It is very easy to see smoke rising and think that the smoke is the problem. It should not be hard to realize that smoke is simply the product of fire, or something hot enough to start creating fire. I doubt anyone would try to correct the problem by trying to remove the smoke from the situation – why bring a fan to fight the symptoms of the problem? Why not send in the firefighters to knock down the fire instead? This idea seems very easy to understand, however, trying to remove the smoke, or symptoms of human problems is the norm today. It seems that very few treatments, or practices, focus on the root cause of the manifestation that has presented itself.
Many of the issues that a human can suffer from are a result of coping mechanisms from unfavorable events in our lives. These events don’t even have to be enormous if a person perceives them to be unfavorable. Everything that happens to us, both good and bad, becomes etched in our subconscious and becomes part of our programming. Our conscious is only capable of processing less than 1% of our reality, and the lot goes directly to the subconscious. Now subconscious programming is great when we etch it with talents such as learning to talk, write, drive, or walk; however, all the negative things and energy that surround our life also get embedded and continue to create a reality that plays over and over. The subconscious is also very concerned with our safety and will manifest many issues in our lives that help to protect us from further harm. I do see this trend quite frequently through hypnosis and counseling sessions – the body is amazing at trying its best to protect us from things that have proved to be harmful to us in the past.
I had a dream the other night where I was presented with a term that I was not familiar with – “Reverse Alchemy”. I began a search for what this might mean and discovered an awesome article about this actual topic (referenced listed below). The premise of the article was to demonstrate that traumatic things that happened to people in the past tend to create chronic diseases, obesity, and drug/alcohol usage. Basically, the Author states that a human being is born perfect, like gold, but unfavorable events tend to create mental and physical issues. Alchemy in its basic sense was originally defined as a process of trying to create gold out of more ordinary metals such as lead. In the sense of this article, the author is stating that this process is reversed for many people; people are born “perfect” in a sense, or like gold, only to be morphed into lead through tragic events. The following are a couple of quotes from the article that demonstrate an aspect of this idea.
“Detailed life interviews of almost 200 such individuals revealed that childhood abuse was remarkably common and antedated the onset of their obesity. Many patients spoke openly of an association between the two. The counterintuitive aspect was that for many people obesity was not their problem; it was their protective solution to problems that previously had never been discussed with anyone. An early insight was the memorable remark of a woman who was raped at twenty-three and gained 105 pounds in the year subsequent: "Overweight is overlooked and that's the way I need to be." The contrast was striking between this statement and her desire to lose weight.”
“Overall, we found the simultaneous presence of opposing forces to be common; many of our weight program patients were driving with one foot on the brakes and one on the gas, wanting to lose weight but fearful of change.”
I find these quotes to be extremely accurate and have witnessed this through many of my clients. When one begins to understand what certain illnesses, and regions of the body represent, then a proper plan of action can be developed. Just like I referenced at the beginning of this article, if we are only treating smoke or the symptoms of problems, they will likely never be solved. The truth is one must go to the level of the problem, or the fire, to determine how to extinguish or work through this root cause. No sense in treating the outward manifestation without ever investigating why there is smoke in the first place.
One of my favorite physical therapists that I worked for in the past had one of the most elegant phrases that have helped me realize not to simply treat the symptoms. They often stated that “pain is simply the body’s request for change”. This makes perfect sense and has rung true for my physical therapy career and now my metaphysical practice.
Remember that smoke or symptoms are not the real problem – dig deeper and find the true reason and then attempt to correct that problem!
Felitti, V. J. (2001). Reverse Alchemy in Childhood: Turning Gold Into Lead. Family Violence Prevention Fund, 8(1), 1-4.
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