(Verbatim chapter content from my book Divine Healing)
It is well recognised by anyone with some level of spiritual insight and wisdom that there is a single intelligent consciousness that is the source of all life and reality as it objectively manifests. I also highlight this in my book New Perspectives. This knowledge is not limited to Christianity and The Holy Bible, but also inherent in Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Some forms of Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Bahai, et cetera and many (if not most) indigenous spiritual traditions, and can sincerely be considered ancient sacred knowledge. It is therefore important that we start there:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1 NASB
In order for healing to occur, you may not need to understand any more, but for some to truly accept and believe that it is the spiritual or unseen reality that creates and manifests the external and experiential (senses based) realm, I include this chapter. This is so you may know, without ambiguity, that creation and therefore the root cause of any disease originates in the spiritual realm – or to say it with a different word – the mind! It is the same thing!
The mind directly manifests as result of the will – what is loved. We exists on account of the unconditional love that is Source, who goes by many names like: Jehovah God, The Lord, The Word. We manifest our own external experience of life from the quality of our character (what we love). To say it in a different way, the external world is a reflection of the internal. We are co-creators and through the choices we make subconsciously choose our own circumstances.
Let us have a look at what various sacred texts tell us about the creation process. We will look at this in order of the process itself, which can be summarised as:
- The Divine Source (a priori)
- The Spiritual World (world of causation)
- The Human Mind (intermediary)
- The Earth and Natural World (world of effect)
- The Human Body (health effect)
- Environment (reflection of inner state)
- Return Path (regeneration)
The Divine Source
While the core aspects of the Divine Consciousness, being Love itself and Wisdom itself – the single Source of Reality – does not need much elaboration, I still like to share these verses from the Bible to add some baseline context:
“To us there is one God, the Father, from whom comes every thing and by whom we live; and one LORD Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.”
1 Corinthians 8:6 LAMSA
“In the beginning was the Word… and without Him nothing was made…”
John 1:1,3 NKJV
“God is love.”
1 John 4:8
“By the word of the Lord were the heavens made,”
Psalm 33:6
“You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”
Revelation 4:11 NKJV
Sadly the false idea of three distinct personas has infected the minds of Christians, but if you read carefully and think logically about God’s nature, you will see that the Divine Love (or Will) is the Life force referred to as ‘Father’ – the unseen without form. It has expression and form through Divine Wisdom – referred to as The Word or ‘Son’. The activity proceeding from Source is referred to as ‘Holy Spirit’. In reality, they are not separate or even distinguishable in actuality, but innate aspects of the Infinite One.
If you are familiar with the Bible, you will know there are many, many more verses similar to those shared above. Great reading on this topic can also be found in the revelations of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), who shares that:
“God is Love itself and Wisdom itself.”
Divine Love and Wisdom 28-32
In his most famous work Heaven and Hell he reiterates that The Word is not only the Light (literally in the spiritual world), but the essence of Him (the Father) is Love (which is the life of all):
“The Lord is the Sun of Heaven… whose essence is Love”
Heaven and Hell 116–118
In my book New Perspectives I discuss the concept of love, which I recommend you read, as this concept is commonly misunderstood. In Hinduism too, we have some beautiful examples of a Conscious Creator from which reality originates: a pure consciousness:
“There is nothing higher than Me… all this universe is strung on Me like pearls on a thread.”
Bhagavad Gītā 7.7
“I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds.”
Bhagavad Gītā 10.8
“The Supreme is ‘the beginningless, the supreme beyond existence and nonexistence.’”
Bhagavad Gītā 13:13
All these show the Divine as underlying reality behind both spiritual and natural worlds. Not surprisingly this is echoed in Islamic sacred text too:
“Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.”
Qur’ān 24:35
“His throne extends over the heavens and the earth.”
Qur’ān 2:255
“He is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward.”
Qur’ān 57:3
It should not be a suprise to anyone that there is a clear shared understanding across cultures and time that God is the origin and sustaining reality of all levels of existence. Outside of relatively modern religious context, we see the Great Spirit / Creator as the Source of life and order in all the Indigenous or First Nations traditions.
The Australian Aboriginals are possibly the longest continuous surviving culture known today with archeological evidence of their presence on the Australian continent going back 45,000 years. Their concept of a Creator-being who brings order to land, life, and law, is called Baiame.
The native Sioux (Lakota/Teton) in the Americas call it Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka: the Great Mystery, source of all.
Even in Budhist teachings, not known for acknowledging a single autonomous Deity, we can find a clear concept of a single source, unmutable consciousness:
“There is, monks, an unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconditioned. … therefore you do know an escape from the born, become, made, and conditioned.”
Udāna 8.3
Other examples I recommend reading include:
Taoism: Tao Te Ching chapters 1 and 25;
Confucianism: Doctrine of the Mean; and
Sikhism: Siri Guru Granth Sahib 1-5, 5-1, 294-12.
It is then not unexpected that all of these religions and spiritual traditions, besides Christianity, provide us with the fundamental law, or original instruction if you prefer (represented in the book of Genesis by rules given to Adam and Eve and by Moses bringing down from the mountain the stone tablets written by the finger of God), that we humans must align ourselves with the order of Creation – the Divine Order or Divine Providence as Swedenborg describes. Non-alignment is the cause of all suffering. Let me repeat and highlight that:
Non-alignment with the Divine Order of creation is the cause of all suffering.
The most well known, most singularly comprehensive and most culturally pervasive rule, present in one form or another in almost all religions, is:
“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 7:12 NASB
Living according to this fundamental law requires us to align our heart and mind and act according to what we love and believe to be true – without selfishness and hypocrisy. Therefore, it is important for us to understand the nature of this Divine Order and nature of reality to avoid and/or correct any possible suffering.
The Spiritual World
Once you understand that everything originates from a single infinite source, which is consciousness (mind) and also called the Great Spirit, it is clear that it is the spirit (mind) that precedes and gives effect to the natural. Or to say it differently, the natural only exists because of the spiritual reality that enables and manifests it. We read in scripture:
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh provides no benefit”
John 6:63 NASB
“the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen came to be from those which are not seen.”
Hebrews 11:3 LAMSA
“All things were created through Him and for Him.”
Colossians 1:16 NKJV
What I wish to highlight here is that the natural world (ie the realm of our physical and sense based experience) is not created separately and continues to operate autonomously, which is what deists believe. No, it is clear that the spiritual is what actively creates and sustains the natural.
Swedenborg puts it like this:
“The things that are in nature are nothing but effects; their causes are in the spiritual world. … the effect ceases when the cause ceases”
Arcana Coelestia 5711 (Clowes)
In the Bhagavad Gītā we read that the physical/material is non-existent, whereas the soul is eternal. In other words, physicality is an illusion observed and manifested by the spirit.
“Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent [the material body] there is no endurance and of the eternal [the soul] there is no change. This they have concluded by studying the nature of both.”
Bhagavad Gītā 2:16
In Australian Aboriginal spirituality, the concept of dreamtime asserts an unseen causal realm underlying visible nature. In other words, creation arises from a non-material spiritual dimension that continuously shapes the physical world.
In his book Divine Love and Wisdom, Emanuel Swedenborg explains that all of creation relates to Love and Wisdom (aspects of the Divine) and so correspond to the extend they reflect the image of it. Correspondence is how the spiritual manifests the physical and physical reflects the spiritual. (eg see sections 52, 83)
The Human Mind
You will likely have heard the truism that we are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a physical experience. It must obviously be true if the natural is dead and non-existent without the mind that creates it.
What may be less obvious, but becomes clear with some consideration, is that when we say spirit or mind, they are synonymous terms. Consciousness is another term that can be used and while these terms predominantly focus on the understanding part (ie image of Divine Wisdom), it cannot be separated from the affectionate part (ie image of Divine Love). We are soul and spirit (mind), being the thoughts and intents of the heart. The following verses offer some example:
“For the word of God is living … piercing … soul and spirit, … the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Hebrews 4:12 NKJV
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Romans 12:2 NASB
And
“..put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.”
Colossians 3:10 NASB
And again
“..you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,”
Ephesians 4:23 NASB
So the human mind is the interface between soul and body. Or as Swedenborg describes the mind is the spirit, while the body is its external reflection. It is not until we change what is within – the internal, that our external experience changes. This is because the external reflects the eternal: the natural is an image of the spiritual (ie what is internal).
The Qur’ān also acknowledges something similar:
“Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.”
Qur’ān 13:11
In the Māori traditional spirituality Wairua (spirit) and Hinengaro (mind) shape one’s presence and experience.
Collectively pervasive sacred traditions and texts show the mind as a sacred interface between the spiritual and natural worlds.
In other words, what we have read shows that, in the image of our Creator, we are (our) mind, which quality – nature or character – is the result of what we love and believe to be true – the affections and thoughts we ‘own’.
The Natural World
The natural world, therefore, is thus an effect. A material plane receiving influx from, and so being caused by, the spiritual. We may often gloss over it and continue to buy into the idea that the physical world is distinct, real and somehow separate from the spiritual, because for the most this is the way we have ‘experienced’ it growing up. This too is the reason why many think spirituality is an activity or intellectual process (belief), but in New Perspectives I explain why that idea is false. The realm of the mind (spirit) is what gives effect (cause) to the natural (ie sense based) realm.
“Thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth.”
Matthew 6:10 LAMSA
“that which may be known of God is manifested to them for God has revealed it unto them. For, from the very creation of the world, the invisible things of God have been clearly seen and understood by his creations,”
Romans 1:19-20 LAMSA
Emanuel Swedenborg gives us a great summary and explanation of what is commonly known a the ‘Law of Correspondence’.
“Everything in the universe answers to something in us…everything in the animal kingdom, … everything in the plant kingdom, and … with everything in the mineral kingdom.”
Divine Love and Wisdom 52 (Ager)
and
“The whole natural world corresponds to the spiritual world, and not merely the natural world in general, but also every particular of it; and as a consequence everything in the natural world that springs from the spiritual world is called a correspondent. It must be understood that the natural world springs from and has permanent existence from the spiritual world, precisely like an effect from its effecting cause”
Heaven and Hell 89 (Ager)
However this is also known, or referred to, by alternative terms such as: the principle of “as within, so without”, or “as above, so below”, having ancient origins in Hermetic philosophy. According to Wikipedia, the writings attributed to Greek Deity Hermes Trismegistus, referred to as the Hermetica, were produced over a period spanning c. 300 BC – 1200 BC: Hermes is also thought to be the revered prophet Idrīs in Muslim and Baháʼí theology.
As an interesting side note, in Homeopathy it is well recognised that healing occurs from the inside out and that the root cause originates on the energetic meta-physical level of the vital life force (think spirit by another name).
The Bhagavad Gītā tells us that Lord Krishna is above the natural and that many are deluded or fooled by the illusion of the natural world. In reality all modes of energy are manifested by His energy, including the material world. However, these are within Him and Lord Krishna is not subject to these lower energies, but inexhaustable. (See section 7:12-15)
Taking a leaf from African indigenous religion; In Nigeria, the Yoruba Ifá tradition, the physical world is seen as a reflection of the spiritual world, a concept that emphasizes the interconnectedness of all existence. Their monotheistic centuries old view holds that the earthly realm (Aiye) is an extension of the spiritual realm (Orun) and that divine and ancestral forces continuously influence and communicate with the living.
This connection means that the material world is infused with spiritual energy, and a person’s actions in the physical world have direct spiritual consequences. They believe that the earthly realm is a mirror of the spiritual cosmos. In other words, the natural world is not separate, but reflects (or embodies) the spiritual realm.
To put it into simpler words: there is a common view, especially in the more ancient spiritual traditions, that thought manifests (creates) the ‘reality’ we experience.
The Human Body
This brings us to the obvious conclusion and significant realisation that the physical body we often think of as being us is also part of the natural world. Therefore our body too is a direct effect and ultimate manifestation of our mind (ie spirit). Just as the natural world has correspondence to the realm of the mind, so has our ‘physical body’ direct correspondence to the inner life of our mind.
The difference is that the natural world is the total effect of our collective spiritual influence, whereas our body is the direct result of our own spirit. The most direct effect can be observed nearest to us personally (our bodies, our home, our garden) reflecting our own states. The less direct in the effect can our influence be observed with more shared environments, reflecting more collective states.
Many of the well known dramatic stories of healing in scripture reveal a direct link of a physical outcome resulting from a spiritual change. For example:
“And they brought to him a paralytic …, and he said to the paralytic, Have courage, my son; your sins have been forgiven. …. Arise, take up your quilt-bed, and go to your home. And he rose up and went to his home.”
Matthew 9:2,6-7 LAMSA
The apostle John here seems to indicate a direct link between the health of the body and the health of the soul:
“I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.”
3 John 1:2 NASB
And in proverbs another example tying the nature of our character to the life of our body:
“A sound heart is the life of the flesh.”
Proverbs 14:30
And even more clearly:
Incline your ear to my sayings.
They are not to escape from your sight;
Keep them in the midst of your heart.
For they are life to those who find them,
And healing to all their body.
Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.
Proverbs 4:20-23 NASB
Emanuel Swedenborg’s revelations go into great detail about the nature of the spiritual world (heaven and hell) and the importance of our inner reformation. He makes it clear in Arcana Coelestia (translated as Secrets of Heaven) – a spiritual commentary on Genesis and Exodus over 8 volumes (Latin):
“All diseases in man have correspondence with the spiritual world; for whatever in universal nature has not correspondence with the spiritual world cannot exist, having no cause from which to exist, consequently from which to subsist.”
Arcana Coelestia 5711 (Clowes)
and
“diseases … correspond to the yearnings and passions of the lower mind, which are also their origins; for the origins of diseases are, in general, intemperance, luxury of various kinds, mere bodily pleasures, as also feelings of envy, hatred, revenge, lewdness, and the like, which destroy man’s interiors; and when these are destroyed the exteriors suffer, and drag man into disease, and so into death”
Arcana Coelestia 5712 (Clowes)
Also from True Christian Religion:
“it is the man’s form, which is induced upon him by the states of his life”
True Christian Religion 366 (Ager)
In a different way, the Bhagavad Gītā outlines how food preferences and other behaviour are linked to our motivations and that ultimately unhealthy/unbalanced spiritual motivations produce physical harm. (eg 17:5-9)
In the natural we can observe stress raising cortisol and thus inflammation, affecting our overall metabolic health. We can observe the results of poor eating and lifestyle habits. We can even observe the nocebo and placebo effects – scientific studies qualified it to affecting 74% of the outcome – being purely the effect of belief/thought.
However all of these are observable outworkings of a fundamental law: the spiritual (ie realm of the mind) is what gives cause and effect to the natural.
The eternal gives effect to the external. As such disease, health, beauty, vitality etc. all mirror/reflect/project our spiritual states.
To say it in a plain way: what we love, think and believe affects our physical health – AND the world around us!
In the ancient traditions of Chinese medicine (TCM) and Ayurvedic healing it is accepted that the body reflects an imbalance in spirit/mind (qi, prana). In homeopathic medicine, the mental symptoms reflect the deepest and most important causal aspect to treat. In north American indigenous medicine they believe that disease arises when one is “out of balance” with spirit, community, and land, while in Australian aboriginal healing illness often seen as a spiritual misalignment first.
The Environment
So taking it a step further now we understand this ‘Mirror Effect’, we look at the environment around us and learn to observe our individual and collective reflection in the world around. This is also closely related to what is called “Law of Attraction” or vibration/energetic alignment. The most important thing to remember is that what we observe and experience is the result of our inner state and this is purely within our domain. We reap and harvest according to our own character and our innermost desires – it is this that we manifest!
“whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.”
Galatians 6:7 LAMSA
and
“So every good tree bears good fruits; but a bad tree bears bad fruits.”
Matthew 7:17 LAMSA
According to Swedenborg our surroundings appear according to one’s inner state, although in the spiritual realm much more swiftly and directly than in the natural world, due to the harmony and similarity of character in each community. (e.g. see Heaven and Hell 87-115 and 172-175)
We may be looking to the outside to be rescued and hope that attending church or prayer circles may heal, but ultimately it is our innermost desires and nature that needs to change:
“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.”
Acts 17:24 NKJV
The idea that our life experience and the environment we live in reflect our spirit is pervasive across many cultures. One example is the Shinto indigenous spiritual tradition (Japan) who believe that pollution of spirit (kegare) leads to disorder in environment, while purity leads to natural harmony. In other words, the environment mirrors our interior state.
Our Regeneration
So far we discussed the order of creation: from the Divine source down to the ‘external’ environment that reflects us. Ultimately the path to health is through alignment with the Divine Order: by accepting what is good and true, aligning our heart and mind. Meaning in the simplest of terms: a healthy mind means a healthy body.
The awareness of the creation process and correspondence of the external to what lies within will help align our natural life and so health to the perfect Divine order. Note, though, that we are imperfect, fallible and finite beings who experience a senses-based surrounding (ie space time) on account of our changing and imperfect natures. In other words, we are able to progress, learn and grow spiritually – becoming more whole and image of the perfect and infinite Source: Jehovah God.
This progress is also called spiritual reformation or regeneration, and is directly and intimately tied to our physical health journey too! It cannot be otherwise.
However, we have help – if we can accept it:
“Behold, I make all things new.”
Revelation 21:5
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”
Ezekiel 36:26
Swedenborg talks in length about the nature of God and our regeneration. While a bit of a larger excerpt, I think it is worth including these sections from his work True Christian Religion here:
“What flows in from the Lord is received by man according to his form. Form means here man’s state in respect both to his love and to his wisdom, consequently in respect both to his affections for the goods of charity and to his perceptions of the truths of faith.
…
The life of God in all its fullness is not only in good and pious men, but also in the wicked and impious, likewise both in the angels of heaven and in the spirits of hell. The difference is that the wicked obstruct the way and close the door, lest God should enter the lower regions of their minds; while the good clear the way and open the door, and invite God to enter into the lower regions of their minds as he inhabits the highest regions; and thus they form a state of the will for love and charity to flow into, and a state of the understanding for wisdom and faith to flow into, consequently for the reception of God. But the wicked obstruct that influx by various lusts of the flesh and spiritual defilements, which bestrew the way and clog the passage.”
True Christian Religion 366 (Ager)
He continues further…
“But the man who divides the Lord, charity, and faith, is not a form that receives but a form that destroys them.
…
Charity is the essence of faith, and faith is the form of charity just as good is the essence of truth, and truth is the form of good. As there are these two, namely, good and truth, in each thing and in all things that have essential existence, so there are charity and faith, charity because it belongs to good, and faith because it belongs to truth. This may be illustrated by comparisons with many things in the human body, and with many things on the earth.”
True Christian Religion 367 (Ager)
This process is all about the (re)alignment of our spirit (ie our loves and understanding) to the perfect source: all that is good and true.
The path Buddha taught is called the Noble Eightfold Path to follow: right understanding, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration.
The Bhagavad Gītā highlights that surrender to the Divine restores harmony and liberation as the Divine descends to restore “dharma” (cosmic order). (eg 4.7–8, 18.66)
The Qur’ān tells us that God invites all who have transgressed to return and that He “restores.” That a process of purification and divine mercy restore one’s state. (eg 24:21, 39:53)
The idea of realignment with the Creator and life force, by right living (ie living what is good and true) – then restoring harmony and health is very common in many indigenous traditions too. For example in Māori tradition it is called Whakapai / Mauri Ora —concept of realignment with life-force restores health and harmony.
It is exactly this process of restoration/regeneration/reformation of the human spirit that is the goal of spirituality and the reason for our creation and life experience. The good news is that while we are here, and have capacity to think, we can grow and improve our mental and physical health. The caveat is that it is our personal responsibility, given that nothing can force you to believe, feel or think anything – you are the captain of your own mind!
Summary
One law of order operates reality through correspondences; every level reflects and sustains the one above it. Divine > Spiritual/Mental > Natural/Bodily. Healing, perception, and moral life are one continuum. Across Christian, Hindu, Islamic, and Indigenous traditions, the teachings are remarkably similar when you analyse them:
There is one Divine source
There is an unseen causal realm
The mind connects spirit and body
The natural world is a manifestation
The body mirrors inner states
The environment reflects consciousness
Regeneration restores harmony with Divine order
This is about as close to a universal spiritual pattern as we find in comparative theology. In modern scientific consideration, quantum physics and the elaboration of reality collapsing from a quantum field (metaphysical source) at point of observation (consciousness) – eerily describes what we can learn from all these sources and other mystics: we manifest reality through thought, with everything grounded in a single infinite consciousness.
To put it into different words:
“Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you.”
Mark 11:24 NASB
“Truly, truly I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.”
John 16:23 NASB
In plain language: we are always granted that which we want if we are sincere enough and expect it. This is a universal law, often referred to as the “Law of Attraction”. To put it even more simple – we manifest and attract that what we love – God always gives us what we truly love, but without overriding our and others’ freewill:
“Let it be as you desire.”
Matthew 15:28
It is therefore critically important to be aware of what we are focusing our attention and energy on, subconsciously and consciously. Since we do, to put it in a different way: fulfil our own prophesies – we must be very careful about what we wish for and how we ‘see’ our future be. What is the future you want to manifest?
See also: Matthew 21:22, John 14:13-14, John 15:7, James 1:5-6, Matthew 7:7, Philipians 4:6, 1 John 3:22, Matthew 18:19, 1 john 5:14-15
