Last week I purchased my very own copy of "What the Bleep." You'll perhaps
remember that I wrote about this movie (click)
after Dar and I saw it during its theatre release. The movie is quite
interesting, and although there is nothing new in it (for many of us, quantum
physics and mysticism is pretty normal stuff,) it's a great reminder of just how
fundamentally weird life is.
My favourite part is the Wedding Scene. They all get to the
reception and there's a parallel universe like thing happening. The people are
interacting, and the cells of the people mirror the external, or vice versa, or
both. The animated cells provide a counterpoint to the external drama.
The idea is that behaviour and thought have consequences at the
cellular level, and that as the cells are affected, they create a bodily
reaction that leads to repetition of the behavior. And on and on. The cycle is what we might
think of as an addiction cycle.
So, here's the idea, unpacked a bit. Cells are the smallest living component in
the body. They take things in (nutrition, oxygen, etc.) through receptors, and
also excrete wastes. The
movie describes the receptors for cell stimulation as being like door locks. Only
the right key fits. With a key, the stimulator gets "in" and does
whatever it does - thereby
affecting the cell.
The major point being made is that cells react, and this is felt
in the body. We miss, or forget this point. When "we" have a rush, we feel it
throughout our bodies, holistically. The part we forget is that this rush is
happening at the cellular level. In other words "we" do not feel the
feeling. Each of our cells have the reaction, which we interpret as a full body
reaction.
Example: Cells respond to endorphins. (For a scientific
explanation, with an illustration, click) The cells are encoded to react with a
bodily sensation of pleasure. This is why heroin addicts get addicted. Heroin is
close to endorphin, and cells react to it. Addiction happens because the cell
itself begins to develop additional receptors for the chemical. (see
Candace Pert: click)
The interesting part is this: all emotions are, at their core, chemical reactions. That's why, for example, we actually feel fear in our
bodies, (tightening muscles, queasy stomach, etc.) as opposed to only in our
heads. The brain chemical connected to fear floods the body, and cells with
"fear" receptors react.
Now, here is where it gets interesting. The brain cannot
differentiate between a thought and reality. The more we think about
an emotional state ("I'm helpless and worthless." "Everyone is out to get me!"
"I'll get even, if it's the last thing I do." Whatever.) the more often we
trigger brain chemicals. The chemical flood causes susceptible cells to react.
As they react, they
begin to create, change or modify existing receptors to match the common brain
chemical.
In other words, it is possible, on a cellular level, to get addicted to, say, fear. The cell adds receptors, which require more of
the chemical. This
causes, in a sense, the cells to demand more of the emotional flood.
And, to make things even more odd, the new "fear" receptors are created out
of receptors for, say, cell nourishment. (The movie argues that a major cause of
ageing is cells that can no longer be adequately nourished because their
receptors have been converted to emotional receptors. The movie also suggests
this can be reversed.)
We see this in Bodywork all the time. The emotion seems rooted
in the body; the mind is seemingly along for the ride. As the emotion releases,
the body relaxes, and often the person says, "I didn't even know that was in
there!"
There are multiple points to this story, but for me, the main
one is this: the way we choose to construct our belief system (which in turn
governs how we actually live out our lives) gets played out at every level,
including the cellular. Especially the cellular!
If we are paying attention, we
can notice what we are doing as we do it, and we can choose to stop ourselves. Faith perspectives
call this choice "walking another path," "entering by the narrow gate,"
"having a
change of heart," "practicing infinite compassion."
The damage comes as we refuse to pay attention. Typically,
people simply do what they have to do to repress the pain they are feeling. As I
wrote above, people actually get addicted to the negative emotion or feeling.
The pained state soon seems normal, and the mind gets on board by creating all
kinds of justifications for staying stuck, and wallowing in the chemical soup
bathing the cells.
Until the cells can't take it any more and begin to break down,
and sicken. We then begin to see actual, physical distress, usually first
connected to muscular tightening, and then disturbances within the body's
systems.
Coupled with this is a deep resistance to the work involved in
staying present with ourselves. At one level we simply ignore what's happening.
At another level, we try to escape from it. Many of the people I see
live their lives in their heads, attempting to be "spiritual" or "enlightened" – and
they succeed only in distancing themselves from their bodies. They, in a sense,
lack "ground."
The point of the various Bodywork modalities is NOT to make the
body primary. It is to create whole persons. While we might name additional
levels, primarily we are body/mind/spirits. During our lives, there is no
escaping this fundamental reality. It is the height of stupid to focus on any
less than these 3 elements. Getting out of whack here means that the system at
some level will (not might – will) break down.
Neglect your spirit, and you WILL have a crisis of meaning – a
spiritual emergency. You will have blocked energy locked in the root of your
spine (in Indian thought, blocked Kundalini energy) and will feel bored,
restless, unmotivated and lacking in direction.
Neglect your physical body and systems will get sluggish,
muscles will tighten, and cellular damage will occur. Eat crap and you will get
sick. Refuse to deal with your issues, and your digestion will block up. Neglecting
your emotional body by focusing only on some emotions (addiction to an emotional
set – to sex, to perfection, to failure, whatever) will play out in agitation
and excess emoting of one channel.
Neglect your mind, and you WILL have a life filled with
defensiveness, blaming, judgments and rigidity. Soon, your world becomes black and white and choices
evaporate.
Next issue, we'll look at ways out of this quagmire. In the mean
time, open yourself to the voice of your body/mind/spirit. See if you can learn
your games – what you are doing to yourself, and what you are addicted to.
EXTRA LINKS
Here are two links to sites talking variously about
transformative energy and spiritual crisis. Note that many of the "symptoms"
described are physical manifestations of redirected energy.
Link
Link
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E-Zine 
