The Journey Within: A Deeper Look at Healing and Self-Discovery

By Ian Mansell

“Physician, heal thyself!” is an ancient quote which appears in many places including the gospel of Luke.

I have heard this line many times throughout my life and each time it has resonated with me in different ways. Some people see it as an admonishment to attend to your own faults before pointing out the faults in others.

As a youthful science student I interpreted  it as meaning “if you’re any good, doctor, you should prove it to me by healing yourself first”: in other words, it was an indignant cry against the hypocrisy of the medical establishment.

Later on when I was growing medicinal herbs it seemed to say “Nature is out there with a thousand natural remedies so you can heal yourself with nature’s solutions and you don’t need pharmaceutical or surgical interventions.”

I was impressed at that time by the way sick farm animals seemed to know how to medicate themselves with appropriate herbs. Animals possess an inherent discernment for the healing properties of specific herbs, a survival skill which has become lost or perhaps merely dormant inside us humans.

I remember being quite impressed by an Italian man I met at a market who told me his Nonna (grandma) didn’t need to actually feed him the herbs he needed – she would just repeat the name of the herb to him like an incantation and the healing would follow. He swore this was true.  It made me think about the possibility of healing angels or nature devas associated with each plant species. This seemed to fit with my understanding of the philosophies of Rudolph Steiner and the Findhorn community.

My curiosity was further stimulated when I read in Francisco Coll’s “Man and the Universe” that “Science tells us that about every seven years we have a complete renewal of the physical body, and that most cells in the body are replaced every three to twelve months.”

If all our cells are constantly being replaced, I wondered, how can we explain chronic diseases? Why aren’t the diseased cells being replaced with fresh new good ones? There must be some kind of external agenda being imposed on the body, preventing the body from repairing itself. What could it be?

The popular explanation for serious/chronic diseases in the 1960s and 70s was Genetic Mutation: the idea that a mistake; a fault on the arcane computer programme that controlled our bodily functions had occurred. Genetic mutation was as if God had punched the wrong hole on an IBM computer card. It was no-one’s fault, just bad luck in the lottery of life, and there really wasn’t much we could do about it. This fitted in with the Cold War mentality of the time. Mutations could well be the result of radiation sickness or toxic chemicals or perhaps good old mixed racial breeding!

There is no doubt genetic mutation is a real phenomenon in some cases, but the Cold War with its doomsday machines lined up against each other created a deep feeling of powerlessness and inescapable victimhood;- a sense that there wasn’t anything anyone could do to stop our own destruction. 

This belief – being unable to fight back against our own disease – played into the idea that “There’s something wrong in my programming that’s making me sick; perhaps there’s some kind of moral impurity in me. God wouldn’t let this happen to me –  I belong to his chosen people.”

Later, in the seventies and eighties, when the world view shifted to the dangers of pollution and greenhouse gases, the popular explanation became that the genetic errors which had been lying dormant, were now being triggered into expressing themselves as physical disease by the toxic environment in which we lived. Now instead of blaming genetic errors, we could blame our parents and society’s behaviour and the evils of the industrialists for creating our disease. 

No doubt there was considerable truth in this too, but in all these mindsets we were forever playing the victim of someone else’s culpable behaviour. And we all love to play the blame game!

In 1976 along came Louise Hay’s revolutionary little blue book “Heal Your Body“ in which we could look up our symptoms and read the matching concept that was responsible. Suddenly there was no-one to blame except ourself, and the new villain was our negative self-limiting beliefs:- beliefs about who we are and what we can achieve became the agent responsible for our body’s ailments.

Hay’s message was that if we are to heal our body, we must first seek to heal our mind.

It became clear that our intellectual thoughts and beliefs are responsible for sabotaging the natural self-renewing processes of our body. Beliefs about ourself, the product of emotional experiences in our past, are shaped by our intellect. These beliefs then frame and distort our body’s health, contorting it into a symbolic physical reflection of our inner thoughts and fears.

Louise Hay herself believed that her cervical cancer was a response to unhealed trauma from childhood abuse and rape. By healing the memories of that abuse and spreading love and forgiveness, she believed she was able to heal her cancer.

A more recent bestseller by Dr. B van der Kolk “The Body Keeps The Score” expands this idea to his psychological treatment of PTSD and similar trauma, focusing on the damaging effects of long-lasting emotional scars. 

In Soara Academy, Spirit has given us the Chakra Profile Consultation. Chakras are the junctions where our spiritual body connects to our physical body. In the chakra consultation the percentage flow of spiritual energy through each chakra is discerned. A checklist of concepts for each chakra is used to pinpoint the intellectual misunderstandings that are blocking that chakra, and specific therapeutic affirmations are prescribed. This is a powerful individualised therapy that has produced significant results.

Recently I have noticed a number of respected oncologists on my social media feed saying that cancer is not just a disease that you are unfortunate to catch (like the flu). They say in fact your body encounters cancer-causing cells throughout your life, and every day of your life your immune system has successfully dealt with them, disabling and eliminating them. They are saying that you only “get” cancer if your immune system stops fighting these invasions, thus allowing the cancer cells to take root and grow. The insatiable greed of the cancer then saps your own lifeforce until you both die.

If it is true that you only succumb to cancer when you stop fighting it, and it is true that your thoughts may be dominating your body’s natural self-healing processes, then you have to ask yourself the question “why did I decide to stop resisting this disease?”

Perhaps I believe I deserved such punishment? Do I feel I am unworthy of being spared? (If so, where did that idea come from?)

Do I think my life so meaningless that I am willing to abandon it? If so, why? Why aren’t I doing what gives me satisfaction and personal growth? And why aren’t I challenging and overcoming my weaknesses instead of submitting to them?

In other words, what happened to cause me to lose my self-loyalty?

From my experience the path to true healing and real spiritual growth begins when you start to search for your lost self-loyalty. We have to discover where we lost it or gave it away. 

When did we stop loving ourself?

* * *

What then does “physician heal thyself” mean to me now?

It means my self-loyalty must be high so my energy is high before I can help others. 

Solara Academy offers a multitude of courses, profiles and healings that will help you uncover the many ways you lost your respect for yourself and will offer you the tools to restore your enthusiasm for your journey as a soul. It is a profound opportunity to learn, heal and grow. 

When I live my life in a way that meets the challenges of my Unique Vibration – my true purpose this lifetime – I will feel fulfilled, confident, directed and high-spirited. My energy will radiate out spontaneously to elevate and enlighten both me and my every environment. Confusion will have nowhere to hide in my body. My healing love energy flows out freely and everyone benefits.

Ready to Embrace Your Self-Loyalty?

If you’re ready to make yourself a priority and reconnect with your inner strength, “Prioritising You: The Me First Course – Embracing Self-Loyalty” is the perfect step forward. This course will guide you in rediscovering your self-loyalty, aligning your energy, and setting a solid foundation for your personal and spiritual growth.

Stop putting yourself last. Start the journey to a more empowered, self-loyal you today.

Discover the course here: Prioritising You: The Me First Course

What’s Next?

If this article has inspired you, take the next step on your journey of self-discovery and personal growth. Book a free 15-minute one-to-one call with us to find out more about how we can support you. Explore our upcoming events, personal consultations, and other transformative offerings at www.solaraacademy.com

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