The Spectrum of Belief in Healing Systems

By George A. Boyd ©2015

Belief in healing systems ranges from total reliance on miraculous healing to repudiation of all healing systems. This scale is listed below:

  1. Belief in the miraculous power of God, angels, or reputed healers is complete; belief in self-efficacy is nil.
  2. There is strong belief in the miraculous power of God, angels, or reputed healers, but the individual begins to adopt some self-help measures, such as dietary changes, exercise, or use of herbal or homeopathic formulas.
  3. There is belief in the miraculous power of God, angels, or reputed healers, but the individual has greater confidence in the use of self-help measures, and uses them to augment prayer and healing sessions.
  4. There is belief in the miraculous power of God, angels, or reputed healers, but there is greater trust in scientific medicine, and the individual will consult allopathic practitioners.
  5. The miraculous power of God, angels, or reputed healers are seen to be based on wishful thinking, superstition, and fantasy, and the individual places his trust fully in allopathic medicine.
  6. The individual sees flaws in both miraculous healing and scientific medicine, and may explore cures from Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, or other alternative healing systems.
  7. The individual sees flaws and deficiencies in miraculous healing, scientific medicine, and alternative healing systems, and resolves to suffer and die, believing there is no hope and no cure.

People seek results from whatever healing system they embrace. Testimonials may lead them to investigate it; results will lead them to maintain their allegiance to that system of healing. When nothing works, people fall into hopelessness and despair (scenario 7).

Over time, individuals may shift their emphasis on this scale. They may predominately rely upon allopathic medicine (scenario 5), but then, when they cannot get healing for a particular condition, they might entertain faith and self-help measures (scenario 4), or go to practitioners of alternative healing systems (scenario 6).

Those that are members of a fundamentalist belief system may rely entirely upon the Divine healing power (scenario 1). For others, while religious faith plays a central role in their lives, there may be a folk medicine tradition associated with their religious group, and they may adopt different self-help measures to augment the healing power of faith and Divine Grace (scenario 2). Yet others may largely rely upon self-help measures, and go to healers or physicians only when they encounter a problem their methods cannot remedy (scenario 3).

We often tell aspirants that each problem has a unique solution, and it is a matter of finding which modality produces that solution. For some, miraculous healing will provide an answer. Others will find it in a variety of self-help measures. Some will receive their cures using modern allopathic medicine. Others will resolve their issues using clinical nutrition, chiropractic treatment, Chinese and Ayurveda methods, or other alternative treatments.

If one system is not working for you, be willing to explore other approaches. It may be that there is a solution to your problem. You just have to discover who is using this, and apply it.

Your beliefs condition what methods you are willing to try. As you receive results from these different modalities, you will see the efficacy of each to promote healing for certain conditions.

The Four Quadrants of Volition

By George A. Boyd ©2013

There are four quadrants of human activity:

  1. The zone of voluntary personal action – This zone encompasses the operation of the first three octaves of volition: personal will, habit, and the desire driven will of the ego. This quadrant aims to fulfill goals and desires. The individual senses that this zone is fully within his or her control, and can determine the outcomes. This is sometimes called the zone of free will. Coaching and counseling address this level.
  2. The zone of involuntary action – This zone comprises the operation of the unconscious mind, which is out of awareness and functions autonomously to the control of the will. Compulsive or impulsive behavior, as well as self-sabotaging behavior, arises from this zone. Hypnosis and psychotherapy tap this zone.
  3. The zone of transpersonal volition – This zone comprises the activity of the higher octaves of volition in the Superconscious mind, up to the level of transpersonal will, which is anchored in the Soul. It also includes the activity of intention of the attentional principle, and the wish of the spirit. This operates outside and beyond the control of the personal will; it is the higher order of will that permits the Soul to express its gifts, its wisdom, and its love and compassion. Meditation enables access to this zone.
  4. The zone of Divine aegis – Those Initiates and accepted disciples, who have entered the presence of the Divine, know this zone—and they have been empowered to teach, to guide, and to minister to others. This brings them the knowledge of the Divine Will directly—these Initiates communicate this Divine Wish to their disciples, aligning them with their purpose and the Great Plan for their spiritual development, and leading them progressively to Mastery and Liberation. Masters reveal this Supreme Direction to their disciples.

It is important to recognize what can be done voluntarily, and what operates outside of that zone. Personal volition can shape human life and situational behavior; it can express those talents that have been learned through education and training; and it can learn new knowledge and skills. If skillfully used, it can lead individuals to personal fulfillment.

It does not control the octaves of the transpersonal and Divine Will; however, these octaves of the will can come to overshadow the personality to express the Soul’s gifts and genius, and to reveal the Soul’s purpose. It may only partially control those elements of the unconscious mind, which operate autonomously.

At certain levels of the Great Continuum of Consciousness, it appears that all consciousness is a product of the brain, and that volition and the sense of self are nothing more than products of the firing of neurons, and the construction of language. Those who meditate, however, find they readily transcend this “brain consciousness,” and encounter the will as a dynamic force that expresses through the brain and activates the vehicles of consciousness beyond it; and discover the Self, attentional principle, spirit, and Soul far beyond the confines of the skull. They directly gain union with these essences beyond the webs of language: they experience these essences wordlessly and immediately.

Aspirants and disciples should meditate on these four quadrants, with an aim to discern what aspects of their lives fall within each zone, and whether or not the Will Divine has been intimated to them. They should aim to expand the zone of voluntary personal volition, learn ways to cope with and resolve those issues that arise from the unconscious, and cooperate with the transpersonal will so that the Soul’s gifts can be shared with others.

Confrontation with Dharma

By George A. Boyd © 2006

Excerpted from Question and Answers with Swami

Q: I’m in a lot of conflict right now. It seems my Soul requires one thing of me—and my parents, friends, and church require another. What do I do?

A: To become your own person, to individualize and realize your authentic self, it sometimes becomes necessary to deviate from established norms that are placed upon you from the outside, so that you may remain true to that norm which is inside (Dharma). To remain true to Dharma means that you are living in integrity, you are in harmony with the law within your own heart. These types of violation of societal norms include:

  • Deviation from cultural (ethnic group) norms – Going against custom, following a life path other than that which is expected
  • Deviation from societal (legal) norms – Breaking the law, performing behavior that violates codifies statutes enacted by legislative bodies
  • Deviation from ancestral (parental) norms – Going against requests of your parents, going against parental expectations of model behavior and lifestyle
  • Deviation from peer (friendship) norms – Performing actions that violate the conscience of friends, going against peer expectations of model behavior and lifestyle
  • Deviation from corporate (workplace) norms – Performing actions that violate company rules or policies, not performing work to required standards of excellence, efficiency, precision accuracy or professionalism
  • Deviation from political (political party) norms – Voting or expressing political opinions that do not agree with the approved ideology of your political party
  • Deviation from religious (religious group) norms – Performing actions that violate behavioral and belief standards established by the church (or other religious body) which the church believes are authorized by scripture and sanctioned by the Divine or the representative (Master, Savior, Prophet) of the Divine
  • Deviation from personal conscience (Dharmic) norms – Violating an internalized standard or value believed to be true, right or good. Not living in integrity with one’s inner sense of truth (Dharma)

Even if you rebel from these outer norms, if you remain true to your inner sense of truth, you will have inner peace. But if you deviate from your Dharma to live up to the outer norms, to fulfill the expectations of your culture, your nation, your parents, your friends, your employer or your religion before your own inner sense of truth, then you will live in conflict. This conflict is a felt-sense that something is missing—a vague uneasiness or unidentified anxiety, a feeling that your own self is angry with you, is condemning you for your folly or a sense of emptiness or desolation within.

Dharma appears in different forms according to the Ray type of the individual:

First Ray – The Will of God, the Fiery Triangle

Second Ray – The Wheel of the Law, the Eightfold Path of Noble Truth

Third Ray – The Law of God, the Ten Commandments, the Divine Order behind the laws of the Physical and Astral Planes, the laws underlying the Creation of Heaven and Earth

Fourth Ray – The Law of Nature and Consciousness, the Way, the Tao

Fifth Ray – The Law of Truth, the Razor’s Edge, Perfection, Perfect Mastery

Sixth Ray – The Law of Love and Grace, living according to the Master or Savior’s commandments

Seventh Ray – The Tree of Life (Kabala) – the Laws of Karma, Manifestation, Wisdom and Spiritual Essence

On whatever Ray it manifests to you, this image, voice, or felt-sense of Dharma will become very clear to you at certain crucial points in your life.

  • Sometimes your Dharma will require of you things that go against your desires, your plans, or what seems reasonable to you.
  • Sometimes, when you have already started on a course of action, it will pull you back and start you down another path.
  • Sometimes it will unexpectedly intervene when you wish to marry someone and indicate that this person is not right for you.
  • Sometimes it will bid you to leave the security of your job and strike out on your own.

However Dharma manifests to you, when it confronts you, you have a choice. Do you follow this inner requirement of your Soul or do you follow the dictates of your desire, your preferences or your reason?

If you follow Dharma, it will sometimes create disruption in your life.
You may have to:

  • Cancel plans
  • Make awkward explanations to friends and family about your sudden “irrational” decision
  • Go through unforeseen personal sacrifice and hardships
  • Do things that feel terrifying or illogical to you
  • Re-think where your life is going and what you will do with the rest of your life
  • Experience antipathy and continual criticism from those who were your friends and colleagues
  • Receive threats of violence or promises of revenge from those whose values and beliefs you have acted against through courageously acting upon your integrity

If you reflect upon it from the standpoint of your ego, the part of you that only wants to fulfill its own desires, live its dreams and be happy—it is madness; it is utter lunacy.

But from the standpoint of the Soul, it is an absolute requirement: it is necessary to fulfill the Divine requirement.

Because of this, you will run into a conflict between the free will agency of the personality, which wants to have its own way and create the future it desires, versus the impulse of Destiny, the pressure of the spiritual life upon the human life, which is a Dharmic imperative.

If you run away from your Dharma, your decision haunts you. You have your freedom, but it is a hollow, tormented freedom. Things go wrong, you sabotage yourself, your plans fall through—it seems to you sometimes that the world is against you.

It passes through your mind that you are cursed or that you have sinned against some higher principle. You feel a sense of desperation. You may achieve your goals and find that they have no enjoyment for you, they seem empty and meaningless.

Outside the door, the Soul waits, until the karma that you have created by your own free will plays itself out. This may last from a number of days to several lifetimes. Then your Soul will appear before you, its Voice will whisper to you, you will feel its presence once again. Again you will be given the opportunity to follow, to fulfill your Dharma. What will you choose this time? Will you again choose your egoic freedom and abandon your Soul?

This process of choosing or abandoning your Soul is placed before you. Sometimes it can occur from moment to moment at certain periods. Sometimes it will appear only one time in your lifetime. It is put before you to live according to the requirements of your Dharma—or abandon it and reap the karmic consequences. This requirement is very definite: there are no gray areas here—it is yea or nay, and there is no middle ground.

Forced choice is used in ethnic groups, in society, by parents, friends, and employers, in political parties, and in religious conversion and preaching to require you to make a decision. It is very clear to you what the consequences will be if you do not choose what they want you to do.

On the other side is your Soul, which also places before you the forced choice of embracing or abandoning your Dharma. From the outside, these social forces that make powerful demands of you are pulling you one way. From the inside, your Soul is pulling you another.

Sometimes it must feel to you that you are being ripped apart. People sometimes do go insane and have nervous breakdowns because the pressure is too great. It stretches them beyond their limits and their capacity to endure. It breaks them apart, because they cannot have both what the world desires and what the Soul requires.

People who become mystics, saints, and sages tell us that they have not regretted choosing Dharma, but that it was a very difficult, arduous path they traveled as a result of the choice.

People who have embraced the dictates of their ego, who have followed the path of desires, obeyed the cultural requirements of their group, their society, their parents, peers, and employers and have faithfully followed their religion tell us that they have lived good, reasonable happy lives. They tell us that they have had no major confrontations with their conscience and they believe that their Soul is safe in the hands of their Savior, Master, or Prophet.

This is a very difficult choice that you must make, a life-wrenching choice. It seems cruel that Life has required this of you, and has spared others to be at peace with themselves and with the world.
Your Soul is calling you, making requirements of you that don’t make sense. You feel frightened and confused, and don’t know whom to trust. If you tell your friends and family, they will think that you have gone mad. If you go to a psychiatrist, he or she will certify that you are insane and give you medication to shut down your whirling thoughts and churning emotions.

If you go to your priest or minister, he or she will tell you that it is the Devil talking to you and to follow the teachings of the church. Where do you turn at a time like this?

It helps to pray and ask the Divine for guidance, to show you the outcome of both choices, to bless you to make the best decision for you. Then you must decide, you must choose a path. It may be the right way, it may be the wrong way, but you must choose and take the consequences.

When you realize that your choices do have consequences, you start to gain wisdom, you begin to be able to take responsibility for your life. This is a major challenge for every human being. This is an important step of growth for you.

It is not easy when you have to confront your Dharma, but it can be a great blessing to you if you can successfully navigate these troubled waters. We encourage you to be courageous, to rouse yourself, and rise to this challenge. Face it like a warrior. Be ready to make a firm and resolute decision. Be willing to cast your holy yea or nay. Be willing to have those who are not your true friends fall away, because those that truly love you will love you still, even if you follow a path that they do not approve of or understand.

Confrontation with Dharma can be a shattering, life-changing, revolutionary experience. But sometimes it is the greatest opportunity you will ever be presented.