all matter/energy.
     Consciousness is Light.
     If consciousness is Light, then lower consciousness represents more polarized Light and higher consciousness represents more unified Light. Higher consciousness is more organized, more unified, more connected, more Healed, more 'wholed'. Lower consciousness is more disorganized, less unified, more fragmented, more scattered, more disconnected, more Wounded.
     For example, the consciousness of what we perceive as matter is of lower consciousness than what we perceive as energy. The consciousness of a rock is less than the consciousness of the human brain, because the human brain is more organized, unified, connected and has higher frequency energy fields associated with it.
     Our theory of consciousness is supported by the work of such pioneers as Rodolfo Llinás, an M.D. and neurophysiologist at New York University Medical School working with consciousness and EM energy.   Llinás has been engaged with the binding problem in consciousness studies. This is the problem of trying to figure out how the brain brings together, i.e. binds, the disparate sensory information coming in from the outside world into the coherent picture we call consciousness. Up until now, most neuroscientists have been looking for a physical area of the brain that would act as a binding agent. This is where Llinás's work parts company with the others.
     To paraphrase Llinás's work, he has discovered that EM fields connect the different areas of the brain with the thalamus at the communications center. EM pulses move from the thalamus to each of several higher brain centers and back again to the thalamus. The thalamus, Llinás conjectures, is merely the timekeeper of these EM pulses, not the seat of consciousness as such.
     When the oscillations of these EM fields are in sync, consciousness is exhibited. High frequencies equal higher consciousness. Low frequencies manifest in brain dysfunction or lower consciousness.
     Consciousness is in the energy fields, manifesting in the physical brain only afterwards. We suggest that the brain is the linking factor that makes consciousness able to manifest in the physical world. The brain can be likened to a television set... the television programs do not live in the box, they are in the airwaves. So it is with our consciousness. Furthermore, Llinás argues that when the EM pulses of consciousness exhibit arrhythmias - i.e. are disordered and out of sync - disorders of consciousness arise. These disorders of consciousness, in turn, result in physiological disease and dysfunction. This is part of what we will be exploring in later chapters of this book.
     Lastly, we propose that the link between the physics of the material world and the metaphysics of the spiritual world is Light. Matter is polarized Light and makes up the material manifest world we perceive through the outer senses. Spirit is unified Light, i.e. what we call and perceive as energy through the inner senses. Moreover, it is all consciousness. The greater the unity and wholeness of consciousness, the closer to Spirit (the unified energy of unpolarized Light). The greater the fragmentation and disconnectedness of consciousness, the closer to Matter (the fragmented energy of polarized Light)
     We will explore the subject of Light in relation to our metaphysical journey of Wounding and Healing in greater detail in Book Three.
     Having defined consciousness in terms of Light, we can offer more exact definitions of Wounding and Healing...

Wounding and Healing Defined
     Wounding is the journey of Light as consciousness from unity and wholeness to fragmentation and disconnectedness. It is the journey from Spirit (energy) into Matter (matter). It is the journey of the Creation.
     Healing is the journey of Light as consciousness from fragmentation and disconnectedness to unity and wholeness. It is the journey from Matter (the polarized Light of consciousness) to Spirit (the unified Light of consciousness). It is the journey of evolution.
     From a superficial perspective, a Wound is an expression of more pain than pleasure. It is the feeling that something is missing and that the missing thing is good, right, pleasureful and desirable and will fill the Voids in our life.
     From a deeper perspective, a Wound is an expression of our fragmented consciousness. It is a core feeling of fragmentedness, separation, disconnectedness, alienation, isolation, incompleteness, etcetera. As such, Wounds also include the opposite feelings of more positives than negatives, more good than bad, more pleasure than pain, more right than wrong, more equity than inequity, etcetera. How can these be Wounds? Because each contains its opposite. That is, feelings of missingness and hurt - the usual interpretation of Wound - being lopsided perceptions, each contain the tacit feeling that the opposite can exist on its own, i.e. that we can be without pain, missingness and hurt. Conversely, the belief in a state of all-good, all-pleasure, all-happiness, all-right, all-positive, etcetera, is built upon our experiences and perception of pain, hurt, missingness, etcetera. In Truth, the two sides are inseparable. We cannot have pain without pleasure or pleasure without pain.
     Wounds are the symptoms of believing that one side of the pain/pleasure equation can exist without the other. Wounds are the symptoms of believing that pain outweighs pleasure or pleasure outweighs pain at any given moment. These are illusions, as we shall see.
     Later, we will explore the physiological and psychological mechanisms that illustrate and support this assertion.

Truth and Illusion
From the perspective of Light as consciousness, what then constitutes Truth? Truth is integrity, unity, concordance, connectedness, agreement of consciousness. Truth corresponds to unified, unpolarized Light. Truth corresponds to Spirit (the unified Light of consciousness). From this perspective, Healing brings us closer to Truth. Conversely, the Truth Heals.
Where there is lack of integrity, where there is disunity, discordance, disconnectedness, disagreement and fragmentation of consciousness, there is illusion, i.e. half-truths and lies. Illusion corresponds to Matter (the polarized Light of consciousness). From this perspective, Wounding takes us into illusion. Conversely, illusions, i.e. half-truths and lies, Wound us.

The Plot So Far
     So far, we have outlined the following concordances:
         Spirit = energy = Truth = unified, unpolarized Light = higher consciousness.
         Matter = illusion = fragmented, polarized Light = lower consciousness.
         Wounding is the journey from Spirit to Matter.
         Healing is the return journey from Matter to Spirit.

Love and Emotions

"Conscious love (Unconditional) evokes the same in response,
Emotional love (conditional) evokes the opposite in response,
Physical love depends on type and polarity." (comments mine)
- G. I. Gurdjieff.

"Desire itself is movement
Not in itself desirable;
Love is itself unmoving,
Only the cause and end of movement,
Timeless, and undesiring..."
- T. S. Eliot

     From the perspectives set out above, what then is Love?
     We define Love as the experience of unity of consciousness. Therefore, as we Heal, approaching Oneness, approaching Spirit, we approach the experience of Love. Unconditional Love radiates and engenders the same in response. It is contagious. It is important for us to point out that we will use the upper case, "Love", to refer to Love in its unconditional form. We will use the lower case, "love", to refer to love, as it is ordinarily defined, i.e. conditional.
     Conditional love is the experience of disunity of consciousness. The more Wounded we become, approaching Matter, the more we experience conditional love as opposed to Unconditional Love. Conditional love, being 'charged', attracts the opposite in response.
     Conditional love is what we call emotion. Emotions are fragments of the greater experience of Unconditional Love. As teacher and Healer, Dr. John Demartini says, Unconditional Love is the synthesis of all emotions.
     Emotions are fragments of consciousness and correspond to Matter.
     Unconditional Love is unified consciousness, corresponding to Spirit.
     If Unconditional Love = Truth, then emotions represent half-truths, illusions, lies.
     Love (Unconditional) corresponds to higher consciousness. Emotions correspond to lower consciousness.
     Emotions are symptoms of our Woundedness.
     Love is both the cause and the effect of Healing.

Our Dual and Triune Nature
     One last thing to define before we embark upon the main explorations of our book is our dual and triune natures.
     Our dual nature is perhaps best exemplified by the body vs. mind distinction. We have a higher nature - that of Mind taken in its broadest sense - that seeks unity, wholeness, connection, awakening, higher consciousness, Truth and Love. Conversely, we have a lower nature - that of Body taken in its broadest sense - that tends towards disunity, fragmentation, disconnection, 'sleep', lower consciousness, illusion and emotion.
     Taken on its own, Body is dualistic in its outlook, whereas Mind seeks unity. Body is polarized whereas Mind seeks alignment. We will see the exact physiological and psychological manifestations of the Body's polarization and the Mind's wish for alignment as we proceed.
     As far as our triune nature, i.e. our threefold nature, we will now set out the three main aspects of our Body/Mind, which we will use throughout this book and also in Book Three. This clarification and definition hopefully will reduce the possibility of confusion and misinterpretation in what we will subsequently present. These definitions have their origins in the Mysteries and have been further defined by teacher and Healer, Dr. John Demartini, aforementioned.
     The three aspects of our Body/Mind are lower mind, Higher Mind and Soul.
     The lower mind is our dualistic, polarized emotional/mental nature, corresponding to our existence in the material world. It sees the world through the duality of the senses, as we shall see. The lower mind also encapsulates the intelligence of the physical body, centered in the autonomic or involuntary nervous system. Its heart lies in the solar plexus (called this, despite being ruled by the Moon).
     The Soul represents our potential for unity, connection, Truth and Love. It corresponds to our existence in the spiritual world. The Soul sees the world through the eyes of Love and Oneness and is relatively timeless, spaceless, omnipresent and awakened. Its Heart lies at the boundary of the solar system (the magnetopause), also called Akasha. We will elaborate this last statement in Book Three.
     The Higher Mind is us, as journeyers from duality to unity, from lower mind to Soul, from illusion to Truth, from the material to the spiritual, from emotion to Love, from Woundedness to Healing. The Heart of the Higher Mind lies in the cardiac plexus (ruled by the Sun).

Summary of Correspondences
For clarity, we have set out a table of correspondences. These form the foundations for our further explorations in this book:

THE WOUNDING                THE HEALING
Matter                                    Spirit
matter                                     energy
Creation                                  evolution
emotions                                 Love
conditional love                       Unconditional Love
illusions, half-truths, lies           Truth
polarized Light                        unpolarized (unified) Light
fragmentation                          unification, wholeness
lower consciousness                higher consciousness
reality                                     Actuality
lower mind                             Soul

Diagram 1 - Wounding & Healing Correspondences

     We will add more correspondences as we go.
     Notice that the Higher Mind does not appear in the table of correspondences. It is important to repeat that the Higher Mind is the Journeyer. We are the Journeyer, on the journey of consciousness. We are the Higher Mind on the journey from lower mind to Soul, from duality to unity, from fragmentation to wholeness, from Wounding to Healing, from illusion to Truth, from emotion to Love and from Matter to Spirit. The Higher Mind is the waystation between the material and spiritual worlds. The Higher Mind is the centaur, taken as a whole, incorporating aspects of both Body and Mind, both duality and unity, both lower mind and Soul, both Woundedness and Healing.
     The Higher Mind is the Hero of all the great myths and stories of Humanity. It is you and I, as we seek to Return Home to Spirit. On this note, let's begin our journey...
(continued...)

To find out more about this book and where to obtain a copy, click here: Mirror, Mirror, Body and Mind