"If triangles had a god, he would have three sides."

Charles de Montesquieu

Caroline Myss is a leader in the field of energy medicine and human consciousness; she links the human energetic system with the great wisdom traditions of the world in an attempt to fuse healing with answering the big question of all time: "For what purpose have we been born?" Though expressed in seemingly unrelated formats, all cultures have made reference to a force within the universe that grants humans the capacity to attain healing while creating their own reality. How does this energy field pertain to the orthodox medical field? Skeptics question the authenticity of energetics, particularly in terms of healing as defined as a skill versus a result of the placebo effect. Moreover, they establish that there is no concrete laboratory evidence that such energy or ability has ever been verified under laboratory situations. Then again as far back as the 1700’s, Anton Mesmer believed there were magnetic fields in and around the body that could be manipulated to induce health, yet quantum physicists continue to deliberate the existence of an electromagnetic field generated by the body’s processes. So if science cannot find it, is it invalid?

Myss refers to herself as a medical intuitive that can see illnesses through intuitive means of reading the energy system. The human energy system, also known as the chakra system, is the basis of Hinduism and Buddhism traditions. The word chakra is Sanskrit for wheel or disk and signifies one of seven basic energy centers in the body. “Each of these centers correlates to major nerve ganglia branching forth from the spinal column. In addition the chakras also correlate to levels of consciousness, archetypal elements, developmental stages of life, colors, sounds, body functions, and more.”[1] Divine energy flows through the seven data banks that are energetically located in our biology: they store information, they store power and they manage power. Interpreting the energetic system can provide information related to where one is investing one’s spirit and this in turn can enable healing which is paramount to consciousness and self-awareness; and vise versa.[2]

Myss believes that the body’s seven energy centres of the Hinduism and Buddhism traditions have an equal counterpart in Western traditions: the Seven Sacraments and the Judaic Tree of Life from the Kabbala. The Seven Sacraments are rituals that began in the Christian church that represent the taking of vows with heaven. The Powers of the Tree of Life are the qualities within us that we are meant to develop; they mark the passage of power points.[3] Symbolically, all traditions script the passage of the human journey of one level of empowerment to the next with the forces living within our biological nature. If we understand and live by this simple truth, there is a good chance our entire spiritual/biological system would be balanced. The Sacraments, the Chakras, the Tree of Life are all variations of names for the stages through which we progress in our maturation toward becoming conscious.[4]  Hence: “We are born to manage power.”[5]

Invariably religions, shamans, yogis and new age spiritualists emphasize the power of prayer as an instrument of attaining that which we desire. Christians pray for miracles, the shaman communicates with the heavens, yogis meditate on their chakras, Native American people ask for help and guidance from the grandfathers and new age icons such as Caroline Myss tap into the Devine energy. Along the same lines, Dr Wayne Dyer teaches about the Power of Intention, the force of energy that connects all. This divine energy that pulsates through our seven energy centres is also believed to be a force of collective consciousness, connecting everything. Dyer describes a force of energy that we can all utilize to co-create our own reality. In other words intention is not something you do, but rather a force, a field of energy that exists in the universe; we are part of that energy. Dyer explains how he came to this insight after reading Carlos Castaneda’s words: “Intent is a force that exists in the universe. When sorcerers (those who live of the Source) beckon intent, it comes to them and sets up the path for attainment, which means that sorcerers always accomplish what they set out to do.” More than 20 centuries ago Patanjali said: “Dormant forces, faculties and talents come alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”[6] What is more, we create the reality we believe in, which implies that it is in our best interest to become aware of our thoughts and our beliefs, to be mindful instead of reactive, to choose a positive frame with which to create with intention.

“Intention is a force in the universe and everything and everyone is connected to this invisible force.”[7]

Although the medical community does not recognize the existence of the human energy field, it is not completely ignored by medical practitioners. In the Holographic Universe, Talbot presents Dr. Shafica Karagulla, a neurologist and psychiatrist, a sceptic who changed her mind after encountering professionals in the medical field who demonstrated the ability of higher sense perception, or HSP, the ability to see the human energy field. Using the aura – reading the energy fields - of their patients they were able to make accurate medical diagnoses. Most kept their abilities a secret and were reluctant to come forward because they feared it might damage their professional reputations. In her book, Karagulla identifies her contacts by their first names only and claims they include famous surgeons, professors of medicine, heads of departments in hospitals and physicians. “I was continually surprised to find out how many members of the medical profession have HSP abilities,” Talbot quotes her as saying. “Most of them felt uneasy about their gifts, but finding them useful in diagnosis, they used them. They came from many parts of the country, and although they were unknown to each other, they all reported similar types of experiences.”[8]

Is this skill or merely belief? According to Joe Nickell, Senior Research Fellow with the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), “Myss provides no proof of her alleged abilities. She intuits, of course, her intuitive power, offers only hearsay testimonials and anecdotal evidence as support.”[9] He goes on to say: “In contrast to objective, scientific medicine, which continues to make important breakthroughs in identifying and treating diseases, injuries, and other illnesses, "energy medicine" is based on mysticism and pseudoscience.” Furthermore, the evidence holds that Myss is an advocate of untested therapies such as acupuncture, acupressure, reflexology, simple massage, the biblical "laying on of hands", "therapeutic touch", "talk therapy," crystal healing, herbal remedies, homeopathy, meditation, and, of course, prayer; in other words mumbo-jumbo. Myss does not provide any scientific experiments in support of alternative treatments; instead she is merely offering “the old feel-good remedies” of "spirituality," the power of positive thinking, and the placebo effect.”[10]

Matt Nisbet, writer for the Council for Media Integrity Alert, agrees and insists that abilities such as Myss’s claims have never been verified under laboratory situations and he cautions this will lead to misdiagnosis. “Her success as a best selling author is the latest symptom of a public infatuated with all things alternative, mystical and spiritual. It is estimated that Americans spend $14 billion annually on health-related therapies that have not been scientifically validated. As the market demand for unproven alternative healing therapies grow, Americans are at increased risk of misdiagnosis and mistreatment.”[11] “Myss's philosophy is that ‘Our lives are made up of a series of mysteries that we are meant to explore but that are meant to remain unsolved.’ Such mystery-mongering naturally leads to occult, mystical, and magical thinking. A more enlightened view would hold that mysteries should neither be fostered nor suppressed, but rather should be carefully investigated in hopes of solving them. Indeed, one can see the progress of civilization as a series of solved mysteries. This is the attitude that led to the development of the polio vaccine and the eradication of smallpox. ‘Energy medicine’ can boast of no comparable successes.”[12]

Despite complete scientific rejection, the concept of special biological fields within living things remains deeply engraved in human thinking. It is now working its way into modern health care systems, as non-scientific alternative therapies become increasingly popular. From acupuncture to homeopathy and therapeutic touch, the claim is made that healing can be brought about by the proper adjustment of a person's or animal's "bioenergetic fields." This delusion has become so ubiquitous that it is appearing in books and journals that claim to practice scientific standards.[13]

According to Victor Stenger, in the June 1998 edition of the Skeptical Brief Newsletter, prominent physicists of the nineteenth century, William Cookes and Oliver Lodge searched for the “psychic force” associated with the mysterious powers of paranormal. Believing that it might be connected with electromagnetic “aether waves” that had recently been discovered, they put it to many tests. But they were unable to find anything and the aether was found not to exist.[14]. Victor concluded saying, “Holistic bioenergetic fields are figments of the imagination.”[15] Nevertheless, some physicists of the twentieth century seem to have a more humble approach to science and realize that just because we haven’t found something doesn’t mean it isn’t there, it just means we haven’t found it. Fred Alan Wolf, PhD in Physics said of science: “If you study science long enough and seriously enough and dig deeply enough, if you don’t come out feeling whacko about it, you haven’t understood a thing.”[16] To expand on this, Wolf uses the example of the electron conundrum; in other words, what happens to them when they suddenly disappear:

What seems to happen is that particles appear and disappear all the time so where do they go when they’re not here? Now that question is tricky[…] [One answer is] they go into an alternative universe where the people in that universe are asking that same question about those particles when they come to our universe. They say, where did they go? Lol[17]

In conclusion, our Western scientific world maintains there is no proof for the energetic system. From the conventional scientific perspective, alternative healing therapies remain unproven. Acupuncture, acupressure, reflexology, simple massage, the biblical "laying on of hands", "therapeutic touch", "talk therapy," crystal healing, herbal remedies, homeopathy, meditation, and, of course, prayer are nothing more than figments of our imagination that work in the same way as the placebo effect.[18] Must everything be submitted to scientific methods to be valid? If people are healing due to a placebo effect, does that invalidate the healing that is taking place? Perhaps it was the illness that was invalid in the first place? If the desired results are attained, does it really matter that it has not been proven scientifically? If there is a system in place that heals people and helps people to become more caring and less afraid of each other should we reduce it and discard it because it does not stand up to the scientific method? “Based on fifteen years of research into energy medicine; Dr.Myss’s work shows how every illness corresponds to a pattern of emotional and psychological stresses, beliefs, and attitudes that have influenced corresponding areas of the human body. By teaching you to see your body and spirit in a new way, [alternative medicine] provides you with the tools for spiritual maturity and physical wholeness that will change your life.”[19] With a growing tendency to “define ourselves by our wounds” and consequently "burden and lose our physical and spiritual energy and open ourselves to the risk of illness," it seems that she is doing what we need more of in this world. Myss teaches us to detach from an ego-driven life filled with quick fixes of happiness and step into a more authentic, joyful, and spiritually fulfilling life. Ours is a world that has fragmented the person: religion, spirituality, physical health and psychology have been treated as separate rather than each being an integral part of the whole. Alternative medicines tend to embrace the ancient ways of treating the person as a whole. Caroline Myss’s seven stages of power and healing not only embrace the person as a whole, they connect the teachings of all the great wisdom traditions, symbolic of the stages of development towards consciousness in the infiniteness of the “multiverse”.[20]