text:
Homeopathy
for
Today's World

"Dr. Rajan Sankaran is one of the most insightful homeopathic practitioners and thinkers alive today. The depth and originality of his vision have expanded the boundaries of homeopathic philosophy and practice, gaining him thousands of adherents among professional homeopaths worldwide. In this unique volume, Dr. Sankaran shares his perspective on homeopathy in a manner designed to be accessible to the layperson as well as the clinician."

JULIAN JONAS, CCH, LIC. AC., CENTER FOR HOMEOPATHY OF SOUTHERN VERMONT

" _Homeopathy for Today's World_ is a triumph: the healing art is revealed! Rajan Sankaran's experiences and insights to date are united within an overarching philosophy and are made explicit and intelligible. His quest for the most reliable form of homeopathy has been unremitting. I will recommend this book to all my students."

MISHA NORLAND, FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL OF THE SCHOOL OF HOMEOPATHY, DEVON, ENGLAND

"Dr. Rajan Sankaran has given us a valuable tool to discover 'the other song,' the inner individualizing experience inherent in every person. The nature of this core feeling plays an important role in the response to stressful situations and generally in the maladies of life. Dr. Sankaran's clarity of thought in the methodology of how to access the continuous inner sensation has opened an immense perspective. His method serves as a deep journey into the self and is a valuable advancement of homeopathic practice today and in the future."

ANNE SCHADDE, FOUNDER OF THE HOMEOPATHY FORUM IN MUNICH AND COFOUNDER OF THE EUROPEAN AND INTERNATIONAL COUNCILS FOR CLASSICAL HOMEOPATHY

". . . a useful reading for homoeopathy practitioners—beginners and old-timers alike. Its merit lies in the scale of its view revealing the art of healing. The author's overarching philosophy is explicit and intelligible, and the exposition is such as to make understanding of the subject easy."

 _T HE HINDU,_ ONLINE EDITION OF INDIA'S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
Acknowledgments

WHILE I AM grateful to many friends and colleagues for help in the preparation of this book, special thanks are due to Dr. Kanan Khatau Chikhal, who has worked with me on the book right from the first draft; and to Dr. Mary Gillies, Susan Cortes, Prof. Usha Subramanian, and Dr. Roger Morrison, whose editorial input has been most valuable. Some parts of this book are borrowed from my earlier books, _The Sensation in Homeopathy_ and _Sensation Refined,_ which were very competently edited by Dr. Rashmi Jaising and Dr. Antonia Desouza, respectively. My thanks are also due to my many friends and colleagues who read the initial drafts and offered their valuable feedback. These include Dr. Linda Johnston, Cheryl Feng, Rachna Toshniwal, C. Y. Gopinath, Hema Rajshekhar, Prof. Abdul Sattar, and Rajiv Mehrotra. Thanks to Dr. Divya Chhabra for her constructive criticism, which is much valued. Thanks to my children Soham and Sahaj for all the joy they bring into my life and all the lessons I learn through them. And special thanks to Dr. Meghna Shah, whose intention, efficiency, effort, and encouragement have made possible so much of what I do, and made it a joy. Many thanks to Anjali Menrai and Cheryl Feng for the artwork.

Many thanks to all my patients. Their trust in me is a very big motivation for all my work. Heartfelt thanks to those who have so kindly consented to have their detailed case studies reported here.
**A NOTE TO THE READER**

Recent discoveries in homeopathic practice have led to a completely new way of understanding the human being, concepts that can be applied universally. This book introduces these concepts to the lay reader and all those interested in knowing more about the human psyche.

It is not the purpose of this book to teach homeopathy or therapy. Such teaching needs to be imparted systematically and in recognized institutions. It would be highly risky to practice any therapy without proper, systematic, and rigorous training. At the same time, this book should not be used to superficially classify oneself or others.

To perceive what lies at the depth of each one's being is a process. Such a process needs to be carried out by someone well qualified, skilled, and trained. It demands of both the therapist and the one undergoing the process a completely open mind, free from all prejudice and knowledge, including what is offered in this book.
Contents

Cover Image

Title Page

Dedication

Epigraph

Acknowledgments

A Note to the Reader

Preface

An Introduction to Homeopathic Inquiry

HUMAN REACTION PATTERNS

ANOTHER CLASSIFICATION—ANIMAL, MINERAL, OR PLANT

Chapter 1. The Source of Stress

WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF CONFLICT?

WHAT "IS" IS

THE EXPERIENCE AND NOT THE SITUATION

Chapter 2. The Two Songs: What It Means to be Human

THE SONG HIDDEN WITHIN

Chapter 3. The Seven Levels of Experience

THE CONCEPT OF THE LEVELS

LEVELS AND AGES OF MAN

Chapter 4. A Map to the Inner World

RECOGNIZING THE PLANT SONG

RECOGNITION OF THE ANIMAL SONG

RECOGNITION OF THE MINERAL SONG

THE ROWS AND THEIR ISSUES

SUMMARY

HUMOR AND THE KINGDOMS

THE OTHER SONG AND HEALTH

Chapter 5. The Three Homeopathic Postulates

THE FIRST POSTULATE

THE SECOND POSTULATE

THE THIRD POSTULATE

Chapter 6. Our Coping Reactions

THE TEN REACTION TYPES

Chapter 7. The Technique for Reaching the Depths

THE GESTURE IS OFTEN THE KEY

CRITERIA FOR IDENTIFYING WORDS OF IMPORTANCE

MOVING DEEPER

THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS

GOING TO THE CORE

THE SEVENTH LEVEL OF EXPERIENCE

NONSENSE PHENOMENA

GOING INTO THE EXPERIENCE

IN OTHERS' WORDS

Chapter 8. Doorway through Doodles

INTERPRETATION OF DOODLES

A NEW LOOK AT DOODLES

THE FIFTH DOODLE

Chapter 9. Metaphors

Chapter 10. Awareness: The Way to Healing

THE WAY TO HEALTH

HOW CAN ONE BECOME AWARE?

WHAT IS THE LEVEL IN HEALTH?

Chapter 11. Case Studies

THE OTHER SONG AND HOMEOPATHY

A TYPICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE INQUIRY PROCESS

Conclusion

Appendix: Some Questions

Resources

Footnotes

About the Author

About Inner Traditions • Bear & Company

Books of Related Interest

Copyright & Permissions
Preface

WHAT IS IT that makes each one of us who we are? What is it that makes us feel, perceive, experience, and act in a unique manner? Wherein lies this uniqueness and its source? What is it that generates stress in each of us? Questions like these are not merely interesting and intriguing but also vital to an individual's understanding of his persona. "Know thyself " is but the way to "Heal thyself."

I had an opportunity to explore these questions in my own life when I was invited to country X for a seminar. The process of getting there was interesting. I applied for a visa and was told I would have to go to Delhi for a private interview. I wrote to my hosts in country X to ask if they could talk to their ministry to arrange that I be allowed to talk on the phone for the visa interview rather than go in person. They left a message with the ambassador and then told me to telephone him. When I called, however, the embassy said that he was away on vacation for one-and-a-half months. In his absence, the vice-consul didn't do phone interviews. So I wrote an e-mail. There was no response for ten days. What to do now? They said they would arrange for me to speak to the vice-consul. "We don't promise. However, send your papers." So I sent them the papers, but after two weeks there was still no response. It was now three months since I'd initiated the procedure, and there was still no result.

At this point I was supposed to be leaving in a week for a big world trip of seminars, and all my papers were delayed. After thirty to thirty-five phone calls, they told me the visa was ready. I sent somebody to pick up the papers at 9:00 a.m., and they made him wait until 4:00 p.m. and then told him to return the following day. The next day the same thing happened. They said my papers were not ready. The papers were for a different Sankaran, who wanted to leave on the same day. Then they asked for a bank paper, which would take a week to process. In the meantime the ambassador had returned, so I phoned him. I said, "Give me my passport back, with or without the visa." He said, "You are an honored guest, you must go!" So again I sent a messenger. He arrived at 10:00 a.m., and throughout the day they told me they were putting the visa in his hand, while he reported he was still waiting outside. He got the visa at 7:30 p.m.

Why am I telling you this story? This is a typical stressful situation, and it provides a good opportunity to inquire into the nature of stress. If we can perceive what stress is in this given situation, maybe we can get an idea of what stress is in general. Surely I was very stressed in this situation—but what was happening within me that I labeled as "stress"? What did I feel and experience throughout this process? I could observe that simultaneously there were different things going on, as if there were different levels of experience within me.

I had a need for a visa so that I could go to that country. I needed my passport back so that I could go to the other countries on the lecture tour. I needed the passport back within a particular time so that I could make my scheduled flight. I had to calculate what to do in case I did not get the visa, what changes my itinerary would require. A practical mind was working out these facts. This was one level of my experience at that time.

On another level—namely, emotional—I was angry and anxious. The anxiety led to physical symptoms, such as palpitations. I was very upset.

At another level I was speculating as to what might be causing the delay. Why was it not working out? What could be the reason? Several theories came to my mind, but a prominent thought was wondering if this was deliberate on the part of the embassy. Was it a conspiracy?

I can now see that this kind of suspicion and perception is not limited to this particular situation and is familiar to me from other situations in my life, past and present. But if you were to ask me to go deeper into myself and ask what I was actually experiencing in the moment—not what feelings I had, or what I imagined about the situation, but what was I experiencing? What was I feeling in the very core of my being? For the most part, I (like most of you) am not aware, not conscious of this aspect. However, I let myself go into that experience, observed it, and got in touch with a deeper level of experience. It was a sensation I could feel intensely within my whole being. I can only describe it as a kind of gagging. The word alone is insufficient to describe my experience. It was a choking, a constriction that went up my chest into my throat. To fully express it I needed to make sounds and gestures. If I went deeper into this sensation, I could see it as a part of an experience of being caught, trapped, and overpowered.

This sensation (and the overall experience) actually had nothing to do with the ambassador, ministry, visas, or conspiracies. It transcended the barriers of time and space. It is an experience I have had many times in my life and that I will have in any future stressful situations. This experience has no name, no fact, and no emotion to it. It is intrinsic to my unique, inexplicable experience of reality.

This experience is part of a pattern that is deeply embedded within me. The deeper I perceive this pattern of experience in my life, the more I realize my state and the root of my stress. This is true not only for me, but for you as well. Awareness of this pattern is the path to liberation from it.

We all desire to minimize our stress and suffering; we desire peace. We try to find the solution to the problem we see as the cause of stress. We try to avoid situations that are stressful. We attempt to change our job, our partner, or our location. We try to change ourselves. We read self-help books. We meditate. We go to religious services. We talk with people about our problems. We seek professional help. I'm sure you are familiar with whatever you do to deal with your stress.

When we have an argument with someone, when we feel hurt in a relationship, when we are having difficulties in our work or face a business loss, we tend to see the problem as being outside of us, something we need to solve. We analyze the issue to find logical explanations or reasons why such a situation has occurred and determine what we should do about it. We might say, "The problem between my wife and me is that she simply does not understand me; I think we need to go to a counselor." We tend to justify our emotions; for example, we may say, "It is natural for me to be anxious when business is so bad," or, "Who would not get angry when his friend acts like that?" We classify situations, give people labels, sometimes even give a name to our own state. We could say, "That man is a tyrant," or, "I have an inferiority complex."

None of these attempts to solve the issue has lasting effect, for one simple reason: We have not gotten to the root of the issue. The problem is not outside, but in our experience of it. When we communicate with others, we reason or we argue but we do not see that we are not getting through. We are saying something, but it is not what we say that is important. What is important is where it is coming from, and that is a deep level within us, beneath or beyond our consciousness. Until that level is touched by us, within us, our communication and dealings with the outside world will remain problematic, superficial, and ineffective in the deeper context of our inner peace.

Let us use an everyday example to illustrate this idea. You come home from work and see that your parking space has been taken by someone else; a neighbor, perhaps. Your emotions are excited. This is not the first time he has done this. You have told him before politely, but he has done this too often. What happens? At one level you know what needs to be done, and this level is simply fact. There is no stress here, only a calculation. But at another level there is anger: "How dare he? Who does he think he is?" This level is stressful, your nerves are excited, and your mind is working overtime. When you look into this experience, you will see that this stress does not come from the situation but from your perception of it—your innermost experience of that anger, your feeling of being victimized, trapped, caught, helpless against a stronger opponent in your struggle to survive. Or you experience apprehension that the parking space will be lost to you. Or you feel fearful about facing the rudeness of the neighbor when you confront him about what he is doing, desiring to avoid the rudeness, since you are very sensitive.

Whatever your experience, you realize that this experience is not limited to this situation but transcends it and applies to you as a whole and for most of your life. That this experience is who you are. That is the stress for you; it is the constant source of stress.

At some point we do realize that stress comes not from the outside but from the way we perceive and react to reality, which is unique to each one of us. In fact, it is the way each one perceives and reacts to reality that makes him unique, gives him his individuality. Thus, our stress is inseparable from our individuality.

Most of us realize that ultimately, to minimize stress, it doesn't help to change our outside circumstances but that we need to perceive the true source of our stress. Psychologists, therapists, and others do a lot of work on this. We are familiar with the ideas that stress comes from incidents like your father having beaten you when you were twelve, from constantly arguing with your wife, from concern that you don't have enough money, and so on. But while these may be the situations in which you feel stressed, your unique experience of stress arises from something much deeper, which is also expressed in areas of your life that are not considered stressful. It actually underlies your entire experience of life.

In my work as a homeopathic doctor I definitely need to know as much as I can about the inner process of each individual who comes to me for treatment. This has certainly been a strong motivation for my work, but I've been equally interested in discovering what lies at the core of my own self.

In my practice I repeatedly see people go deeper into the experience of their stress, their disease, their joy, their grief, and each time a characteristic pattern, unique to each person, is revealed. Such a pattern exists in me, in you, in everyone. If you increase your awareness of this pattern, you will experience less stress and more peace.

You can experience the truth of these ideas through a simple process of inquiry. This is not a process of analyzing or classifying, but a process in which you go deeper within and observe your experience in the moment. The depth and totality of this experience is the truth.

We go deeper by asking the _what_ of something and not the _why_ of something. When we ask ourselves why something is this way or that, we come up with reasons that may seem like the truth but can always be debated. On the other hand, when we go deeper and deeper asking, "What is?" we uncover the true inner experience where there is no room for interpreting, theorizing, or analyzing. It is a process of pure observation.

The essence of this work lies in the concept that our behavior and feelings stem from something much deeper in our beings. This basic, inexplicable experience, unique to each one of us, is neither emotional nor intellectual; it is a sensation felt in the body and mind simultaneously, one that is constant, one that colors our whole experience of life. This sensation is our constant companion, the "other song" that keeps singing within us. And this song resonates with something in nature, be it an animal, plant, or mineral.

The awareness referred to here is not an intellectual understanding or an observation of a behavior or thought pattern in ourselves; nor is it a flash of realization, or an interpretation by someone else. It is a process. It is a process of going within the self without the mind, of diving into the depth of one's experience over and over again. It is a process that can begin now and extend over several months or years, a gradual awakening to one's inner world. It is a nonverbal, nonintellectual process that allows one to hear the other song that is playing within and to become aware of how it has shaped everything in his life.

The ideas in the book have had a considerable impact on the homeopathic practice. They are not theories, but observations from daily practice and life confirmed by colleagues all over the world. All case studies in this book have been successfully treated with homeopathy and helped by the interview process. However, the concepts are universal and can be applied in any field of human involvement.
An Introduction to Homeopathic Inquiry

BY WAY OF background and to trace for you the path I have traveled, let me briefly explain homeopathy and the development of my ideas.

In 1790 a German physician, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, made a very significant discovery. At that time cinchona bark (from which quinine is derived) was very well known and used for its curative effects on malaria. Eager to discover what gave the bark its curative power, Hahnemann tested this substance on himself while he was in a healthy state. He saw that it produced within him symptoms similar to those of malaria: chill, fever, and sweat. This led him to suspect that certain substances can not only produce certain symptoms and signs in a healthy individual but also cure someone with the same symptoms. This was the beginning of homeopathy, which is based on the principle of "like cures like."

Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the father of homeopathy

After this, Hahnemann started testing various substances on himself and some volunteers to ascertain what effects they could produce in healthy people so that he could use them when he found similar symptoms in sick people. He started meticulously recording the elicited signs and symptoms of each substance tested on healthy volunteers in a book called the homeopathic materia medica (literally, medical matter).

What Hahnemann also ascertained is that disease is not localized but affects the whole being. Therefore, when a person is sick, it is not merely a part but the whole of him that is sick. Likewise, a substance affects the whole being, including the mind. The homeopath thus keeps these factors in mind when treating a patient.

During the initial consultation a homeopath records all symptoms as well as the patient's state of mind. This is then correlated to symptoms of the various remedies in the materia medica, and then the single remedy that is the closest match is given to the patient.

Hahnemann also recognized the need to sometimes use certain substances that would be poisonous in their natural state, for he foresaw their utility as great remedies. Recognizing there was no way he could use them in their pristine form, he decided to dilute them. To his surprise he saw that the more he diluted the substances (with vigorous shaking), the more their medicinal effects increased. This process of serial dilution of a drug substance is termed "potentization."

The serial dilution was carried to such an extent that hardly any of the original substance remained in these dilutions, yet their effects were powerful. This led Hahnemann to conclude that diseases are not material states but dynamic conditions. Thus, healing also happens dynamically. He postulated that there is a dynamic life force within each of us, and it is at this level that both disease and healing occur. Disease is the disturbance of this force unique to each individual and manifested as a state of mind and through different physical symptoms.

Sickness can be compared to a sitar (an Indian musical instrument with many strings) that is out of tune. Naturally there will be discord. However, it is the faulty tuning itself and not the individual notes that need to be addressed. Similarly, homeopathic treatment is at the same time holistic and individualistic. The inner disturbance needs to be corrected and restored to bring health and balance to the whole being. A person's state of being, his perception of and response to the world, is an essential part of his individuality and as integral to his disease as the pain in his limbs or the ulcer in his stomach.

The inner disurbance of disease causes discord in a human being that can be compared to the discordant music produced by a sitar that is out of tune.

In homeopathy everything that a patient says, however strange, rare, or peculiar, is a symptom. For example, if you feel hot in a cold room, it is a symptom. In other words, a symptom is an inappropriate response to the existing situation. It is as if the person is perceiving and reacting to a reality different from what actually exists. In a cold room he responds as if it were a hot room.

Disease is thus an affliction of the whole person, a posture adopted as a survival mechanism to suit a particular situation that is perceived rather than real. This posture causes us to react to reality in an unsuitable and disproportionate manner due to our false perception of it. Naturally, this in turn produces constant stress in us. For example, when a man is being chased by a lion, the posture of running fast, being afraid, and so on is appropriate, because his survival depends upon it. However, if he is in such a state with no lion to justify it, or he adopts such a posture even when chased by a little dog, or if he is in such a panic that he cannot think (a reaction that is in excess of what is needed in the situation), then this is disease. It is as if he were functioning on a false perception of reality, a delusion that makes him react in an inappropriate manner. This is the root of his stress. This delusion is further reflected in a person's fears, dreams, and hobbies and colors all aspects of his life as if he were wearing tinted glasses at all times.

  The patient, a boy of ten years, was referred to me for treatment of a very severe and chronic skin problem. He had boils on his extremities, which were very painful and itchy. For the previous month he had been unable to sit or stand. He was carried into my consulting room, crying, his boils full of pus.

Describing the itching, the mother said it was so bad that the boy wanted to tear away his skin. With his hands clenched, he would shriek from the severity of the itching, almost like an insane person. He would say, "Kill me, I can't take it, I don't want to live." Whenever the itching became too much he would say, "Give me a knife, I want to stab my arms."

In earlier years the boy had been very dependent on a particular goddess, and he composed and sang songs in her praise. When the itching started, the boy became angry at the goddess and said, "I have done so much for her and this is what she has done to me!" Once having said this, he tore up the picture he had of the goddess.

He was very sensitive in both mind and skin. He could not tolerate even a drop of water; he did not like bathing and was thirstless. The itching with its accompanying violence was not continuous but spasmodic. There was cruel behavior, both toward himself and toward others. He often said, "I will go mad."

In this case we can see the following symptoms on the mental and general level:

• Violence

• Abusive

• Striking

• Cruelty

• Impulse to tear

• Desire to cut, mutilate

• Impulse to stab himself

The main feelings connected with this state are:

• Forsaken (by goddess)

• Tormented (by goddess)

• Feels he has suffered wrong

From these feelings come the violent reactions. He has skin eruptions and reacts as if he were in a situation where he is tormented and forsaken by the person he is serving and on whom he is dependent (the goddess).

From this we can see that the boy's fixed perception (delusion) was that he was being tortured and tormented by the goddess to whom he was so devoted. This reaction was one of violence with the impulse to destroy. (The homeopathic remedy HYDROPHOBINUM—which is made from the saliva of a rabid dog—has this exact perception and reaction, and this remedy healed the boy.)

Incidentally, an examination of the history of the mother during her pregnancy revealed the following story.

This was the mother's second pregnancy; her first child had been stillborn. She had a severe toothache throughout the second pregnancy and felt that something terrible would happen. She prayed all the time, and when the baby was ten days overdue, she became panicky and extremely tense. She stood before the picture of the same goddess and with her hands clenched, cried: "Why are you doing this to me?"

The feeling is the same: troubled by someone she is dependent on, a sense of injustice, forsaken feeling. I started noticing this phenomenon in several cases. One of my earliest observations was that if a mother experiences a very intense state during the pregnancy, the child almost always has the same state.

HUMAN REACTION PATTERNS

When afflicted by disease a human being is not comfortable in all situations, and each individual needs a specific set of conditions to feel okay. Due to these required conditions (compulsions) and fixed feelings (obsessions), which arise in response to the disease, our ability to react to the situation becomes restricted. This restriction is the measure of our disease. When such a restriction is present, we are no longer open to what is in front of us. Good health allows us to be in the moment and to react appropriately and proportionately to the situations we face. If the situation calls for achievement, we achieve. If it demands that we remain passive, so be it. Neither achievement nor passivity is a condition of good health. Health signifies freedom, spontaneity, and being in the present, so that the spirit within is free to fulfill the requirements of the situation.

Once I understood that disease is a false perception of reality, I recognized that a perceived situation can be classified in terms of depth and desperation. I categorized ten such possible types.

A situation can be perceived as one of the following:

  1. It is perceived as sudden and acute, and there is a desire to flee from the situation because one's very life depends on it.
  2. It is perceived as suddenly critical, but if one made an immediate intense effort he could regain his security.
  3. It is perceived as a situation that can be worrying for him but never hopeless. The feeling here is that life is a steady, ongoing struggle.
  4. It is perceived as a situation that he sometimes tries to overcome and at other times just accepts.
  5. It is perceived as a difficult situation by which he feels trapped and occasionally threatened.
  6. It is perceived as a difficult situation, ensnaring but not life threatening, and so he just accepts it and hides his problem, because it is a perceived weakness.
  7. It is perceived as a situation in which time is short and there is a sense of being hemmed in and therefore a desire to break free before it is too late.
  8. It is perceived as a situation that feels chaotic and out of control, and one has to stretch beyond one's capacity to control it or restore order.
  9. It is perceived as a sense of obvious disgust with oneself and the situation, in which the person chooses to preemptively distance himself from society, which makes him feel isolated.
  10. It is perceived as a situation that seems impossible and hopeless, giving rise to a sense of impending destruction.

Let us take the example that your car breaks down while driving on a highway. There are ten typical ways of viewing this demanding situation, and each individual's reaction will fall into one of them.

  1. The situation calls for panic. I need to escape as soon as possible. I will abandon my car if necessary in order to get to a safer, less precarious area.
  2. The situation is a crisis. I need to make an intense effort to solve it quickly. I will examine the car forcefully and determinedly, all the while rapidly pushing the buttons of my cell phone to immediately summon a towing company.
  3. The situation presents a problem that is solvable. I will make an optimistic effort to solve it. I will carefully look for the cause of the breakdown, summon what I know about the workings of cars, and attempt to get the car going.
  4. The possibility of my solving the situation is doubtful. I will likely attempt to solve it, give up, but then try again (alternating state). I will move around the car carefully, looking for the problem, while thinking, "Gosh, I really don't know much about cars." I'll return to the driver's seat feeling defeated, then rouse myself to get out of the car and take another look in case I missed something.
  5. This is a situation for which I can do nothing. I will find another way (of getting home). I will make little or no attempt to examine the car, because after all, only mechanics know how to fix cars. I will immediately reach for my cell phone to call a towing company.
  6. This situation is harassing or persecuting. I feel unfortunate and am sure that such situations always happen to me. As I circle the car I am more occupied with such thoughts as, "If I weren't so poor I could afford a better car," or "If my husband loved me more he would see to it that things like this didn't happen to me," and so on, than I am with taking practical steps to get help for me and my car.
  7. The situation just has to be solved, whatever it takes. I will apply superhuman effort to solve it, as if my life depended on it. I will pop the hood, get tools from the trunk, and work determinedly, even doing things that I am not strong enough or knowledgeable enough to undertake, regardless of such surrounding hazards as cars speeding by at close range or the pouring rain.
  8. There is a very limited window of opportunity to solve this type of situation. In order to get the car working again, I'll be racing against time. I am acutely aware that darkness will be coming on, I am in an area that will become increasingly isolated as rush-hour traffic ebbs, and the towing companies will not be open much longer.
  9. This type of situation is always very dangerous and difficult to solve. I will think of all the reasons that it will be difficult or impossible to get a towing company to come all the way out here and fear that I will be forced to remain here, stranded and at the mercy of criminals, wild animals, or bad weather.
  10. This type of situation is always totally hopeless and always makes me feel angry and frustrated. I am certain that when a car breaks down this badly it is beyond repair. The good feelings I had about this car are ruined, because it is now just another unreliable car. I will feel like taking a hammer to the car, certain that I'll just have to junk it.

ANOTHER CLASSIFICATION—ANIMAL, MINERAL, OR PLANT

Just as each of us is stuck in our view of the depth and desperation of the situation in front of us, we are also stuck in how we essentially see the situation, or the type of situation we perceive. The type of situation we repeatedly perceive and thus create for ourselves can be a competition, a need for structure, the loss of something within us, or a sensitivity reaction.

For example, let us take a situation wherein a young woman is disappointed in love because her boyfriend has left her for another woman. This situation can be viewed by three women in three entirely different ways.

  * The woman who was left for another could view the situation as one of competition in which she compares herself to the other woman and thinks, "In what way is she better than I?" The situation could provoke a desire for revenge, feelings of jealousy, or the urge to one-up the other person. She could feel victimized.
  * Another woman in the same situation experiences the incident as a loss. She had viewed her boyfriend as a support that she could trust and depend on, someone on whom she could lean; and suddenly she finds herself at a loss, empty and alone, and wonders how she is going to support herself.
  * Another woman could see the situation as a shock, something that just came out of the blue, completely unexpected. She is very sensitive, hurt, and reacts to this shock with a kind of numbness.

In the above examples you can see three different ways of experiencing the same situation; namely, by viewing it as a competition, fearing that it brings a threat to or loss of structure, or having a sensitive reaction. These disparate responses bring to mind the three kingdoms in nature—animal, mineral, and plant. The animal way of viewing a situation is as competition, a struggle for survival. The mineral way is to feel a need for, or fear losing part of, one's structure. And the plant way is to be sensitive and reactive to the external stimulus. Thus we can have people who are animal type, mineral type, or plant type. Each one of us is stuck in a particular type, and we view every life situation according to our type.

Correspondingly, homeopathic remedies are mainly derived from animals, minerals, and plants. A single remedy, dictated by the symptoms, is drawn from a particular animal, mineral, or plant. If the symptoms of a patient indicate a particular remedy, the homeopath applies it, no matter the kingdom to which it belongs. However, research indicates that people who need remedies from each of these kingdoms differ fundamentally in the way they perceive and react to reality. Here are the main issues of the three kingdoms:

To define it more sharply I examined the subdivisions within each kingdom, which opened up a whole new way of looking at homeopathy. For example, within the animal kingdom one could identify what is a snake type, a spider type, or a bird type. Then I started looking at remedies not merely for a collection of symptoms but as embodying the spirit of something in nature, and therefore a part of a system. I realized that the symptoms of a particular remedy that are in the homeopathic materia medica are not just accidents or random effects but represent the source itself.

To cite an example: A cuttlefish ( _Sepia_ spp.) in its natural environment defends itself from a predator by secreting a dark inky fluid, then hiding behind it to escape by swimming backward. When sepia (the remedy from the cuttlefish) was tested on a healthy person, he had a dream in which he was escaping by running backward. The subject probably knew nothing of what he was taking, and yet it seems as if the animal expressed itself through his dream.

The homeopathic materia medica is the human expression of the source. The remedies from various sources heal humans who have similar states within them. These states, which we call disease, must also be, like the remedies, from one of the three kingdoms.

Exploring this led me to the next level of perception—which is sensation—in which I saw that a human being's deepest issue is a very specific state that is not even human! It is something nonhuman. What is abnormal is to be human and yet have a part within that is a plant, animal, or mineral and be confined within that perception. It then became my mission to identify ways of discovering the particular state that dominates each person.

Consequently I refined my case-taking to reach this level of sensation. For example, a particular patient is asked, in relation to some situation he faces, "So how does that feel?" He replies, "It feels like a captive in a cell." At that point I ask that one question—in this case, "What is the experience of being a captive?"—that requires going deeper, one more step closer to the sensation. To many readers this question may perhaps sound weird or ridiculous. You must think that it really does not require rocket science to figure out how a captive feels in a cell, but it is amazing to hear how each experience is different from another. For example, for one it could be an experience of, "I am stuck and I can't move." This is a sensation expressing sensitivity, so he would require a plant remedy. For another the experience may be like being under some other powerful being, as in being victimized by someone. This is a victim-aggressor issue that would require an animal remedy. And for yet others it could be a sense of incapacity: "I lack a sense of capability of getting out on my own." What he is saying is that he lacks the structure that is needed. This person would require a mineral remedy.

I began to see how deeper examination of a delusion reveals an inner sensation that is not human specific. Consequently, my case-taking proceeded in this way: Patients normally began with the "name" or diagnosis of their problem. Then they furnished more details as "facts" of their symptoms, such as what seemed to aggravate or ameliorate their complaint, what kind of pain they experienced locally, and so on. Then they described how their illness made them "feel." They spoke of emotions such as anger, irritation, and so on. At this point I focused the questions by asking, "How does that feel?" Each one described his own "delusion," and an experience in this delusion is the person's "sensation." And when describing this sensation the person's use of his hands indicated when he had arrived at the level of "energy." As I focused on the movement of hands in this process, a different language emerged from within, the voice of something in nature; the whole other song (from a nonhuman kingdom) unfolded itself beautifully.

In this process of identifying a person's other song, once the whole phenomenon is understood, the important thing is to identify the source (remedy). The shift began for me in the case-taking process when people expressed this inner other song. Sometimes we heard songs that we hadn't heard before, so we started prescribing more and more new remedies. Healing happened at a deeper level than I had seen earlier.

What is significant for patients, apart from just receiving a remedy, is that as they express themselves during the interview process it brings them in touch with a core aspect of themselves. Improved self-perception and self-awareness make them realize that their body, mind, physical symptoms, emotions, and dreams are all connected at this deep core level. This awareness is not intellectual but experiential. Often they remark, "Oh yes! This is the same experience I had in another situation."

  A man of about forty years of age came to my colleague, Dr. Chatterjee, for treatment of diabetes and weakness. He described his weakness as a lack of stamina, which he especially felt when he played his favorite sport of badminton. On being asked to describe the game, he said it is a game that involves very high speed and stamina to stay ahead of your opponent, and after you tire him out you need to make one final shot where he least expects it, and then the opponent "is finished by this smash." He demonstrated this by raising his right hand above his head and then bringing it down with force and speed.

On being asked about himself, he said he liked speed in general and liked to drive his motorcycle very fast, wending his way very quickly through traffic so that he is ahead of all the rest. His favorite entertainment was to watch the animal channel on television, and he was most fascinated by wild cats, especially the cheetah. He described the cheetah as an animal of great speed and stamina, and one that brought down its prey by the final smash of its paw after a long chase. He demonstrated the action of the cheetah by using exactly the same gesture of bringing down his palm very quickly and forcefully that he had used to describe the game of badminton. At that point he realized the same pattern in these two instances. It was intriguing to see how closely this patient's energy pattern not only reflected the source in nature but also colored his way of being, playing, and choice of recreation and how his disease (diabetes, weakness) is an expression of the opposite of this sensation.

Having this type of awareness before even taking the remedy helps people to experience a sense of freedom. It is almost as if sitting across from them you can hear the click in their consciousness. This "aha" phenomenon of their observing and seeing all aspects of their life as one, seeing the common thread through everything, is a potent healing agent. Some have said this was one of the deepest experiences they had ever had.

I concluded from this that our problems and conflicts, emotions and complexes, dreams and delusions are all only expressions of a deeper inner state or turmoil existing at a level of sensory experience that has non-human-specific qualities in it drawn from other sources. Every self-expression contains the words and gestures that indicate the sensory experience behind it. If we identify and focus on that, then the other world, the other song, opens up and we see something we know, the presence of which we had only sensed, now standing completely revealed.
1 The Source of Stress

ALL OF US seek peace in the form of harmony, contentment, happiness, joy, health, serenity, and balance. Peace connotes the absence of conflict and of the turmoil and stress that conflict brings. It is a state wherein we cease to be at war with ourselves or with the world.

Most of us know this state because we do experience it now and then in our lives. Most of the time, however, we do not. Although we know that fulfillment lies in sustaining a state of harmony, conflict all too often and all too readily recurs, and peace is lost. The resultant stress has an impact on our health, relationships, and work. In short, it affects the way we feel and act.

When stress takes its toll on our health, we adopt different techniques and therapeutic modalities to deal with it. In our attempt to reduce stress levels, we indulge in various strategies that come naturally to us. The most common one is to try to change the external situation, out of the belief that the cause of our stress lies there. For example, if our stress is about money, we try to earn more or generate new avenues of income.

When stress arises in relationships, we try to manipulate the other person or end the relationship. We hope to find a stress-free relationship with someone else.

If manipulating external circumstances fails, sometimes we attempt to avoid the cause of stress altogether. If that doesn't help, we divert our minds from the cause of stress. Sometimes we try to escape from the scene, and in the worst-case scenario, escape life itself.

All these measures relieve us by alleviating the stress. However, these measures work temporarily and only partially, if at all. The main reason they are ineffective is that they attempt to avoid, escape, or rearrange an external reality. This is akin to attempting to straighten your shadow while you yourself remain bent.

Stress does not arise from external circumstances but from the individual perception of these circumstances. The truth is that the external reality is not the cause of most of the stress and conflict that occurs in our lives. Actually, in the midst of life's extremes, the most difficult of external realities, there is an absence of internal conflict. We know what the facts are and we also know exactly how to respond at such times. (It is a well-known fact that the incidence of suicide and mental illness drops during wartime.)

If your house is on fire there is no conflict in your mind. There is inner unity and harmony, a single inner voice suggesting the action to be taken. At such times there is little inner debate or turmoil; you simply focus on the action and act.

Thus, it would be safe to say that in a really tough situation in which there is a vivid external problem the mind innately seems to know what to do (to the extent that it even knows how to do it).

WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF CONFLICT?

So then, how does conflict within an individual arise? It arises when the external reality differs significantly from the individual's perception of that reality. When such a disparity between inner and outer reality occurs there is a threat to unity and harmony, and the person experiences duality and conflict instead. He experiences two inner voices: one voice saying what actually is; the other perceiving quite differently, and thus talking with a different voice. For example, an individual may be financially prosperous and objectively may seem to have no grounds for anxiety on that score. However, if his own perception is that he is needy and financially insecure (a mismatch between outer reality and his own perceptions), he will experience two contradictory voices within him. It is this inner debate, this conflict within, that creates stress.

Another example is that of a girl who constantly feels unloved by the whole world. Objectively her parents love her; the college that she attends takes good care of her; and yet she dwells on the feeling that nobody loves her. Subjectively she feels unloved. The voice of outer reality (what is) is contradicted by that of her inner reality (what she perceives to be the case). These two contradictory voices create turmoil and stress at every level.

So we gradually move to the concept that our underlying stress is not about what is (the external situation) but more about what appears to be (our individual way of seeing and experiencing that situation). When our individual perception differs markedly from the actual situation we are in effect suffering from a delusion.

In any given situation the mind and body tend to first perceive that situation and then evaluate what it signifies for our survival. We thus know how to adapt and respond to the situation. This is an automatic process.

For example, when an insect stings you or a mosquito bites you, your senses perceive it and you automatically swing your hand to swat the insect. There is no conflict, no duality. There is action in the moment. The perception and the reaction are appropriate and in proportion, as there is no distortion of reality. The incident or situation leaves no trace or aftereffects. This is healthy in terms of adaptability and freedom to be in the moment.

If your house is on fire, you might experience anxiety and fear, but these emotions would be in proportion and would evoke specific and appropriate responses that would disappear when the situation is gone. However, when a person acts from a delusion and does not recognize the actual reality—that is, the situation evokes something in his mind or excites memories of the past, reminding him of several things that have happened to him before—he reacts inappropriately or disproportionately. Moreover, the present situation confirms and reaffirms his delusion, etching the totality more deeply in his memory for the future. However, another part of him is unable to deny the reality of what actually is. This duality causes deep, internal conflict and results in stress. His inappropriate perception and reaction, and not the situation itself, is the basis of the stress.

If we are able to live in the moment we perceive the situation as it is, there is no conflict, and the situation can be tackled and dealt with almost automatically, like swatting the mosquito. The situation remains an "experience" and does not become a "problem." A situation becomes a problem only when it is shackled to the past and confirms a false perception of reality, thus fixing it even more firmly in the mind. It then becomes a delusion that rules an individual life. Whatever the situation it will always be viewed in a certain light and reacted to from this false perception of reality.

Each one of us has our own delusion that influences our life, the way we work, and our interpersonal relationships. Emotional states, fear, hatred, and even joy are based very much on this delusion. It also gets represented in our dreams, nightmares, and fantasies.

These delusions have unique causes and manifestations in each individual but are universal in nature, finding expression in mythology, fairy tales, literature, art, movies, and all other forms of the human imagination. Through the prism of our personal delusion, we resonate with certain periods or events in history and mythology that match our way of seeing. We identify with certain characters in novels or films whose way of acting and reacting in some way corresponds with our own story. Thus the delusion takes us beyond our personal experience and connects us to other individuals throughout human history.

For example, a young man describes his state as being unhappy at his work place. This is his feeling. When we inquire further and ask him to describe this unhappiness in depth, he describes his experience at work as being similar to that of being captured and tortured. When asked to describe the words _captured_ and _tortured_ the images that come to his mind are those of enslaved Africans taken to America, concentration camps during the Second World War, and the way conquerors of any era treat their captives.

These images of people who have been captured and tortured are from different eras and thus have been a part of human experience (and therefore consciousness) throughout human history. Once we realize this we understand that this experience is not limited to the individual but is truly universal. Although the individual describes a deep inner level that is personal and private, the turmoil he describes is common to all and can be traced in all human consciousness. So even while reaching a plane that is intensely personal and individual, we find that plane to be common to all humanity.

Delusion, therefore, is not limited by time and place. It repeatedly manifests itself in different eras through different people in human history. It has existed in various forms since the beginning of human civilization. Expressions may vary, but the same pattern is manifest. Our delusions cross the barriers of time, place, language, nationality, and culture.

For instance, individuals who have the urge to be the most powerful can be seen in every era and in every country. Examples range from Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to Adolf Hitler. This demonstration of power in the use of capture, torture, and the rule of fear is seen in all countries and cultures over time, which is why mythology is of contemporary significance. Shakespeare portrayed human delusions vividly through the timeless characters in his plays, which remain valid centuries after they were written.

Attempts are made by many to find the origin of these delusions. Some attribute them to childhood incidents and traumas; others trace them back to past lives. It is understandable that we seek to find the source of these recurring patterns of perception and behavior. In doing so, however, we follow a linear path of cause and effect: "This occurred because that happened." But then, what caused that to happen? And so on. Sometimes our ongoing question of "Why?" yields answers in the form of brilliant guesses. More often it yields only theories, as we can surmise, but never be sure.

A far more fruitful focus than "why" is "what." The only knowable, accessible truth is "what is" in the present moment. Why the present reality is the way it is is not ultimately knowable. Truth lies in clearly perceiving the "what."

WHAT "IS" IS

The "is-ness" of the moment is the entire truth. Is-ness signifies the totality of a phenomenon examined in the deepest possible way, in the moment, outside and inside, superficial and deep, as deep as you can go. The complete phenomenon in the moment is the only and entire truth. Every "why" is but a theory.

There are two branches of inquiry into the nature of things.

  1. The way of reasoning and understanding. This involves thinking, surmising, using logic, postulating, and so on. It seeks to find the cause of things and to label and classify these things.
  2. The way of pure observation. This seeks to just witness what is, without thought, analysis, or attempt to find the cause or the category. The observation is pursued as deeply and as finely as possible. The totality of the observation is accepted as the knowable truth.

The latter way is the one we are following here. Stress is seen not as a cause-and-effect phenomenon but as an experience. We do not ask what caused it but what the experience of it is. If we encounter fear, for example, we do not ask what the fear is for, or whence it arose. We ask what the experience of the fear is. That experience, when deeply observed, will be seen to be a consistent experience (sensation) in the person's life, not only in his fear but also in his headache and other spheres. This, and not theoretical causes, is the truth for the concerned person.

There are forms of psychotherapy that aim at making an individual aware of his delusion or show him his fixed patterns of perception and behavior. But the danger of this is that such a concept if often understood intellectually, not experientially.

The poet William Cowper (1731–1800) expresses it beautifully in Book 6 of his six-thousand line poem, _The Task_.

 _Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one,_

 _Have oft times no connection. Knowledge dwells_

 _In heads replete with thoughts of other men;_

 _Wisdom in minds attentive to their own._

 _T HE TASK_, BOOK 6, 88–91

The comfort born of intellectual understanding is transient and ineffective in the long run. The reason is fundamental—a delusion is not intellectual. It does not arise out of a thought process nor does it stem from emotions. It arises from a much deeper plane. Emotions are, in fact, the expressions of the delusion and not of its source.

When we examine more deeply, delusion (the way we perceive a situation) is not confined to the mind, nor does it arise from it. The delusion itself is a part of a much deeper experience, a sensation that encompasses mind and body at a far deeper level that we "feel in our very bones," so to speak. Such an experience is far deeper than an experience of the mind. It is even deeper than being a specifically human experience, because it is not confined to the mind. It is an experience the human shares with animals, plants, and minerals—the things that make up this earth. For example, when a human being experiences a sensation of being attacked as if by a lion, it is an experience that is common to humans and animals. Other even more basic sensations (such as gravity, pressure, contraction, expansion) are shared in common with all things on earth, including minerals. Sensation is not just intellectual, emotional, or physical; it underlies all three.

THE EXPERIENCE AND NOT THE SITUATION

Are we ready to observe that the sensation takes myriad forms of emotions, situations, symptoms, pains, and so on? Are we ready to see?

The sensation assumes so many disguises. It is so absurd, so illogical, so much out of place, and yet it is a person's deepest and most constant experience. Imagine glasses with yellow lenses. The wearer describes a car as yellow, a building as yellow, and a person as yellow. If we forget the object of his description but see only the color in it, we will see the same color in all that he describes. This color is the sensation. Often we get lost in what is being described, whether it is a situation, a dream, a hobby, or something else, and we forget how it is being described, which is constant and common to all the descriptions. That is essentially him (the describer) and not the situation.

  A man of about forty-five years of age came in with a physical ailment that, in his view, prevented him from having a one-point focus on anything. He was experiencing extreme stress. When asked to describe the stress, he said he was in a very responsible position as head of his organization and head of his family. However, he seemed to be speaking from his mind, from his intellect, and not from his inner experience.

So I asked him in that moment what the most stressful situation for him was. He said that it was his fight with a local mafia leader over some property issue. On being asked to describe his experience in this situation of the fight, he said he felt like a man fighting against a big, strong, turbulent sea. When I persisted and asked him what is the experience of being in such a situation, he said it was a fight for survival. It was him versus the ocean.

On being asked to describe a fight for survival he said that that was how he experienced any stressful situation: it was him versus someone, or something—a fight to the finish. Then he described several situations in his life where he had refused to back out of a fight, even if it meant risking his life. In describing one incident in which he was attacked by a robber, he showed us his one-pointed focus on the robber in that situation, and then he showed us how he took his hand and brought it down on the robber with massive force.

Later he described his fascination with lions and described the action of the lion with the same expressions and gestures. Then I could hear the animal song within him and especially the song of a lion. What initially seemed to be the stress of heavy responsibility (this was the situation) turned out to be the inner experience of a decisive fight for survival.

That constant, the sensation, is what we need to tune our ears to hear; it is the destination to which we need to guide the seeker. Therein lies the switch that suddenly opens the door to another world hidden behind the more apparent one. This new world is truly unimaginable.

The trick is to ask for the experience in any given situation—physical, mental, dreamlike—linked to the past or an imagined future. For example, a woman says she had a fight with her father. Our question is what she experienced in the fight. She might mention an emotion, such as anger or hurt; or a delusion, like being tortured or betrayed. We need to go further and ask what the experience of anger is. Not what the anger is about, not when, not why, not who, but, "How does anger feel? How is anger experienced? Where is the anger felt? How is the speed? What is the direction?" And most importantly, "What is the sensation?"

The experience of anger will be unique and individual, the expression of her other song. In this case she likened the anger to choking. When asked to elaborate, she described the sensation as being tied, bound, suffocated by a viselike grip that was choking the breath out of her, and she was fighting to survive.

She was describing (unknowingly) the energy of a constrictor snake, such as the python. On the face of it, her fight with her father had no logical connection to her sensations of being choked, suffocated, and so on. And yet it was her truth. This is sensation.

People are fluent about what makes them angry and are often more than willing to tell you the entire story or pin the blame on others, on circumstances, or even on themselves. But when you ask them to tell you the experience of anger, or how the anger feels, they fall silent and look puzzled, because it is a level that is not in their awareness Certain hints are conveyed as they express themselves, in the form of metaphors, idioms, certain peculiar words, images, or gestures. These give a clue to the underlying experience or sensation behind the emotion or situation.

This pattern or sensation from which our delusion arises seems almost to be the voice of the spirit of something within us. It rules a part of our human life and colors our experience. It sounds like a discordant note. One can use the analogy of two voices singing two differing melodies within us at the same time. One melody is human and is in its proper place. The other melody is simply out of place inside the human being. Thus, these two voices sing together, and what a conflict! If we are to attempt to remove or eradicate this stress, we need to go to the deepest level of awareness.
2 The Two Songs

 _What It Means to Be Human_

 _"Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to."_

MARK TWAIN, _F OLLOWING THE EQUATOR_ (1897)

THE HUMAN IS a social being; his existence is dependent on being part of a social group. This is common to many animals, but what is distinctive about humans is that although we belong to a group, each human is an individual, makes individual choices, harbors individual ideas, can think independently, and has his own ego. This ego is a part of man's survival instinct and has been responsible for his development and progress. If we all thought in the same way, we could not progress. It is this ego that also contributes to our ability to convert disaster into opportunity and suffering into a catalyst for change. As long as the right balance between group identity and individual identity is maintained, as long as the ego is an instrument of creativity and progress, and even spiritual growth, then the human is healthy. This is the human song. In health this is the only song that is playing, the human is wholly human.

It is interesting to see that all humans have similar qualities and features, similar fears and aspirations, similar thoughts and feelings, and yet there are so many individual variations. A very important component of this human variation is that each of us possesses an aspect that renders us unique. It is this non-human-specific aspect, however minor, that characterizes each one of us.

One can also express this by saying that different qualities exist in different proportions in different individuals. For example, one person may be more aggressive, another may prefer the color black, another may have a very strong sweet tooth, and so on. These individual variations are not isolated, random phenomena. When we collate all of the out-of-proportion features in the perception and reactions of a given individual, we see a clear pattern. That pattern is a reflection of another phenomenon, of an entity that seems to manifest a completely different energy from that of his human life in society as outlined above. Thus there exists a duality. On one hand, each individual has his life as a human being, singing his own human song. On the other hand, upon looking deeply, we find that simultaneously in each person there is also a whole different story from a completely other, nonhuman world inside him that seems to sing another song altogether, a song with its own specific but very different melody.

THE SONG HIDDEN WITHIN

This second melody plays concurrently with our natural human song. It influences our life and interferes from time to time, coloring our external story.

This other spirit residing inside us is in itself melodious and complete, yet it is out of place simply because it is not innately human but is a reflection of a pattern we have borrowed from the plant, animal, or mineral kingdom, which I would term "the source." This different song in a human being only creates disharmony, a conflict, because there is another song that is already playing in us, which is our "human song." This other song, or our other world of sensory experience, is a stranger from another kingdom that lives within us. This stranger has been with us for so long that we think he is a part of us, like a guest who now talks like he owns the place.

Even though our borrowed song occupies only a small fraction of our energy system compared to the human part, it is this fraction that differentiates one human from another.

This borrowed song plays simultaneously with the normal human song. Often the normal human song is at the forefront in our daily life, while the other song gets relegated to the background. However, it keeps showing up through the words and metaphors we use most often, and which characterize us. It also reveals itself in the sensations we experience and express in various situations, along with the gestures we use to indicate these inner feelings and sensations.

Sometimes people try to make this song the main song of their life by choosing a career, situation, or partner where this song can be comfortably played. A person with an agressive song might choose a profession that needs that type of aggression (such as policeman or boxer). He can thus live both his songs in his daily life, thereby ensuring some degree of harmony. But for the most part we are not able to live more than a small percentage of the other song in our daily lives. Under such circumstances the human being expresses the other song in his pastime, hobbies, and interests, and especially through dreams.

There are things innate and spontaneous to man, such as the pursuit of higher ideals. Man strives for higher achievement through work, a higher love, fulfilling his role in his immediate surroundings, spiritual growth . . . all things that nurture his ego. Man is also a social animal; he lives in interaction with other human beings as part of a family, a society, a culture, and a nation. There are also some anxieties that are very human: anxiety about security, about the future, about position in society, and so on. All these differentiate man from other animals, and these can be said to compose the human song. This is the only song that should be playing within him; this should be his essence. This song is common to all human beings.

Yet each individual is remarkably different from another. What differentiates us is that any one of the human qualities becomes highly exaggerated, so much so that it attains nonhuman proportions. For example, survival is an issue for human beings as well as for other animals. But other animals are concerned only with survival and nothing else. Their entire existence revolves around survival. If a human being becomes overly occupied with survival, a shift takes place in his very core. His central energy and sensation deviate, tending more toward a pattern characteristic to a specific animal. He continues his human existence, limited by this deviated energy. His natural desire to pursue human goals is in conflict with an energy that compels him to be occupied with survival. In this way he is severely restricted by the issue of survival, which has become innate to him.

An "animal song" begins to play deep within him alongside the human song—both distinct, one human and one nonhuman—and they are not in harmony with each other. The result is turmoil. The nonhuman song is harmonious in an animal, but in the human being where there is already an original human song playing, the addition of another melody creates disharmony.

Thus every human being is a part of human society, but buried deep inside him is a specific and distinct nonhuman energy that makes him stand apart from other human beings. As an analogy, one can visualize a roomful of men, all from the same race, of similar height and build, all dressed in gray suits. But each one has something different about him: one wears a strange hat, another highly polished shoes, a third one a loud tie, a fourth wears a red plastic clown nose, and so on. The nonhuman part is as absurd and stands out as much as a clown nose or a strange hat, as it is equally inappropriate.

However, when this nonhuman song is not allowed any form of expression, the internal turmoil heightens. The nonhuman song becomes more intense and demanding and crystallizes as physical and mental pathology. The human and nonhuman parts coexist, but in turmoil.

Sometimes we are so busy singing this other song that our human song remains unsung. This might, perhaps, be the spirit behind the lament of Rabindranath Tagore in his poem, "The Song that I Came to Sing":

 _The song that I came to sin_ _g_

 _remains unsung to this day_ _,_

 _Even today I am still practicing the notes_ _,_

 _And only have the wish to sing_ _._

 _I can't get the right note yet_ _,_

 _it is still not coming together_ _,_

 _Only in the inner recesses of my lif_ _e_

 _remains the restlessness of the song_ _._

 _G ITANJALI_, SONG NUMBER 13,
LITERAL TRANS. RAJAN SANKARAN

Tagore reiterates this feeling further:

 _I came out alone on my way to my tryst_ _._

_But who is this that follows me in the silent dark_ _?_

 _I move aside to avoid his presenc_ _e_

 _but I escape him not_ _._

 _He makes the dust rise from the earth with his swagger_ _;_

 _he adds his loud voice to every word that I utter_ _._

 _He is my own little self, my lord, he knows no shame_ _;_

 _but I am ashamed to come to thy door in his company_ _._

 _G ITANJALI_, SONG NUMBER 30,
TRANS. BY TAGORE

Rabindranath Tagore

We can say that this "other song," this nonhuman melody expressed in the human, can be heard best through the language of disease. And the language of the disease in a person can be heard in the way he voices his complaints, the exact sensation of his aches and pains, or other complaints. It can also be seen in his perception of his situation, the words used to describe it, and the effect of the situation on him coupled with his reaction to that situation.

Let me illustrate this concept with an example.

  A woman of about age fifty consulted me for migraine headache and chronic backache. I asked her to describe the headache exactly. She was very expressive and described the headache as tightness, as if there were something tight around her head that got tighter and tighter. I asked her to go deeper into the experience. She closed her eyes, went into a kind of hypnotic state, and described how after getting very tight, she feels as if all her limbs are dissolving and there is a kind of blanket around her. I encouraged her to go further into the experience. She said that when it gets very tight, then there is rocking. And then it opens and then there is a light feeling of floating and flying. The whole process was exactly described. I asked her what the blanket was. She said it was a part of her. I asked what effect the migraine was having on her. She said she had stopped developing and was actually metamorphosing in the reverse direction. This was a strange word for her to use. I asked her to describe the word _metamorphosing_ _._ She said it was like the butterfly. And then she described the life cycle of the butterfly in exactly the same terms as she described the headache—the tightness, the limbs dissolving, the breaking free, the flying (larva, pupa, adult butterfly). She herself could see this and remarked indignantly, "I am not a butterfly!"

Another instance that comes to mind is that of a young woman of twenty-five whose main complaint was irregular bowel movements. She suffered alternately from constipation and diarrhea. On being questioned as to how this affected her, she replied that the constipation made her look fat. For her, looking fat signified not wearing nice clothes and feeling less attractive. Asked further about the less attractive feeling, she explained that if she stood next to a fat person she would not like it because it reflected on her. People would say, "fat and fat." Similarly, in the office she did not mix with the people she called "sideys." For her, a "sidey" was someone who was dull and unattractive. Being seen with them "reflected" on her. If she was spotted with them it meant that she was like them. Because the word _reflects_ came up very often, I tried to understand it from her perspective.

She said that _reflect_ _s_ was a word commonly used to indicate anything that reflects back like glass, since it reflects what is inside and outside of it.

She further explained that she had a set picture of how her life should be and a set image of the way she looked. Everything had to be in that set order; only then could she stay focused. She was asked to describe the word _focused_ _._

" _Focuse_ _d_ is the opposite of _blur,_ '' she said. She expanded on this: "Blur is the time when you take off your glasses and you cannot see. Focus is when you put them back on and everything seems to be in order again." When asked about stressful situations in her life, she narrated the story of a relationship that did not work out well. It affected her profoundly because she was so involved that she had almost forgotten who she was. Everything came down to "what he was, I was," and she had essentially become him.

The situations in her day-to-day life that she found particularly stressful were attending meetings and making presentations. She experienced severe anxiety, as she was extremely conscious of her image and appearance; she felt people were looking at her and that that reflected on her.

This attitude of hers is typical "glasslike" behavior. With "glass" (behavior) in general, one has to be careful both inside and outside (in her case it is her presentation anxiety) so that it does not break. Moreover, it reflects what is inside (her issue with associates), so it really does not have anything of its own but just reflects what is in front of it (as had happened in her relationship; whatever he was, she had become).

When each peculiar, individual aspect of the person is explored to the level of energy and sensation, we find that they all speak the same language and sing the same song. When the main complaint is examined in depth, when the person's dreams, hobbies, emotions, childhood, fears, ambitions, and so on are probed deeper, each of them will lead us (amazingly) to the same sensation, though superficially they seem to be so different. For example, a person may have a headache that is described as starting from one point, going in a circle, and returning to the same point. This peculiarity of the headache must represent the other song. When we ask about the stressful situations in her life, she refers to problems she has with her husband. Asked to describe her experience during the problems, she says it all seems to go in circles and comes to the same point again, that nothing moves forward. Essentially her experience (sensation) in the headache is the same as her experience in stress and in all individual aspects of her life.

What individualizes her is the other song. To see and to confirm what the other song is, one needs to look at the totality of the person and go into each area of the person to see where she is different. Probing this difference will bring us to the sensation in the case.

It is important to know that this concurrent other song exists. It is amazing to see how one can recognize the other song word for word, note for note, melody for melody. It is intriguing to see how we try to harmonize and live our external life in congruence with this internal melody. Nonetheless, when this is not possible, we live a different life outside and inside. This creates dichotomy and disharmony, which is the root of stress.

In trying to confront and understand it, the best question to ask is not _why_ something is, but rather _what_ something is. We can see the other song playing and we can recognize it. We can also, with awareness, tone it down once we know what it is. Awareness dilutes the melody, dilutes the hidden force within us. As emphasized earlier, this awareness is a gradual process, a nonverbal, nonintellectual process. It is a process of constant awareness of the experience in the now. That is the only perceivable, knowable truth. All else is just theorizing. The truth has to be examined in depth and in totality at the deepest possible level.

What is happening now in the present moment is the only knowable truth. It has never quite happened before. When you see each experience as unique, only then will you know what truth is. The total experience of the present moment perceived at its deepest level is the only knowable truth. Why? How? Where from? These are only speculations that serve no purpose.
3 The Seven Levels of Experience

ONE TIME AT the breakfast table my four-year-old son, my wife, and I were all relishing watermelon, and I said, "Wonderful! It is very tasty, juicy, and nice to eat." My wife nodded and said, "It's good for health; it has lots of essential vitamins and minerals." My son, pointing to various pieces of the fruit, said, "Look, Daddy, this is my castle, this is a frog, and this one a tortoise."

It struck me that each one of us was experiencing the watermelon at a different level. I was experiencing it emotionally, with feelings of like and dislike. My wife was experiencing it intellectually, in terms of advantages, disadvantages, and calculations. And my son was experiencing it through his imagination. Clearly, there are many levels of experience.

We often deal with different situations in our life through different levels. For example, when we go to the bank and make a transaction, we are functioning at an intellectual level. When we watch a sentimental film, we are usually at an emotional level of experience. When we watch a science fiction or historical movie, the experience becomes one of imagination. I've identified seven levels of experience, but for the most part we are usually stuck in one given level of experience during various periods of our lives.

Before going further into these levels of experience, an understanding of the general concept may be helpful.

THE CONCEPT OF THE LEVELS

When we first learned to draw as children we began by drawing lines, and then slowly came triangles, squares, circles, and so on. Gradually we were taught to copy things around us: objects, houses, trees, people. As we progressed we were taught to qualify the subject of our drawings. The faces we drew developed expressions showing a happy or sad person. Next we were asked to create drawings from our imagination, scenes from nature, a marketplace, a picnic, and so on. Later we learned to abstract and were able to express our moods and experiences through different shapes, forms, and colors. Our experience, whether mental, physical, or spiritual, could be conveyed through this medium of abstract art.

  * One can see that in our first stage of drawing lines and shapes we could not convey anything. These drawings had nothing more than a name attached to them: this is a line, that is a circle, and so on.
This is the first level, the level of name.
  * The next step, where we were taught to copy, has to do with fact; there are things that exist around us and we replicate them.
This is the second level, the level of fact.
  * In the third step we draw a happy person or a sad person, and we put in the adjectives—the feelings or emotions.
This is the third level, the level of feeling.
  * In the fourth step we create situations in our imagination, situations that may or may not exist, or situations we may or may not have experienced.
This is the fourth level, the level of delusion.
  * When we reach this stage and can abstract, we are able to convey our sensations (mental and physical) as well as describe some kind of energy in the form of patterns and shapes.
These are the fifth and sixth levels, the levels of sensation and energy.

In this way, when learning art, we gradually progress from what can be simply named to something that has no name but only energy.

This concept of the levels can also be applied to our day-to-day activities, interactions, thought processes, and perceptions.

For example, when looking at an object such as a mountain:

  * One person would want to know the name (Level 1); for example, Mount Everest.
  * Another would want to know facts (Level 2); for example, the mountain's height.
  * In another person the mountain would evoke emotions (Level 3), such as happiness or joy. Such a person would not be too interested in facts about the mountain.
  * In some, the mountain could stimulate a vivid imagination of flying, or visions of heaven. This is the level of delusion/imagination (Level 4).
  * However, in some persons the experience of the mountain goes far deeper even than imagination. They might experience bodily sensations on looking at the mountain, such as lightness or floating. This is the level of sensation (Level 5).
  * In a very small number, the experience of seeing the mountain goes even deeper than feeling sensations. Here the person feels the energy (Level 6) of the mountain within him and reverberates with it. At this level it is as if the person perceiving the mountain, and the mountain being perceived, are one. A person experiencing at this deep level might simply jump up and down, so basic is the experience.

The fifth and sixth levels are typical of an infant or very small child responding to any external situation. He does not bother to name, feel, or imagine; he just experiences the energy of the moment and flows with it.

These levels also apply to the experience of any event or phenomenon; for example, the sunrise, a piece of music, or a painting. We respond to music at the level at which it speaks to us. The blues tend to arouse our emotions, while classical music may evoke deeper sensations. From those sensations many delusions may arise, but what moves us most is absolute music, which generally does not even have a name. Absolute music means pure melody, a pure melodious combination of notes that is unstructured and that is improvised, extempore, and seems to spring forth from somewhere deep within, not from something that is trained or learned. It is also the music of nature, the music of the birds, the music of the rippling stream, the music of the whistling wind, the music of babbling babies.

The same holds true in the case of painting. Painting as an art form can simply depict facts; for example, a titled portrait of an aristocrat, such as _His Highness the Duke of Gilberd._ Paintings can also convey emotions; for example, the evocative _Mona Lisa._ Other art is symbolic—scenes of dragons, demons, or angels signifying delusions; and scenes that do not occur in reality. And lastly there is abstract art; patterns of color only, involving sensation and energy.

The levels can also be applied to any kind of human activity, such as science, politics, medicine, art, relationships, or religion.

Let us look at the experience of religion more closely. Each individual experiences religion to varying depths. A person may experience his religion at the same level throughout his life, or his beliefs and practice may evolve over time through different levels; for example, from the level of name to that of energy. The most superficial experience of religion (at the level of name) is limited to simply identifying oneself as Hindu, Catholic, Muslim, and so on. At the factual level this experience is also superficial, being confined to daily prayers, rituals, attending services, or reading the Holy Book. Taken one level deeper, religion can be an emotional experience with feelings of joy, calm, security, or dependence. A person whose inner story (delusion) is "lost in the wilderness" might experience religion as that which makes him feel "found." To others, religion may give the sensation of binding or togetherness, unity, or a sense of belonging. At the deepest level, or in the abstract form, it can be experienced as nothing but spiritual energy.

As with any phenomenon, the experience of disease can also be at various levels.

  * A person with a very extensive cancer may have accepted his fate so that he experiences no emotions such as anxiety, fear, or grief but only symptoms related to this problem. For him, the experience of his disease is no more than a fact (Level 2): he has cancer.
  * On the other hand, a young woman with rheumatoid arthritis may experience a great deal of anxiety about her future. It may even be that her main focus is anxiety about the future, rather than arthritis. She experiences arthritis as an anxiety. The pains will be experienced as anxiety and the limitation of movement will be experienced as anxiety. The level at which she experiences her disease is emotional (Level 3).
  * Another young woman with a patch of eczema may fear that she will be shunned by society because of it. For her, symptoms like itching and scaling will not be as bothersome as this (imaginary) fear of being shunned. For her, the eczema is experienced as a delusion (Level 4).
  * A man with bronchial asthma may experience the sensation of being bound tightly in his chest, and this sensation will be seen throughout his body and on the mental plane as well. His experience of his disease is at the level of sensation (Level 5).
  * In a child with recurrent cold and cough, one may observe the child simply running about, moving constantly and rapidly. He is oblivious of his disease of cold and cough. Rather, all he experiences and expresses is this energy pattern that compels him to keep running. His level of experience is that of energy (Level 6).

Let us examine each level in more detail, so as to understand them all better and see them more clearly on a day-to-day basis.

 ** _Level 1: Name_**

The first level is the experience of a situation as just the unique identifying external aspects.

  * Name
  * Classification
  * Differentiation
  * Reference

By giving an identity and putting it into a slot, we avoid confusion concerning its identification in the future when we look at another object that appears similar. The experience of a situation at this level ends with the naming or classifying of a situation, person, or thing.

For example:

  * This is a computer.
  * This is Kate.

In medicine this would equate to making a diagnosis, such as: "This is asthma," or "This is a case of depression." Once the experience has been labeled, the person is closed to experiencing anything deeper.

 _ **Level 2: Fact**_

At a somewhat deeper level, one can experience a situation as a set of facts (Level 2). For example, one can experience a computer as a series of features, specifications, price, manufacturer, and so on.

Similarly, Kate can be experienced as facts: height, weight, age, where she lives, occupation, language, and all knowable facts relating to her.

In the case of a situation, one can choose to look only at all the objective facts of the situation—the where, when, and what of it.

 _ **Level 3: Feeling**_

Before ascertaining the facts about a person or situation there must be a desire to know those facts, and this arises from a deeper level—the emotional level. We want to know a person and facts about him because we feel emotions for him, such as love, suspicion, dislike, and so on.

An experience at the level of fact involves intellect and thought, whereas at the emotional level the facts are dwelt upon with feelings, rather than the intellect. If a situation is experienced at the level of fact, then this experience will be confined to all the relevant objective characteristics—the where, when, and what of the situation. There will be some emotions associated with such an experience, but the emotions will not be the predominant or ruling factor. The emotional level is the basis underlying the facts of a situation. If the facts are money, accounts, and other things to do with finance, the emotional prism may be a fear of poverty. If the facts are family, friends, other relationships, they may be shaped by emotions, such as hurt or disappointment. Sometimes an experience moves us at such a deep emotional level that we are oblivious to the objective facts of the situation. For example, we are so mesmerized by a flashy car or elegant home that we experience a desire to own it, to possess it. We just want it and fail to look at the facts, such as price or maintenance costs. Our response is all at the emotional level.

This level of experience is the most common one in the human world, especially among adults. Adults tend to say, "I have a problem with [this person or that person in the family or at work]." Each situation in life is reacted to on the basis of the emotions felt, such as anger, irritability, confusion, and so on. The way we speak and react, and the fears we have are all manifestations of these emotions. These emotions have their origin somewhere far deeper than the level of conscious awareness. In fact, the origin of our emotions lies at the level of imagination. We will not feel a certain emotion in a particular situation if we do not see that situation in a particular way. For example, we will not feel grief in a situation unless we perceive the situation to be one of loss. Such perception is often not objective but a subjective view of reality: namely, imagination.

Emotion stems from delusion. The image or false situation stirs up certain emotions within us. In my experience there are three basic emotions: anger, fear, and grief. The other emotions are either opposites (calmness, security, and joy) or variants of these.

Human beings view problems at an emotional level; they feel sad or happy in relationships, angry about the prevailing global situation, scared about the future, and so on. They view the external world in terms of situations, and each of these situations is associated with an emotion. Our speech, actions, reactions, and fears all reflect these emotions.

Emotions are experienced through the mind and are individual specific. This means that while the experience of a situation can be shared by all of humanity, the emotion associated with it will vary from one individual to another. Thus, the current problem of global terror may be viewed by some people with tremendous fear, by others with strong anger, and by still others with much sadness. All human beings are capable of feeling all emotions, but with regard to a specific situation, the emotions aroused are also specific to individuals.

 _ **Level 4: Delusion**_

If we look deeper we see that emotions stem from a delusion or imagining that is beyond likes and dislikes, happiness and sorrow. These imaginings or associations tend to evoke images, which in turn give rise to certain emotions in us. So although the eyes see a certain thing, the mind may imagine it to be something else (a distorted perception of reality).

Though the eyes see one thing, the mind may imagine it to be something else.

For example, we experience fear when we perceive danger, especially from some situation, object, or person to whom we are sensitive. No matter how safe an object may be in reality, if the eyes see it and the mind decodes it as dangerous, a complete chain reaction of feelings, sensations, and reactions arises. The imagination evokes this fearful response. Our distortion of reality, our false perception, will be exactly the same each time it happens throughout our lives. Similarly, emotions of happiness, security, and love stay with us because we perceive them as fulfilling certain needs in us, which are based on a delusion. On exploring the basis of the experience of a delusion, we find that this experience is not only mental but also experienced as a physical sensation.

Let us consider the situation of a student who does not like a particular teacher. She dislikes this teacher (emotions) because she imagines her as "a Hitler who only wants to torture me" (delusion). Every time she sees the teacher she feels a pain in her abdomen, which she describes as "like a punch." At just the sight of the teacher she feels punched (sensation), although the teacher has done no such thing in reality.

A person who is enslaved may feel oppressed and desire freedom. But if he continues to feel enslaved even after being set free, there is a problem in his perception of his outer reality. One could say that the situation of being enslaved, having been extremely stressful or difficult for him, has left a permanent impression on his mind and now holds true for his entire life, so that instead of viewing his situation as it is, his mind still conjures up the image of captivity.

In most cases we find that there is not even a real stress situation in the person's past that warrants his delusion. Yet the nature of delusions is such that all human beings can relate to them. It seems as if somewhere deep inside each person's mind is a data bank that houses the collective memory of the multitude of situations that the human race has been exposed to throughout its history. In this way, at the level of delusion a person is linked to the collective human psyche, and thus connected with all of humanity.

Sensation is not human specific: a human being can have a sensation similar to what a plant or animal or mineral would experience. Delusion, on the other hand, is human specific: a human being can permanently perceive his situation as one that other human beings have actually experienced. Delusions have been expressed in mythology, fairy tales, literature, art, movies, and all other forms of creative human activity that involve the imagination. While expressing our personal delusions we often feel akin to others who have lived these situations in history, movies, mythology, novels, and so on. Thus everyone, in any part of the world, can sympathize with the experiences of slaves in America, Jews in Nazi Germany, outcastes in Indian society, or victims of the Hiroshima bombing. These are experiences that are not limited to just one person or group of people but are experienced by all of humanity. So although the plane of delusion is personal and private, this turmoil is common to all and is embedded in human consciousness.

Delusions are thus beyond time and are common to human history, repeatedly manifesting themselves in different eras and through different people. There may be some variations in expression, but the same human situations are repeated over and over.

 ** _Level 5: Sensation_**

Although the delusion is manifest in the mind, it is not intellectual; it does not arise out of thought process, nor does it stem from such emotions as fear, anxiety, hatred, and joy. Examined more deeply, delusion is a part of a much deeper experience—the sensation that encompasses the mind and body. This is the general level, and as the delusion arises from this deeper level the experience of it can be "felt in our very bones."

Thus, delusion stems from the sensation and expresses itself through emotions. The level of emotion (Level 3) is thus one layer above, or preceding, the deeper layer of delusion (Level 4).

Let's take an example. A person with a back problem continually says: "I need some support for my back. That is the only thing that gives me relief." Regarding his emotional needs he says: "My friends give me support, I can lean on them." He refers to his religion, God, or guru as his source of "moral support." His experience of needing support resonates at every level within him. It is experienced not only in his body but has a deeper basis within his entire being, manifesting itself as a need for emotional, mental, and spiritual support. His basic sensation of "I need support" is felt at a level deeper than, but common to, both mind and body. This is the level of sensation, Level 5.

As a medical practitioner I have patients coming to me with different illnesses. Their symptoms, their chief complaint, may be primarily in the physical or mental sphere. Whatever their chief complaint, their core sensation will always be clearly and most vividly expressed in these, their main symptoms. The way the patient describes the chief complaint, often physical, is an exact description of the deepest sensation that he experiences all over—in general and in his mind state—from the core of his being. When I explore the mind state of a patient, I find the same sensation expressed there as in the physical symptoms, and vice versa. In this way this core sensation is confirmed at both mental and physical levels. What is much more significant here is that this sensation is a general symptom rather than a local (mental or physical) one. Because the sensation is felt or experienced at both levels, the level of sensation is deeper than that of delusion. This sensation that links the mind and body must exist prior to its appearance in both these localities. It is central, or vital. Hence the term _vital sensation_.

In health, the sensations come from being in the moment. In an unhealthy state, at the very core of everything that the person does, feels, and experiences is an abnormal energy pattern and an abnormal fixed sensation, and these are found at every point in his life. He is unable to experience anything beyond the abnormal sensation that has become innate to his organism. This abnormal sensation is his vital sensation. If his vital sensation is along the axis of caught and released, news of an unexpected tragedy will trigger the sensation of being caught, and he will experience a pleasant piece of music as a release. Love will be experienced as a release, and the loss of that affection as being caught. Failure is experienced as being caught, and an achievement is experienced as release. This vital sensation and abnormal energy pattern will restrain him from experiencing things in the moment.

It appears that the vital sensation is not specific to human beings but shared with other substances and beings on this earth. Whereas energy is universal, sensation is terrestrial. For example, a person's experiences may be confined to the vital sensation of pressure, and in nature we see certain elements, such as metals and precious stones, being subject to pressure. Plants and animals, too, can be sensitive to pressure. When a person is in good health he may experience pressure as a result of changes in his physical or emotional environment, but this sensation lasts only as long as there is change, and with a different situation another appropriate sensation arises. But in the case of disease, the pressure sensation that is experienced is similar to the pressure experienced by a mineral, plant, or animal, rather than the transient and appropriate experience of pressure as occurs in a healthy human being. The level of sensation, therefore, connects us to all things on the earth, and at this level the understanding of a human being becomes connected to botany, zoology, chemistry, metallurgy, geology, physics, and various natural sciences.

The idea of sensation is not entirely new to me. At one stage I wanted to experiment with the effects of music on listeners. I played a melody (an Indian raga) to an audience and asked them to make note of the effects of the music on their physical and mental levels. I repeated this process with the same melody on five continents, and some listeners noted emotions, others described vivid pictures, still others experienced sensations, while a few simply described patterns. I understand now that for those who experienced sensations, the music had an effect going beyond the mind or the body; it affected their very inner being, their nerves, and this effect was far more intense than a response on the emotional level. A similar phenomenon can be seen in the Walt Disney movie _Fantasia_. In the introduction artists are asked to depict the images that come to them while listening to a particular piece of classical Western music. Initially these images depict real forms, then slowly delusions, and finally, abstractions where one can see only shapes, sounds, form, and movement.

These abstractions that are inspired by the music are beyond body and mind, beyond emotions, beyond even specifically human experiences and situations. It is as if the music, through the sense of hearing, touches and activates the very core sensations. This made me conclude that music need not always be an emotional experience, but like all other experiences, can be a "vital" one.

The level that is deeper to both mind and body, and therefore common to both, I call the "vital level." I used to think that the center of the mental (emotional/delusional) state was the deepest point that we could reach, but I realized that the vital (sensation) level is a step deeper than the mental state. For example, when a person describes his emotions or thought processes as jealous or suspicious, we can ask him to describe how he feels when experiencing suspicion. He may answer that when he feels suspicion his inner experience is that of being attacked. In this way a delusional situation is perceived behind the emotion. Having identified the deeper level of delusion from which the feeling of suspicion arises, it is possible to then go further and ask him how he feels when he experiences that attack. We then go a level deeper still, to the intersection or cross point where the mind and body meet. Here he may have the feeling that something is breaking, burning, or twisting. This is the common point between body and mind (the vital sensation); at this level he will describe his mental and physical phenomena in the same terms. This is a very deep level and if we reach this point, there is a much deeper awareness.

We need to see what it is in the local or emotional symptoms of the person that goes beyond the local or the emotional and is an expression of his whole being. We try to discover what it is in a particular local symptom or expression that surpasses the local and becomes global. That is to say, what is it that transcends that situation and applies to the person as a whole and over time? That is the common part of every aspect of the person—local and general, physical and mental, past and present. It is true of the whole person for all time and in all aspects, mind and body.

This is the sensation. Only the sensation can transcend the mind and body. It is the basic core. Once we get there, we will see that every phenomenon in space and time in that person will boil down to the same thing. The core sensation is like a deep, unspoken (but constantly intimated) thread running through every sphere of the individual's life and activity.

  Let's take, for instance, a lady of sixty-five years who came to me with severe pain from a swelling of the wrist joint due to a ganglion. On further questioning she described a sense of constriction in the wrist pain, which became tighter and tighter. As she went on to describe other areas of her life, she mentioned her discomfort in her own home ever since her son had married and brought his new wife to live in the family home. She said that in the presence of her daughter-in-law she felt really constricted, almost chained—to the point of feeling completely suffocated. On my inquiring into her hobbies and interests, she said she loved to work for the handicapped. I asked her to describe the experience of working for the handicapped, and she said it gave her an amazing sense of freedom.

She said, "I can do what I want. The boundaries between me and the other person drop and I feel so expanded. It's not me anymore—it is us." So her areas of interest give her a feeling that is exactly the opposite of what she experiences in her physical complaint and in her family life.

At this point she has clearly indicated her key sensitivity as being along the axis of "constricted/suffocated" at one pole, and "freedom/ expanded/no boundaries between self and the other" at the other pole. Now one has the freedom to go into other areas, especially those that are seemingly disconnected, and see how they all connect to this common sensation.

With this new understanding, I realized that delusion is not only mental but can exist in the physical sphere, too. In fact, I could see that the mental state is merely one expression of the vital sensation. Once I realized this and started looking for this common sensation or vital symptom in the physical sphere, I saw that this sensation is apparent right from the outset. Every level of perception and experience within the person resonates with this same underlying vital sensation. It is being expressed consistently and continuously throughout the person's whole being. It is expressed most vividly, and therefore is most easily accessed, in the person's chief complaint. Each person can identify the symptom pattern, or chief complaint, that troubles him or her the most. This chief complaint is a manifestation of the inner energy disturbance, the inner dissonance, of that person. In effect, the chief complaint is where the other song, the other energy pattern, is singing the loudest and so can be most clearly heard and identified.

 _ **Level 6: Energy**_

Finally, let us explore the origin of this vital sensation, which is at a still deeper level. We cannot explore this deep level of sensation by thinking about it intellectually. Rather, we must allow ourselves to experience it within our own body and observe the ways in which others express their experience of it (usually with their body language). Once we start exploring this level of sensation, we begin to notice certain recurrent body gestures. A gesture is a specific movement in a specific direction with a specific energy (force). For example, when we want to describe a twisting, stretching type of pain in our abdomen, our hands will start moving in a specific direction in a specific gesture that is characteristic of our personal (individualistic) energy pattern. This energy pattern is one of our deepest experiences, and it is from this level that the vital sensation arises. One level begets the next: from sensation arises delusion, from delusion stems emotion, through emotion come facts, and facts form the basis of clarification or name.

It is helpful to note how the realm of each successive level enlarges as we progress from name to energy level. Name is specific to one person only. Facts (for example, blue eyes and blond hair) apply to a group. The realm of more complex emotions, most would agree, is limited to one person in a given situation; whereas the realm of delusion extends to include the whole of humanity, past and present. The realm of sensation (for example, the sensation of pressure, contraction, expansion, heaviness, light) is experienced by animals, plants, and minerals. The natural world is made up of these three kingdoms; sensation is, therefore, a terrestrial phenomenon. Energy, however, is cosmic.

How do we recognize this energy? Energy is represented by:

  1. Movement
Movement in itself has speed and direction.
  2. Sound
Sound includes music.
  3. Color
Color includes art.

Each individual experiences and lives his or her own energy pattern. This underlying energy is "the song that sings us," just as the Bushmen of the Kalahari describe, "There is a dream and it is dreaming us." We are the expression of our individual energy pattern, but its energy level is so much deeper than both mind and body that it is beyond conscious perception.

Let us go back to the experience of listening to music. Music itself is pure energy. Haven't we all had the experience of a certain kind of music moving us almost to tears? We may label these tears emotional, but in fact they often emanate from a much deeper level within us. When a musical chord is struck, it creates vibrations or patterns that resonate within us. Those that match our particular energy pattern move us, causing tears. These vibrations are not only picked up by the nerves in the ear and experienced as pleasant sounds but can also be transmitted everywhere else in the body and experienced as pleasant sensations. (The famous percussionist Evelyn Glennie has been completely deaf from childhood. She listens with her entire body to the music she creates. Her body is her ear.)

Energy is universal and nonmaterial, encompassing all realms of the universe, not just the earth. All things, living and nonliving, possess energy in some form, and it can manifest itself in different patterns. Although all these patterns are part of a common universal energy pool, each one has its own peculiar shape, direction, speed, form, and so on. Energy is thus both universal and particular. Each plant, animal, or mineral has its own particular and specific energy pattern, which is also part of universal energy. All energy patterns exist in balance with each other and the universe, and is therefore specific but not separate. The energy of any substance is that which is common to that substance and which resonates with that of the entire universe.

As the energy level is universal, it is difficult to differentiate the particular kingdom that it belongs to or represents, whether that of plants, animals, or minerals. The kingdom the particular energy pattern represents and expresses becomes particularized only at the level of sensation. Differentiation of kingdoms can therefore be perceived at the sensation level, but not at that of energy. A specific energy pattern could manifest itself in the form of any of the three kingdoms.

The material and nonmaterial worlds and the living and nonliving worlds all resonate with energy. There are various energy patterns, and it appears that these patterns are shared among substances. Thus any energy pattern is not specific to any one substance; there may be other substances or organisms that possess similar energy patterns. It may be that a substance from the mineral kingdom shares a common energy pattern with a member of the plant kingdom, and also with an animal, and perhaps even with something else in the universe. Energy, therefore, seems to connect us to other things and beings on this planet and to the rest of the universe. It is what we have in common with the rest of the universe. It connects substances and organisms rather than differentiating them.

Energy itself is nonmaterial, but it is the propelling force for everything material. Energy itself lacks sensation, though it is the basis for sensation, and an experience at the level of energy is therefore difficult to describe.

When the effect of music was tested on volunteers, some of them visualized patterns or flashes of light; in my understanding these must represent energy, or the pre-auditory manifestation of music. The somatization of energy is sensation.

Experiences at the energy level (Level 6) are often witnessed in little children. In this age group we find that emotions are short-lived and inconsistent; they change easily from one situation to another, from one moment to the next. Thus the experiences of a child go beyond the levels of emotion and delusion into the realms of sensation and energy. It seems that we are born at the deepest level, that of energy, and as we grow older we go from experiencing the world as energy to dwelling at the level of sensation, then delusion, feeling, fact, and name. Children, therefore, seem to be far more in touch with their internal energy pattern than adults with all their reasoning and intellect. As we get older we lose touch with this internal energy and become less and less aware of it; more and more we live in the more superficial levels of emotions and fact.

 _ **Level 7: The Seventh**_

Finally, let us explore the origin of energy itself or, more accurately, the fundamental origin or basis of all the levels, that deepest level that forms the background of all the other levels. Even deeper than the energy is the experience that provides the base of a given energy pattern. This is the seventh level. I deliberately chose not to give this level a particular name. The seventh, or deepest, level can be compared to a blank canvas on which some pattern or picture can take form. Though it has no energy in itself, it still is individual and specific to the energy pattern that is going to manifest itself on the canvas.

Probably this seventh level is spontaneously experienced at the moment of birth and death as a blankness from which the form arises and into which it dissolves. Thus the seventh level is the connecting link, or the continuum. It is that part of you that is there from birth to death, on which your energy pattern, your sensation and various delusions, emotions, and pathologies play. During conception, the energy pattern is manifested onto the formless seventh level, then the sensations manifest in a child, the imagination of an adolescent, the emotions of a young adult, the more factual life of a middle-aged person, the name (as in name of the disease or pathological diagnosis) characteristic of old age, and then finally, even the name dissolves into formless, onto the canvas of the seventh level again.

One could also compare this level to the emptiness within a pot just before it holds water, in a state of readiness to receive the water. It is also similar to the silence between two notes of music; this silence is the backdrop against which the previous note was played and the next one is about to be played. It can be compared to the dark night sky just before and after a display of fireworks.

The seventh level is thus the blankness on which the energy pattern is manifest. One could also define it as the blankness that will play host to the energy pattern. Perhaps the experience of it could be in the gap between two breaths, or during deep sleep, which is characterized by blankness, and it is against this blankness that the dream unfolds. It is perhaps also evident at the moment just before conception, in which creation has happened against a background of nothingness. Similarly it may be evident in the time just after death, where there had been a life force or energy just a few moments ago. In this moment just after death, the name also disappears. In the spectrum of the levels, the seventh level can be said to lie in the gap between the first level (name) and the sixth level (energy). It is the link between the name and energy levels, thus making the spectrum cyclical, rather than linear.

The seventh level is constant, continuous, and equal at all times, whereas the other levels rise and fall. It is also the part that is not unhealthy, that does not have the other song, that other energy pattern that is imprinted on you. The seventh level is the non-sick part. It is the observer of the song. It is the blank slate on which the pattern is written. It is beyond the six levels of experience in a state of deep hypnosis, meditation, or deep coma, in which the person is blank and silent and able to observe, experience, and describe the other levels. It is the silent witness beyond name, words, facts, emotions, delusions, sensations, and energy.

LEVELS AND AGES OF MAN

Each of us generally experiences reality at a given level at a given time in our lives. One can say that as we grow older and our vitality diminishes, we experience the world increasingly at a more superficial level. This is a general statement with many exceptions. I know so many people well advanced in years who retain their youthful imagination and are in touch with their deepest sensation. Such people are often comparatively very healthy.

It is interesting to see what kind of entertainment generally appeals to a particular age group and, correspondingly, how the levels operate here, too.

To a newborn infant in the first couple of months of life the only things that appeal as entertainment have to do with energy. This energy can take the form of sound, color, or movement; for example, a rattle.

As children grow older, entertainment is mostly in the form of sensation. Swings, slides, roller coasters, and merry-go-rounds are favored. Being thrown up in the air and caught. Here there is energy but energy becomes the source of sensation. Energy and sensation are very closely interlinked.

As they get still older, what appeals is imagination, so they watch movies like _Superman_ , _Batman_ , and _Harry Potter,_ which are centered around imaginary characters. It is also at this age that their ambition is to become a fireman, policeman, or movie star.

Even older, into middle age, what appeals are soap operas and movies with a lot of emotion. Live entertainment, theater, concerts, sporting events, travel, and social events and the like also appeal to emotions.

As they grow still older their entertainment consists of activities such as reading newspapers and magazines about what is happening in the world. They are more concerned with the "what" of things. The news channel on television becomes their favorite form of entertainment.

As they age even more their chief entertainment consists of asking people their names or just attempting to know what is what. If you name a thing they are happy. That is all that they want to know. At that age, nothing more interests them.

The levels bespeak universal phenomena and thus can be applied to all areas of human life and experience.

 _ **Time and the Levels**_

Time is change. When there is change, it happens in time. When many things change, it seems as if time passes very quickly; for example, when your children grow up, or when you are on a travel adventure.

When things do not change, time stands still. Years pass, and it "seems like just yesterday;" for example, when you have worked on the same job for twenty-five years.

 _ **Time Depends on Levels**_

  * If you are in the fact level, things change rapidly. Time passes quickly.
For example, when you see your hair graying, or your skin wrinkling, you feel Oh! time has passed by so soon.
  * If you are in the emotion level, it is slower.
For example, when you are angry or joyous, you relate more easily to the past, and the distance between past and present is shortened, making time seem to move more slowly.
  * At the delusion level it gets even slower.
For example, when you watch a movie, are daydreaming, or enjoying a romantic interlude, you are in delusion and minutes seem like hours. Time has stopped.
  * At the sensation level you become less aware of the passage of time.
You are in your element. Past, present, and future do not seem to be well differentiated.

Imagine a situation where you are in an aircraft, there is a problem, and the turbulence is taking the plane up and down and side to side. You are gripping your seat and your heart is pounding. Time loses its significance.

Also at this level your deepest experience is the same as you had in childhood. Your deepest fears and sensations make a continuum across your life, and you are essentially in the same situation as in your childhood and at other times in life. There seem to be no changes at this level. Time does not matter.

  * At Level 6 you live your energy pattern. Your mind is off for the moment.
There is very little recognition of time. Imagine riding a roller coaster upside down. What happens to time at that moment?
  * At Level 7, the level that does not change, time ceases to be.
As in meditation or deep sleep, time does not exist.

4 A Map to the Inner World

THROUGH CAREFUL OBSERVATION we come to the paradoxical conclusion that "each human being lives two lives simultaneously." The dictionary defines paradox as "that which is apparently absurd (or contradictory) but is, or may be, really true." Life is full of paradoxes. Scientists advance in their understanding only by accepting the truth of their observations, however seemingly contradictory, and seeking an explanation for them. Modern physicists were forced by their observations to accept the paradox that light can behave as a wave form in certain experiments, and as particles in other types of experiments. Although wave and particle appear contradictory to us, both are true of the nature of light.

Although the concept that each of us lives two lives simultaneously initially appears contradictory, a careful observation of human nature shows it to be true. To quickly recapitulate earlier observations, one is our life as a human being, in which energy sings the human song. On delving deeper we find a completely different world inside, which seems to sing the other song altogether, another melody. This other melody is not innately human but is a reflection of a pattern that we have borrowed from nature—be it from a plant, a mineral, or an animal. Therefore, this energy pattern is appropriate to nature, not to us. We have borrowed it to cope with our perception of reality.

The natural world consists of the animal, the plant, and the mineral kingdoms. The energy of each of these kingdoms is very different, as outlined below. As humans we borrow an energy pattern (from one of these kingdoms) that corresponds to our inner way of perceiving and reacting. Depending on which kingdom is the source of the other song within a given individual, human beings can be mapped into one of these three kingdoms. There is an innate difference among the basic problem issues of persons belonging to each of these three kingdoms. The basic problem in a person whose other song is from:

  * The plant kingdom is that of heightened sensitivity
  * The animal kingdom is survival, competition, and victim/aggressor issues
  * The mineral kingdom is a feeling of deficiency in his own makeup, his own structure, or a fear of losing a part of his structure

RECOGNIZING THE PLANT SONG

**The Basic Quality of a Plant is Sensitivity**

A plant is a living organism rooted to the soil, unable to move. To survive it needs to be sensitive to changes in the external environment and also capable of adapting to these unavoidable changes. Plants are extremely sensitive to all the changes in their internal as well as external environment. Changes in the soil constituents alter the growth rate of a plant. We all know that plants grow in the direction of sunlight. Experiments have shown that even the slightest changes in the atmosphere, including barometric changes, have tangible effects on plants. A plant is always a true reflection of its environment. For example, nettle grown in a shaded area will be tall as it reaches toward the light, with wide delicate leaves spread out to absorb maximum light. The same nettle growing in a bright, sunny place will look very different; it will be shorter with much smaller, tougher leaves in response to the greater sunlight. All observation confirms the acute sensitivity and reactivity of the plant family to all factors in their immediate environment.

The book _The Secret Life of Plants_ by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird highlights this incredible quality of plants. In experiments they were able to establish that plants are many times more sensitive than humans. They can even read and react to the intentions of a human approaching them. They can be sensitive to what is happening to someone who cares about them, even though the event is happening in another city.

These features are also descriptive of a person whose other song (or nonhuman song) is similar to the energy of a plant. He is of a sensitive nature. He is influenced by many things and is continuously adjusting and adapting to them. Emotionally he gets affected very easily, and he is expressive of his state, through both speech and gesture. His hands often move in all directions as he expresses himself.

Frequent expressions he uses are: "I am affected by this," "I am sensitive to this," "This hurts me," "I can't bear it," "This touches me."

These expressions show him to be a sensitive and emotional person. His feelings are most important to him, and he has a constant fear of being hurt or offended, or of hurting or offending others. Because he fluctuates so much, he can have abrupt mood changes.

The professions he tends to choose are ones that encourage an expression of his deep sensitivity. For instance, he may be a nurse, doctor, or artist. These are only some examples to indicate his type of preference.

As I carried out further research in understanding plants I realized that each plant family has its own individual sensitivity, more aptly called a "sensation," that runs through all the plants of that particular botanical family. Conclusively, a person whose other song is that of a plant also manifests this sensation at a very core level. This (core) sensation finds expression in all the various aspects of an individual's life.

Take, for example, the plant family Cactaceae, or cactus. The cactus is well known for its ability to contract in the absence of water and expand in the presence of water. In homeopathic remedy testing of cactus, the same sensation was expressed by the testers. I found the sensation of contraction and expansion runs through all patients who borrow their other song from plants belonging to the cactus family. Human beings whose inner energy pattern, or sensation, is that of contraction and expansion share this characteristic with the cactus. This (core) sensation of contraction and expansion will find expression in their physical complaints as well as their emotions and thinking, as the level of sensation is deeper than mental or physical.

Bringing together the knowledge base of botanical observation (plants) with that of homeopathic observation (people) leads one to understand that the same energy pattern, the same song, exists and finds expression in both the plant family and in certain individuals. Homeopathy treats by giving a remedy that produces similar symptoms to those the patient exhibits. It is based on testing remedies on healthy volunteers in order to bring out the innate effect of various natural substances. Homeopathic observations thus provide a helpful knowledge base showing the patterns of energy and sensation inherent in the various substances and phenomena in the universe. In such homeopathic testing of the yam family (Dioscoreaceae), many subjects experienced a "twisting pain." Investigation of the botanical characteristics of the plants of the yam family shows a marked tendency toward twisting of stems and branches. The patient's sensation clearly is twisting, stretching, winding, turning, churning, or cramping. Again, this sensation is seen and expressed at all levels in those people whose inner turmoil corresponds to this particular energy pattern.

It is essential to note that all sensations can also be experienced and expressed as their exact opposites. For example, the sensation in the Euphorbiaceae, or gum plant, family is that of "bound, tight, or taut." This sensation has a spectrum of expression that ranges from bound and tied at one extreme to released and loose at the other. (This is another example of the postulate that "the opposite of anything is equally true," described in the following chapter.)

We have made a detailed study of the common sensation in more than thirty different plant families. This knowledge is of great benefit to homeopaths in identifying the exact family for a patient belonging to the plant kingdom.

After I studied all the plants from one family I concluded that each plant from that family had the same sensation, but the pace and depth of experiencing that sensation differed. Depending on the intensity with which the sensation is experienced, the person's reaction, or coping mechanism, varies. We shall discuss these variations in ways of coping in subsequent chapters.

RECOGNITION OF THE ANIMAL SONG

**The Fundamental Issue in Animals Is Survival**

Competition is the rule in the animal kingdom. The theme of survival of the fittest holds true for all living creatures, including algae, fungi, plants, and so on, but it is most evident in the animal world.

Survival is seen as an issue of comparison and competition. It is a question of one versus the other, the stronger versus the weaker. Everything is seen in this light.

A person whose other song is similar to the energy of an animal often draws attention to himself by his clothing and behavior. The most fundamental need and an important component of his basic competitive nature is to attract attention. He achieves this through the color, design, or style of clothing he chooses. That does not mean that such an individual is always flashily dressed. The basic need is to attract attention, and this may be achieved by wearing dull clothes to a party. He is thus dressed differently from others, and this difference is somehow noticeable.

Even his behavior can be attention seeking. He is lively, vivacious, and can be extremely animated and excited in his speech. At times he can also be quite abrupt in both action and speech. Because he is very expressive and communicates easily, he seems to have an extraordinary ability to make contact with others. A part of him needs to be in animated contact with those around him.

Another aspect of a person whose other song is from the animal kingdom is that he is very alert. He maintains eye contact, always on the lookout for a reaction from the opposite person, and he is himself very quick to react.

It is possible that a person with an animal song may not demonstrate any of the above features. He could be quiet, dressed inconspicuously, and may not show competitive behavior. Such a person may have these qualities buried too deep to be seen on the exterior. Yet he may show it vicariously by being attracted to or fascinated by others who live these qualities externally, or he may express these in his dreams, hobbies, or nonhuman expressions.

With these features of wanting to attract attention, wanting to surpass others, coupled with alertness and rapid responses, he is lured by competitive careers in the area of marketing, advertising, and so on. The corporate strategies of big business give ideal vent to his competitive spirit and aggression. He can be very jealous of any competitor and may resort to any means, including deceit, to achieve his ends. He can be ruthless and malicious, especially when it comes to achieving his own personal goals. In so doing he is acting out of his other song, his own fixed way of seeing the world. To compete and achieve is a matter of personal survival. He perceives himself (and consequently everyone else in his world) as either predator or prey. This is the truth of the animal kingdom, which he lives and expresses. He believes in survival of the fittest, and in order to survive he must ruthlessly compete or risk annihilation.

His fears, understandably, are of being neglected or looked down upon, of failure in competition, or a loss in his own strength and attractiveness. Situations in which he experiences such failure and loss are experienced by him as a threat to his very survival. These situations touch his deepest sensitivity and thus can precipitate physical illness.

His talk centers on stories of "high and low" in which he often personifies himself as aggressor or victim, the hero or the deeply wronged. Such views give vent to his inner feelings of strength versus weakness, which are manifest in every area of his life. He experiences life as a process of being either the dominating, strong one, or the weak one who is dominated and persecuted by another. For him, at the deepest level, these are the only two possible roles in life. All this makes aggression a marked feature. He has a fear of being attacked and may respond by aggression. The issue is of self and other, the dominance of one person over another. This is seen in his use of such phrases as "Somebody is doing this to me," "They are teasing or bullying me," or "I am being victimized, harassed, nagged, abused, forced, tortured," and so on.

Another important issue for a person who borrows the other song from the animal kingdom is that of hierarchy. He feels others are either superior or inferior to him. He uses expressions such as "Somebody is above me, I am under someone," or conversely, "Somebody is below me." He feels dominated.

The fundamental issue is that of survival. He literally experiences a threat to his very life. He has a strong awareness of, and therefore fear of, death at the hands of another. This is often expressed as a fear of being attacked, a feeling of being pursued. His reaction to this fundamental threat is the basic instinctive one of fight or flight. Either he feels strong enough to stand his ground and fight, or he feels his inner weakness and seeks to flee and hide in order to survive. His circumstances can make him feel caged, trapped, bound, chained, and captured. He may speak of being trapped or imprisoned, with a strong desire to escape and be free.

 _ **The Animal Song in a Human Being**_

A person whose other song is from the animal world will be sensitive to issues that relate to his own attractiveness, his ability to compete successfully, and the corresponding risk of being victimized if he is perceived as weak. It is interesting to observe that he experiences his physical complaints deeply in these same three areas. He feels that illness either makes him less attractive, less powerful, and less able to compete or that it may result in his being persecuted by others. He feels dominated or almost ruled by his own illness and thus feels victimized.

His personality holds two strongly conflicting traits, which he constantly experiences within himself. On the one hand his victim-aggressor other song causes him to experience and express a nonhuman degree of jealousy, competition, deceit, aggressiveness, and maliciousness. This he expresses fiercely whenever he feels threatened. On the other hand there is a part of him that is particularly and vividly filled with humanity, warmth, caring, playfulness, loyalty, and communication. He suffers as he strives to live and integrate these two warring themes, or sets of impulses, within himself. This inner battle can go to such an extent that the human part within him develops a deep sense of contempt for the nonhuman part (that is, that part of him that is singing the animal song).

This split in his personality is clearly expressed in his statements, such as: "Humans are so cruel," "I feel split," "I jump at them," and "I am not good."

Such statements are indicative of the way he perceives himself. The split is expressed externally as a conflict between self and other, but this external battling is only an expression of the deep split within the self. This split runs through his whole being. He begins to hate himself.

It often becomes: "I versus myself," "I am disgusted with myself," or "I hate myself."

His deep need to be attractive has a lot to do with sexuality. Again, the fundamental issue is survival, not just of self but of the group. This issue is fundamental to the whole animal kingdom, and therefore issues of sexual attraction are strong in people whose other song is borrowed from that kingdom.

His desires and cravings are more for food from the animal kingdom, such as milk, meat, fish, and seafood.

His dreams exhibit many of the features discussed above. He has dreams of animals in general, of snakes, and particularly experiences dreams of being in pursuit, or of being chased or attacked. He is fascinated or repulsed by animals in general, and especially by the particular one whose other song is within him.

Given below are the qualities, words, and energy of people who belong to the various classes within the animal kingdom. These features have been repeatedly confirmed in practice. Note that a person belonging to a particular class (say, insect) will have not one, but a whole constellation of words or features of that class.

 _ **Some Subkingdoms**_

We see that a common theme of the animal kingdom song is that of survival. This often expresses itself as a victim-aggressor situation. However, there are many subkingdoms within the animal kingdom, and this predominating theme of survival finds very different expression in each. The differences of expression of this basic theme in each animal subkingdom are subtle but clearly discernible. It is almost as if the same melody is being played, but on a whole range of different instruments. It is important that we recognize first the melody (survival, in the case of the animal kingdom) and then the exact instrument playing that melody (the subkingdom). In all statements below I am again combining the knowledge base of two hitherto seemingly unrelated sciences; in this case, those of zoology and homeopathy. A further insight into the subkingdoms will enable us to relate more specifically to the source of the other song that is playing in us.

I cannot deal with all classes of animals here, nor can I talk in detail of any of them. However, to give some idea I shall describe a few of them. These descriptions do not come from vague abstractions, guesses, or theories. They are distilled from a careful study of the animals' survival strategies and from the symptoms recorded in healthy human volunteers who have taken the potencies of remedies prepared from these animal extracts in order to note the effects. We have made a detailed study of each class, but here we provide only sketchy descriptions, just to give a general idea.

  Mammals

Mammals are both predator and prey, and exhibit qualities of each. As predators they feel like aggressors, their power extending over their specific territory. This territory is defined, and they have problems if another encroaches on their territory in any way. In this position of the aggressor they have power, strength, vigilance, and alertness and are forever ready to pounce on anyone who irritates them, who "invades their space." As prey they have the opposite reaction. They experience fear when attacked, and in response they freeze or flee. Another important aspect of mammal behavior is the need to belong to the herd, to conform, yet at the same time to try to find a position of superiority within the herd, to be the "top dog."

People with the mammal song within express this perception and action and pattern their lives according to this survival mode. At a deep (sensation) level they express these very words, gestures, and perception of the situation.

  We find that asking the patient, a thirty-five-year-old woman with rheumatoid arthritis, about pain in her joints does not lead further. What she keeps emphasizing is that she is unable to do many things due to the pain. So loss of her ability is more significant to her than the sensation.

What does this loss of ability mean for her? She says it makes her totally dependent on others.

Spontaneously, she says she likes to make her own decisions and does not like to compromise. When asked about compromise she says she does not hide her feelings, that she is truthful. There is no prima facie connection between the concepts compromise and truth, yet in her state these two are connected. To not compromise means to not hide feelings, to be truthful.

When asked about not hiding feelings, or being truthful, she says that she does not want to please others. Here she shows the connection between hiding things and pleasing others: "You hide things to please others."

One of the main stressful situations in her life is the way her in-laws treat her. She feels that since she came from a less economically advantaged family than theirs, they always put her down, comparing her with the other daughter-in-law, who came from a wealthier family. She feels mistreated but that she has to accept the situation because she is dependent on the family. Thus she comes back to the feeling of dependence that she experiences as a result of her arthritis.

We started with dependence and we have come back there. Now we see what dependence means. It boils down to inequality. Now we can see the kingdom clearly, from the chief complaint itself. The issues are inequality, comparison, hierarchy, exploitation, dominance, and so on. This is animal kingdom.

She expresses the same experience in all other situations in her life. In an incident in her office that she describes in a portion of her case not reproduced here, she felt that it was very important to be loyal, even if she was not being treated equally.

Here we see that her deepest consistent experience is one of being in a hierarchy where she is not equal to the others, yet her dependence on the group for her security forces her to accept and live with this situation. This is the typical survival strategy of mammals.

  Reptiles

The reptile experiences and expresses the survival theme differently. Reptiles are cunning; their strategy is to know the weakness of the opponent, and that is the key to how they express their aggression, how they attack the other. It is important for their survival that they adopt such an aggressor strategy, because their inner victim feeling is one of being choked; their inner perception is that their opponent will suffocate and strangulate them. The neck seems to be the weak spot in the reptile. If you get their neck, you have rendered them defenseless. What is interesting to observe is that they fear being attacked from behind, where they are least guarded and more at ease (quite similar to the way in which they themselves hit upon others, in their weak spot).

A snake's primary survival strategy is to remain hidden or inconspicuous. They often lie in wait and attack when least expected, and such an attack is often fatal. This hiding, waiting for the moment, and surprise attack is reflected in human society in many forms—the underworld, gangs, espionage, terrorism, and so on.

The hiding is also reflected in a person with a snake song by the quality of his hiding his real self and outwardly living a completely different life. This duality, often remarked in the lives of prominent people, such as politicians, religious leaders, or celebrities, could be an expression of the snake song in those individuals. Those who do not actually lead such lives but who have the snake song within are often fascinated by, attracted, repulsed, or strongly reactive to the above themes, be it in movies, novels, or the lives of others.

  This is the case of a thirty-year-old man who consulted me in January of 1993. He was a construction contractor whose job involved traveling to remote places and constructing railways. He was accompanied by his brother and mother for the first interview. He sat at the edge of the chair and his feet were restless.

He could not breathe properly and was slowly progressing into heart failure due to a disease of the heart muscles called cardiomyopathy.

He had a tremendous sensitivity to injustice. He felt that if a person had done his job properly he should be paid justly. He liked to be honest. He got anxious when taking up a new job. He got anxious about his family and felt responsible for them. He was very irritable, yet calmed down quickly. When he got angry, he hit. He could be very malicious. The thing that made him angriest was a situation in which one person was being beaten by three or four people. It made him very angry; he felt it should be one-on-one. He would get off a train and get into a fight and help that one person who was being beaten.

One time he was scheduled for an interview to acquire a contract, but when he went for the interview the contract had been given away unfairly. The person who had been awarded the contract and the people in charge of awarding it were in cahoots. He was alone, and all of them were looking at him. They tried to "harass" him and asked him to get out. He could not do anything. When he went outside he picked up an iron rod and smashed one of their cars. They saw him from the window and he called them to come out, saying, "I will show you!" They came out and tried to chase him, but he had the iron rod in his hand and he ran after them. Two days later they came to a compromise, and the contract was awarded to him.

In the patient's words, "On seeing anything unfair, I used to become very angry. If someone threatened another person, I would interfere. I still do get angry, but not as much as before. Earlier I would fight and defend weaker people; now I do not involve myself. But sometimes these problems happen even now. Six months ago I was involved in some construction work at a village, and the local people started to steal and damage my machinery and equipment. I went to the police station and fought with them a lot. I told the man who was responsible for the damage all kinds of things. I threatened him in the police station itself, and the whole station was quiet. My temper was so high that if he had said even one word I would have done something. Those people had done wrong things, and I could not stand it. My whole body was shaking as if I should do something. I cannot control myself when there is so much anger. Previously I would get angry at minor things; now it happens only with major things. It happens especially with matters involving my prestige; when people's respect for me is involved, I get very angry. For example, if someone says he cannot do anything, he is not dangerous. What can he do? Initially when the villagers provoked my workers I asked them to ignore it. I told them not to fight and had their injuries addressed. Slowly the villagers started increasing their atrocities, doing more and more damage. They started to think that I could not retaliate, so they did more damage. Now I know that in such a situation I should not retaliate. I am alone and they are a whole village; I am isolated. But at that time I had no control. I went and beat up a guy very badly. When they exceeded the limit, I beat him up. He went to the police and complained. The whole village was there. I told him that if he opened his mouth in that place, I would cut his hands off. I was shaking with anger. The man never opened his mouth, and after that they left me completely in peace. The police advised me not to say things like that. I told them that if he had opened his mouth I would have done what I said. [ _Smiles_ ] I said that when he is not even a man, why should I even have to talk to him. I had to give him an open challenge. This was one-and-a-half to two years ago.

"Four months ago there was a little problem in another city. They had given me a contract. I had done most of the work, but they refused to pay me and were trying to get other contractors to come and finish the work. Seventy of them came to get us out and start their work. I was there with my brother and one of my workers, and the three of us stood in front of the machinery. I said: 'You are seventy and we are three. We are no match for you. I will tell you one thing: the first guy who puts his hands on my machine, he will not have hands. After that you can do anything to us.' No one dared to do anything. There was total compromise after that.

"I cannot bear it if the person in front of me thinks I am scared. That is a question of prestige. If he thinks I am scared, he will only do more damage. He will do more and more. Now he steals, but the next time he will come and take it from me, if he thinks I am scared. I cannot make enemies of the village. I have to go to them, but at the same time they must have respect for me. They must not think I am scared. I give them my car for weddings. I help them. But when it comes to a question of prestige, I lose control. They tried to oppress me. They troubled everyone else after that, but they never troubled me."

The main feature in his inner experience is the threat of violence. People try to attack him, and he threatens to strike back. The other important feature is the tremendous sensitivity to injustice. He cannot bear to see someone being treated unfairly, which is also how he perceives his own treatment by others. When he was not given the contract he was very angry because he had not been given a fair chance, and he became violent. The anger, violence, threatening, malice, and especially the perception of a very unequal fight (one victim against many aggressors) all suggest a snake remedy. This patient also seems egoistic from the way he underplays the story of four months ago, which he refers to as a "little problem." Then when he is asked the details, it is much more intense.

A remedy from the snake group helped him a lot, both physically and psychologically. His heart function returned to normal over a period of time and he has remained well for more than fifteen years.

  Arachnida

Spiders have a slyness, a cunningness in them. They tend to trap prey or anybody who intrudes on their space and territory. The reason they use this strategy is because at a deeper level they perceive themselves to be small in size and power. Those with a spider song show this survival pattern through human expressions, using deceit and trickery to get one up on the other as they perceive themselves as smaller and weaker than their opponent. Often they feel trapped, tricked, and used by others, and they can use any trick to quickly get out of this situation. The people in whom the spider song is playing are those who can trick, cheat, fake, play practical jokes, and always think of a crooked and indirect way to face any issue. These people are also very alert to sounds, music, and rhythm, and they respond to fast music.

  A boy of six years was brought to me for fever and recurrent abscesses and boils on his legs and feet. Every three months he needed antibiotics.

The child was restless, would not sit in one place, and made motions with his arm all the time. He was playing a game in my clinic with pieces of folded paper in three different colors; the red one would fire on the other (green and blue) ones, and then one that had been fired upon would get up and fire on the others. He was doing this continuously. I asked him the meaning of this game. He said, "These are three fighter planes and the one plane is firing on the other and that one is dying and that one is firing back and the other is going down. My plane is the red one and it will always survive and kill the others."

The other part of the story was a dream he'd had. He was going somewhere with his friends and there was a big bad witch who trapped the kids and put them into a net; they could not come out and they knew they would be consumed and eaten. And he woke up with a fright. I asked the mother about his behavior. She described him as extremely aggressive but never in her presence. In her presence he was the most saintly child. The moment the mother went away he would hit the maid.

I asked her, "How does he hit the maid?" She replied, "I do not know, I have never seen it." I asked her to call the maid and ask her. The maid said that they played a game in which he chased her, jumped on her, and pinned her to the ground, and after that he sat on her and hit her.

We can see that in his play with the maid the boy did to her exactly what he perceived being done to him (by the witch). The pattern is one of trapping the victim and then hurting, harming, or killing.

This is a typical pattern of spiders.

It is interesting that after receiving a homeopathic remedy from the spider group the physical problems of the boy healed very quickly and have not recurred for several years. But also his entire behavior underwent a very significant change for the better.

  Insects

Insects, which form another subkingdom, are small with short life spans. Usually very busy (think of the ant and the bee), they are concerned with immediate and basic survival needs—food and reproduction. Their kind of attack is a sudden sting. Their death is abrupt too, and often violent. People with the insect song within them will have several of these perceptions and patterns. (For illustration of the insect song, the reader can refer to a case of the honeybee song beginning on page 210.)

  Birds

Birds, a further subkingdom, feel trapped and caged when kept away from their natural environment of the sky. The opposite of this trapped feeling is their experience of flight, freedom, and openness, with no confinement in any dimension. People with the bird song experience this as their deepest sensation. They express it through several words and gestures.

  A sixty-five-year-old woman came in with depression, arthritis, and migraine. The main stress for her was the behavior of her husband, who was very active and ambitious in his business, despite being seventy-five. This man, who was quite wealthy, didn't really need to expand his business yet worked night and day to develop it further. Her children had all grown up, were well settled and self-sufficient, and had all left the country. This lady wanted to spend her life pursuing altruistic goals, working with handicapped and less privileged children. She also wanted time to walk by the seaside, enjoy music, and meditate. But her husband's business compulsions and his asking for her participation frustrated her and caused the depression.

I asked her about her experience in this situation. She said, "Since I am married to him I must be with him and now I look after him like a mother. This takes a toll on me. [ _She weeps continuously_.] How much can I crucify myself?"

Further, she said, "This is my own fight with myself, and I feel a sense of bondage, a limiting of my freedom. I feel enslaved. In this situation I feel trapped and suffocated."

We can already see here the animal song of the fight between the one and the other and the struggle between me and myself. I asked her to describe the experience of being trapped and suffocated a bit more. She said, "The feeling is I am not a free bird. I cannot fly to see the sky, which I would like to do. I feel as if my wings have been cut and I am at the mercy of others."

Here she reflected the story of the bird that is trapped and bound by its commitment to its offspring and waits for the day when it has fulfilled this commitment so that it can soar through the skies again.

  Mollusks

Mollusks have a survival strategy of withdrawing into a shell. People with the mollusk song see themselves as soft and vulnerable, so they secrete a hard shell around themselves into which they can retreat. They pay a price for the security thus obtained; the price is immobility, being stuck in one position, unable to participate in the world outside. The words, gestures, and images they use at a deep sensation level reflect this survival strategy.

 **An Eighteen-Year-Old Girl with Recurrent Headache**

 _(In this case-study interview, R = Dr. Rajan Sankaran, P = Patient, and hg = hand gesture. Italics are author's notes.)_

 **R:** What's the problem?

 **P:** For a month and a half I have been getting this terrible headache. It mostly starts from my right side and as the day proceeds, it just spreads. And sometimes I feel a crushing pain in the side of my nose. If it is here, there is a kind of obstruction [ _hg: of pushing to one side_ ] and it gets better when I switch off the light. Walking and certain jolts increase it. And my mother suffers with the same kind of pains. So that's it.

 **R:** Tell a bit more about the headache.

 **P:** It's like an obstruction [ _hg: circling the right eye with one hand_ ] in the eye. Sometimes I feel it is a little swollen, not red. But this whole area gets kind of compressed. It was much more frequent during times when I had exams. Now I am relatively free, but it happens in the evening or anytime. But somehow I know that the headache is going to happen, that slight lingering and then it starts, heaviness.

 _(Local sensations—terrible, crushing, and obstruction. Of all these sensations, the hand gesture is there in obstruction.)_

 **R:** A bit more about the type of headache you have.

 **P:** It's not a throbbing pain [ _hg: holding space, like a ball_ ], it's just a compression and the degrees vary; if it's an overstressed day then it irritates me. But during exams I cannot even sit and concentrate on my books. It's a just a compression [ _hg: holding a space ball with right hand_ ]. Even my eye and all, this whole area is majorly compressed [ _similar gesture_ ]. It's not a throbbing pain; I can feel pressure on the eye, the side of my nose, and all this area. And if I press that, it definitely gets better.

 _(More sensations: compression, majorly compressed.)_

 **R:** When you say "compression," what do you mean exactly?

 **P:** As I explained to you, it's not a throbbing pain [ _hg: of throbbing_ ]. I can feel a pressure, the whole thing, on the eye and the side of my nose and all this area. And if I press that it definitely gets better.

 **R:** So, describe this pressure a little bit more.

 **P:** As when I apply it, to make it better?

 **R:** No, no. You said "compression and pressure"; just describe that.

 **P:** I feel my eye is half open. Maybe it doesn't look like that, but I feel it is all compressed/shrunk [ _said in Hindi, with a hand gesture of closing an open palm_ ]. It is not like a thumping pain or a throbbing pain [ _hg: palm opening and closing with energy_ ]. It is toward the inside [ _hg: grasping and pulling backward_ ]. And it definitely becomes much more if I give my attention to it. I think, Okay, I am getting a headache, then it increases. But you know this whole area would be [ _hg: palm grasping repeatedly_ ], I would just feel, compressed, that's the only word I can use to describe it.

 _(Not a throbbing pain or a thumping pain [hand gesture]. Denial. It is com_ _pression. With compression is a hand gesture. It is shrunk/inside. The sensa_ _tion cannot be fully described in words. We have to look at the gesture, not listen to the words. The word "compressed" doesn't fully capture it. You have to see the energy.)_

 **R:** You are making some movement with your hand like this.

 **P:** There is [ _hg: closing palm/hand and drawing it backward_ ] compression.

 _(This is one of the main gestures in the case.)_

 **R:** Describe that hand movement a little bit more.

 **P:** It's not like throbbing [ _opening and closing palm_ ], but it is inside [ _closing palm and pulling it backward_ ]. A lot of people have this thumping pain. This thak, thak, thak going on inside. No, it is nothing of that sort. It just pains. I am having it right now. This area is, it's just paining. I am so used to it, for so long. So there is no word to describe it. Right now it is here but it is very faint, but it is just hurting. There is no way to describe it. This uncomfortable feeling is there. And as the day proceeds, then it will just keep coming more. It will pain a lot. Yeah, pain is the right word. Paining a lot, hurting.

 **R:** So, describe this movement of your hand. Just show that movement again.

 **P:** It is [ _same hg of closing palm and drawing it backward_ ].

 **R:** Yes, I want you to describe this. Just forget about the pain for the moment. Just describe this movement.

 **P:** The whole thing is [ _palm closes and pulls backward_ ]. Some people say they have a hammering [ _hg: hammering_ ]. It is not like that. It is just that someone is not allowing me to use this part. It is . . .

 **R:** Just this movement. Just do that movement again.

 **P:** [ _Hg: palm closes and pulls backward_ ] Compression.

 _(So far we see the energy pattern through the hand gesture. The hammer on the head is part of the story, since she is spontaneously denying it. We see hand gestures coming with "hammering" and "Someone is not allowing me to use this part." It is that someone is doing something to someone. This gives us a hint toward the animal kingdom. When this energy is seen, what is important is to disconnect her from the pain and go into the sensation. We can do this by focusing on the gesture or the word that has energy. It is where we go away from familiar ground, going into the complete unknown with the patient. It seems so foolish, so silly, such complete nonsense. But we need to have trust in that, to know for sure that this is it. It takes time to have that confidence.)_

 **R:** Yes, describe this movement. Only that movement of your hand.

 **P:** It's like again [ _same hg_ ] compression. Everything is just compressed inside, and then I am not able to access that part. Everything is just [ _same hg_ ] inside. It is compressed and closed. Then it just absolutely does not allow me to . . . then I cannot use it.

 _(Asking about the energy pattern [hand gesture] will give us the sensation [king_ _dom, subkingdom, and source]. Some words related to the source are "com_ _pressed," "shrunk," "inside," "closed," and "not able to access that part.")_

 **R:** You are doing very well. Maybe what I need to understand is your experience. So don't worry about what you are saying. What you are doing is absolutely fine. It is not that you are answering me wrong or incorrectly, but by asking I can understand it deeper and deeper.

 **P:** Much better.

 _(Reassurance is needed at the beginning of nonsense.)_

 **R:** So a little bit more about this movement of the hand.

 **P:** What should I say?

 **R:** Just describe it. Just do it once again and describe it. Do that movement.

 _(We don't ask what the movement means or any interpretation of it, or what it reminds her of. We only ask her to describe it.)_

 **P:** [ _Hand gesture of closing palm and drawing it backward._ ]

 **R:** Just whatever comes to you, you tell me about that movement.

 **P:** It's only, it is just a way to show how the headache happens.

 **R:** Forget the headache, forget compression, forget pressure, forget everything. Just describe to me this movement. Whatever you can say about it and whatever comes to you, you tell me about that movement.

 _(Again, this helps the patient to disconnect and be with the sensation.)_

 **P:** It is [ _hg_ ] pulling in [ _hg_ ].

 **R:** Tell about "pulling in."

 **P:** It is like when it gets [ _hg_ ] pulled, then it kind of goes into [ _hg_ ] a closure and you cannot access it. It's just that, how can I explain this?

 _(At this point we see that she doesn't mention compression or hammering but she mentions a third new sensation: "pulling in." The presence of different sensations, apparently unrelated, points to animal kingdom. In the animal, one sensation is not a variation of the other. They are related in that they are part of a process, a sequence of action. It is no longer a sensation but it becomes a story._

 _"Pulled in," "shrunk," "compressed," "closed." If you focus on any one action of the sequence of the action, you will get the entire sequence. When asked about pulled, she says it is pulled in, closure, cannot access. This is the part of the sequence; now we have to see what was before that. What is it that causes pulled in, closure, and cannot access? What camebefore and what comes after it? Then the entire story of that animal will be revealed.)_

 **R:** You are doing extremely well. So, describe to me this thing—pulling in, goes into a closure, you can't access it. Describe this phenomenon.

 _(Use all the things she said, without emphasizing something that she didn't emphasize.)_

 **P:** Pertaining to the headache?

 **R:** No. Headache is gone now.

 **P:** Okay.

 **R:** Just this much: Pulling in, goes into a closure, and you can't access it.

 **P:** Pertaining to something abstract?

 **R:** Whatever comes to you.

 **P:** I don't know, but my theory is that anything is withheld [ _hg: grasping and pulling backward_ ] or it just goes out of reach. That is why you cannot access it. And this gesture is withholding or retaining it back.

 **R:** Tell about this "withholding" and what you described, "It is withheld and it goes out of reach." Just describe this a little bit more.

 **P:** As in, how do I explain it further?

 **R:** This gesture will help you. This is like withholding, out of reach. I am trying to understand this: "Cannot get access." I am trying to understand this a bit more.

 **P:** It's like just . . . [ _hg: closing and pulling back_ ], you know, "gone inside a shell" would be most appropriate.

 _(Withholding is: Out of reach, gone inside a shell. So the sensations are compressed, shrunk, pulling in, go out of reach, close. These are a reaction to hammering, crushing. It is soft and delicate inside. It feels the threat of being hammered or crushed. So it develops a hard shell and goes/stays inside that.)_

 **R:** Describe for me this gone into a shell.

 **P:** When something goes in, when a creature goes inside the shell, there is no way that you can access the creature. It's gone out of reach. That is exactly what happens. It is just [ _same hg_ ] withheld, gone.

 _(The main survival response of the animal decides the subkingdom. In this case it is mollusk.)_

 **R:** So, describe for me this creature going into a shell.

 _(Withheld is only a part of the process. There is a threat, so it withholds and goes out of reach. To ask about the creature is to ask about the whole process, not just a part of it.)_

 **P:** I don't know. I've said as much as I could.

 **R:** Whatever comes to you, when you say, "A creature goes into a shell." Describe that creature or describe that experience or whatever comes to you.

 **P:** I guess I have always been an introvert. So for me also, I have a little [ _hg: closing palm_ ] shell. So, similarly, like all introverted people, they are just . . . it's not that I don't like meeting people but I have certain people with whom I like to interact, who are like me. That's about it. If you put me in a crowd, it's not that I would get lost. I will find my likes and that's it. Then I don't like to mingle with the rest. And when I am not at all fond of anyone, that's when I would also go into my shell, and then I am quiet and reserved.

 _(Having merely come to the source, when we ask about the shell, then the patient sees it in her life. She says, "I have a shell. I'm an introvert." Our idea is to find out why the shell, or in other words, what is the threat? This is the point at which there is the shift to herself, the global. It's not the headache anymore; it is "I." Suddenly the local becomes the global. It is the turning point in many cases. It defines the patient herself, not just her complaint. It happens when the local flows into the global, and you see that it is the same thing. In the essence of the headache is the essence of the whole being. What is true of the part is true of the whole. It is a sign that you have reached the center of the circle. Till then you are not sure. The description of the complaint equates with the description of my being. As long as the description is not the same, I have not reached the center. This is as true as the fact that any cell of the body will have the same set of DNA. This is why you can ask about anything, and eventually it will reach there.)_

 **Understanding of the Case**

The experience of the headache is a terrible, crushing obstruction. There is a hand gesture with "obstruction." Then she uses the word _compression_ , but her hand gesture shows a movement. Animals move, and they use moving hand gestures. She uses the words _shrunk_ and _inside_. It goes in and cannot be accessed.

The sensation in the chief complaint is the ruling sensation of the case. So far, we can see the energy pattern through the hand gestures. From here we can get the sensation (kingdom, subkingdom, and source). She shows a whole movement pattern, which is complex.

"Hammering on my head. Someone not allowing me to use this part." At this point we see that someone is doing something to someone. This is the animal kingdom. This is the beginning of nonsense. Reassurance is needed at that point, that she is doing well.

At that point I tell her to forget the headache and everything, as this helps her to dissociate.

She says it is "pulling in." This inclusion of three different sensations points to animal kingdom. She uses the words _hammering, shrunk, compressed._

If you focus on one action, it will bring out the entire sequence. When asked about pulled, she says it's closed and pulled in. This is part of a sequence, and we need to know what is before that and what is after that; what caused her to pull in and close. It is withholding. Pulled into a shell. The shell brings together all the sensations.

The main survival response of the animal decides the subkingdom, namely mollusk.

Why the shell? What is the threat that creates the shell in the first place? She says she cannot trust. This is emotion, and from here we need to go to delusion and sensation.

What can happen if you trust? "You hear and read so much in the newspapers about murder, robbery, rape, broken relationships."

What are you most sensitive to? "Someone breaking my trust." It would shatter her. Shatter is important. It is non-human-specific. The experience of breaking is sudden. The experience of the shell is confined. It's such a jumble. It is a sticky situation. It has caught you and you are stuck there, caught. She talks about being caught and fixed in a sticky situation, which is the nonhuman thing. This is the illogical, strange, individual thing.

Fears as a child? Claustrophobia, walls coming closer. She describes it as an oyster shell.

Why do you withdraw? Because it's better to go through suppression than trust and be hurt. The risk of being modern is to be exposed and hurt. She relates to the oyster. It is bivalved, stuck, and fixed.

With the remedy prepared from oyster, the patient improved dramatically, both with regard to her headache as well as her mental state. She became far more open, confident, and could face the world with courage. One year later her very appearance and manner of talking was so different as to almost make it difficult to believe it was the same person. It was as if she had come out of her shell and did not need the shell anymore.

RECOGNITION OF THE MINERAL SONG

**The Fundamental Issue in Minerals Is the Formation, Maintenance, and Loss of Structure**

The central features of the mineral kingdom are its structure and organization. These are the features that help scientists understand this kingdom so well. The structure of minerals is ordered and predictable in many ways, allowing an exact classification of all elements into the periodic table. It is this structured organization, inherent in all minerals, that makes chemistry an exact science. We see how the periodic table tells the tale of formation from hydrogen, which is the simplest of the elements, to heavier elements, such as sodium, calcium, iron, silver, gold; and finally the disintegration of structure in elements such as radium and uranium (see page 82).

In persons whose other song is derived from the mineral kingdom, the issues of capacity, strength, resistance, stability, solidity, and so on, which are the innate features of minerals, are reflected in human elements such as capability, toughness, performance, and security. The core issue for these people is how much they are developed in their own selves or how to maintain the stability of their structure, be it their health, relationships, family, finances, talents, power, or position in the organization.

We find these features of structure and organization in persons whose other song coincides with the energy of a mineral. The first impression one gets on seeing such a person is that he is very well organized. Even the clothes he wears are characteristic: symmetrical patterns, stripes, checks, or plain.

The periodic table of elements is a map of all the elements, which exist in a structured relationship to one other. The elements in each column share certain characteristics of chemical composition and reaction, as do the elements in each horizontal row.

His speech is planned, giving a sense of exactness and precision. His hands tend to be either folded across his chest or resting comfortably without much movement. His voice and tone are quite flat without many fluctuations in the pitch. He presents his story or complaints (at a doctor's clinic) in a very systematic manner, often beginning with the previous session and then speaking of subsequent events almost chronologically: "I came to you last on . . . for the first six days, the pain in my . . ." I have observed that very often such a patient notes his symptoms in carefully written points and describes each symptom completely (in as much detail as he thinks necessary) before going on to the next symptom. He perceives, and therefore describes, things in an ordered manner. For instance, once treatment starts, he describes his progress at follow-ups in terms of percentages: "I am 25 percent better." His handwriting is usually well structured, straight (not rounded), and angled. He speaks precisely and to the point.

All these characteristics are due to a certain attitude of the mind and a structured thought process. Consequently, such an individual chooses professions that demand these qualities. He becomes an engineer, accountant, computer consultant, or business manager. He can be a high performer and makes a mark in his chosen field in a steady, stable, and reliable manner. Whatever the chosen role, whether as a parent looking after children and home or manager of a large corporation, these same characteristics of order and efficiency will be apparent.

He gives prime importance to structure in all spheres of his life: family, relationships, and profession. His performance in all areas relates to this inner sense of structure, or lack of it. He is concerned about the security (of structure—relationship) that he has and that he can provide.

The role of structure in human life is in building a society, forming a family, and developing an organization. If this is his other song, then the human being will view all his problems through the prism of structure. His main issues are deficiency in, or loss of, structure. A perceived threat to, or failure in structure of any kind could precipitate the problem. For example, a fragile or broken relationship, loss of a job, financial losses, or any failure in performance.

He talks of "My home—family—relationship . . . my work efficiency . . . my bank balance . . . my health."

These are the important areas in his life and all his stresses are experienced in these spheres. His fears, too, are centered on these areas of sensitivity. He is anxious about being unable to perform well and therefore failing in his work. He fears that the relationships he has built up so carefully, and upon which he relies, may break. The thought of losing the possessions or status he has acquired (in response to his inner needs) is a constant worry to him.

All his efforts are channeled toward the building and maintenance of structure. In order to do this he has to be strong, systematic, and calculating. This, in brief, describes his nature. He is not easily changed, being very consistent in his nature and reactions. His reactions are uniform, hardly varying in different situations.

His dreams reflect his fears and mainly revolve around his performance at work, threats to his health, sudden financial losses, relationships falling apart, and domestic losses, such as fights within the family or his house burning down. As these are very definite and fixed areas, his dreams tend to be repetitive.

A person whose other song is from the mineral kingdom talks about his symptoms in terms of structure at the deepest level. He will use words that apply to minerals, such as _pressure, density, solid, light, heavy, cold, build, form, dissolve, empty,_ and so on. In effect, this deep inner sense of structure is his sensation.

For example, Mrs. A. says she has a headache. The headache is very intense. It is pulling and sharp. She describes several different sensations relating to her headache but does not come to one clear underlying sensation.

We therefore ask her: "What effect does this headache have on you?" She replies: "It makes me feel very dependent on others; it is as if I am handicapped."

We attempt to understand this further and ask: "What is being handicapped? How do you experience handicapped?" She replies: "It is as if my legs are missing."

The mineral person will not be able to go beyond that. Her deepest expression and experience at the level of sensation is that her structure is incomplete. You cannot get beyond that.

She says, "Earlier I would cross the street on my own. Now I need my sister to hold me. I am not able to do my activity." I ask her to tell me more about the headache and how it affects her.

She says that it kept her away from her nephew's wedding. "We are very attached and I do not want to miss his wedding."

Once again, the deepest effect of the headache on her life is on her sense of structure, her relationships, and her ability to function within the family. All have to do with structure. Each time we ask for a sensation, we get something related to structure.

Then, as our conversation continues, something interesting happens. She says: "I have a fear now. The headache causes fear." (She is unable to go further.)

I ask: "What dreams do you get?" She answers: "I get no dreams, but I have a tremendous fear of ghosts. I cannot stay alone, especially at night, so I pray."

I ask her to describe "ghost." She replies: "For me a ghost is just the fear of being alone. I cannot describe a ghost or tell you the sensation, but I just cannot be alone. I am like a child. I have not developed the ability to be by myself. I need other people. I need my husband, my children, and my family."

We can see her basic issue is the sensation that she lacks the structure needed for her security. She needs others to fill in due to this perceived feeling of lack within herself.

Within the mineral kingdom, her main issue is security. She lacks a secure structure in herself. Her husband, children, and family are her security. In that sense she is childish. When I ask her about the fear, she describes the need for security. It is not the ghost that is important but what the threat of the ghost signifies in her. What is lacking in her is security, structure. It is not a feeling of being a victim, as in the animal person; rather it is a feeling of lacking sufficient structure and security within oneself.

For a person whose other song is from the animal kingdom, the fear of the ghost would be a fear of death, a question of survival. The description of a ghost here would be that of a monster. The monster might have sharp claws, huge teeth, blood pouring from its mouth, and "it will come and get me." For an animal song, the ghost (the fear) is the aggressor "out there," and the person is the terrified victim of the approaching aggressor.

For a person whose other song is from the plant kingdom, the description of a ghost will be different again. It might be something like: "Oh! It is terrible, I will be caught and bound." His deepest expression will come down to an inner sensation, such as tied and bound, with an opposite sensation of released and free. So for a plant song the experience of "ghost" at the deepest level is one clear inner sensation of a certain type and intensity.

The periodic table of elements is a map of all the elements, the building blocks from which everything on earth is made. Because all these elements exist in a structured relationship to each other, they can be placed precisely in the appropriate column or horizontal row. The table makes chemical sense and is therefore used to classify and understand the elements that comprise the entire mineral kingdom.

Hydrogen, the first element in the periodic table, has the simplest structure of all, consisting of one central proton and one orbiting electron in its single outer shell. Going across a row, the number of electrons increases by one with each element; the chemical properties of all of the elements show a corresponding progressive change across each row. All elements seek stability of structure and react with other elements in order to achieve that. An element is stable when it possesses a complete set of electrons in its outer orbit.

In the first row (hydrogen and helium), the first outer shell is complete when it contains two electrons, but all subsequent outer shells require eight electrons in order for each of those elements to be stable.

With each new row another outer shell is added; thus, all the elements in the first column (vertically on the far left side of the table: hydrogen, lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium, and francium) contain only one electron in their (new) outer shell. These elements are therefore very unstable and react readily with other elements in order to attain the shared stability of eight electrons in their outer shell.

Each horizontal row in the periodic table maps and represents a journey toward stability of structure, which is reflected in the noble gases listed in the last column of the table (vertically, on the far right side of the table: helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon). These gases are considered "noble" (or pure) because they are nonreactive and inert chemically. Because they all contain eight electrons in their outer shell, they are already stable in themselves.

It is not important to understand the concept of valence electrons that underlies the discussion in the above paragraphs. What is important to see is that the entire periodic table—all the elements that surround us and make us—is about seeking wholeness and structure, longing for stability. This is the essence of the person whose remedy is from the mineral kingdom.

As one progresses across the entire periodic table, from hydrogen (with an atomic mass of 1.0) to radon (with an atomic mass of 222), the elements become progressively heavier and more complex. Eventually this complexity and heaviness of structure sows the seeds of its own destruction. The atoms become so heavy that their inner structure can no longer hold together, and physical disintegration occurs, as in the radioactive gas radon. Although radon is inert and nonreactive chemically (due to maximized electrons in its outer shell), it is unstable physically (due to the great number of central neutrons and protons, with six shells of orbiting electrons). Its central structure breaks down and it undergoes radioactive decay.

Thus the ordered structure of the whole periodic table represents and maps a journey from simple, light beginnings (first row) through progressive development, properties, and possibilities (middle rows) to increasing heaviness and complexity, which ultimately results in disintegration and decay (sixth and seventh rows).

This same pattern of conception of the new, its subsequent continuing growth and establishment, its further progression into disintegration and decay, is mirrored in every event and at every level throughout our world.

By combining this knowledge base of chemistry with careful observation of people who have benefited from mineral remedies in homeopathy, it becomes possible to understand that the structure and development of the elements (as shown in the periodic table) is a universal pattern that is mirrored in the structure and development of mankind. Indeed, on looking closely, we see that all development, be it that of a person, a relationship, or an organization, occurs according to this fundamental pattern.

We see this in the stages of development of a human. An individual human life begins at conception and grows through pregnancy until the moment of birth. The child then separates from the mother and begins to develop his own identity. Once this is established he is able to leave home. He adopts a trade and learns to fend for himself. He may then develop new creative ventures, and as his sense of security and confidence increases, he may take more responsibility in society, assuming leadership roles in various forms. As he matures he fulfills these roles. Slowly, as he grows into old age, he finds his strength waning and he has to start letting go. He first lets go of his chosen tasks in life until eventually he has to let go of life itself.

The formation of an organization follows a similar trend. Any organization originates as an idea or concept within a "parent structure." This original concept gathers strength and form until it reaches the point of being sufficiently organized to separate from the parent organization and establish itself as a separate entity, an individual organization in its own right. This separate organization then explores different avenues of growth, branching into other areas and developing quantitatively and qualitatively. Then comes a phase of stability, a plateau. The period of growth and stability varies, but eventually there always comes a slow disintegration and diminishing of the organization's power, strength, and capacity. Finally, it ceases to be. Thus the growth of an organization is no different from the growth of a human organism.

The development of a relationship, or family unit, takes a similar course. Every relationship begins as a concept or mutual feeling between two people who would like to be together. As their relationship grows, they reach the stage where they separate from their individual families in order to create a separate unit of their own. Once they are established as a separate unit, their primary aim is to achieve stability and security. Then comes the phase where they want to branch out and have children. This brings a sense of responsibility. The family grows; the children are nurtured and grow to maturity. Then comes the time for the children to leave home and the family is scattered, as the old gives way to the new.

This is how development and growth happen in general, but some of us get stuck at a particular point on the journey. Somewhere along the way (irrespective of what our current age may be), our onward development has halted. We remain at a fixed point.

If our other song is from the mineral kingdom, an understanding of the various issues of the rows and columns of the periodic table yields a helpful indication of the point at which we are stuck, and its extent.

The periodic table has horizontal rows and vertical columns, both of which have particular themes or issues that can be interpreted based on knowledge of the sciences of chemistry and homeopathy.

THE ROWS AND THEIR ISSUES

Each of the seven horizontal rows going across the periodic table can be understood as representing a stage in the development of a human being. Each element in each row represents a corresponding specific energy state in human life. If a person becomes stuck at one of these stages we can recognize the "song singing" in him as corresponding to the energy of an element at a specific place in the periodic table. In the context of this framework of understanding I refer below to "elements" (minerals of the periodic table) and "human stages of perceiving" (states of being) in an interchangeable manner.

In each row from the fourth to the sixth, the specific theme of that row develops progressively as we move across the periodic table from left to right. Elements on the left have the perception of "lack" in the issue relevant to that row. Traveling toward the middle of the periodic table there is a sense of gradually achieving and becoming more established regarding this particular issue. From the middle of the row across to the right side of the table, once again the feeling is of loss of structure or capability with respect to the particular theme of that row.

 _ **The First Row: The Stage of Conception**_

This is the stage of coming into existence. The question faced by an individual stuck in this stage is: "Do I exist or don't I exist? Am I, or am I not?"

The person whose other song corresponds to an element from this row has a feeling of doubt as to whether he actually exists. He has the feeling he has no mass, no matter. One person put it this way: "I feel like a baby without a body."

There is also a feeling of isolation, separation, and no connection with the form, with self, or with anyone; hence, he looks for some connection to make him feel that he exists. Without this connection he feels disconnected, empty, and a void.

Another person put it thus: "It's as if I put my body aside. I had to blast this bubble. I was just a gaseous bubble, a shapeless volume, I was made of gas. That's how I was living, a child in a dream, in a nonexistent bubble. A child without a body, a nonexistent bubble of energy encysted in, and imprisoned in, an uninhabited body. I realized that I experienced myself as having less worth than everybody else; minute, tiny, microscopic, and bodiless."

 _ **The Second Row: The Stage of Separation**_

Here the individual perceives himself as a fetus, or in the process of being born. His perception of life is like the labor process. Birth signifies the progressive process of separation and coming into one's own. The question in this stage is, "Am I separate or am I still part of the mother?"

These people are extremely naive and simple. They have no concerns about their appearance, nourishment, security, performance, or leadership. Their main concern is whether they are in the womb (protective shell or covering) or outside it. Do they have the capability to live by themselves or do they still need to be part of the parental figure? The main quality of the womb is the stability and uniformity of the environment within, protected from all shocks and stimuli of the outside. A person whose song is of an element from the left side of this row looks for such a stable and uniform environment in his life and seeks people who can provide it for him. An imminent loss of such stabilizing people is a cause for panic. Similarly, any sudden shock in the (stable) environment, for example, news of a natural disaster such as earthquake or flood, also causes great panic. (For a case illustration refer to page 158.)

On the other hand, a person whose song is from an element on the right side of this row experiences the need to get out of this stable environment, which he experiences as suffocating and claustrophobic.

 _ **The Third Row: Development of Identity**_

Here the issue of separation is in the past. Separation has been achieved. You exist as an entity on your own, but what is your identity? The question now is, "I am, but who am I?" Also in this row is the progressive development from dependence to independence in the areas of care, nourishment, and choice.

In the third row elements to the left, such as sodium and magnesium, perceive a lack of identity in themselves. This inner perception is variously expressed as "living someone else's life, not having my own choices, I do not know who I am or what I want," and, as a result, being completely dependent on the choices of others. In effect, they have dissolved their own identity into that of another person.

In contrast, elements on the right side of the third row—phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine—have a more developed sense of their own identity, because the ego and sense of self becomes clearer as we move across the row to the right. The child's own identity develops, and as his ego or sense of self becomes more established and complete, he feels at first different from, then superior to, and finally antagonistic to the parent with whom he had earlier identified. This row is also concerned with care and nourishment. Elements to the left in the third row feel dependent on others for care and nourishment, whereas elements toward the right side of the row have dealt with this need and become free of it and so have a significant degree of self-sufficiency.

It is the stage of development in a child of approximately age three to six years, the time when they begin to develop and assert their choices, to develop and demand the ability to do things for themselves, and to become conscious of themselves and of other peoples' impressions about them.

It is also the stage in which the child needs warmth, nourishment, care, and emotional support. Frequently children start to develop fears of unknown and unfamiliar things, as they begin to realize the difference between the known (familiar) and the unknown (unfamiliar) and between right and wrong.

People whose other song is of an element from this row experience the world as if they were such a child. They often experience great emotional dependence on someone, attachment, and a need for bonding. There is an implicit trust, or need for someone whom they can trust implicitly, as in, "You can trust him with your life." It is like a child's trust in the mother, that she will never let him down. The feeling is, "He and I are not different. He is mine and therefore I'll not be let down in any way." Such a situation often ends in broken trust and disappointment.

The person may say that the other person has disappointed, betrayed, or let him down, which at the level of delusion sounds like the victim song of the animal kingdom. But when examined at an experiential or sensory level, it will be seen that his main sensitivity concerns the need for, and therefore the making of, a relationship; and conversely, the need to be independent and therefore break the relationship. Dependence and independence are basically themes of structure. The structure of the relationship is the sensitive point, but this will be revealed only at the deeper level. This is also true of the other kingdoms, that the differentiation needs to be made only at the deepest, namely the global, or sensation, level.

The feeling is, "Who is going to take care of me? Who is going to understand me, know me (my identity) for who I am? Who is going to share my joys and sorrows? How will I live without the person who cares for me?" Any situation in which they feel that this care and nourishment will be taken away from them produces anxiety. For example, they get extremely affected by any problem between parents or with friends or a spouse on whom they depend for care and nourishment.

Appearance seems to be a very important issue in this row of identity. Because their own sense of self is not fully established, they tend to judge themselves by the way they appear to other people.

  A twenty-three-year-old young woman came with a skin problem called _lichen planus._ Her symptom was dark, itchy spots all over her lower limbs. This condition, known to be brought on by stress, is quite difficult to treat. However, what was even more of a problem was her state of mind. She was unmarried and living with her parents, and every day she would have intense quarrels with her parents and get abusive. Her life had come to a standstill. She was desperate and sometimes even had suicidal thoughts, and her parents were naturally very concerned. In the interview process she talked of striking, throwing things, wanting to hit back, killing, and feelings of being neglected, dirty, trapped, and excluded.

I started her questioning by asking her to describe the skin problem. She said there were two types of skin spots with different characteristics, and both coexisted simultaneously in the same place. I was intrigued by this description of the skin problem, and when I asked her to describe it further, she said that the two types of spots were completely opposite and remotely similar; that they were completely opposite, like cheese and chalk. At this point the description of it was so strange that it had to come from her other song. I asked her to say more, and she generalized by saying that it is the same situation as living with her parents, in which each is completely different from the other. She also felt that the others tried to control her and she had to listen to them because "I am not able to think for myself." And so she had two of her inside herself. The constant struggle inside her was so intense that she wanted to hit herself against the wall or destroy herself.

The essence of her perception was one of her own nondevelopment. Because her own sense of identity and choice were not clearly established and she was not able to think for herself, there was an internal conflict as to whether she should listen to herself or to others. This conflict was so confusing and frustrating that she wanted to destroy herself. The issue of nondevelopment of herself was a mineral kingdom issue. In this young woman it was particularly manifested in the area of development of identity and choice, which is an issue of the elements of the third row of the periodic table. (Along with her own newfound awareness of her problem through the interview process, the homeopathic remedy alumina from the third row healed both her skin and mind.)

_**The Fourth Row: Issues of Security**_

The issue in row four is of solidity, stability, and security; that is, money and finances, relationships, house, job, and health. It represents the development of security, mass, or strength with which one develops the ability to defend oneself.

Once the identity is established, the next step is the development of solidity, or defensive capability. A colleague of mine, Dr. Jan Scholten, made an observation about the pattern within each row. He observed that while each row represented a specific issue or stage of development, the pattern within the row was that the people who needed elements on the left side as remedies had the feeling that something was lacking in their lives. Toward the middle of the row they felt more successful, and after the middle of the row they felt that ability was progressively being lost. The issue in the fourth row of the periodic table is one of developing mass or security. Elements toward the left side of the row indicate a deficiency of solidity or defensive capability; movement across the row to the right finds these elements slowly starting to develop solidity or defensive capability, which once again starts to diminish with the elements on the row's right side.

This process of accumulating mass from the outside is the most important theme in row four. This development of security, mass, or strength can be expressed in human beings by:

  * Development of physical strength
  * Development of bones and muscles
  * Development of finances, accumulation of wealth, and so on
  * Health
  * Job
  * Relationships
  * Security
  * House
  * Insurance
  * Safety

Here the feeling is, "I have an identity, I am me. What I need now is security." People whose inner song emanates from this row are concerned about the security of their job, their finances, and their health. They are particularly sensitive to any threat to their own health or the health of those on whom they depend.

Refrains that recur in the lives of individuals who are stuck in the fourth row often have to do with robbers, soldiers, and policemen. Either the individual perceives himself as weak and vulnerable to robbery (left side of fourth row), or he perceives himself as strong and able to protect others from being robbed (right side of fourth row). Although these two presentations may look different, it is clear that the underlying theme is the same: security.

Stability and security also have to do with the ability to do routine tasks, to do your job, to fulfill your function, to earn your livelihood. Endurance is needed to sustain through routine tasks, but over a period of time, because of the constant wear and tear, those stuck in the fourth row develop fatigue. It then becomes very important for them to endure (or bear or persist) in fulfilling their responsibilities, despite fatigue.

Also, in order to keep their job secure they need to be very efficient and honest and follow ethics and principles. Guilt in row four arises from a feeling of having failed in their duty, being inefficient in their job, or not being responsible enough in doing the tasks assigned to them. It's more a feeling of being blamed and reproached for not having carried out their duties and responsibilities. Loss of job would mean loss of security and stability.

 _ **The Fifth Row: Stepping in to the New—Being Creative**_

The individual is now at the stage where his separate identity is developed and he is secure. From this secure base he can start exploring the new, trying out fresh ideas, seeking a new profession, or risking an adventure. Individuals stuck at some stage in this row (especially on the left side of the row) doubt their capacity to face new situations, solve problems, create, invent, and innovate. They need backup support when they encounter difficulties. They therefore seek a guide, a person who has experience in whatever field they are entering.

The chief theme of the fifth row is creativity. Whether the individual chooses to work in the field of art, science, or literature, it is the creativity of his work that will matter most to him. Elements on the left side of this row, such as strontium, have a constantly felt need for a guide or advisor to give them backup. Strontium feels ill-equipped to tackle anything new and will do so only with the support of someone who will instruct what to do and how to do it. Progressing across the row of elements to the right, the sense of confidence in their own innate creativity develops, until toward the right side of the row they feel an imperative to maintain their success in their creative abilities and fear their loss.

The capacity to face the new and to create is completely lacking in the left-hand side of the row. We are referring to the ability to solve problems that are not routine, new problems that require innovative thinking.

To improvise, to invent, to innovate, to improve, to ideate, to investigate . . . this is what concerns those whose song is in this row. It develops gradually so that elements in the middle of the row are successful as performers and toward the right side they start losing the ability to perform. To begin with, they don't know what they want to do, but they gradually find out (as their capability increases). When they identify their goal they become more and more specialized in that area of creativity. Being specialized is a very important function of their capability in this row. For example, for a musician who is a sitar player, playing the sitar is the only thing he knows how to do very well; he can't do anything else. He is so attuned to playing sitar that if you asked him to do bookkeeping, he would go crazy. The more specialized he is, the more anxious he becomes. What would happen if he developed cramps in his arms or made a mistake in front of important people? His entire reputation and ability to perform would be gone. As you go from the left-hand side of the row to the middle, the specialization gets more and more fine, but at the same time the anxiety to perform increases because the potential fall also becomes more dramatic.

Individuals who are stuck in this row are particularly sensitive to criticism from others and are anxious about how others perceive them. Because they have a strong desire for the appreciation of others, they put great effort into their performance. As a result, they are often gifted speakers, authors, scientists, ministers, strategists, planners, and so on. Elements placed centrally in the fifth row, such as palladium and argentum, are the performers, artists, and scientists who are always doing something new in their field. Their creativity lies in their self-expression; it is the theme, the adventure of their life.

 **Interview of a Patient with Kidney Failure**

 _(In this case-study interview, R = Dr. Rajan Sankaran and P = Patient)_

A sixty-year-old man with kidney failure saw me after undergoing cardiac surgery. I asked him about himself.

 **P:** The body should be active. Otherwise one becomes dull. I keep engaged in some activity.

 **R:** Tell me more about your hobbies and interests.

 **P:** I am not highly intellectual, though I like some good, serious reading. I walk in the morning and do yoga in the evening. I am very, very cautious about my diet.

 **R:** Tell me about your job.

 **P:** I run a factory. It is a one-man show. I have a lot of commitments. I don't like doing repetitive jobs. I design things. Every job is a challenge. I like to take up things that are not fully specified.

 **R:** Say more about this.

 **P:** The customer wants a particular job to be done. I sit and talk with him, give an idea about it. I have to convey the idea in such a way that should appeal to him. However, some jobs are more difficult than anticipated. I have to keep consulting others for small areas. I ask other people for their ideas.

 **R:** What things do you get tense about?

 **P:** Unknown things. When problems are encountered, when we are under pressure because of the delivery schedule, or when I have to redesign the whole thing.

 **R:** Say a little bit more about challenge.

 **P:** It is to do anything that you have not done before. You have to do it for the first time. Then you consult people, study, refer to books, and then find the solution. I like creative work and don't like it when it is routine. And then once you are set on a path and are halfway through it, you can't deviate from it.

 **R:** Say more about this.

 **P:** When there are deadlines, you can't give up. You have to accept losses. We are committed. You cannot go back on your word. Trust is a very important thing. I struggled for one full year, and I just can't give up. Once I commit to a job, I'm a slave to it. Sometimes I feel frustrated, but I don't think I am a total failure.

 **R:** Tell me about your dreams.

 **P:** Nothing anxious. Sometimes I get ideas in my sleep. Then I go back to the table and work on them. Once I get an idea, I have to tie the knot.

 **Understanding of the Case**

Design and creativity are fifth row. He doesn't like repetitive jobs and routine. He likes to take on projects that are not fully specified and gets ideas about them. But then he needs to ask others' advice. Every job is a challenge. Commitment; you cannot go back on your word. You can't give up.

His other song is "Perseverance in going into something new."

With a homeopathic remedy (ruthenium) from the fifth row of the periodic table, the patient's kidney condition improved significantly.

_**The Sixth Row: Responsibility and Power**_

In row six the issue is about taking up responsibility, the need for power, and the need to withstand high pressure. The feeling is, "I have an identity (row three), I can protect myself (row four), I am creative (row five), but now I have to take leadership and responsibility."

Elements to the left in the sixth row, like barium, have the feeling that they should take on this level of responsibility but sense also that they completely lack the wherewithal to do so. They are very dependent on others for even the smallest things and are acutely aware of their own inability, their own "lack." Because they are unable to take responsibility for their own actions, they always look to others to make important decisions on their behalf.

Progressing across the sixth row, centrally placed elements, such as aurum and platinum, represent the complete development of the themes of responsibility and leadership. Here we find the people who perceive themselves as having the responsibility equivalent to leaders of nations and heads of organizations. They feel a tremendous pressure to fulfill this (inner-sensed) ability and duty, to shoulder heavy responsibility. On achieving the high position they desire, they experience a corresponding sense of power. On the right side of this row they experience a progressive loss of power despite their desperate attempts to maintain it.

  Mr. R. F., a forty-five-year-old man, consulted me in 1998 for acute abdominal pain.

He said: "For the last one-and-a-half months I have had a stomachache. I get a gripping pain and a terrible burning sensation in the upper abdomen." A number of investigations had been done, and he had been going from one doctor to another for relief. They could not agree on a diagnosis; he was suspected to have an ulcer, tuberculosis, and cancer by various specialists. His manner of description was very structured. He gave attention to the details of the correct sequence of events.

He continued: "But when the pain starts, for example, right now it is there, you lose . . . if somebody asks your name you do not know . . . that's the kind of pain it is. You lose your capacity totally!"

Not only did he tell us the intensity of the pain, but also, his reaction to the pain was such that he would not even know his own name if someone were to ask him.

He then described his nature: "My wife and child have never seen me in a good mood around the house. All the time I feel tense for one reason or another. Even some small thing in the office irritates me. If something is not done the way I feel it should have been, it irritates me. If something has to be done and repeatedly it is not done, it irritates me. The office is also highly competitive: handling projects, construction of factories, and so on. I have a daughter, and her development and upbringing also keep worrying me. I am temperamental and feel depressed all the time."

I asked him what the the stress was.

He said: "There are always tight schedules for project completion. Sometimes they are unrealistically tight schedules. The company pays higher than the market, but they all admit openly, including the chairman, that as long as you are performing it is fine, take your money; but if you do not perform, say good-bye. There is no job security whatsoever. Even if you have performed well for five years, it means nothing for the sixth year. You have to constantly perform. There is also tough competition in whatever you are doing, for coming up in the organization."

Though _competition_ is an animal kingdom word, it is not the word by itself that dictates the kingdom, but rather the experience. His experience of the situation was of pressure, heavy pressure, and this gives a clue to the mineral kingdom. There was constant pressure on him. His survival in his job depended on his performance. In order to get promoted in his job he had to deal with this sort of constant, ever-increasing pressure.

The issue here is of responsibility. His major anxiety provided the clue that now he had little confidence in his ability to handle the responsibility.

He talked of a very stressful situation in his life: "My father's long illness also made me a little tense. He was staying with us. All the time you are living under tension as to what will happen to him. He ultimately died of a cardiac arrest. He had diabetes for thirty years. I was the one responsible for testing his sugar levels."

Later he said: "If anything happens to someone in the family, we forget everything. My sister's children, my brother's children . . . if anyone tells me today that something has happened to one of them, I will leave any work aside and run there. I feel committed, responsible in a way. The same thing applies for both my mother and father. For the past year I was very disturbed because we thought we had killed our father. I could see him dying but could not do anything. I feel so guilty, as if I have had the biggest insult in my life. I have accepted my defeat. I've been unable to come out of it for the past year. I feel as if my negligence killed him. I should have gotten at least a second or third medical opinion."

He felt he had totally failed in his responsibility, with no chance to redeem it.

The important features of the case are

• Constant very high performance pressure

• Very strong sense of responsibility

These point toward the sixth row.

The issue of responsibility is seen clearly from

• His feeling that he was responsible for his father's health, and that even a slight slipup spelled doom; everything is finished.

• He felt responsible for his family, their health, getting his sisters married, and bringing up his daughter.

• He also held a high position in his company.

• He dreamed of falling from a high place.

He felt that things were out of control, felt helpless, that in spite of his doing everything his father died.

So there are issues:

• High responsibility.

• Lost his capacity.

• He has failed.

One can see many words that indicate the failure side of this row, namely a metal from the later columns of the periodic table.

• Destroy

• Destruction

• Damage

• Ruin

• Wreckage

• Failure

• Setback

One can also see that the coping mechanism here is of the impossible type.

He was given potencies of Plumbum (lead) from the sixth row (and fourteenth column), which quickly healed his ailment and also helped significantly in a health crisis many years later.

_**The Seventh Row: Disintegration**_

This is the stage of development in which the height of power has been attained, but now it is time for the disintegration and dissolution of that power.

Whatever builds up must also at some point disintegrate and decay. Just as the elements themselves (uranium and plutonium) have become so heavy and powerful that they can no longer hold their inner structure together, individuals at this stage also experience a fragmentation and dissolution of their previously complex and powerful role and status.

SUMMARY

All the elements of the mineral world fit perfectly into their given place in the periodic table. The periodic table, the basic pattern of the worlds of chemistry and physics, makes manifest a fundamental developmental process, which is echoed throughout our world. The process portrayed so clearly in the mineral world is that of a gradual progression toward increasing complexity, a middle period of a plateau of stability, followed by a subsequent inexorable decline into disintegration and decay. It is remarkable to observe that this same fundamental pattern is echoed in all growth processes throughout our world. It is as if the elements, the basic building blocks of our world, show us through their structure the deepest realities of our human existence. The mineral story truly echoes in the human story.

The natural development of human beings fits into seven stages—the seven ages of man—corresponding to the seven rows of the periodic table.

Stage (row) one| Conception
---|---
Stage (row) two| Fetal life and birth process
Stage (row) three| Infancy and early childhood
Stage (row) four| Later childhood
Stage (row) five| Adolescence
Stage (row) six| Adulthood
Stage (row) seven| Senility and death

Problems or stress arise when a person, for whatever reason and at whatever actual age, becomes stuck or fixed at one of the stages or rows. When this happens, all of the person's issues will revolve around the theme of that particular row, to the exclusion of all else. His whole inner being sings the song of that row. He is unable to be fully present and free in the moment because he so strongly senses an inner "lack in" or "loss of " his fundamental structure. This is his delusion (about his inner structure). This is the inner song that colors all his perceptions and experiences. This is the filter through which he experiences life. His inner reality and outer reality do not converge, because they are not congruent, and this produces stress in him. He is constantly living tension and pressure, experiencing a problem that he believes he lacks the capacity to solve.

HUMOR AND THE KINGDOMS

Jokes are very expressive of the other song within us. They are a socially acceptable and even appreciated way of expressing the other song. Jokes are in the level of delusion (Level 4) and therefore very close to the sensation level (Level 5).

 _Everything human is pathetic. The secret source of humor is not joy, but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven._

MARK TWAIN

Take the example of this joke from Australia.

  An Aborigine and a white man were in the same prison cell. The Aborigine asked the white man why he was there. The white man said, "They gave me six months for shooting my mom-in-law, and I'm lucky I missed, otherwise they would have given me a year. Why are you here?" The Aborigine said, "They gave me five years for driving my motorcycle without headlights on, and boy am I lucky that it was in the daytime."

The themes of hierarchy, exploitation, and sheer discrimination in this joke reflect the victim-agressor outlook of the animal song.

Heard this one?

  Jacob, a clothing manufacturer, returns from a trip to Italy. "How was your trip?" asks his partner. "Terrific" replies Jacob. "Did you get to see the pope?" "Certainly." "And, what did you think?" "I figure a thirty-nine short."

Jacob's single-minded focus on figures—the structured and measurable world of his job—makes for quite a mineral song.

Like this one:

  The afternoon was drawing to a close, and guests were getting ready to depart. "Mrs. Solomon," said one of the ladies, "I just wanted to tell you your cookies were so delicious that I ate four of them."

"You ate five," replied the hostess, "But who's counting?"

And this one? Does it not beautifully depict the dependence of the mineral song?

  The married daughter calls: "Hello, Ma?" "Shirley, darling, what's the problem?" "Oh Ma, I don't know where to begin. Both the kids are sick with the flu. The refrigerator has just broken down. The sink is leaking. In two hours all my friends are coming here for lunch. What am I going to do?"

"Shirley, darling, don't worry. I'm going to get on a bus and go into the city. Then I will take the train and get off and walk two miles to your place. I'll take care of the kids. I'll cook a nice lunch for your friends, and I'll make dinner for Barry."

"Barry, who's Barry?"

"Barry—your husband!"

"But Ma, my husband's name is Steve. . . . Is this 546-3030?"

"No, this is 546-3040."

(Pause.) "Does this mean you're not coming?"

One can see that humor and its appreciation is very individual and will express or resonate with the inner song of the person who narrates or appreciates it.

THE OTHER SONG AND HEALTH

For man to feel one with minerals, animals, and plants is not always a sign of sickness. In health, too, he has elements of all of the three kingdoms within him. He has the strength of the metal, the bonding of the salts, the fluidity of water, the beauty of a flower, the fruitfulness of a tree, the sexuality of an animal, and the flight of a bird. He incorporates all these aspects into his life, art, and poetry, as well as his everyday speech, symbols, and similes. Further, the presence of all these qualities in him results in his desire to revel in nature in its multifarious splendor.

At the Corbett Tiger Reserve in Jim Corbett National Park in northern India, every day hundreds of visitors line up to go on safari, hoping to catch sight of a tiger in the wild. The park has more than a thousand square kilometers and just over a hundred tigers, so a sighting is not common; we took four safaris and saw no tigers. But still, visitors go several times and spend a lot of time and money, hoping to see a tiger for a few seconds.

Man's attitude toward animals, be it awe, fondness, sympathy, fascination, hatred, or disgust, expresses itself in myriad forms. In India the throne is called the "Lion's Seat," reflecting the regal status of the lion in the animal kingdom. We have numerous stories, cartoons, ads, names, products, symbols, designs, perfumes, and fashion products based on animal themes. The bulls and the bears of the stock market, the hawks and doves of international politics, and the sharks in the business world are only some examples of the presence of animal consciousness in human life. Metaphors like he bugs me, they hound me, she is creepy, and I am free as a bird reflect the animal song as well.

Equally interesting is man's fascination with rocks, crystals, and mountains as well as man-made structures such as buildings, bridges, castles, and forts. All speak of man's connection with the mineral world. The Grand Canyon, the Great Wall of China, the Himalayas, and Niagara Falls draw many visitors, like the tiger in the Corbett Reserve. Many mineral metaphors are used as well: rock-hard foundation, steel resolve, iron will, golden era, platinum jubilee, political heavyweight, fragile relationship, strong bond, and leaves a vacuum.

Plants also attract man's attention, and not only those with a green thumb. California redwood trees, cacti, various flowers, palm trees, and various other plants are appreciated for their beauty and the greenery they provide. Metaphors related to the plant kingdom include shaking like a leaf, branching out, taking root, to flower, sow the seeds of, reap the fruit of, bring to fruition, stem from, and nip it in the bud.

Man's sensitivity to the other kingdoms reflects what is within him. Each individual will be particularly sensitive to the kingdom to which his other song belongs. In fact, these qualities help him in different aspects of his life. The mineral part of him helps him to work, track his accounts, innovate, lead, form relationships, and build structures and nations. The plant part helps him to appreciate beauty and be sensitive to art, music, and the feelings of others. It adds color, fragrance, warmth, and heartiness to the structure. The animal part is the one that keeps him ahead of others in the group that adds spice and a winning spirit.

One can see these aspects of man tapped in to for advertisements. An ad for a bank or an insurance company will focus on mineral aspects, such as growth, security, relationships, and so on. An ad for a paint company might focus on plant aspects, such as sunshine, color, warmth, and other receptive attributes. An ad for perfume will emphasize animal aspects, such as attractiveness and sexuality.

 **Animal advertisement.** Perfume (or fashion, entertainment, etc.) primarily involves attraction, competitiveness, and getting attention, which are animal qualities. an advertisement for these products has to target the animal side in us. it focuses on sexuality and attractiveness, and it grabs our attention.

 **Mineral advertisement.** insurance and investments are about safeguarding and building your assets (structure). Therefore, an advertisement for it must appeal to the mineral part of you. in the above advertisement we see several mineral qualities and words like _safeguarding, worth,_ and _trust,_ which indicate volume and the worth of this company. The picture of a man with childish features holding a piggy bank symbolizes an innate desire to put your money in a place you can trust. Here you can see the features of the third and the fourth row of the periodic table, namely, issues of trust (row three) and of money and security (row four).

 **Plant advertisement.** an advertisement for a paint company (or certain food products, spas, furnishings, and so on) usually focuses on our plant side, with emphasis on color, nature, light, aroma, and touch—our sensory connection. This has to be so since these products relate not with structure (mineral) or survival (animal) but with our sensitivity (plant). (of course, the original ad features bright, appealing colors.)

So it is not the presence of the animal, mineral, or plant quality in man that is sickness or imbalance. Sickness is a fixation in any one aspect and the lack of freedom in an individual to be any different, even when external reality calls for a different type of response.
5 The Three Homeopathic Postulates

 _Of whatever you say_ _,_

 _And whenever you do_ _,_

 _Mean whatever you may_ _,_

 _The opposite is equally true_ _!_

RAJAN SANKARAN

THE PHILOSOPHY EXPRESSED in this book is based on certain postulates, all of which have been derived from many years of medical practice.

THE FIRST POSTULATE

 _ **"Sensation and action are equal and opposite."**_

This means that we react to situations according to the way we perceive them. Our actions tend to mirror our perception and feeling of what is happening and being done to us.

For example, if one perceives an insult, mental or physical, then one tends to react by insulting. Or if a person feels that he is being injured, he will want to injure in return in proportion to the perceived degree of his own injury. He may not necessarily translate this inner feeling into action, but this way of reacting will be his natural tendency.

The opposite of this is also true. For example, if you want to injure someone, it means that somewhere you perceive, consciously or subconsciously, that you yourself are being injured. To take this to its utmost extreme, a person who perceives serious threat in his surroundings, to the extent that he feels he might be killed, will respond to this mortal threat by being ready to kill others. This is often the case in individuals with homicidal tendencies. They are prepared to take the lives of others because their inner perception is that their own life is about to be taken.

Such predictable opposites in sensation and action can be observed in many people. The postulate that "sensation and action are equal and opposite" is extremely useful in the process of understanding another person. Often the way a person reacts to a situation reveals only one side of this equation of sensation and action. Using this concept we can infer how he perceives himself within that situation. We thus reach a much deeper understanding of his individual way of experiencing life. Alternatively, he may describe only the way he perceives and senses his situation, rarely translating these feelings into outward action. Again, we can understand how he would like to react, even if he refrains from actually doing so.

Sensation and action are two sides of the same coin; one is inherent in the other. When there is sensation, there must be a tendency to an equal action in the opposite direction. When there is an action or tendency to action, there must be an equal and opposite sensation.

As a medical practitioner, I find that this principle is of great help to me when listening to patients. It alerts me to what to expect in various subconscious expressions they may use. If a patient says, "I feel like killing somebody," that is an automatic alert for his inner sensation to be "under threat of being killed." This sensation is likely to be expressed in his dreams, interests, and hobbies. Sometimes the sensation can even be found in his main problem (physical or mental). For example, the person may say, "My throat pain is killing me!"

THE SECOND POSTULATE

 _ **"The opposite of whatever is said is equally true."**_

This postulate has to do with sensitivity. Sensitivity is the most important thing to be understood in any person, and sensitivity always denotes opposites. For example, if a person is sensitive to wet weather, he will prefer dry weather. If he is sensitive to criticism, he will relish praise. If a person has a strong sensitivity to music and harmony, he will not be able to tolerate discordant music. In contrast, another person without a musical ear might be unaffected by either; he simply does not have that sensitivity.

When a person spontaneously raises an issue without being directly asked, it means that this issue in some way relates to his particular sensitivity. If a person expresses a tremendous lack of confidence about speaking in public, this means he is very sensitive to the issue of public speaking. However, though lacking confidence to perform in public, he also has the potential to become a very good speaker because of this same sensitivity. His sensitivity both makes him afraid and simultaneously gives him the possibility of becoming an excellent public speaker. Our chief virtue also holds the seed of our major vice, and the reverse is also true.

You may wonder how a lack of self-confidence in public speaking could be the opposite of great potential to be a good public speaker. What I mean is that every person who says that he does not have the confidence to speak in public also expresses in the same breath the desire to be a public speaker. What underlies the lack of self-confidence and the desire to be a successful speaker is the person's proclivity in that direction; his sensitivity to that ability. Hence, all these express sensitivity to public speaking: having the confidence, having the potential, lacking the confidence, feeling they lack the ability. Whether it is expressed in positive or negative terms, what requires focus is the sensitivity of the person. Once this concept is understood, the manner of its expression matters little.

All opposites are two sides of the same coin. The coin is the issue, the whole sensitivity. Fear cannot exist except in relation to its opposite: courage. When a person says, "I am afraid to talk in public," he also means, "I want to speak in public, and given a chance, I may be very confident speaking in public."

Let us take another example: a person whose sensitivity revolves around moral issues. He says that he is sensitive to cheating and wrongdoing. This most obviously means that he is affected when other people do these things and that he will not do them himself. However, it can also mean that he is capable of cheating and doing wrong things himself, the very things against which he rails. It is only because such sensitivity exists in him that he is able to speak about these issues. Sensitivity, therefore, can always work both ways. Consequently, with regard to sensitivity, "The opposite is equally true of whatever is said."

This postulate goes hand in hand with the first postulate that "Sensation and action are equal and opposite." So the person who says, "I am sensitive to certain issues" is also the person who is capable of doing those things. In a wider context, when a person talks about something, the very need to have to emphasize that topic can only exist in the background of its opposite. If an object is white it will not be visible on a white background but can only be seen on a black background. In the same way, love is most apparent against the background of hate, and beauty in comparison to its opposite, ugliness.

Thus the president of a particular country who emphatically claims, "The economy of our country is doing very well," or "Our relations with neighboring countries are very good" may actually be betraying the fact that the opposite is true. When something is very obvious and does not exist in the opposite, it is usually not said at all. There is simply no need to refer to it.

It is the same story in any situation. When a person emphasizes peace, violence must also be an issue with him. When a person talks about his positive qualities, boasting of great courage, this means that he is also fearful. This fearfulness will be expressed subconsciously, in his dreams, hobbies, childhood memories, and so on. If he says that he has no fear of death, that means that he is most certainly afraid of it. Whenever someone strongly and spontaneously denies something, the opposite is equally and always true. If the opposite is not true, it is usually not emphasized at all.

The second postulate, then, goes hand in hand with the first postulate.

THE THIRD POSTULATE

 _ **"There is no one or nothing out there other than yourself."**_

This is both a development and an application of the first two postulates. Let me explain this further.

All of us function according to our individual sensitivities. Each person perceives only what he is sensitive to and ignores the rest. If he perceives particular qualities in others, he does so only because he himself is sensitive to these. For example, if he perceives others as being contemptuous, it is because his sensitivity lies in the area of contempt.

Let us take the example of a person who perceives himself as insulted. Now this person can perceive insult only because he is sensitive to insult. His sensitivity being in this area, he cannot perceive anything other than that. He will then react in an equal and opposite manner to the insult. He will react by insulting, or at least his impulse will be the wish to reciprocate in equal measure. As a result there is really no difference between what the other person is doing and what he himself does in return. They are both being equally insulting, just in opposite directions. He sees an aspect of himself (the sensitivity to insult) in the other person and reacts to it. This means that within him lies exactly the same person that he sees (the one who insults). This is his sensitivity and he perceives only this and reacts only to this. Everything else lies outside his field of perception. He sees only that aspect of others that relates to his own particular sensitivity.

Thus the outside world simply becomes a mirror for our own inner issues, our own individual sensitivities, and if these are particularly strong in us, only these parts of another person or situation can be perceived by us. All other aspects of the external world fade into insignificance or are not even perceived in the first place. So in effect there is no one out there but you, because your own sensitivity is all that you are capable of perceiving.

The same is true for everything around us. For example, if a person is immensely impressed by the Himalayas, whatever he says about the mountains is going to be an adjective that resonates with his own inner sensitivity. If he says they are incredibly beautiful, it is very likely that his sensitivity lies in the area of beauty. If, on the other hand, he says they are powerful, it is very likely that his sensitivity lies in the area of power. The adjectives he uses and the meaning they have for him, or their connotation, are related to his self-perception. The adjective "powerful" might indicate an inner experience of power or its opposite, helplessness. The adjective "beautiful" might indicate an inner experience of beauty or ugliness. So when we see the Himalayas we always see ourselves or an aspect of ourselves. When we see any other person, we see ourselves.

There is hardly anything around us that is not actually a perception of self. So when we talk about the world coming to an end, we are basically talking about when we are going to end. We can only perceive the end of the world as the end of ourselves. We see something that is going to end, so in us there must be the awareness or fear of our own selves ending.

I found a strong confirmation of this idea in an experiment I conducted with some volunteers in my student group. I asked all of them to write five words describing the Taj Mahal. I asked them to use words that were objective, that might be used by a journalist, in order to minimize individual subjectivity. What was interesting was that no two descriptions matched. For example, one wrote, "romantic, beautiful, sentimental." Another described it as "grand, royal," and so forth. The third person talked about engineering, structure, and shape.

When I examined the words that each person had written, I found they gave a very accurate picture of the one who wrote them. This meant that each one had a different perception of the Taj Mahal based on his own sensitivity, his own way of seeing the world. So the question that arises is, "Does the Taj Mahal really exist?"

The same thing holds true when we talk of concepts like justice, love, peace, and so on. At a superficial level there will be some commonality in how different people define these, but each one experiences each of these concepts in his own individual way. And that experience is not limited to justice or love but is the consistent experience of that person in all situations. For example, one individual may speak of his experience of love as one of expansion, and another may speak of it as a strong passionate attraction. It is when you hear these completely different experiences in connection to one concept—love—that you begin to wonder whether there is such a thing as love or justice and begin to see that the only reality for each one is his own unique experience, his other song. It also becomes obvious that when two people are talking to each other, each is talking from his own experience; it almost amounts to each one talking to himself in the presence of the other.

In the past if a person mentioned a situation or relationship in his life that strongly affected him, I would first try to establish whether this situation actually existed. Having ascertained that, I would then try to understand what he felt in that situation, question it, and so seek to understand his perception of reality. However, I gradually came to see that when a person describes other people or situations he is always describing his own sensitivity as highlighted in that particular situation. In this way the postulate that "there is no one out there but yourself " proved very helpful in understanding people.

Often I have entire families coming to me for treatment. In one particular family I'm treating a woman, her two daughters, and her two daughters-in-law. The daughters and daughters-in-law visit individually, and on such occasions have described this lady to me. Each one's description of her is so completely different that a third person would find it difficult to believe that they are describing the same person. I understood from this that each one is in fact describing her own sensitivity when talking of her mother or mother-in-law. So instead of asking them their feelings regarding her, I simply started noting their description and thus came to a fairly accurate understanding not of the person being described but rather of the person doing the describing. In effect we are all, each one of us, constantly painting our own self-portrait in whatever we do or say.

Another example demonstrating the same point is the case of a woman of forty years who consulted me for symptoms of ulcerative colitis. She was on heavy medication and said that all this had started after the death of her husband. I asked her about her life with her husband. She said it was pure hell. She said that her husband had been the most suspicious, possessive, and jealous person and had always been insanely jealous of her talking to any other man. Her expressions and gestures while describing her husband were just as vehement, forceful, and violent as she had so vividly described him to be. She could have described her husband in a completely different way. She could have described her husband as cruel, torturing her, persecuting her; or she could have described him as foolish, stupid, and so forth. But this was not the way she had experienced him. The way she described him helped me see that her sensitivity was in the area of jealousy, suspicion, and rage. Thus we can understand a person's sensitivities even when he is not speaking of himself.

Understanding all this has been a very spiritually uplifting experience for me personally. It becomes clear that all that you find fault with or criticize is nothing but your own sensitivity. This awareness is calming. The world exists only the way one perceives it; one perceives only oneself. And knowing oneself is the root of wisdom.
6 Our Coping Reactions

AS I BEGAN my journey as a physician, I sought to deepen my understanding not only of my patients but also of all human behavior. Different individuals react very differently to the same situation, and I sought to detect what lay behind such differences in their ways of coping. I realized that the state of a person's mind is an attitude toward a perceived situation. Each individual perceives and reacts to the same external situation in a unique and different way. His state of mind is but an expression of his perception of reality.

For example, a panic-stricken man fleeing from a lion is responding in an entirely appropriate manner to a life-threatening situation. However, if he sees a cat and reacts in a similar manner, this reaction does not suit the reality of the external situation. In effect he is reacting as though he had seen a lion. The survival mechanism is inappropriate to the situation. He is acting out of a deluded perception of a situation that does not exist in the present moment.

Once I arrived at this idea, I took it a step further. If the state of mind is based on a delusion, a false perception of reality, then what are the different ways in which a situation can be perceived? Clearly there are as many different ways of perceiving and reacting as there are individuals, since each person's way of perceiving is unique. But is it possible to categorize, albeit broadly, these myriad ways of seeing and experiencing? I observed that not only is such a categorization possible, it is also extremely helpful.

The survival response that an individual chooses depends on both the external situation and the individual's own perception of his internal capacity. Reaction to a threatening situation also varies with age. Consider the likely response to the advance of a snarling dog.

  * A child will probably panic and flee.
  * A young adult may throw a stone and try to scare it away.
  * A middle-aged person might stay put and wave a stick in an effort to intimidate the dog and keep it at a distance.
  * An infirm, aged person would not be able to mount any type of active reaction, might not be able to react at all, and might feel entirely helpless, give up, and wait for the dog to get him.

THE TEN REACTION TYPES

Depending on the depth, degree, and intensity of the survival response, we can classify ten basic ways of perceiving and reacting to a given situation. While individual responses vary, a given individual tends to react in the same way to all stressful situations in his life.

Types of reaction that function as lenses through which all of life is seen:

  1. The Panic Type
  2. The Crisis Type
  3. The Possible Type
  4. The Doubtful Type
  5. The Persecuted Type
  6. The Fixed Type
  7. The Claustrophobic Type
  8. The Chaotic Type
  9. The Isolated Type
  10. The Impossible Type

Each reaction is influenced by an individual's perception of the situation. The response of a completely healthy person (that is, one without any delusion) is flexible and appropriate to the situation. His reaction is determined by the external reality, not by his own fixed perception of that reality. If a bomb goes off he experiences acute alarm and flees; if a small fire starts in his house, he picks up the fire extinguisher and puts it out. If he is unfortunate and, say, loses a leg in an accident, a loss that must simply be accepted and adjusted to, he accepts the situation and adapts his life accordingly, feeling no need to hide his handicap. Even if the situation were hopeless—for example, he knows he is about to die due to a serious illness—he accepts even that, and so is free to be himself within it. Due to his open way of seeing, he is free to make the best of any situation. These are all examples of complete and healthy flexibility of reaction.

However, most of us tend to get stuck in one particular way of reacting to all stressful situations in our life. It becomes our habitual mode. Although we may have flexibility of response in mild situations, in more stressful situations we all tend to revert to our habitual mode of reacting; our default strategy remains remarkably constant throughout life. For instance, we could probably predict fairly accurately how each one of our close friends would react in a given emergency.

Although I have mentioned a particular stage of life exemplifying each type, this does not mean that a particular stage of life is synonymous with a particular type, or that individuals progress from one type to another as they age. A person usually remains fixed in a particular type throughout his life, so a young man fixed in the Impossible Type is just as likely as an elderly person in a Possible Type.

The majority of people can be classified into the ten broad types listed earlier and elaborated upon in the rest of this chapter.

 _ **The Panic Type**_

 _"I must escape and run because my very life depends on it."_

The Panic Type perceives acute, sudden danger in most situations and therefore reacts instinctively, sharply, intensely, and violently. This type readily experiences alarm, then panic, followed by total terror. Here, feelings about one's self are not in the forefront. It is as if the situation itself is so overwhelming that it doesn't matter who is facing it, the reaction will be the same: Let me just escape and run because my life depends on it.

  Stage of Life Representing the Panic Type's Attitude

This type of response resembles the reaction seen in babies. At the earliest stage in life there is an instinctive reflex reaction to any external threat. Therefore, even in adults, this type of reaction carries the stamp of childishness.

An adult whose reactions are of the Panic Type will rapidly become acutely anxious but can be as rapidly reassured and made to feel safe by being held in the arms of a protective figure in his life. In general the Panic Type is excited, excitable, and hyperactive. He can sometimes go to the other extreme of being completely shut off and insensitive. His dreams, too, are full of excitement and contain examples of acutely threatening situations. His reactions are excessively loud, whether with laughter or excessive bursts of courage and cheerfulness. Panic Types usually function at a very high voltage.

  Dreams Representative of the Panic Type's Perceived Situation

Dreams of Panic Types often personify the terror and alarm that they innately feel. Typical dreams of Panic Types include natural and man-made calamities, such as earthquakes or plane crashes, in which victims typically might experience alarm and panic followed by total terror and have to run for their lives.

  The Game that Mirrors the Panic Type's Pattern of Action

The game that symbolizes this type of acute alarm response is peek-a-boo. Here the parent or familiar person momentarily hides his face behind his hands, then peeks out again at the child. For a moment the infant loses sight of his parent or familiar person and his face shows alarm. But the very next moment he catches sight of the parent again and feels safe. Similarly, young children get a thrill out of being thrown into the air and then caught. Here, for a moment, the child is out of the secure grasp of the parent. This is momentarily both fearful and thrilling for him. Then he is caught and feels safe again. All is well.

 _ **The Crisis Type**_

 _"The situation is suddenly critical, but if I make an urgent, intense effort I can regain my security."_

The Crisis Type has the feeling of a sudden, unexpected crisis that, if handled correctly, can be overcome. The reaction to any crisis is therefore one of immediate and intense struggle. The Crisis Type readily perceives this acute threat, but unlike the Panic Type he perceives himself as having the inner capacity to save the situation through intense, concentrated effort on his own part. He feels he must rapidly regain his previous position of comfort and security, because there is always the inherent threat of sinking further during the time of crisis. Once the crisis is past, all is well with him again.

For example, if there is a bomb blast, the reaction to it is acute and instinctive; the situation is life-threatening and warrants acute panic and immediate response: to escape. In contrast, if one's house is on fire the response needed is one of intense struggle, a concentrated, swift effort to put out the fire and resolve the crisis. Similarly, if a person owns shares and the stock market suddenly crashes, he will feel the threat of a sudden acute drop in his financial security. However, an intense, concentrated effort can result in the recovery of his fortune. Once the loss is recovered the need for the effort ceases because a position of security and comfort has been regained.

  Stage of Life Representing the Crisis Type's Attitude

These reactions are typically seen in childhood. The attitude here is one of impatience. The person has to regain lost ground over a short period of time. He is therefore impatient, demanding, wanting things immediately, and grabbing things only for himself.

  Dreams Representative of the Crisis Type's Perceived Situation

Dreams that typically signify the feelings of "crisis management" include an emergency room situation in which the person is constantly facing an unexpected crisis that can be completely overcome if handled correctly.

  The Game that Mirrors the Crisis Type's Pattern of Action

A game that personifies this attitude is hide-and-seek. The child has to put in an intense effort to find the hidden person. There is always the thrill, the threat that he may not find him. However, once he finds the person, all is okay and he is comfortable once more.

 _ **The Possible Type**_

 _"The situation can be worrying for me, but never hopeless. Life is a steady, ongoing struggle."_

The Possible Type has highs and lows. The struggle is like a tug-of-war with the outside world. Sometimes the balance is on his side and he feels high; at other times the balance is on the other side and he feels low. This is an active person. The struggle is an active process, which becomes particularly apparent during times of stress.

There is a lack of confidence in facing the situation, a feeling that he may not be able to do it. This causes anxiety, which becomes marked when he is actually confronted with the situation. It is also present, but to a much lesser degree, when he is not facing a situation. He then has a kind of anticipatory anxiety, though he is not so distressed. This causes a kind of internal restlessness, insecurity, dissatisfaction, sensitivity, and anxiety about the future. But there is always hope, however bad the situation is.

In a nutshell, the feeling is that of a difficult situation in which he has to struggle in order to succeed. There is doubtful anxiety about his ability to do so, but he is hopeful and failure does not mean the end of the world. He must struggle in order to recover or maintain his position.

  Stage of Life Representing the Possible Type's Attitude

The reactions here are almost like those of adolescents. This is the time when they have to face the world and stand on their own two feet. Like a teenager learning to drive, the task is well within reach. All that's needed is some effort and the task will be accomplished.

  Dreams Representative of the Possible Type's Perceived Situation

There will be many and varied dreams. Depending on the everyday situation, the dreams will reflect his anxiety about not being able to cope. They will also reflect the ongoing steady struggle that is part of his daily life.

  The Game that Mirrors the Possible Type's Pattern of Action

A game that is popular with young people is football. The goal is very much in sight here (not out of reach), and after a bit of struggle one is able to achieve it. It is not impossible, given that the goal is accessible.

 _ **The Doubtful Type**_

 _"It's a difficult situation. Sometimes I try to overcome it, but other times I just accept it."_

The life of the Doubtful Type is characterized by alternating periods of struggle, effort (with anxiety over success), and giving up (with despair of success). He will at times gear up to make considerable effort to resolve problem areas in his life. However, he is somehow not motivated to persist with such effort. There will then follow a period in which he gives up and just accepts the circumstances of his life, problems and all.

This type of reaction contains elements of both the Possible Type, involving struggle and uncertainty about success, and the Fixed Type, which signifies acceptance of the problem.

  Stage of Life Representing the Doubtful Type's Attitude

This kind of reaction is typically seen in the age group of midtwenties to thirties. This is the time when tasks start to seem a bit more difficult and out of reach. The person makes an effort and achieves some amount of success, but the effort is not sustained and he slides down again. The problem recurs and he has to begin again, struggle afresh. The theme here is of unsuccessful efforts. It is the situation of a man who fears the water yet is attempting to learn to swim. His enthusiasm will sustain his efforts for a while, but his fears take over at some point and he stops. Then he is again motivated and renews his efforts, but at some point the fears again take over and he is again resigned to not being able to swim.

Another example is that of a plump woman in her thirties trying to lose weight. She has accepted being overweight, but there are times when she still feels she should lose a few pounds. So she alternates between periods of dieting and exercise and periods of resignation.

  Dreams Representative of the Doubtful Type's Perceived Situation

Doubtful types have "trying to do something" dreams. The Doubtful Type may dream about going on a journey but failing to reach his destination, or unsuccessfully undertaking a search for a lost item.

  The Game that Mirrors the Doubtful Type's Pattern of Action

The game that typifies this attitude is Chutes and Ladders. One struggles to reach the top of the board, and just as one is getting there, one slides to the bottom and the struggle begins all over again.

 _ **The Persecuted Type**_

 _"I am stuck in a difficult situation, and from time to time I am attacked."_

The Persecuted Type has an underlying feeling of being permanently stuck in a particular situation. Within this fixed situation, from which there is no escape, he experiences intermittent moments of sudden acute threat. He reacts with acute panic to these moments of sudden threat, but once the threat passes he reverts to accepting his underlying feeling of being chronically stuck.

One can say that the Persecuted Type has a constant underlying feeling of vulnerability or weakness, which makes him unable to rise above the taunts and control of others and assume his rightful place in society. He never seems able to mobilize to escape from this fixed situation. He experiences periods when he feels more defenseless or helpless than usual and seems to invite increased abuse. These crisis situations may provoke him to an attack of acute anger or retaliation, but he is unable to sustain a posture of standing up for himself and continues to remain oppressed.

This type of reaction is, therefore, a mixture of reactions of the Panic Type and the Fixed Type. The overall effect of perceiving and reacting to life in this way is to feel both persecuted and unfortunate. He constantly broods, "Why me?" He feels stuck in life, hindered, and obstructed. From these perceptions stem emotions of being unfortunate, tormented, and picked on by other humans, God, or life. He develops a sense of bitterness. Things seem unworthy and never good enough.

His behavior reflects his mind-set. As he feels irremediably weak, stuck, hindered, and obstructed, he broods and fantasizes about his situation. Although he bitterly laments his fate, he is also accepting of it. However, he also experiences sudden acute attacks of fear. These he reacts to with paroxysmal outbursts of anger and desperation.

  Stage of Life Representing the Persecuted Type's Attitude

The feeling is of being stuck and powerless in a dependent position in which he feels intermittently attacked. In Indian society this feeling can be experienced from childhood right up to middle age, because many Indians, even when married, live in their parents' home. It is difficult for them to be on their own, but they have to accept their situation since they still depend on their parents. From time to time there are differences of opinion, arguments, fights, and criticism from their parents (who are of another generation). However, a young married couple cannot rebel openly because of their dependent situation. They start to think of moving out on their own, but this is financially difficult. In the meantime, they begin to fantasize about what they would do if they had their own space and freedom.

  Dreams Representative of the Persecuted Type's Perceived Situation

The dreams of the Persecuted Type are mostly indicative of the position or place they long for, a kind of fantasy, giving them a joyride of the situation they desire.

  The Game that Mirrors the Persecuted Type's Pattern of Action

The game of blindman's buff corresponds with this type of situation. The blindfolded person has the fixed handicap of being unable to see, and from time to time others in the game can hit him on his head or back, trip him, and otherwise mislead and taunt him.

 _ **The Fixed Type**_

 _"I am stuck in a difficult but not life-threatening situation, and I just have to accept it and hide my problem."_

The Fixed Type perceives a fixed, irremediable weakness within himself, about which nothing can be done. This weakness is not life-threatening, but he feels it must be hidden at all costs. The rest of the world must never see it. He therefore appears somewhat secretive to others, as he is always maintaining a cover or mask.

This cover or mask can take the form of egotism, fixed and forceful opinions, compulsive acts, seeking distractions, anything to avoid experiencing or revealing his inner problem. His behavior is very closed with an underlying air of guilt, as something is always being hidden (both from himself and from others). Maintaining the mask is stressful and requires constant effort. However, accepting the inner problem and covering it up is the survival strategy that must be maintained at all costs.

  Stage of Life Representing the Fixed Type's Attitude

A fixed attitude is often adopted in middle age. This is the time when the person, after having struggled for a long time, begins to feel and accept his limitations and tries to hide them rather than being open about them. It is during this time that the person becomes fixed in his way of doing things and his ideas become rigid. A typical, perhaps frivolous, example of this is a woman whose hair is turning gray. At first she will struggle to correct her diet, consult beauticians, and so on to try to prevent the problem from developing. By the time she is middle aged, she tends to accept the fact that her hair is gray and acts instead to hide the fact—she simply starts to color her hair so that others don't see it. This fixed way of reacting is reflected in other fixed habits and traits. Even dreams tend to be specific and fixed.

  Dreams Representative of the Fixed Type's Perceived Situation

Here the dreams have elements of secretiveness in them—hiding aspects, covering oneself, or being exposed. The Fixed Type's dreams typically involve a scenario in which he must conceal a fact or cover up an action so that no one will know what he has done. Feelings of guilt and fear of discovery permeate his dreams.

  The Game that Mirrors the Fixed Type's Pattern of Action

The card game of poker typifies this way of behaving. As a poker player one must be careful not to reveal one's hand. The truth must be kept hidden from fellow players at all costs.

 _ **The Claustrophobic Type**_

 _"Time is short and I am trapped. I must break free before it is too late."_

The Claustrophobic Type experiences stressful situations in life as oppressive and suffocating. He feels limited and too weak to handle the pressure he experiences in every area of his life. He feels the pressure of time, of work, and of not enough space around him. The pressure of time feels particularly intense. He constantly feels that time is closing in on him, that deadlines are close. He reacts to this inner perception that "time is short" with hectic activity. He races to complete all tasks and burns the candle at both ends, striving to experience as much as possible in the short time available to him. In an attempt to break free from his inner feeling of oppression he constantly desires change and new experiences, restlessly wanting to taste all of life to the fullest. This type of hectic reaction lies between the Fixed and the Impossible (see page 134).

  Stage of Life Representing the Claustrophobic Type's Attitude

We can see this type of reaction in youth. The young feel they have a right to live their own lives—they feel imposed upon and trapped by the restrictions laid down by those in authority. In order to prove (often to themselves) their independence and break free from the bonds of society, they do things that are on the borderline of what is acceptable. They constantly push existing boundaries, because they experience these boundaries as oppressive. They drive fast on motorcycles and in cars, go in for daredevil stunts, do extreme sports, and so forth. They seek change and excitement and can be bold and rash in their behavior.

At the other end of the generational spectrum there can be a similar type of claustrophobic feeling. As we reach our forties and fifties, we start to feel that old age is narrowing in on us, that there is little time left to live. Simultaneously we realize how much we still wish to accomplish. A certain urgency can enter into our way of doing things, as we increasingly sense we are working against the clock. We feel the urge to travel to places we've always postponed visiting and to do everything we have not yet managed to do. Sometimes this is seen as a midlife crisis. The most stereotypical expression of this behavior is the purchase of a sports car.

  Dreams Representative of the Claustrophobic

Type's Perceived Situation

Dreams of the Claustrophobic Type tend to reflect a sense of suffocation or claustrophobia in various forms and shades. At other times the dreams reveal an intense need to break free of confines. The themes might be of travel, daring exploits, or anything revealing the intense inner need for freedom and change.

  The Game that Mirrors the Claustrophobic

Type's Pattern of Action

Games that typify this type of reaction are those with a fixed time schedule or in which a record has to be broken. The person must speed up and fit everything into a short span of time. The need to achieve is not only intense but becomes increasingly desperate as the game draws to a close. Race-against-the-clock games, such as hot potato or musical chairs, produce the sensation of the claustrophobic type. (In hot potato players in a circle toss a small object, such as a beanbag or tennis ball, to each other while music plays. The last player to hold the "hot potato" when the music stops is out. Play continues until only one player is left. The game is fast paced and high pressured and is often played by children.)

 _ **The Chaotic Type**_

 _"There is chaos everywhere; control is almost impossible, but it is my responsibility to bring order."_

The Chaotic Type experiences life as chaotic and disorganized. He reacts to this perceived chaos by striving to control life. He recognizes that the task is too great for him, yet he still tries single-handedly. The task is superhuman, beyond his capacity, but he stretches himself in his nearly impossible attempt to create order from chaos.

A person who perceives and reacts to life in this way constantly feels that he is expected to fulfill a great demand. He feels he is not up to the task and would like to conceal this fact. Because the consequences of failure are increasing chaos (to which he is most sensitive), he has to continually strive to survive. Thus his life is an ongoing, prolonged, difficult struggle that seems endless because he is stretching himself, striving to be perfect, yet hiding the fact that there is no rest or freedom from the tension. Everything appears chaotic; therefore, everything has to be controlled. When things do not go as planned (as they seldom do), the feeling of disorder increases in magnitude, and his struggle and effort increase accordingly. He feels that if he fails to control the burgeoning chaos it will be the end of the world.

Similar to the Crisis Type, there is a concentrated effort by the Chaotic Type in response to perceived insecurity, but once the effort has been made and the position of comfort regained, the Crisis Type can rest. All is then well for him. The goals of the Chaotic Type are more difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Consequently, rest is impossible for him. The intense effort has to be sustained, as complete order is never achievable. His position is quite desperate as he continually stretches himself beyond his limitations in order to have an outside chance of achieving his goal.

The Crisis Type is like a person participating in a 5K run. If he concentrates all his efforts on the race and gives it all he has, there is a chance he will win. Then, having achieved the position he desires, he can rest. In contrast, the Chaotic Type is like a person who has to break an international record. The target he has set for himself is beyond the reach of an ordinary person. He has to stretch himself beyond his capacity in order to achieve his goal, which he knows is nearly beyond him. Even if he achieves it, he will only set himself a further, more extreme target. He is caught between his twin perceptions that life is a set of nearly impossible tasks, which it is his responsibility to complete, and that failure means disaster and chaos. He therefore has to sustain an almost impossible level of effort in order to avert disaster. His ultimate chances of success are slim, but he has no option other than to continue.

  Stage of Life Representing the Chaotic Type's Attitude

The attitude that typifies this type is that of a person aged sixty to seventy years. He has been unable to accomplish many of the things he wished to in life. With increasing age it becomes increasingly difficult for him to work with the same vigor and enthusiasm. The task seems increasingly out of his reach. He feels his life is slowly slipping out of his hands, out of his control. He responds to this by stretching himself beyond his capacity, putting in sustained intense effort despite his years, in the hope he can still manage to achieve some of his goals.

  Dreams Representative of the Chaotic Type's Perceived Situation

The dreams of the Chaotic Type usually involve some sort of superhuman effort. For example, they could be of doing an almost impossible balancing act, or of walking on a two-edged sword.

  The Game that Mirrors the Chaotic

Type's Pattern of Action

The state of being of the Chaotic Type is similar to that of a person juggling on a tightrope. The task is complex. Tremendous control and accuracy in both the juggling and the balancing are demanded in every instant, because one wrong move could result in total disaster.

  A thirty-year-old woman was referred to me for treatment of ulcers and intense pain in her feet. She had an autoimmune condition involving her blood vessels (vasculitis).

On being asked about herself she said that her memories began when she was three years old and her father came home drunk every day and her depressed mother could hardly get out of bed. I asked about her experience of this situation, and she said she experienced it as being completely chaotic and felt as if it was up to her to create order, which seemed a nearly impossible task at her age.

I asked her to narrate other vivid memories. One of them was as a nine year old when she was on vacation with her grandparents; she remembered that her grandfather tried to touch her inappropriately. When I asked her how she experienced this, she said that once again she felt that she was facing a very difficult situation for her age, that it was up to her to do something about it, and she had to use all her strength to push him away.

Interestingly, she chose a profession that reflected this feeling of facing a very difficult, chaotic situation; she became a nurse in the acute psychiatric ward. The woman was a great stickler for order and perfection. Her whole perception of various situations is one of intense chaos that needs her to put things back in order, a nearly impossible task. She is typical of the Chaotic Type.

_**The Isolated Type**_

 _"I am disgusted with myself and my situation and feel completely alone. Society does not want me, and I don't want anything to do with it."_

In the Isolated Type we find a progression of the claustrophobia. The oppression increases to such a degree that an intense inner feeling of hopelessness and disgust develops. The person reacts to this by isolating himself from the world. Since his own state disgusts him, he cuts himself off from others. He has an insurmountable, despairing desire for change. He perceives his state as isolated, repulsive, and shameful. He has an intense desire to escape this desperate situation, coupled with the knowledge that such an escape is almost impossible.

The Isolated Type is epitomized by the situation of a leper in society. Leprosy is one of the oldest diseases known to man. In the past there was no cure; the disease could not be escaped. Nearly every country in the world has experienced the scourge of leprosy at some time, and its occurrence has typically been attributed to a punishment or curse from God. Once afflicted, a leper was isolated from the rest of society, an outcast—not only because of the infectious nature of the disease but also because of its repulsive appearance. Despite the discovery of drugs that cure leprosy, the stigma attached to it remains strong. The lot of the leper in human society has always been a piteous and isolated one.

  Stage of Life Representing the Isolated Type's Attitude

The attitude that typifies this state is that of a seventy- to eighty-year-old person suffering the diseases of old age. He is no longer able to make himself useful or care for himself. He finds it difficult to relate to younger people and their values and therefore cuts himself off. He narrows down his acquaintances to a very few. He feels unwanted by his family (and society in general) as he is cast off into an old-age home. There he feels a sense of hopelessness with no possibility remaining in life other than death.

  Dreams Representative of the Isolated Type's Perceived Situation

The dreams of the Isolated Type reflect these feelings of inner revulsion and despair, a loathing of self and others. The dreams may include themes of being cast out and shunned or of shunning others (action and reaction being equal and opposite). This disgust can also be seen symbolically in dreams of dirt or of feces.

  The Game that Mirrors the Isolated Type's Pattern of Action

The Isolated Type is a human state involving both cruelty and self-loathing. There is a resonance with perversions, such as sadism. The sadistic person gets pleasure out of inflicting cruelty and pain on another. (His inner perception is that others are being cruel to him, inflicting pain on him, and he reacts similarly.) An activity such as sadism is also unacceptable to society. It is considered shameful, it is a hidden activity, and if uncovered, results in rejection and isolation from society.

 _ **The Impossible Type**_

 _"The situation is impossible and I have no chance of succeeding. Only drastic, destructive actions have any effect."_

A person of the Impossible Type perceives life as an almost impossibly dangerous and hopeless situation. His feeling that only drastic measures can be of any use in such a dire situation often sets him (and others) on a path of total destruction.

He feels neither the highs nor lows of the Possible, nor the secretiveness of the Fixed. He has an overwhelmingly pessimistic view of life. He is convinced that moderate means of change are useless, that it is impossible to modify what is wrong; the only option is radical change or destruction. This internal feeling of desperation and destruction almost literally eats him up. He can react impulsively, destructively, and out of all proportion to even minor situations. It does not matter whether the situation is one of insult, criticism, or domination; his instant feeling is that the matter has gone far beyond a tolerable limit. Since he sees no point in trying to adjust or accommodate, he instead reacts excessively, violently, and destructively.

A person with this type of reaction harbors a deep and chronic pessimism. This complete hopelessness and despair is interspersed with occasional, sudden, impulsive violence directed at himself or others; a mercurial temper.

His rigidly pessimistic outlook applies to both himself and the external situation. The Impossible Type is therefore aggravated by any contradiction. He is dictatorial, brooks no discussion, and is not amenable to change or conciliation.

This type of reaction occurs when a person is faced with a completely superhuman task, one in which no man stands any chance of succeeding. In a desperate effort, he nonetheless tries to change the entirely hopeless situation. The result is usually destruction.

  Stage of Life Representing the Impossible Type's Attitude

The attitude typified here is that of the age of senescence. There is absolutely no hope now. His health deteriorates as his body and mind fall prey to so many illnesses that even coping with them becomes an impossibility. The only way out is death.

In their attempt to achieve the impossible, some persons of this type can reach very high positions. We see them as heads of government, people in power, heads of institutions, or leaders in their field. People who see life in this way feel they have to achieve positions of great, almost awful power, as they perceive only drastic measures as being of any value. In exact contrast, others of this type can become revolutionaries, terrorists who are prepared to commit both homicide and suicide in their desperate attempts to achieve the impossible.

  Dreams Representative of the Impossible Type's Perceived Situation

Dreams of the Impossible Type indicate hopelessness and failure and a feeling of the end of life.

  The Game that Mirrors the Impossible Type's Pattern of Action

A person who perceives and responds to life in this way is like a person playing a game in which, from the outset, there is no hope of success. It is like an ordinary man playing chess against a state-of-the-art computer. The task is hopeless, the outcome certain and unfavorable.

7 The Technique for Reaching the Depths

 _The nonhuman song within each of us is the cause of our stress and turmoil._

TO FIND OUT what it is, to see it, is the first and most important step to coming out of it. This is not easy, for often (especially in adults) it is deeply hidden, covered up by our normal civilized behavior, which pushes this inner story deep within our being.

To discover the nonhuman song within us, the song whose voice is speaking through us, singing its own melody; that hidden force, that energy that colors our perception—the way we think, act, and react—we must go through a process of inquiry.

It is better that this inquiry be guided by another, one who is qualified and skilled. Although I describe the technique here, I do so with the caution that this is not to be done lightly or casually. Done in a flippant way by someone without training, it can have an adverse effect. However, done in a professional manner it can open inner doors of perception and be a significant step forward in the healing process.

The guide must be empty of prejudice and effort. He must let the seeker lead from the start of the process. Both need to be open to the moment, empty of desire and free to flow with whatever emerges.

I have been using this technique to go along with my patients to their innermost experience (the sensation, the source, the other song). I then use this to find the appropriate homeopathic remedy. However, many patients remarked at the end of the interview that the process itself had been revealing and had a healing effect. I therefore feel that it can be used even outside of homeopathic clinics.

Not everyone is prepared to undergo the process, and without cooperation it is nearly impossible to get deeper. Therefore, it is important to explain to the seeker what we are about to do. At the same time, the guide must also be ready.

This technique is simple, as simple as getting to know someone. When we first meet someone, how do we begin the conversation?

  * We begin with an introduction—our **name** and identity.
  * Then we get to know more **facts** about the person by observing his appearance and way of dressing. Further on, we may learn his age and occupation.
  * If the conversation continues, he will tell us about various **emo** tions that move him. He might tell us stories of his past years or situations that have influenced his life and the way he looks at reality.
  * A still deeper conversation will give a sneak preview into his nightmares and fears. When he starts trusting you enough and is comfortable with you, when he has crossed his socially acceptable threshold, he will start talking from the world of imagination ( **delusion** ).
  * If we take it a bit further we will see the **kind and degree of reactions** that these imaginary situations provoke in him.

When we come to know someone at this deep level, we begin to have a fair idea of his or her fundamental outlook on life. Although we all perceive and experience life uniquely and differently, at a deep level it is possible to discern three broad, fundamental perspectives. Going back to the analogy of the lenses through which we see life, it is as if there are a million different types of lenses but only three basic frames that fit these lenses.

These three fundamental "frames of seeing" are related to

  * Sensitivity (the plant song)
  * Survival (the animal song)
  * Structure (the mineral song)

Depending on our makeup, either we manifest great sensitivity and reactivity to any stress in life, stress creates a deep sense of external threat related to our very survival, or stress causes us to feel at a deep inner level that something is lacking in our fundamental structure.

When we really know someone, we can know whether he perceives stress in life with a sense of panic and crisis, with a sense of openness and possibility, with a sense of being tortured and persecuted, or with a sense of doubting the outcome. Alternately, he may experience stress with a fixed sense of weakness, with a suffocated and claustrophobic feeling, or with a feeling of desperately needing to control the stress. His problems may make him feel like an outcast and isolated from the world, or if he finds the situation totally impossible, he may fear he will be destroyed by it (and so be ready to destroy others).

The process we adopt in order to reach the deepest core of disturbance is similar to the one we follow while getting to know another person. I've found the best place to start is always with whatever symptom or situation is bothering the person most in the present moment. The main complaint can be physical or emotional. It may be a fear, a nightmare, or any dream for that matter. If the person has troubling symptoms both emotionally and physically, I've found the best way to start is by focusing on the physical symptoms, as these best reflect the truth in the present moment. In contrast, we can be easily confused trying to follow and understand the emotional state of another person; our own emotions can interfere, and we can get lost in the "story."

Even the most insignificant physical aspect will ultimately lead to the core sensation. My point here is that everything about you is you: the clothes you wear, the place you choose to sit, your profession, friends—these are all a reflection of your deepest experience. Wherever we begin, even if it is the button on a person's shirt, will ultimately lead to the core sensation, but that would be a strange way to start an interview. The truth of the moment is most clearly expressed in the main complaint (physical or emotional symptom) and is therefore most accessible there. The complaint that bothers one most in the moment is the crystallization of one's sensation at that moment.

We can begin by asking, "What is bothering you the most right now?" The person can give a diagnosis, be it diabetes or migraine, and go on to give clear, physical facts about this diagnosis. From here we go deeper, asking how he experiences these physical symptoms, what the exact sensation is. How does this problem affect his life? The job of the healer is to guide the person from this level into his core, the deepest part of his soul, of which his disturbance is an expression.

When we come to this "core area," the fundamental issues for that person become very clear; there is no confusion at this basic level. It is as if we have reached the core of the volcano, of which the eruptions (physical and emotional symptoms) are only a by-product. If we become embroiled in the emotional state of the person, we become too absorbed in experiencing the tremors of the volcano without going deeper to the core from which all symptoms originate.

As we begin focusing on the various details of the physical complaint, we encounter an element that has more than just a physical connotation, and which spontaneously connects to the mind state. We then focus on this key area of connection, where we can clearly perceive that both body and mind are expressing the same phenomenon. This leads us to a very deep core level.

 **Spondylitis**

 _(In this case-study interview, R = Dr. Rajan Sankaran and P = Patient_ _._ _The most pertinent patient phrases are set in italics_ _._ _Italics in parentheses are author's notes._ _)_

The patient complained of stiffness in the neck and could not move his neck without difficulty. I have recorded a few excerpts from the case.

 **P:** I have this stiffness in my neck. My attention is more on the stiffness rather than on what I am supposed to do.

 _(He runs an organization. In the midst of discussions he has to stop because of the condition. He feels handicapped and not useful.)_

 **P:** The connecting thread of my life is being useful and meaningful. If I can't do this I feel worthless. The arthritis handicaps me and I have nothing to do. Life becomes meaningless. I've achieved so much in life, but at this point life doesn't feel worth living. Everything is good except this feeling of being handicapped.

I search for the meaning of life. This haunts me. I learned meditation. I honor that which is within, which gives honor and dignity to life. If I don't honor this I feel there's a war within. I have been involved in a movement for twenty-two years. I believe in taking nothing for what I do. I believe that nonviolence is the most important thing in life.

Doing nothing, retirement, feels vegetative. I love my body a lot, but I am more in touch with the spirit. I don't want allopathic medication because it's doing violence to my body. I want to grow, and to harm any of the natural feelings is violent. I feel that war starts with allopathic medication, which is something that I don't want.

I am a trustee for a hospital and have collected several million rupees for earthquake damage. I want to usefully manifest myself, to be useful for everything. When I am handicapped I can't reach out. When I reach out I feel connected to life. Deep inside I feel an impersonal connection to life. It's like a river that's cut off, cut off from the river that's everywhere. There is a compulsion from within. I don't know when it will burst or if I'll float six inches above the ground. I feel that an enclosure has burst and I feel light, and at the same time I feel connected to everything as if there is no other person. I feel the unity so they don't look like other people to me. I feel this when teaching others, and I feel overwhelming, tremendous joy from this. I feel joy when I have the sense of "doer-ship."

 _(His talk was very much at an intellectual level. He is well read and has an inclination toward philosophy. There are many notions that he has derived from such writings, such as "cut off from the river that is everywhere, con_ _nections to life, joy, unity, doer-ship," and so on, but I wanted to get deeper. So I focused on his chief complaint.)_

 **R:** Tell me about the neck problem.

 **P:** I have a strain in my neck and I am not able to work fully. I am not able to move freely.

 _(The patient is describing a sensation of stiffness. Now let us understand this sensation and what effect it has on the patient. How do they both connect?)_

 **R:** Describe the stiffness.

 **P:** It gets more and more straightened and I am not able to move the neck both ways.

 **R:** What is the effect on you?

 **P:** I am divided in my work. I'm less efficient. Rather than going ahead in my work it brings attention to my neck. I've stopped working.

 **R:** How do you feel?

 **P:** I feel I should get relief.

 **R:** How do you get relief?

 **P:** I just rest for a while.

 _(Then I questioned him about meditation, as I realized that he has a deep interest in meditation.)_

 **R:** What does meditation mean to you?

 **P:** It means quietness, stillness. It is acknowledgment of interdependence. It is an acknowledgment that everything I do happens because of many things. I don't exist in isolation. In the past I felt that things happen because I do something, but I've realized over time that things happen because of many things. So many factors contribute to make something happen. It produces harmony inside me, a sense of peace.

 _(What is interesting is that I know in my mind that his main sensation is, "I can't move. I can't move in my work because of this. My neck doesn't move and my work doesn't move." But the whole idea here is that every aspect of the case—everything in the patient's life that is important to him—will tie in to his vital sensation. Thus, when we examine meditation, we must go deeper into what meditation means to the patient until we come back to his vital sensation of "not able to move." Meditation is a kind of compensation. So I take him further in the interview.)_

 **R:** Describe peace.

 **P:** I feel a sense of harmony with people, fewer and fewer divisions. I feel like being silent. With speech there is an internal commotion. But I allow that to pass. Earlier I was reacting to everything. It felt like being _caught_.

 **R:** What was the effect on you?

 **P:** _I wouldn't move from this being stiff. That is, things pulled me in different direc_ _tions. It was a compulsion of feeling._

 _(When he gives this word, "stiffness," he gives a physical picture of an emotional feeling. This is exactly his sensation.)_

 **P:** It was as if I were in the middle of traffic, in the middle of a traffic jam.

 **R:** How is that feeling?

 **P:** _The feeling is lack of movement._

 **Understanding of the Case**

Again, the same thing: cannot move, caught, stiff. He had to meditate more than two hours a day in order to avoid this experience.

We can see that this person does not perceive the situation as competition (animal) nor as a lack or loss in structure (mineral), but rather that he shows a sensitivity to the situation, and as a result any situation will produce in him a sensation of stiffness and being caught. This indicates that the patient belongs to the plant kingdom and—in this specific case—to the family of Anacardiaceae (includes diverse plants, such as cashew nut, mango, and poison ivy), which has the same sensitivity and sensation.

Here the job of the guide is to have a completely laid-back attitude and always "throw the ball into the other person's court." When the seeker explains an issue, it is important that the guide make no assumption that he has understood; rather, he should continue to look puzzled and so encourage the seeker to go deeper and clarify further. Only by further elaboration and by the seeker journeying to deeper levels of inner experience and describing these will the guide begin to gain a perception of the person's way of perceiving and living his life.

Thus the emphasis throughout is not the seeker's story (that is, the outer situations or scenes within which the individual leads his life) but his inner experience of living within that outer story. It is not that the story is irrelevant; it is highly relevant. It is, rather, that the outer story is not specific enough for us to gain a deep understanding of the seeker's inner core state. On this journey inward, the guide jumps to no conclusions, makes no assumptions, and always follows the seeker's lead.

This is the most crucial part of the whole process.

In order to faithfully follow the inner journey the guide must stay very alert while being totally detached. The process of inquiry is gentle, slow, and gradual. The sensation this line of inquiry filters down to is the crystallization of an individual's life. It is the fountainhead wherein all the vital phenomena are expressed in their raw form. It certainly cannot be neglected. It is the core, the foundation for every facet of a person's way of being. It is the key by which every single aspect of the person's life can be understood. All revolves around this core sensation.

As the seeker is describing his main complaint, one also notices the pace and depth of the way he experiences and responds to this deep inner sensation. This can become clearer by asking the question: "What do you do in response to this sensation?" That is, what is his way of coping with this inner experience? Once we have understood a person's deepest sensitivity or sensation, it is relatively easy to observe the manner in which he copes with this sensitivity.

Take the case of a person whose sensitivity or inner sensation appears to be that of being injured (either physically, mentally, or both). We need to discern his reactions to this key sensitivity.

  * In what way does he respond to the perception of imminent injury?
  * Does he panic in such situations?
  * Does he perceive it as an acute crisis and respond by a concentrated effort to overcome the crisis?
  * Does he feel stuck in a position in which he is intermittently injured?
  * Does he feel hopeful and try to get out of the injuring situation?
  * Does he have an attitude of resigned acceptance, so as to conceal his sensitivity?
  * Does he react to injury with a desperate, last-ditch effort to escape from it?
  * Does it make him stretch himself far beyond his capacity in order to gain control?
  * Or does he experience his sensitivity to injury so keenly and desperately, so hopelessly, that he wants to kill someone else or himself?

If a person perceives and experiences injury to the point of destruction, his reaction will have the same depth and desperation and he will want to injure in turn, or kill. (Postulate one: Sensation and action are equal and opposite.)

However, if he reacts passively he may become numb and hopeless. If he compensates well for this sensation (that is, by developing strong, almost opposing sensations), he may become the tough guy, the one who can face even the most severe and destructive type of injury. However, even fully compensated, his sensitivity to injury remains.

We persevere by asking the same question in various ways until the seeker responds by touching on another, deeper sensation that is more precise and descriptive. In this way we move to deeper levels. The seeker himself needs to have the spirit of perseverance and patience, coupled with complete conviction that something deeper will be made manifest, will be expressed.

Inevitably the question arises: How does one know that the sensation described is more precise and one step deeper than the one already expressed?

There are two keys that help open this Pandora's box of inner exploration.

 **Actions speak louder than words.**

Sensations are deeply and clearly felt but are very difficult to express accurately. Often an individual best expresses his inner sensation through the medium of gesture rather than speech. In effect, his hands are able to communicate and describe what his speech cannot.

  Let me illustrate with the case of a young schoolgirl with headaches.

While describing the pain of her headache, she kept making a pushing hand gesture, saying that her head felt as though a part of it were being forced out. She also described feeling very bad when her friends didn't share everything with her. When asked to elaborate how she felt, she repeatedly said "bad and sad," and then described a depressed feeling. All the while, her hands were flying in the air, depicting exactly the same hand gesture that she had used when describing her headaches. That is precisely what she felt even with her friends—that they were, through their actions, somehow forcing her out, leaving her alone to the point of exclusion.

Hand gestures also help clear the confusion that can arise when seeking to understand the deepest sensation. For example, one person may give a good verbal description of how her lungs feel when she has an asthmatic attack. She may use words such as _blocked_ and _jammed,_ but her hands are telling us another deeper, truer story. While she talks of blocked and jammed, her hands move round and round in a twirling motion, giving the appearance of tying or winding and unwinding something. By gently asking her to describe more exactly the sensation of blocked and jammed, she finally comes to the deeper sensation of "tied and bound," which her hands had been telling us all along. Thus, hand gestures are the best indicator of the truth she is experiencing. With patience and persistence during questioning she is able to arrive at an exact description of the sensation her hand gesture has been constantly illustrating. We can then be sure that we have arrived at her deepest sensation.

Hand gestures are subconscious, involuntary, and often not even noticed by the individual making them. This is their truth and their beauty. The gestures unself-consciously portray an inner reality. It is, therefore, essential to take time to understand these repetitive gestures. Once we have identified what they denote, our understanding of the person deepens.

  A thirty-five-year-old woman described her sensation in an asthmatic attack "as if" something was being tightly twisted in her upper chest, as if she was being choked or strangled. Her description of this sensation evoked a python strangling its prey. Later on in the case she spoke of being hurt when her husband admonished her. When asked to describe the feeling of hurt, she used the word _sad,_ while at the same time her hands clenched and went toward her chest—exactly the same gesture she had used while describing the strangled, twisted feeling she experienced with her asthma. What she could not express in words her hands expressed eloquently, without her even being conscious that this was happening. It is therefore vital that the guide, the observer, be conscious of, and immediately alert to, gesture.

THE GESTURE IS OFTEN THE KEY

Thus the gesture becomes that secret door, the hidden passage into the land of the seeker, a way by which, with help, he can get in touch with his inner reality. It is a window to the sensation. Focus on it and another world opens up. The other song that plays within that world is heard. While the seeker is talking, he or she reaches a point where words are inadequate to describe the experience, and only a gesture is made. At that time ask the seeker to focus on the hand gesture: "Do it again, focus on it . . . then tell me whatever comes to you."

A word of caution here seems mandatory. It is very important that we not interpret gestures. Interpretation is a mental function, while the sensation lies beyond the mind's grasp. The use of the gesture, therefore, is going to be the total catalyst for the seeker to spontaneously express the sensation. When the gesture comes up we should not ask ourselves or the seeker what the gesture means. What we need to do is to focus the seeker on the gesture and ask him to observe what spontaneously arises.

The question about the gesture should be framed in such a way that thinking stops and spontaneity is encouraged. Whatever comes spontaneously comes from a point that is beyond reason, beyond logic, and beyond the mind. It will, therefore, come from the sensation.

If the seeker attempts to explain or theorize about it, cut him off. "Tell me whatever comes to you (beyond mind, beyond reasoning; that which is absurd or illogical, but simultaneously arises when the energy is experienced)."

The mistake we make is to ask the person to explain the gesture.

Don't ask, "What does this mean?"

The question is not, "What are you doing?" It's simply, "What comes to you (when this energy pattern is being experienced)?" Something illogical comes to them, sometimes with a laugh or a smile; for example, "When I do this, I feel it is all dispersing! It's stupid!"

 _ **At What Point Should We Ask about the Gesture?**_

As we have seen in earlier chapters, there are seven levels of experience: name, fact, emotion, imagination, sensation, energy, and the seventh. The seeker may speak at any of the levels at any point in the interview.

If the seeker speaks at the emotional level and makes gestures, it may be inadvisable to pursue this right away. If you ask too early, it confuses the seeker. When you go through Levels 3 and 4 do not stop to ask about the gesture. On the other hand, after asking if they are making a gesture, stay focused and do not get diverted to something else.

You need to pursue the emotional and delusional levels to a point at which words fail and the seeker is forced to use gestures to express his experience. At that point, when you ask about the gesture, then it takes the case to a new level. It takes you into the other (inner) world of the seeker.

 **The other world is not human.**

It is a stranger from another kingdom who lives within us, who has been part of us, who now talks "like he owns the place." A plant, animal, or mineral lives within us. We need to hear that song, to go to that level of experience.

So the first key to reaching a deep understanding is hand gesture. The second key is the word or words that crop up repeatedly when the individual describes his main problem. He may use words that seem completely out of context to the situation being described, or he may always accompany a certain word with a strong hand gesture.

To simplify it, I have identified seven main criteria to help identify which (of the many) words a person uses carry special significance. These criteria can best be remembered alphabetically—M, N, O, P, Q, R, S.

CRITERIA FOR IDENTIFYING WORDS OF IMPORTANCE

 _ **Movement**_

A word has importance when it is associated with a hand gesture that has energy, speed, direction, and movement.

 _ **Non-Human-Specific**_

There is always a personal resistance to going deeper into a level of self-understanding and self-expression. Words do not readily describe these deep sensations, but it is also as if we have somehow, in the process of living our lives, forgotten to trust and express our own deepest sensations.

However, if we persist in our approach, the seeker will directly lead us to the source. By this I mean the other song within him, which is sounding clearly at this deepest level of sensation. Sometimes the individual will actually tell you the name of the source (in the animal, plant, or mineral kingdom) or describe it so accurately that you can clearly hear the melody of the other song his life seems to sing—note for note, melody for melody.

 **An Example Demonstrating
Non-Human-Specific Language**

 _(In this case-study interview, R = Dr. Rajan Sankaran and P = Patient. Italics are author's notes.)_

A young man of twenty-five years came to me with chest pain. I asked him, "What is your problem?" He answered: "Some kind of sharp pain in my chest."

 _(Sharp is not human specific. Sharp is a reality in the human realm but also occurs in the animal, plant, and even mineral kingdoms. Sharp can be any_ _thing that is pointed and that involves pain.)_

 **R:** Tell me a little bit more about sharp.

 **P:** This sharp comes and attacks me suddenly; it is an attack of pain.

 _(Attack is not human specific.)_

 **R:** Tell me more about sudden, attack, and sharp.

 **P:** I'm working in this company and my boss is a rude person. His words are so sharp.

 _(While saying this, the seeker makes a strong gesture. The words are human but the energy is not specific to humans. You hear the energy. Forget the human words.)_

 **R:** Tell me about this [ _the guide repeating the seeker's words, asking only about the gesture, while imitating the seeker's way of speaking_ ] when you describe it with your hands [ _repeating the same gesture_ ]. What is this?

 **P:** My boss treats me the way they used to treat slaves.

 _(The reason we repeat the seeker's words and ask about the gesture is to enter into a new realm, a realm that is not specific to human beings but one that is wider, more basic, and more inclusive. The passage from the "human specific" to the "non-human-specific" is not an easy one. It is rarely a smooth transition to move from one level to a deeper one. The situation he perceives [my boss treats me like a slave] is at the delusion level. To go deeper still—to the sensation level—one needs to focus on hand gestures. If there are no strong hand gestures, one needs then to see if the word "slave" can be associated with a strong image.)_

 **R:** What do you mean by "slave"?

 _(It is at this point that one must ask the seeker, "Tell me your experience of this particular situation" [mentioned by you]. Then the sensation will come, since sensation is an experience. Sensation is not an emotional feeling, nor is it a delusion. It is deeper than both, being sensed and experienced in the mind and body simultaneously. It is a complete physical, emotional, vital experience that is not human specific at all. Our deepest experience is not human specific, it includes all realms. This deepest sensation cannot be adequately expressed in words. It can be expressed in groups of words, hand gestures, and sound but is very difficult, indeed, to encompass in words alone.)_

 **R:** So what is your experience of a slave?

 **P:** They do horrible things to you. They take sharp things and poke you.

 **R:** How would that be experienced by you?

 **P:** It is just a sudden sharp pain.

 _(So we see that the same song sounds throughout. In the physical complaint he says that he has "sharp pains." At the emotion level he says, "I'm affected by pointed remarks." Then from the delusion level (being treated like a slave) he comes to the same sensation. Once we begin to hear the universal, it sounds at all levels.)_

_**Obdurate**_

A word is important if it is persistent, in the sense that it remains firmly in the conversation no matter what the subject discussed.

 _ **Picturized**_

A word is important when it is associated with a strong image or delusion, as in the earlier example when he spoke of slaves: "My boss treats me the way they used to treat slaves."

The guide should see if that slave image holds. He might be just using the word casually, so it is important to seek clarification. See if he gives you a vivid image and whether in so doing he is actually transported into the situation of a slave. If the word holds deep meaning for him, he should give you the entire movie of a slave. You can guide him into that state where he is actually living and dreaming that situation right there and then. It is a little like past-life regression, like hypnosis. A deeper truth comes through and expresses itself. He takes you to a different time and place, one removed from present-day reality.

At that point, you ask the question, "What is your experience of this situation?" and the underlying sensation will become clear.

 _ **Queer**_

If the word is queer, that is, used out of context, we pay close attention. We carefully note a word that really does not make sense, a word that would not normally be used in that way. For example, a girl described her throat pain as, "My throat pain hits me." Now this word _hits_ is out of place and quite strange. What does "hit" truly have to do with throat pain?

 _ **Repetitive**_

If a word keeps recurring, irrespective of the levels reached, it becomes important. A word that keeps coming up again and again becomes important if it still keeps coming up, even after going to further questions and subsequent levels, almost like a recurring hint or shadow.

 _ **Synonym**_

The ability of the individual to give synonyms of the main word and illustrate it with various examples indicates the strength of the energy that the word truly holds for the person.

For example, a young girl who had recently gotten married expressed her discomfort in her in-laws' house. She said, "I don't feel this house is my house. I am never allowed to do what I want. I am a captive here." Obviously, my next question to her was about the word _captive_ and the feeling a captive experiences. She described the captive as experiencing what a prisoner may feel. "You are all contracted; the only thing is imprisonment, without being tied up in shackles."

These words are to be taken seriously and treated with respect. They allude to her deepest experience. These words come from the source whose melody is the other song, or the nonhuman song that sings inside her. If you honor these words, focus on them, more information on the source whose energy sings in us can be obtained. You can take these words and go to the next level.

MOVING DEEPER

Thus, in order to move to deeper levels we have to select words that are odd, repeated, or used out of context. Alternatively, we can select a certain hand gesture that recurs with vivacity and clarity. These important words or gestures act like footholds on an unknown surface and help us to progress.

These words and gestures of the person need to be carefully tested to see if they truly hold, in much the same way as a rock climber tests a foothold. The climber has to know that he can trust his whole weight to a foothold before relying on it as a means of ascending to the next level on a rock face. A rock climber knows a sure foothold not by the look of it, not by the size of it, but by testing out the feel of it (that is, the experience of it), the knowledge within the body that a seemingly insignificant irregularity in the rock can hold his whole weight for the next move. Similarly, the individual's (thoroughly tested) words or gestures can be relied on to lead us to the next level. Indeed, they are the only things that can lead us to the next level of understanding.

Once we have a good idea of what the deepest sensation is we look for confirmations that this is indeed the key pervasive sensation. It is best to seek confirmation in areas of the person's life where he is "uncompensated," that is, where he has not developed the opposing sensation in an unconscious effort to find balance. For example, a person who is very sensitive to rudeness could compensate by being extra polite to others so that he can avoid having his sensitivity excited. As described earlier, we are all masters at coping with and compensating for our deepest underlying sensation in life. Areas where we are least compensated are our vocation, relationships, recreation, hobbies, interests, dreams, fears, and, above all, in our childhood. The same sensation or its opposite will be found here, together with the same intensity of reaction in coping with that sensation. We return to the same core, which is deep, unspoken (but constantly intimated), and runs through every sphere of our life and activity.

Sometimes when all the parts of the seeker's story seem to connect you notice a common thread (the seeker's constant experience) that strings all the situations and experiences together. But sometimes one might then encounter a portion or a bit that does not seem to fit in with the rest of it. It stands out, unusual and different, and you don't know what to make of it.

  Take, for example, a person who talks of pressures at work or home. He says he must withstand all this force and pressure. It is important for him to do so, for if he did not, everything would collapse. (Here he is talking of his other song from the mineral kingdom. A metal structure needs to be strong enough to withstand great force and pressure. If the structure were not built to withstand all these external agents, it could collapse, fall, and crumble).

As you continue your process of inquiry and you come to dreams, he mentions falling into a shark cave and trying to come out of it. Here one might be puzzled about the link between a shark cave and resisting force and pressure. This may feel like unknown and uncharted waters. Fear of the unknown could creep up and you may not want to step on it. That is why one needs to put the mind aside and not analyze anything. Instead, one needs to grab on to this bit that does not fit and follow it to the deepest sensation level.

This gives us the freedom to flow in the moment with whatever surfaces. It also becomes the greatest test of the core sensation. If this new, incongruous detail also finally arrives at the same coherent expression, we can be sure of the core sensation. If not, one must be very careful. That is the test. In the above case, on being asked for his experience in the shark cave situation, the person said that it was like being put through a period of pressure in which he had to use all his skills to emerge unscathed. So for this seeker the element that initially seemed out of place actually proved to be part and parcel of his core sensation: his perception that he constantly needs to withstand pressure.

  Let us take another example to clarify this. An elderly person came with a long-standing skin allergy. He experienced a sensation of pricking all over, as if by needles. He felt very troubled by this pricking, which he showed with a gesture of poking. When I inquired about his dreams, the man said, "I dream of shit." Such dreams seem prima facie completely unrelated to the sensation of pricking, needles, and poking that he had described earlier.

Here you need to go into the dream of shit. I asked him, "Tell a little more of this dream," and he started laughing. "What more can I say about shit? Everyone knows shit." I persisted, "Tell me more." He pondered this and said, "I should not dream of shit. They say that to dream of shit means impurity." He is from a sect that holds this belief. Being aware of this and wanting to be careful not to assume anything, I wanted to know what the underlying sensation was, so I persisted with, "Tell about impurity." He said, "Impurity I should never, ever have. Then you go to hell." Now I followed the hell clue, which would lead us to his core sensation. "Tell me about hell." He replied, "I do not want to go to hell; it is so much suffering." I followed him with, "Tell me about suffering." There was a pause.

I continued, "Speak about suffering." And he spontaneously replied, "There they take needles and prick and poke you." He paused as he recognized it was the same sensation he had been speaking of in connection to his skin condition.

THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS

Books and theories abound on the interpretation of dreams, just as they do on the interpretation of any phenomenon. Probably the best way to interpret a dream is to not even dream of interpreting it! A dream is an expression of the other song within. The dreamer should be asked to describe the dream in the maximum possible detail.

He needs to observe and express:

  1. The feelings in the dream
  2. The sensory experience in the dream
  3. The energy in the dream: speed, movement, pace, and so on
  4. The type of coping mechanism seen in the dream
  5. Any nonhuman elements in the dream that could connect to the source
  6. The effect of the dream on the dreamer

The sensory experience, when explored more deeply, will reveal the experience of the dreamer, which will be the core experience (sensation) in the person and will be seen in all aspects of his being, body and mind, past and present. The dreamer, along with the guide, needs to explore this experience without interpreting or thinking about it, just observing deeper and deeper until its core becomes evident.

The way we look at a dream is often the same way we look at any other phenomenon: we think about it, analyze it, interpret it, classify it, and basically intellectualize it. While this may satisfy our minds, does it really help us learn something about our true nature?

There is another approach, another way of looking, which does not involve the intellect. It is the way of going deeper into the experience of the dream to become aware of what we experience in that situation. When we do that, we come to the inner sensation that transcends the dream and can be seen to be the experience that pervades our whole being.

  As an example, let us take the case of a young woman who has long-standing recurrent sinusitis.

When asked about the problem's effect on her she says, "Generally my activities slow way down. I miss my walk for quite a few days because I am unwell and tired; it takes all the energy out of me. I feel very sleepy all day long. I don't feel like doing anything. So it is like a heavy day; my activities are reduced because I cannot do much. After that I get these bouts and irritation in the whole head. Sometimes I also have to miss work because of that. I just feel sleepy all the time. Just avoid entertainment and just sleep."

The effect of the problem is that when she goes outside there is a problem, and so, "I have to be shut down inside and be sleepy." She needs to go in and be covered in a quilt.

She reports the following dreams:

"I have been getting these accident dreams, often about plane crashes or about the sea before a tsunami. For a long time I have been having dreams of drowning in the sea, air crashes, dead people, riots, floods, and dead bodies. Then I have been getting dreams of stool and everything soiled.

"I also dream I am trying to save my loved ones or keep them safe. There is a particular plane crash; my family is involved and I run to see that everybody in my family is all right. That is very often."

It is interesting that she has two types of dreams: disasters and stools. One might be tempted to find a logical explanation for these two types of dreams or attempt to deduce something they have in common. Such deductions will remain a theory and will be of little help. The way that will lead us somewhere is to follow the energy, the experience in the dream to the deepest point possible.

In this case we took the dream of disasters to begin with and traced the feelings deeper.

"I have an insecurity problem in the first dream of accidents; I feel that I am going to lose all my loved ones. That my father, mother, my husband, and my sister all should be safe. I am secured that nothing should have happened. It is more of a scary feeling. At that particular time I feel in the dream I am totally choked. I just can't imagine my life without them."

Here we see that her main experience, her main sensation is, "I can't exist without them." We don't see downward movement in the air crash. She did not say it is all going down; this is not the energy. The energy is in losing, that she will lose something. That takes us to the mineral kingdom. The experience is not one of fright or shock but rather of losing something that she needs.

We can go deeper than this and ask what the experience is for her of losing such a person. She says that she is extremely dependent on her close relatives and needs them around all the time. They are like a security blanket for her and she cannot imagine her existence without them.

Having investigated the first dream to this level, we now turn to the second dream (of stools) and ask her to speak about this. She says, "I feel that I am impure and that I need to wash my legs often, and I am feeling sick about it because generally even if a child is shitting, I can't look. I feel like everything is stuck on my feet. It is sticky and very odd, difficult to remove it. It is unhygienic, like when mud is on your foot, you feel you're slipping on it and you have to scrape it off with a leaf or something. Like germs, it is basically body waste; I don't want to touch it because it can give me an infection. Even if I am in a public place, people are sweating and touching me and all that makes me sick. I basically don't like anyone touching me except some people, and if they touch me I feel consoled and good."

She has this same feeling in all public places. The only place where she likes touch is from her mother and father, and that makes her very comfortable.

"I feel like I am inside a protected glass ball."

I ask her to describe this feeling of comfort. She explains, "I feel sheltered. I am under them; nothing will affect me if they are there. They are protecting me like a house. Nothing is going to affect me if they are around. They are my shelter, probably I can think of a home."

When asked to describe the shelter further, she continues, "A protective shield around [ _hand gesture_ ], very closed atmosphere [ _hand gesture_ ]. I feel like I am inside a protected glass ball. The whole feeling of dad, mom, husband is like a circle around me."

Later she describes exactly the experience of a fetus in a womb. This experience is the common one to her sinusitis (remember, she cannot come out, has to stay inside covered in a quilt), her dream of disaster (where she loses the loved ones, her shelter, the ones without whom she cannot imagine her existence), and the dream of stool (being touched by outsiders, wanting to be inside a glass ball, protected and insulated).

Thus, if you take any dream deeper to the sensation level, to the level of the inner experience, you will come to the one experience that pervades the whole being. This is not an analysis or interpretation of the dream but a going deeper into the experience of it. That is the adventure, the beauty and joy of this technique. When you have two completely dissimilar things and they arrive at the same point, you are completely sure. That is the joy of every case. It is amazing to witness it unfold.

GOING TO THE CORE

Quite different techniques are required at this stage of listening. At the beginning of our inquiry we allow the individual complete freedom to experience and express what comes up, prescribing no limits or direction. In this way the person is free to gradually reveal his deepest sensation. Toward the end of the inquiry, once the sensation has become clear, it is necessary to stay focused on that sensation in order for the person to lead us deeper into his core state, where everything connects. At this point it becomes necessary to guide the person and to limit his room to retreat into the more superficial areas of life, which are so much easier to describe. There is a natural tendency for the person to do so at this stage.

If this does happen, our understanding of the seeker's state can falter as we become lost in a renewed multiplicity of external detail. The process is therefore to stop the moving back but without imparting any other sense of direction. You do not tell the individual where to go; you simply block the ways back to more general levels. Thus the only place for the individual to move is deeper, to a description of his exact state.

This endgame tactic is similar to that employed in chess: toward the end of a game, after the board has been cleared of most pieces, a skillful player can secure a swift conclusion and prevent the game's plodding on interminably by blocking the king's escape back to a more defended position. In just the same way, gentle guiding of the individual at this point can help him reach a deep point of understanding within himself, where the "king" (that is, the deepest core sensation) surrenders and reveals itself clearly.

Once the core sensation has been revealed we need to go back to the areas of greatest stress in the person's life, because these are the points where both the deepest sensation _and_ the way the person copes with that sensation are most clearly revealed. It is as if we are trying to see a hazy image, one that we cannot quite discern. More light is needed if we are to see it clearly. Stress is the stimulus that intensifies the image, heightens or "brightens" the sensation, and also brings out the person's individual coping mechanism. When we do this, when we go deeper in these areas, we find again and again that we reach a point where both the sensation and the coping mechanism concur with our earlier perceptions of both. Confirmation is then complete.

So the guide takes the important words and gestures of the seeker, as described above, and gently and gradually they proceed together to deeper levels and clearer understandings. Honestly, one does not need to understand this process, just be with it experientially in the moment. It is the sum totality of all the phenomena. If we trust the process, trust and focus on the key words and gestures of the person, then the specific unique "core state" of that person gradually emerges into clarity.

This core way of being in the world holds true for the individual in all aspects of his life. Every single element of his story, his reality, and the language of his source make sense when understood at this deep level. All becomes clear at the end of this process. It is very moving to share this journey with another and together gently come to see and feel how everything about him is connected, is part of a discernible pattern. As the guide one almost sees the other person (in varying degrees, depending on how deep the process goes) wake up to the sheer integrity of his or her whole being. When the shared journey is successful the individual has a much surer sense of his or her own processes and is surprised and relieved to discover the manner in which all so clearly connects. This gentle, persistent process of inquiry, in which every single aspect of the person is honored, can result in a very deep awareness and consequently a sense of integration and empowerment for the concerned individual.

The method will be better understood with the help of an illustration.

 **A Forty-Five-Year-Old Male with a Severe Cough**

 _(In this case-study interview, R = Dr. Rajan Sankaran and P = Patient. Italics are author's notes.)_

 **R:** What is your complaint?

 **P:** I cough four to six times in the day.

 **R:** Describe the cough some more.

 **P:** I blank out with the cough. There is a want of breath. Also, a pulling sensation in the abdomen and throat. It is worse when going out, from a draft of air. That stops me from going out of the house. It comes on suddenly, especially when talking.

 _(One can see that he has a cough that gets severe from time to time, and at such times he goes blank. The cough gets worse when he is outdoors, so he cannot go out of the house. So there are two aspects to the cough:_

 _1. Blank out [sensation]_

 _2. It comes from time to time, and he can't go out of the house anymore [pace/coping mechanism])_

 **R:** Tell me about "blank out." Describe it.

 **P:** It goes black before my eyes, as if I am stuck to one point.

 **R:** Stuck to one point meaning . . . ? What is the feeling when stuck to one point?

 _(I have used only the words of the individual and keep up this questioning until he leads me to the next question. This could be a more precise feeling, or a visual picture, or something that comes up by association.)_

 **P:** It is as if I cannot move.

 **R:** What is the feeling when stuck to one point?

 _(He reverts to the physical complaint. Now it is our job to keep him on track, so repeat the same question until he goes one step deeper.)_

 **P:** It is like you are in the middle of the street and a car is coming at full speed. That is how I feel.

 _(Now this is a visual picture. It could have been an actual experience from his life. It is a window into the mental state, one level deeper than the physi_ _cal. If I question him further and ask about his experience in this situation, we may be able to see a connection with the cough.)_

 **R:** How does it feel when you are in the middle of the street and a car comes at you at full speed?

 **P:** It happened to me as a child. I felt the same way.

 _(We have to get to the sensation in that situation. Ask him now to describe the experience in emotional and physical terms. We started with the cough and then came to "blank out," then to "black before the eyes," then to "stuck to one point," then to the childhood situation. All this simply by stay_ _ing with the chief complaint—cough—and faithfully following the key sensa_ _tions and images that the person associated with this cough.)_

 **R:** What did you feel?

 **P:** The fear is I will be suddenly killed, so I cannot move.

So by simply chasing the chief complaint, one can come to the main feeling or fear, which is that suddenly he is going to be killed; he is stupefied and unable to move because of this fright.

Now you can see the connection with the cough. The cough comes suddenly from time to time, and he cannot go out of the house. It goes black before his eyes, and he is stuck to one point as if he is going to be killed. He is frightened and stuck to one point. Fright stupefies him. The cough stupefies. He avoids going out of the house because he will get a cough. He avoids the situation that stupefies him, but he still gets the cough from time to time.

I am reminded of what Sheng-yen said about spiritual practice, which could well apply to this path of inquiry.

Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it. Never let it out of your sight. It will take you.

THE SEVENTH LEVEL OF EXPERIENCE

This is the level at which one can step back from the other song and witness it from a distance. This witness level is unchanging and constant and has existed from birth to the present moment. From this level one can describe the experience. Therefore the seventh level is the most important level for healing. If this level did not exist there would be no way a person could describe his turmoil and become aware, or find the healing agent. Incidentally, the guide also has to go into his own seventh level to be in the process of inquiry. Only then can he be an unprejudiced observer.

Throughout this whole process, whatever "maps" we as guides carry in our minds, it is important always to remember that the person before us is far greater than any overarching map or theory we may personally hold about him or the world. The individual before us is unique. We will not experience his or her uniqueness fully if our sole underlying intent is to categorize him or her, or to put him into a box, however subtle that box may be.

If we seek to do only that, then in effect we diminish not only his uniqueness but also our own learning. We fit him into our existing understanding, which of necessity is limited. This results in two serious failures: simultaneously we miss both the truth before us and the heaven-sent opportunity to broaden our own understanding, to let in the new and to learn more.

We all need maps in order to somehow sort and order our existing understanding. We are better able to journey through life if we have some sort of agreed framework or map to chart our journey. As healers we often utilize our maps in the service of others. But our maps can become more of a hindrance than a help if we treat them as anything other than provisional sketches, schemas that are constantly evolving as they grow to include all that we meet in the world. Maps represent images of the world but are not the world itself. The person before us, the world around us, is the full reality, of which the map in our head is but a dim, possibly distorting reflection.

It is therefore vital that we healers use our maps lightly in order to travel almost empty-handed to the places the seeker can take us, to the landmarks of his own unique reality. This is his own inner land that only he knows, only he experiences, only he can show us. The process of inquiry that I have outlined above is a way of journeying with another person deep into this unique land. As complete strangers to an unknown country we ask the seeker to take us, in effect, to the highest point of his personal landscape so that we can see and come to understand it.

The highest point of his landscape is his main complaint or symptom, because it is here that his inner energy is most forcefully expressing itself. From this clear vantage point, together we are able to gradually see how all else in his inner land falls into place. When we see some hazy (to us) part that we do not understand, we simply ask the seeker. He knows and lives this land. He is the only one who can—and does—explain and make all clear to us.

This process is not mathematical. No amount of logic will work. In fact the mind is our greatest obstacle to real knowing. The mind may want to analyze, which may be the greatest hindrance in the process. Knowledge is the experience of truth, not the result of mathematics or analysis. You can't quite blame the mind, because its function is to classify what you see according to what has been seen. If you want to perceive your experience clearly, you need to sidestep the mind.

The guide is like an archaeologist who unravels the entire object buried deep beneath and then marvels at its beauty once it is revealed. Until then it is only guesswork until the seeker and guide reach that point where the seeker's other song is revealed.

Once the seeker has truly shown us the coherence, specific detail, and beauty of his inner land, then our maps are of great aid to help us get our bearings. No man exists in a separate unrelated bubble; we all exist in the context of the natural world. It is important that we recognize where in that natural world we are. Only when we have clearly heard the true melody of the other song singing in the seeker do our maps come into play. Because we know the place well, having been shown it so clearly, we are immediately able to tell whether it fits with ease and exactness into one of our existing maps, or we are in uncharted territory and therefore need to extend our maps. It is the same process of human exploration and discovery that has gone on through all time.

Once we discover where we have journeyed, we are able to relate the unique and particular inner song of the individual person to the all-embracing context and truth of the universal. We are able to hear and place the person's other song in the context of the natural world—the mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms—in which we all live.

The process is both exciting and affirming as our understanding grows, not just of the other person and ourselves, but also of the whole universe. We come to see the wonder, beauty, and interrelatedness of all that is. We come to see both the self and the other in a true, all-embracing context.

NONSENSE PHENOMENA

In the process of guiding the seeker to deeper levels, up to a point the seeker's story makes sense. Then, as one comes to the delusion level, there could be vivid images. For example, he could say, "I feel like a slave," or "I feel like I am alone in the wilderness." While it is not likely that the seeker is facing or has ever faced the actual situation that he is describing on the delusional level, these are still human examples and experiences. By asking, "What is the experience of this?" we are able to go deeper and get more individualized. Sense fades and a unique pattern is seen, while strange sensations emerge.

The above question may raise a small barrier or invite resistance on the part of the seeker in our process of inquiry. It is uncomfortable for the seeker to describe this, for it is not a familiar zone. This process is almost like shepherding the seeker into a hypnosis-like state in which he is able to verbalize details of his inner turmoil. This area that he now discovers is new to his current awareness and understanding, but he recognizes it as his own. Words being inadequate to demonstrate this deeper experience, he starts using his hands.

And so in response to being asked, "What is the experience of this?" the seeker describes this alone-in-the-wilderness experience as emptiness, solitude, a huge vacuum that sucks downward. This has nothing to do with the situation. It is irrational, illogical, and complete nonsense, and the seeker may note how crazy it all seems, or laugh at the absurdity of his words. This is the magical point at which we recognize that the seeker is speaking from his core.

At this level of complete nonsense we know we have arrived at the essence of the disturbance of the seeker. Imagine somebody saying (with hand gestures of palms facing each other, moving apart and then moving together) he feels as if his whole being is expanding to infinity and then suddenly contracting into a small ball. This has nothing to do with his being, his body or mind, or him as a person, yet it is his truth.

Truth is _what is,_ not what is supposed to be, not what makes sense, not what is logical, not what is comprehensible. Truth at its very core does not make any sense. It simply is. Logically, nations should coexist peacefully. It makes sense that we should eat healthy food. Birth, death, illness, behavior, and so on follow no logic, make no sense. The same is true for nature, weather, plants, animals, and minerals. They simply are what they are; we categorize them, we try to find reasons, and they simply do not fit.

It is not logic that works in this situation but pure observation, deep and complete. The mind is our greatest obstacle to real knowing. Its function is to classify what we see, according to what has been seen. So we have to step beyond the mind to have a direct experience of that which we don't already know. Knowledge is the experience of the truth for that individual. Truth is not who you are, what you know, what you think, or what you feel. It is not your story or your situation, nor is it your dream, your nightmare, or what you imagine. It is your experience behind all of this. It is what makes you who you are, influences what you know, leads to the way you think and feel. It is the paper on which your story is written, the construct that molded your past and will design your future.

It has no logical sequence; it just is. This phenomenon cannot even be explained by the mind. Because it eludes sense, it is nonsense. Yet nonsense lies at the core of the ultimate truth. It is the purest language of the turmoil within, although the seeker hesitates to speak about it, or even acknowledge feeling it.

That is why during this process the mind, which likes to categorize and analyze, needs to be bypassed to reach a "no-mind" state. Crossing this barrier one is able to describe further, employing gestures and non-human-specific words as tools. Only after crossing the barrier that lies beyond the mind is the real internal self able to be fully described.

The guide focuses on the primitive thread that identifies the other song of this seeker, keeping the seeker in the present moment, discounting logic and reasoning. Thus we zoom in on the pure experience of it, at which point the nonsense erupts. If the seeker, realizing this, has the urge to self-censor, a little encouragement from the guide helps to dissolve any hesitation. It is like being on an airplane, hesitant to jump out with the parachute; sometimes a gentle push is needed.

Sometimes even the guide is confused. For example, when the seeker says that his experience is black, dark, and sticky, this does not make logical sense, yet it describes the seeker's experience at the very source level. At this point the guide doesn't know what the seeker could be talking about, or to what kingdom this might belong, mineral, plant, or animal. The seeker is speaking pure words of the source of his other song, and we need to have patience and inquire further in order to ascertain the correct kingdom and subkingdom. Then these strange data can be seen in context; the totality makes perfect sense, because it mirrors one substance from nature.

When we examine further we note which specific thing in nature has the same phenomenon. And slowly, toward the end of the process of inquiry, the whole nonsense makes complete sense. The whole pattern is beautifully revealed and fits completely and exactly.

To follow the seeker into his nonsense words (because they appear so unrelated to where he started) is a challenging and rewarding experience, for both the guide and the seeker. As my valued colleague and friend Dr. Roger Morrison said after observing this technique, "In case after case, you followed the thread of the seeker's expression to this nonhuman level. In each case I began by feeling, 'What nonsense is this?' and ended by feeling, 'What sublime nonsense that was!'"

GOING INTO THE EXPERIENCE

We have seen that when the person is in the energy, through the gesture or the non-human-specific word, sometimes he can spontaneously enter into a kind of trance or hypnotic state and speak from a place beyond himself. He presents various words and images seemingly unconnected to himself. It is as if he has crossed the barrier of his individual self and made a bridge to the source in nature that is singing in him. These experiences, images, words, and so on at this level are often the exact language, qualities, and images of the source. In this state one feels as if the person is channeling the source, so precisely does he describe things.

Sometimes when the seeker does not spontaneously go there we can attempt a process by which we can encourage this passage. The most important requirement of this process is creating the space. The space is time—enough time, patience, no hurry. The space is silence, stillness. The space is openness.

It helps to ask the person to close his eyes. As we perceive a nonhuman-specific word, gesture, or energy, we ask that he go into the experience right in that moment. We give a long pause, allowing him to enter into the experience. When he tells us emotions and thoughts, we point out that this is from the mind, and gently encourage him to stay with the experience. When he gives images, we encourage him not to stop there, but to go more deeply into the experience. We ask him to share whatever spontaneously comes up when he is in that experience, whether it is related or unrelated to him or to anything he has said so far.

We encourage the seeker to take a crucial step from himself to the universe. Our questioning takes him beyond his own experience, beyond sensation consciously felt within himself (physically or mentally) into something in the form of completely nonhuman situations, images, colors, movements, and qualities. In these expressions we will hear the pure language of the source. That is why we often ask the person to "go into your experience and in the moment when you are at your deepest level of experience, please tell us what comes to you spontaneously." This question encourages the person to take a leap into the source, which invites a corresponding leap in his awareness.

IN OTHERS' WORDS

The following excerpt from an article by my colleagues Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman, ND, DHANP, LCSW, and Robert Ullman, ND, DHANP, eloquently summarizes the entire process.

The method is, as with any doctor, to ask what brings the patient to treatment. Once the patient has named the condition or problem and given some initial information about it, the homeopath begins to focus clearly on the precise words of the patient. Except in cases of relatively uncommunicative patients, the person will begin to use certain words and phrases to describe the chief complaint, or more accurately, his or her experience of the chief complaint. There is an expression, "If you give him a rope long enough, he will hang himself." It is much the same here, but let's say, "cure himself." In other words, the more you let a patient talk in her own words about what is most compelling, in this case the chief complaint, the more you will zero in on the nature of that patient.

As soon as expressions or phrases begin to emerge, which they generally do, then it is the job of the homeopath to simply repeat back to the patient with a querying intonation those phrases that seem to hold the most energy. More words, phrases, and expressions will follow, eliciting even more clearly the experience of the patient relative to the chief complaint. There is no question of leading the patient. It is a process of listening and inquiring, then listening and inquiring more.

 **The Case Unfolds**

The job of the homeopath is simply to listen and to follow the energetic lead of the patient. If a word or phrase has definite energy, the patient will use it over and over. Or that particular phrase will evolve into another that better describes the experience. It is a process of closing in more and more, always using only the words of the patient herself.

Now, a few things happen during this process. One is that, as the patient speaks, there are indicators of the kingdom and miasm.*1 Themes arise. If someone needs an animal medicine, victim-aggressor issues will arise, whether the complaint is a head injury or bipolar disorder. If the patient falls into the category of a plant medicine, the patient's words will reflect a particular area of sensitivity again and again. In the case of a mineral, the words and phrases that predominate will ring of loss or gain of structure and function. This process can take moments, in the case of an acute illness, or hours in some initial consultations.

The trick is to listen, follow the energy, inquire, and listen again. Not to make assumptions about anything. It is one of most attentive listening processes we have ever engaged, yet it can be quite frustrating for some patients. It helps to explain early on that we will be asking the patient to repeat certain words almost endlessly in an effort to get to know her more deeply. We assure them, from Rajan's cue, that it does not mean they are not expressing themselves clearly or that we are not able to understand them. Only that it is a process of going deeper and deeper until we find the best possible medicine to help them. If a patient seems intent on "doing it right," we reassure her that there are no right or wrong answers, that whatever she says is what is right.

 **Nonsense Leads to Speaking from Source**

What happens next, assuming the case is moving along without significant resistance from the patient, is a curious phenomenon. As we continue to simply repeat back the energy-holding words and phrases in an inquiring tone, the patient begins to say things that just don't make any sense. Words come out that seem to have little rational meaning. The descriptions appear to have less and less to do with the chief complaint.

This is a magical moment in the case-taking process and it is very important to continue to inquire as if nothing had changed. The patient, at this point, may remark at how crazy it all seems. Or may burst into laughter at the absurdity of what she is saying. This is the point at which we know we are on the right track. The patient is speaking from source.

 **What Is Speaking from Source?**

It is the moment when the patient, having disconnected from the rational, limited mind, begins to describe the substance from nature, or homeopathic medicine, that she needs. Rajan says the most angst-producing moment is sitting down with a patient wondering if the magic will occur again. Then, through patience, listening, and inquiring, the magic does again occur as once more the patient reveals the medicine that he needs, often even naming it without realizing what is happening. The wonder of it all for the homeopath is not having a clue about what the patient will say next. Just waiting, engaging the process, and trusting that it will unfold.

Since we returned from Bombay last year and have put this method into practice, we can honestly say it is the most exciting time ever in our practice. It makes so much sense that there is a way that our patients can tell us what they need if we allow them to guide us in the right direction.

8 Doorway through Doodles

A DOODLE IS a drawing produced aimlessly or absentmindedly while doing something else. It is abstract, irrational, and illogical in nature and unconnected to the external reality. Being spontaneous, without a plan, and without the involvement of mind or intention, it must come from a very deep level—namely, the sensation level.

Many of us at some point in life have gotten bored during a lecture or phone conversation and found ourselves scribbling some form or repetitive shape in the paper margin or on any handy blank piece of paper.

I noticed that when I got tired or sleepy during a conversation, I would automatically (that is, involuntarily) start drawing repetitive shapes and patterns. After years of doing this one realizes that inevitably there are two or three patterns that spontaneously repeat themselves. Very naturally one tends to wonder where these come from and what they might mean. I was certain that these were individual, varying from person to person, and not logical, because they were obviously unconnected with external reality. Yet if "I" did them repeatedly, they came from "me," from deep within my own self.

This thought led me to my research on this form of expression of our inner reality. I began my quest by exploring research on the subject.

A doodle, as described by the charity National Doodle Day, is "a graphical expression of an unconscious association."*2

Psychologists across the globe have conducted extensive research into the interpretation of doodles that is comparable in approach to the interpretation of dreams during the course of psychotherapy. Interpreters of doodles consider not only the actual drawing but also the line pressure with which it is drawn. For example, light lines indicate sensitivity or a tentative nature; the artist worries about making errors. Medium-weight lines suggest a balanced, confident personality. Heavy marks can indicate resolve, strength, and energy. Aggression produces overly heavy lines that can make an impression or tear the paper.

INTERPRETATION OF DOODLES

Just as specific dreams are interpreted in specific ways, doodles, too, have been the subject of interpretation. For example:

  1. Circles indicate self-protectiveness, as well as a pliant nature.
  2. Ovals show the exacting nature of a person who demands high performance from himself and others.
  3. Irregular, shaded dots indicate that the person is a deep thinker and can easily become restless.
  4. A separate square or series of squares represents a concrete, hardworking, practical person.
  5. Squares with crisscrossing lines inside signify an ability to cope with the complexities of life and handle them effectively.
  6. Three-dimensional forms are symbolic of a probing, intellectual, logical mind.
  7. Ladders and steps display a desire to move up in the world. The ladder, especially, shows tremendous ambition.
  8. Check marks indicate that the person concentrates on the business at hand and may distrust others. May also correct others and/or self.
  9. Triangles signal a strong and well-developed mind. An inverted triangle represents introversion and a need to probe for information.
  10. Jagged lines often spell out a mood of resentment or hostility and a critical nature.
  11. Curlicues with loops at the top indicate an imaginative, good-natured disposition. Curlicues with loops at the bottom indicate a protective, worrying disposition.
  12. Spiderwebs indicate that the person is constantly seeking to widen his horizons and improve himself—usually with much more complication than is necessary.

A NEW LOOK AT DOODLES

After having read the available information, many questions persisted in my mind as to how a speculation or interpretation could be made about an individual's subconscious mind. Because of the paucity of answers I decided to explore and experiment with shapes for myself.

As I understood it, a doodle is spontaneous, unconscious, unplanned, without mind or method. It is also without an intention, theme, or message. Because it is irrational and unconnected with external reality, it is nonhuman in its expression. Moreover doodles, individualized as they are, stem from a deeper reality, yet I was able to read many interpretations of something that only an individual who drew it could himself describe.

For me there are two possible approaches. One is the understanding of someone through the "mind"; we look at someone else's subjective pattern through the prism of our intellectual belief system (our own subjective pattern). This makes our interpretation nothing but guesswork, which means that my interpretation and analysis of another's reality could be completely different from somebody else's analysis of that same reality.

The other approach is to know directly through experience, bypassing the minds of both seeker and guide. If a seeker is eager to know "his reality," he is ultimately the only one who can help himself, with the assistance of a guide. Such an attempt would eliminate the risk of interpretation and brilliant speculation. He would be free in the moment to express "the experience of his reality" that is his only truth. Knowing through the mind is vastly different from knowing through experience. The experience is the truth; mental knowing is at best clever guesswork or a projection on the current situation of what has been seen elsewhere. It is, therefore, the sole province of the maker of the pattern to experience it and express this experience in words, gestures, images, sensations, and so on. This is his truth, which we need to discover by going with him into the experience.

With this observation providing a foundation for further analysis, I was eager to experiment with these doodle shapes. I began with a group of volunteers, each of whom was asked to make a shape—not necessarily the most pleasing shape, but whatever shape resonated. I asked each of the volunteers to draw a shape—preferably what they scribbled when they were idle—that was not a drawing they had learned or been taught (for example, a flower, scenery, or a portrait). In other words, nothing with a universal, unambiguous meaning. It was important that they draw it without a thought or plan; it needed to be abstract. If someone doodled a particular shape repeatedly in his everyday life, I asked that he make that shape. If the person was not a regular doodler, I asked that he just draw any shape that came to him spontaneously, without using his conscious mind. The subjects could draw more than one shape if the desire to draw them came naturally, but then each person had to choose that shape with the maximum impact on him, which drew his attention the most.

Then one needed to focus on the doodle, just look at it and experience the effect creating it produced, then describe it. It was important to explain to them that they needed to describe their experience of drawing and focusing on their doodle. They did not have to describe the doodle or talk about it, interpret it, or explain its meaning.

I asked them to observe and narrate the experience while immersed in focusing on the doodle. This experience could be both a physical sensation and a mind experience, but they had to talk about what was happening within them and not about the doodle. They needed to let the flow come spontaneously from within and describe the whole phenomenon of this experience, of looking at their "inner art."

 _ **The First Doodle**_

The first volunteer described his experience as a feeling of uncertainty and confusion felt in the region of the heart, especially a spot in the fourth or fifth rib space close to the sternum. Simultaneously there was a loose and lame feeling in both the upper limbs extending all the way to the hands. He felt inner trembling in the forearms and heaviness on the right side of his abdomen. The rest of his body seemed relaxed. The central wavy line in the pattern seemed to connect all the chaos and take it back to its source.

The first doodle

 _ **The Second Doodle**_

The second volunteer described her experience as follows:

  First Image

"While drawing I drew from the biggest triangle downward, but on looking I experience it from the dots upward. It is like a beginning and you go higher and higher each time, with a feeling of expansion, which is a good feeling. It's like a kite flying, as it goes higher and higher up in the sky. With a sensation of lightness and freedom. This is the first time I drew such a picture, yet it had the strongest impact on me."

The second doodle

  Second image

"There is a beginning that starts at one point and then spreads or travels in different directions, still staying connected to its beginning."

  Third image

"This picture I draw often, and it means a group of birds flying together. Many times it is also part of a larger picture with a sea, mountains, shore, small hut on the shore, and some palm trees. The leaves are usually three to four together, growing from a common point and each one still remaining connected to the origin."

 _ **The Third Doodle**_

The third volunteer described her experience like this: "The first thing I experienced was I started breathing heavily. The form was giving me some kind of discomfort. Each line moving on and trying to find its way out. From all points it tries to come out. Something is churning inside that is very, very deep and giving me too much pain. I am trying every means to come out of it but none of the outlets is enough to get me out of that pain completely. The space within is not enough to get me out of the pain that I am experiencing inside, and I keep moving in this zigzag pattern. A life unable to free myself from this pain."

The third doodle

Each individual made his own peculiar shape and on looking at it experienced sensations, emotions, and imaginings that were intense, deep, and very familiar to the realm of that person. Interestingly, this experience may be totally unconnected with the drawing.

What we also tried as a variant was to ask the rest of the volunteers to view somebody else's doodles and see what experience emerged. In this case it sometimes had no effect and sometimes excited the sensation of the observer, triggering the innate sensitivity. Nevertheless, it was found conclusively that the individual's own doodle produced in him the maximum effect.

Another interesting observation was that those volunteers unaccustomed to doodling in their everyday lives experienced even more intensely the effects of focusing on their doodles than did those who doodled regularly.

 _ **The Fourth Doodle**_

The fourth volunteer described her experience as follows:

"When I drew the first picture I was blank but not satisfied with it. I wanted to draw something else—this is not proper; then I drew the second but was not fully satisfied; the third, fourth, and finally I drew the last picture, and I felt, "Yes, I wanted to draw it like this."

The fourth doodle—first image

The fourth doodle—second image

"When I looked at the last picture I felt some pain in my chest on both sides of the upper lobe. I diverted my mind to confirm this. But then I saw the picture, and the same thing came up. I tried this two or three times to confirm what was going on within me. I feel myself in the center of this circle of circles, with lots of circles and curves around me that are continuous. It's not breaking at any point. I am enclosed in these circles and they are holding me."

THE FIFTH DOODLE

This doodle is an example from a patient whose other song required giving him a remedy made from volcano lava. This was a patient with sinusitis whose main experience of the sinus problem was one of intense pressure building up and a need for something to explode and come out. When he went further into this experience he gave the exact description of the process of a volcano. He also revealed the same experience with regard to his temper.

The patient said, "It gives the impression of motion and moving ahead. Reminds me of a sharp, sleek shape. My body actually feels light while seeing the image. A sort of in-the-clouds feeling. I am reminded of the free-fall dreams I used to have. Also I feel that I am riding in some open vehicle at a good speed. The fresh air is stinging my face and eyes, but it is a very nice feeling.

The fifth doodle

"The image also reminds me of a very familiar feeling of 'I could have done better,' and in that sense feels incomplete. I am reminded of [flying on] the Concorde and a very funny feeling of being in the clouds, seeing this image on a background of clouds. The overall feeling is quite nice, light, and just as if I am putting down a burden."

In the same way that we confirmed the voice of his other song that very clearly emerged through the doodling process, we repeated the process with other patients. The results were amazingly accurate as to how quickly and yet directly each of them went to their inner turmoil. Irrespective of the situations in life that would affect each of us, this process of doodling highlights that one experience encompassing our sensations, imagination, and emotions and which pervades our ever-changing life and its circumstances.

We clearly saw how the doodle differed in each person and how this piece of individual artwork beautifully and spontaneously reflected the deep turmoil within the human consciousness. This turmoil was clearly a replica of the notes of the other song. In order to verify our observations and conclusions, we took our experiment to the next level and asked patients who had improved both physically and emotionally with homeopathic medication to doodle for us.

A doodle happens best when the mind shuts off, and it is precisely at this point that "sensations" come to the surface (just as it happens in our case-taking at deeper levels). I did not attempt to understand, interpret, or analyze the doodle. In fact I did not even need to look at the doodle. All I did was listen to and observe the patient's experience. When I hear sensation words or see hand gestures I pick that up and then take it further. Very often this confirms the findings of the case-taking process.

The next inevitable question was, "What happens when two people draw the same doodle?" As we kept verifying our experiment with newer volunteers and more patients who had shown considerable improvement, we came across two patients who drew a three-dimensional cuboid.

The sixth doodle

**Experience of the first patient who drew a three-dimensional cuboid**|  **Experience of the second patient who drew a similar three-dimensional cuboid**
---|---
"It's like I am challenging myself to go along with this concreteness and definite structure, this set pattern and systematic method. On the opposite side of the spectrum it feels like a loose path, one that is not definite."| "I feel boxed in, closed in, stuck, and trapped. It's almost as if I have been shut in this dark place with the lids shut on all four sides. This experience makes me feel completely crushed, as if something is pressing on me."
The first patient's other song belongs to the mineral kingdom, because she speaks of concreteness and lacking a definitive structure.| The second patient's other song belongs to the animal kingdom, because she feels victimized by being trapped and completely crushed.

Thus we concluded that by looking only at the doodle it would be very difficult to guess the sensation and experience or state of progress of the one who made it. What is reliable is the experience of the doodler as reflected in his description of creating it—his truth.

Our experiments with these pieces of "true artwork of inner reality" still continue. They invariably help us get right to the core sensation and also serve as confirmation of the experience we have gathered during case exploration.

We've surmised from our research that a doodle is one of the most spontaneous, natural, and everyday expressions of the sensation. It can be a very powerful tool in our process of discovery of the sensation, making it yet another way of helping people toward awareness.

 ** _Doodling Exercise_**

You can use the following exercise to get in touch with your sensation.

Draw something on a piece of paper.

  1. It should not be an object, person, scenery, or anything recognizable.
  2. It should be abstract.
  3. It should be a shape.
  4. If you are used to doodling something repeatedly in your everyday life, make that shape.
  5. If you are not used to doodling, just draw any shape that comes spontaneously.
  6. You can also draw more than one shape if it comes naturally.

Now go on . . . Do it . . .

If you have drawn more than one shape, please choose the one that has the maximum impact on you.

  1. Focus on the shape, just look at it.
  2. Do not interpret it, think about it, try to understand it, or try to explain it.
  3. On simply looking at it you are likely to experience something within you.
  4. Observe the experience while focusing on the doodle.
  5. This experience can be either a physical sensation or a mind experience.
  6. Write about what's happening within you and not about the doodle.
  7. Is this something familiar to you?

9 Metaphors

 _When the cat pops its head out of the basket_

THE HUMAN BEING is constantly revealing his other song in very many ways in his daily life and conversations. Some of the more common ways include metaphors, idioms, similes, gestures, verbalized images, and described sensations. Words and expressions from the other song keep popping up here and there. They seem so casual, so natural, as to be imperceptible. But if one were to take them out of their context, they would reveal a unique pattern that would show the energy and the sensation of the inner song.

It is interesting, for example, how different people express a similar incident. When disappointed by another, one person may say he feels stabbed in the back, another feels a rug was pulled from beneath his feet, a third feels let down, a fourth feels betrayed, a fifth feels shattered, a sixth feels heartbroken, a seventh is shocked—and yet others are variously forsaken, neglected, shunned, isolated, attacked, hurt, and so forth.

 _A man's character may be learned from the adjectives he habitually uses in conversation._

MARK TWAIN

If we note how each one expresses his experience—the words and the metaphors used—we see that these utterances are not coincidental or casually chosen but come from his deep and constant experience.

Just observing others or ourselves with respect to the words we use to express, communicate, or describe things or situations is a worthy exercise. It gives many clues to the deepest experience—the sensation. It may seem casual or insignificant, but as you observe more, a repeating pattern can be discerned. Much later we will begin to see how each of the expressions fit into place in the overall context of the source.

For example, if we just ask three people to describe something as innocuous as the way to get to a particular place, there will be words and gestures unique to each one. For example, one person would indicate the most efficient way ("this will _save_ you fuel"), another would indicate the scenic way ("you will be _touched_ by the beauty"), and the third would indicate the quickest way ("this _beats_ all other routes"). In these examples you can see a mineral, plant, and animal orientation, respectively. When we pull these unique words out of the context they will reveal an inner pattern consistent to the individual's entire life.

This is also true for all those words and things that are unique and strange in a person, including so many inexplicable things, such as aversion or fascination for certain objects, colors, patterns, music, people, activities, and so on.

Have you wondered why someone likes a particular number or a shape, or why someone is fascinated by ants or another cannot stand the fluttering of bird's wings? Why is it that one likes to wear black and another is attracted to a high-risk sport?

In a way these forms of expression are involuntary and unconscious, and this makes them even more significant. The vehicle of expression, rather than the ideas expressed, is a very good starting point for further inquiry, because concentrating there leads directly into the experience and bypasses the context and the situation in which it happened. Then it will be seen to be an integral part of the person's core experience, and it is amazing to see that these seemingly casual utterances never fail to be rich with meaning. It is almost as if it were a coded language in which the real message is hidden in words interspersed among "normal" sentences, words that strung together give a totally different message.

  A woman was brought to me, unscheduled, in an acute situation with severe weakness and vertigo. The first thing she said was, "I hope I am not invading your space." Narrating her last dream she said she saw people "invading" her house, vandalizing and destroying it, and that she tried her best to stop them.

One thing in nature that invades and destroys is the fungus. I selected a remedy (agaricus) from the group of fungi, and this dramatically helped. The next day she came excitedly to me and said, "It came back to me suddenly that I spent many hours of my childhood drawing mushrooms [also a fungus] and said that it was my house."

Her unique use of the word "invade" gave the clue to her innermost experience. This was also the underlying experience in her dream. And then the obsession with mushrooms—that strange, inexplicable feature of herself as a child—now can be seen in context, and it makes total sense. This is true for all the inexplicable, unique phenomena and words of an individual; they all come from the sensation, they are the keynotes of the other song.

I am going to use as an example some utterances of a man for whose courage and humanitarianism I have the highest respect: Nelson Mandela.

Nelson Mandela

Here are some passages from his moving autobiography, _Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela_ (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1994):

  At midnight, I was awake and staring at the ceiling—images from the trial were still rattling around in my head—when I heard steps coming down the hallway. I was locked in my own cell, away from the others. There was a knock at my door and I could see Colonel Aucamp's face at the bars. "Mandela," he said in a husky whisper, "Are you awake?"

I told him I was. "You are a lucky man," he said. "We are taking you to a place where you will have your freedom. You will be able to move around; you'll see the ocean and the sky, not just gray walls.

Here are some other passages:

  We were departing quietly, secretly, under a heavy police escort, in the middle of the night, and in less than half an hour we found ourselves at a small military airport outside the city. We were hustled onto a Dakota, a large military transport plane that had seen better days. There was no heat, and we shivered in the belly of the plane. Some of the others had never flown before and they seemed more anxious about our voyage than our destination; bumping up and down in a plane at fifteen thousand feet seemed far more perilous than being locked in a cell behind high walls.

Warders walked among us to enforce the silence. During those first few weeks, warders from other sections and even other prisons came to stare at us as if we were a collection of rare caged animals. The work was tedious and difficult; it was not strenuous enough to keep us warm but it was demanding enough to make all our muscles ache.

If you read this with an eye to the words of the other song, if you ignore the actual context and see the metaphor, a pattern emerges. Let us look at it again, with the non-human-specific words highlighted.

  At midnight, I was awake and staring at the ceiling—images from the trial were still _rattling_ around in my head—when I heard steps coming down the hallway. I was locked in my own _cell_ , away from the others. There was a knock at my door and I could see Colonel Aucamp's face at the bars. "Mandela," he said in a husky whisper, "are you awake?"

I told him I was. "You are a lucky man," he said. "We are taking you to a place where you will have your _freedom_. You will be able to move around; you'll see the _ocean and the sky_ , not just _gray walls_.

Here are the other passages:

  We were departing quietly, secretly, under a heavy police escort, in the middle of the night, and in less than half an hour we found ourselves at a small military airport outside the city. We were hustled onto a Dakota, a large military transport plane that had seen better days. There was no heat, and we shivered in the belly of the plane. Some of the others had never flown before and they seemed more anxious about our voyage than our destination; bumping up and down in a plane at fifteen thousand feet seemed far more perilous than _being locked in a cell behind high walls._

Warders walked among us to _enforce_ the silence. During those first few weeks, warders from other sections and even other prisons came to stare at us as if we were a collection of rare _caged animals._ The work was tedious and difficult; it was not strenuous enough to keep us warm but it was demanding enough to make all our muscles ache.

When we read the highlighted words separately, we get an insight into the other song of Mandela. It is a song in which freedom is very important (as the very title of his book suggests). It is a song of the oppressor versus the oppressed, where the freedom of the oppressed has been taken away by force and he feels locked like an animal in a cell. Ocean and sky, too, seem part of this song.

When we observe this pattern and ask ourselves where we can see this in nature, we come first to the animal kingdom—issues of one versus the other; and then we come to the class of birds, where the issues of freedom, being caged, ocean, sky, and so on are most significant.

(Please refer to the chapter "A Map to the Inner World" and see the words of the bird song on pages 72â€"73.)

As an experiment I randomly selected some prominent quotes of Mandela from the Internet. It is remarkable to see the consistency of metaphorical images he used in various speeches spread over time. It is revealing to observe the energy of the animal and bird (particularly a soaring one like the eagle) in nearly all of these quotes.

  * "After _climbing_ a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb." ( _Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela,_ p. 544)
  * "Communists have always played an active role in the _fight_ by colonial countries for their _freedom,_ because the short-term objects of Communism would always correspond with the long-term objects of _freedom_ movements." (Statement from the Dock at the Opening of the Defense Case. Rivonia Trial, Pretoria Supreme Court, April 20, 1964.)
  * "Education is the most _powerful weapon_ you can use to change the world." (Speech. University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, June 13, 2004.)
  * "For to be _free_ is not _merely to cast off one's chains,_ but to live in a way that respects and enhances the _freedom_ of others." ( _Mandela: An Illustrated Autobiography,_ Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1994, 202.)
  * "Never, never, and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the _oppression of one by another._ " (Statement at his inauguration as president of the Democratic Republic of South Africa, Pretoria, May 10, 1994.)
  * "Only _free_ men can negotiate; _prisoners_ cannot enter into contracts. Your _freedom_ and mine cannot be separated." (Response to January 31, 1985, conditional offer of freedom by state president of South Africa, P. W. Botha, Soweto, February 10, 1985.)
  * "The greatest glory of living lies not in never falling, but in _rising_ every time we fall." (Remarks at a White House reception in his honor, Washington, D.C., September 22, 1998.)
  * "There is no easy walk to _freedom_ anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the _mountaintop_ of our desires." (Presidential address to the ANC Transvaal Conference, read on his behalf, September 21, 1953.)

Some more, equally interesting, quotes:

  * "Unite! Mobilize! _Fight_ on! Between the anvil of united mass action and the hammer of the armed struggle we shall _crush_ apartheid!" (Call after Soweto Uprising of 1976, published June 10, 1980.)
  * "They think we have brought about this transformation by defeating the White minority and that we are dealing with a community that is now lying prostrate on the ground, begging for mercy, to whom we can _dictate_. Both tendencies are wrong. We want men and women who are committed to our mandate, but who can _rise above_ their ethnic groups and think in terms of South Africa as a whole." (Address to the Constitutional Assembly on the occasion of the adoption of the new Constitution, Capetown, May 8, 1996.)
  * "To have been asked to deliver the closing address at this conference, which in a very literal sense concerns itself with matters of life and death, _weighs heavily_ upon me, for the _gravity_ of the responsibility placed on one. . . . We have to _rise above_ our differences and combine our efforts to save our people. History will judge us harshly if we fail." (Closing address, International AIDS Conference, Durban, South Africa, July 14, 2000.)
  * "But in this new century, millions of people in the world's poorest countries remain _imprisoned, enslaved, and in chains._ They are _trapped in the prison_ of poverty. It is time to _set them free._ " (Speech, Trafalgar Square, London, February 3, 2005.)

Let us see if other passages from Mandela will lead to the same result. Here we examine sections of his Nobel Prize acceptance speech:

  * "It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the _freedom_ of my own people became a hunger for the _freedom_ of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the _oppressor_ must be _liberated_ just as surely as the _oppressed_. A man who takes away another man's _freedom_ is a _prisoner_ of hatred; he is _locked_ behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly _free_ if I am taking away someone else's _freedom,_ just as surely as I am not _free_ when my _freedom_ is taken from me. The _oppressed_ and the _oppressor_ alike are robbed of their humanity." ( _Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela,_ p. 544.)
  * "When I walked out of _prison,_ that was my mission, to _liberate_ the _oppressed_ and the _oppressor_ both. Some say that has now been achieved. But I know that that is not the case. The truth is that we are not yet _free;_ we have merely achieved the _freedom_ to be _free,_ the right not to be _oppressed_. We have not taken the final step of our journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road." ( _Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela,_ p. 544.)

One can see a persistent pattern—the remarkable, consistent energy pattern of a bird, particularly the eagle—in his speeches, no matter where and when they were given.

Mandela has been particularly eloquent and graphic. Not everyone is. However, to a greater or lesser frequency, the cat within each one of our baskets does keep popping its head out. And that is the moment to hold on to it and pull it out. These words, metaphors, idioms, and images are doors to the inner world of our other song and often graphically evoke the source of that song, the kingdom from which it originates.
10 Awareness

 _ **The Way to Healing**_

 _Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense._

MARK TWAIN

I REMEMBER READING a book to my son that described something called a "gump."*3 From what I understood, it is a raised hillock with a secret door entrance, and when you open that door you enter into a world completely different from the one you see outside.

This is the story of every individual; the internal story is quite different from the external one. Although external reality continues, it is as if the person is impervious to its changes and dwells more in his own inner world, where his human song (in its natural place) and the other song (that belongs elsewhere) coexist and create discord within him.

In childhood this language can be heard directly; its energy is clearly visible. There is neither a need nor attempt to disguise it. As we grow older, however, it is not possible to survive in the human world if we are living and talking the language of a nonhuman source, so we begin the process of concealing or suppressing this voice in order to sound more human. And the more the energy of this source is suppressed, the more it will express itself at more superficial levels. It will first be expressed through dreams (Level 4), then through emotional disturbance (Level 3). Later it will find expression as physical symptoms (Level 2) and finally as pathology (Level 1). As we go from Level 6 to Level 1 this "other energy" will speak the same language (that of the source) at ever more socially acceptable levels.

The lower and more superficial the manifestation of a person's illness, the more social acceptance and understanding he will receive for it. Take the example of a person whose other song is characterized by a "bursting" sensation. If that person has headache, asthma, or any other physical disease, his bursting sensation will find an outlet through his physical illness and an expression will arise that is compatible with human society: for example, it is okay to have a bursting headache or feel as if your lungs are going to burst. This is socially acceptable and makes sense to the world. Human society understands a head pain that feels as though something is bursting, yet there is no room in human society for the energy of "bursting" as a general attitude and way of life. If a person were to say that he feels he is bursting or wants to burst, this would be considered so illogical that his sanity would be questioned. The same sensation that is acceptable at the level of physical pathology is "not sense," or nonsense, at the level of the whole being. Therefore, the person unconsciously suppresses his general sensation, and then it is expressed at the level of his body parts as physical symptoms.

In contrast, as children we are allowed to be more ourselves. Generally we are allowed much freer expression of speech and action in childhood than in adulthood. There are reasons for this. First, the energy of a child is more vigorous and, therefore, harder to suppress. Second, society is generally more tolerant of imaginative, eccentric behavior in children.

For example, when you see a little boy rolling on the floor, growling like a lion, screaming, "I am strong, I am a lion," it is okay, and even amusing. Coming from a child, this expression of the other song is considered colorful and imaginative. If an adult were to express his other song in this way, though, his sanity would be questioned! Because there is less need for a child to compensate for and hide his inner energy, children generally suffer from less severe pathologies than adults do. However, as the child grows into adulthood, he learns to suppress this inner energy in order to conform to the expectations of his society. But even though the outer expression is altered with age, the inner energy remains as strong as ever. Without free channels through which to find expression, it has to find other outlets at other levels. The suppressed inner dissonance starts to sound at mental, emotional, and ultimately physical levels.

If you live on a deeper level of experience in your day-to-day life, you tend to have less pathology on the physical plane. The more you suppress your other song, the more the cat will pop its head out of the basket in some pathology, physical or mental. Higher levels of experience in daily conduct lead to better health and quality of life. Higher levels of experience get portrayed in instances where we use more of our source words. That is, the more a person experiences the sensations of his other song in daily behavior at the higher levels (Levels 4 through 7), the better his health and quality of life. When a patient is experiencing his sensation at these higher levels, he will use more words related to the source of his other song. Only those who are able to live close to their sensation in everyday life can do this.

As a person's health improves, his levels veer more toward sensation and energy. Dreams begin to appear. Pathologies are reduced.

THE WAY TO HEALTH

What we need to do is retrace the path we took when we learned to suppress the voice of the other song. This other song within us does not make sense to our rational mind or to the rational society in which we live, so if we insist that the inner journey be rational, we will not be able to travel far; the conscious mind will stop us. (Carl Jung said it beautifully when, according to his disciple Robert Johnson, he compared the ego—the conscious mind—to a cork bobbing in the enormous ocean of the unconscious.)*4 We will never arrive at our goal, which is awareness of _all_ that is, if we constantly judge and dismiss a part of that whole reality. When we ignore the parts of our other song that do not make rational sense, it is as if we set off on an unknown road having already made up our mind that any bends in the road are simply nonrational and are therefore to be dismissed and ignored. Such a prior conviction will utterly limit how far we can travel and how much we are able to experience.

The rational mind is an excellent and useful tool for being selective when that is what the situation demands. However, in order to attain awareness, we need to develop the ability to drop this judging faculty of the mind, to still it. Only then will we be able to experience all that is and, by experiencing the whole, journey toward awareness.

We begin this journey at the level the seeker is expressing or living, that is, his state in the present moment. From here we trace all his expressions to deeper levels, until finally we uncover the sensation and energy pattern that form the core of his unique disturbance. Awareness can happen at any of the seven levels. The deeper the level at which it is experienced, the better the effect.

Awareness has three basic steps.

  1. Watching without judgment: simple, unconditional watching of all that is.
  2. Dissociating from the phenomenon: distancing oneself from it.
  3. Experiencing the phenomenon: allowing the experience to be fully felt while at the same time being the observer.

This detached, yet deeply involved experiencing-and-observing is of all phenomena, both inner and outer; observing what is, in the moment, to the minutest possible degree, especially at stressful times. As stated before, stress highlights both our deepest sensation and our way of coping with that sensation. Stressful times (when we experience, say, unpleasantness or excitement) are therefore key opportunities for deeply experiencing and observing our habitual inner patterns, our way of being in the world.

The technique necessary for detached observation can be practiced on oneself. One should sidestep the mind and simply and unconditionally watch what is going on at the level of fact, feeling, imagination, sensation (local and general), and, lastly, in the energy pattern. One should carefully observe when there is a reaction on our part to anything; note when we respond emotionally, say with anger, and then note how we cope with that emotion or physical sensation. Do we accept it and try to avoid it in the future, or do we seek to control the situation? We should watch what is inside us, experience it to the greatest possible depth without drawing conclusions, without wanting to change it. Just look at it as deeply, as long, and as often as you can, if possible all the time looking in with one eye and out with the other.

The process to be followed when you turn the attention inward is first to become aware of your body and mind, the sensations from various parts of the body, then the thoughts and the emotions. Then you reach an awareness of a deeper world of imagination, somewhat like a dream state.

From there you go on to reach a deep experience of an overall sensation, a sensation that is felt in your whole being. This sensation when experienced even deeper makes certain sounds and movements and other energy patterns emerge, and one's being is transformed, as it were, to a totally different state.

 **Deeper still than this experience is the experience of silence, blankness, stillness.**

This is the blank, still canvas for this whole experience. This empty canvas has no energy pattern, but as the receptacle of the person's energy pattern it still has individuality. It is the screen that shows the movie. It is silent, yet it is the background, container, or perhaps even framework for the inner pattern. Once awareness reaches to this depth, automatically a certain objectivity results and one is able to see one's true self as the witness in this whole phenomena and the other song as distinct from the true self. This kind of awareness, though not easy, can bring about significant changes. Awareness at this level produces deep effect, and problems at more superficial levels, such as emotional conflicts, seem to get automatically resolved without even being directly addressed.

HOW CAN ONE BECOME AWARE?

There are two ways of reaching this awareness: a process of inquiry aided by another and self-observation.

 _ **Assisted Inquiry**_

The process of inquiry with a guide is a good way to increase awareness. The guide needs to be skilled in observation and in the art of keeping his own mind open, or blank.

Both seeker and guide should set aside their logic and thought processes in order to embark on this unknown journey of discovery. The aim is to reach deeper levels but without the accompanying expectation of reaching a definite conclusion; neither the seeker nor the guide has any idea of what may emerge. The questioning should lead the seeker step-by-step toward his core, often bypassing his story and emotional situation. The focus should always be on the seeker's energy pattern and sensations. The guide should be very vigilant of the seeker's hand gestures. When these are repeated, the guide should exactly imitate this gesture to the seeker and invite him to speak about it, not from his logic but from pure experience. In so doing the guide is often helping the seeker to go on an inner, hitherto untraveled journey.

Because this inner journey to the core pattern involves tracing the melody of the other song, at a certain point one reaches a level of absolute "non-sense," at which point the other song, the dissonant song, is sounding clearly. This is the point at which one is very close to the core sensation and the seeker should not be allowed to backtrack to more superficial, apparently rational levels. Paradoxically, recognition of this other song is the one thing that ultimately makes complete sense of the "dis-ease," of all that "does not fit" in the life of the seeker.

The focus must be constantly on the seeker's inner experience. Once some aspects of this experience (in terms of sensation or energy pattern) are revealed, one should inquire further until gradually the full energy pattern of the other song is revealed in its entirety. At this point every single expression of the seeker will be understood, as his whole inner song is heard clearly.

One can say this work is like that of an archaeologist who, when he sees part of a buried structure, recognizes it as a part of a whole. He excavates by gradually and carefully digging around it in order to unearth the structure, which then stands revealed in its entirety.

Similarly the seeker unearths and gradually uncovers the other song within him. Parts of this other song can be seen at all levels of the seeker's life, but the whole can only be clearly seen and heard by traveling to deep levels. Journeying together, seeker and guide reach a point where this other song is heard so clearly and strongly that both seeker and guide can recognize it. The inner truth is then wholly revealed. When the other song is heard with complete clarity, the entire non-sense in the seeker's life suddenly makes complete sense. What is non-sense in the human context is perfect sense for something in nature. The other song is clearly heard and identified as a melody beautiful in itself but out of place in the human being. It is recognized as an alien song. The recognition of this alien song is the path to awareness. The process of reaching such an awareness is both a difficult and deeply healing experience.

 _ **Self-observation**_

Objective observation of the self is not easy. What we need to see in ourselves is that which is bothering us most at the present moment. It could be a physical ailment, pain, paralysis, or a tumor. It could be an emotional situation or a spiritual dilemma. Whatever it is can become the starting point of observation into the self.

The first thing to ask is: "What exactly am I experiencing" (in a specific part of the body or in a situation in life)? That experience should be perceived at deeper levels. How exactly does it feel? What is the sensation and what are the images that come? What movements arise? What colors and sounds do I perceive? One needs to go beyond the mind to mindless, thoughtless perception. This experience can bring up unpleasant, frightful, disturbing sensations and images. But the experiencing must progress to deeper levels still. It is like being a witness without judgment, without action—just watching. The sensation can be experienced in the whole body. It may provoke memories of such experiences in various situations in life. One must stay with those sensations longer and longer until one observes them distinct from the self, as something that is a pattern affecting the self but not a part of it.

Such observation is especially useful, though more difficult, during times of crisis. A crisis is the very moment when the inner state is excited and more vivid. At such times if one can step back and observe the sensations and the underlying energy patterns that come up, awareness is enhanced. One begins to discern the exact melody of the inner song.

This process of awareness is not always instantaneous nor is it a one-time phenomena. It is a process that can take place over a prolonged period of time. The ongoing task is to continuously and nonjudgmentally observe oneself in various situations and difficult moments. Slowly, over a period of time, the self becomes more and more aware of, and therefore free from, the other song. People who have gone through this process find that they are better able to live in the present.

As a seeker, one must persist until reaching the core. As awareness dawns, health returns and so does your inner space. In the space thus created there arises the possibility of an even deeper awareness, namely, an awareness of the transitory nature of all phenomena and of one's self. It is my observation that people who, through awareness or homeopathic treatment, develop the inner space are often drawn to spiritual pursuits and more altruistic goals in life.

 _ **An Example of Self-observation in an Everyday Situation**_

I encountered a problem with a taxi driver on a day that I had to go downtown. Because I chose to take a cab, my receptionist called a cab company requesting that a taxi be sent at a specific time. When it did not arrive at the stipulated time we called them again, and to our dismay were told (falsely) that someone from our office had called up to cancel the reservation. She asked for another taxi and was told that the fare would be eight hundred rupees (twice the official fare). It seemed as if they were taking advantage of our urgency and wanted to "take us for a ride," so I decided to take matters into my own hands and went to look for a cab on the street.

I found a cabbie who agreed to take me but insisted that it would cost five hundred and fifty rupees. Because I had no time to look for another one, I agreed and got in. When I did, the cabbie, perhaps by way of confirming, repeated, "I hope you know that I will be charging you a fixed rate and not by the meter." So I told him, "I know that, and I have agreed to pay you five hundred and fifty rupees," then asked, "But aren't you supposed to charge me by the meter?" To which he replied that his taxi was associated with the hotel, and they had a fixed rate. In a firm voice I conveyed my point to him: "As long as you drive a taxi of this city the same law applies to you, but obviously you people make your own laws, and since we have no choice we have to listen to you." My tone was aggressive and somehow threatening. I was flustered. This startled the driver somewhat and alerted him.

On reflecting about this incident I realized that I was reacting from a victim mode. I perceived the whole situation as "him versus me." He was taking advantage of me, and I was powerless to do anything. Therefore my reaction was aggressive and threatening. I was reacting from the animal kingdom.

The healthy thing to do would have been to tell him, "I have agreed to pay the amount," then mentioning that while I can understand that he does not charge by the meter, this way of not going by the book is nevertheless self-perpetuating. I could have gotten my point across by using analogy and appealing to his better nature or perhaps his own wallet. For example, I could have said, "You may face a similar situation in another context. For example, if you apply for a license, you might be asked to shell out four times the legal fee by a corrupt official. And if each person in our society individually decides to do what is right, it is possible that the country will be more prosperous."

This is what I feel in my healthy perspective and in this stage there is no aggression, only observation of the situation as it is and the possible solutions. There is no stress in such a thought process; it is not connected with the issues in my life, with the past or future. It simply is watching and reacting to the now.

Such a healthy perspective is clouded by the other song within each one of us. Stressful situations excite us and the other song gets louder. It gives us an opportunity to become aware of it, so that we might work toward lessening its intensity within us.

WHAT IS THE LEVEL IN HEALTH?

Health is synonymous with flexibility or freedom to act according to the reality of the moment. A healthy person is not fixed at a particular level of experience; his experience varies depending on what is needed in the moment. He is in the fact level when balancing his checkbook. He is in the emotion level when showing affection to his children. He is in the delusion level while watching a movie or writing a poem. He experiences the sensation level when he is near a mountain or in nature. He experiences the energy level when he sings or dances. He experiences the seventh level in meditation. He thus lives in the moment and experiences the level appropriate to that moment. Health is the freedom to be in the now.
11 Case Studies

THOUGH THE CONCEPT is simple, it does require great skill in going with the other person into his experience and correctly identifying the other song. Like all skills, it needs a firm foundation, guidance, and a lot of practice. It requires a lot of honing before one can become adept at it.

THE OTHER SONG AND HOMEOPATHY

It is helpful just to know that there is another song and that it is useful to identify it. The idea of writing this book is to introduce the general public to this concept. Once it is understood, there will be many applications of it.

One area in which it is being used is in homeopathic practice. The identification of the other song in the patient has helped homeopathic practice immensely. As I have mentioned in the section titled "An Introduction to Homeopathic Inquiry," homeopathic remedies are derived from the three kingdoms: animal, plant, and mineral. As the field has developed to this point, homeopaths find the remedy for the patient by matching his symptoms to the symptoms of various remedies. Now, with the discovery of the concept of the other song, a far more direct match is possible. By going deeper than the symptoms and the mind state, one can hear directly the song of the other entity within and match the remedy to that other song. This enables far greater accuracy and predictability in selecting the remedy.

The advantage of giving a homeopathic remedy (made from the same source in nature that is the source of the other song) has many distinct advantages. It acts subtly; it can be repeated when needed and in the right strength or potency (according to the level of experience of the patient); and it does not require that the patient have a level of awareness of his complaint—the remedy produces this awareness of the other song unconsciously. Also, homeopathy has a huge database of symptoms recorded for each remedy, which can confirm or help the choice of the remedy. This makes it possible to use homeopathy in small children, in mental illness, and in any situation where the patient is not capable of going through the awareness process with the practitioner.

Thus homeopathy is a very potent tool that can help people with physical symptoms and pathological conditions while also helping them generally and in their state of mind. It treats the person as a whole and sees all these as expressions of the underlying other song.

The case histories that follow are from homeopathic practice, and all benefited from the appropriate homeopathic remedy (along with the awareness that emerged in the case-taking process).

I must warn the reader that it would be very risky to try to prescribe homeopathic remedies to oneself or to anybody by merely reading this or other books of this genre without a full and complete education in the fundamentals of homeopathy and proper training in practice. Such an education takes several years of dedicated and systematic learning in an accredited college of homeopathy, followed by clinical training by experienced practitioners. Knowledge of the concept of the other song enhances and complements such a formal study but is not a replacement for it.

A TYPICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE INQUIRY PROCESS

We are going on a journey to find out what lies at the root of who you are and of your stress. This journey is not an intellectual exercise but aims to uncover your deep inner experience. To that end, I will be asking certain questions.

I may ask the same question again and again, especially when it pertains to what you feel and experience. I will probably ask several times. It doesn't mean that you are not clear or that I don't understand you. It simply means that by asking the same question over and over again we have found that we are able to reach deeper levels. So each time I repeat a question, you simply need to answer me in different words, in a little more detail, and keep continuing in that way. This is not a test, and there is no right or wrong answer. It is your experience we are seeking to know.

 **Case Study 1**

 **A Thirty-Six-Year-Old Woman Suffering from Urticaria (Hives)**

 _(In this case-study interview, R = Dr. Rajan Sankaran and P = Patient. Italics are author's notes.)_

 **R:** What is the problem?

 **P:** This is the problem [ _pointing to the rash on her skin_ ]. I am basically fed up. I have done everything, but nothing works. It comes at three in the morning, four in the morning. Until evening I am okay. When it comes I get desperate, very frustrated, very angry. I blast my husband. I become abusive. I use bad language against his parents. This urticaria has been a very hard lesson for me.

 **The Story So Fa** r

 **Level 1: (Name)**

 _Urticaria._

 **Level 2: (Fact)**

 _Worse three and four a.m._

 **Level 3: (Emotion)**

 _Very, very frustrated, angry, and abusive._

 **Level 4: (Delusion)**

 _It is a difficult lesson._

 **Level 5: (Sensation)**

 _"Blast," "against"—she sees the urticaria as a very hard lesson; this is pecu_ _liar. Also, "blast" and "against" are non-human-specific words, and they rep_ _resent the sensation._

 **R:** You said that the urticaria is a hard lesson for you. What is a hard lesson?

 **P:** It comes at whatever time it pleases. It does not cater to my convenience.

 _(She personifies the urticaria. She perceives the urticaria as a very definite "it" that comes from outside and bothers her. The urticaria is against her.)_

 **P:** But it comes like such a punch! [ _Punches one palm strongly with the fist of the other hand._ ] It burns. I am forced to take notice. It is telling me, "Get out! Take notice! Move! Do something!"

 _(Although she experiences burning as well, the main sensation in the urticaria is the punch, being accompanied by a hand gesture with energy. The king_ _dom becomes clear early in this case. It is as if the urticaria has a life of its own, and it is punching and telling her to get up and take notice. And she is against her in-laws and blasts her husband. Her other song is clearly from the animal kingdom; one versus the other, fighting, blasting, punching.)_

 **P:** At least cancer is quiet and hidden. This comes right on the face.

 _(Every word and every gesture of the patient reflects the song of the source. One quality of the source in this case is that it is not hidden, and it comes right on the face. At this point we don't know what she is talking about, but we note, "not hidden, right on the face.")_

 **P:** In the last three years there has been one crisis after another. [ _Makes the same punching gesture._ ]

 _(At this point in the case the hand gesture is completely unrelated to what she is saying. She is saying something through her words, but what her hands show has absolutely no logical connection to her words. It is the hand ges_ _ture, however, that speaks the truth. We have to take the case to that depth where the gestures and the sensation are saying the same thing.)_

 **P:** My father-in-law is a major nut. He makes my life miserable. [ _Gestures as if going back and forth._ ] He accuses me of things that have not happened.

 _(Nothing is hidden with her. She says what she feels quite openly and frankly.)_

 **P:** People perceive me as very strong.

 _(The issue is: Who is strong/who is weak.)_

 **P:** Since they see me as strong, instead of blasting me, he blasts my eight-year old.

 _(The weak one gets blasted.)_

 **P:** I told my husband that I cannot stay with his parents. I want to get free. My husband has to choose them or me.

 _(Them versus me. Who will survive? Only one of us can survive.)_

 **P:** I say, "Damn it! If your father can earn money, so can you. So why do we have to live with him and bear this?"

 _(In what way is he better than us? That is the question. Him versus me. She says many things along the way, and we make note of everything and make observations about her. But we will go back to the urticaria, which is her chief complaint and is the most vivid and physical expression of her energy disturbance. As long as we follow and stay with the chief complaint, we stay with where the energy lies, where the other song sings most clearly. The energy is in the "punch" and from there we will get the sensation. So we hold on to that.)_

 **R:** You said, "It comes like a punch." What do you mean?

 _(We ask her to define "punch" because we want to know what the word means to her. In itself it carries no weight. The punch is not like a hit, not an injury. But it leads to many other things, and it always has something to do with "me versus them." That is the quality of the animal song. The sen_ _sation in itself does not hold. That punch is part of several different things that make up the animal. The other features that come up in the sensation are: suddenness and violence, comes at any time, it is violent, it punches, "blasting"—all expressions of violence.)_

 **P:** "Like a punch" means I am quietly sleeping at three in the morning and it suddenly comes and starts itching violently. I don't wake anyone up. I have to cool myself down. I used wrong lipstick and my whole face exploded. It is so strong. I am under so many dietary restrictions.

 _(The word "restriction" is important. It is the opposite of "get out," which sheused with a lot of energy. This, we will find out later, represents the depth and degree of her desperation. This is the situation she perceives, one in which she is restricted and must get out._

 _Victim/aggressor is the deepest sensation, underlying and giving rise to all the other expressions of violence: punching, blasting, exploding, and so on. She perceives and reacts to her father-in-law as an aggressor. That is her experience of reality. To what degree, with what intensity does she experience the sensation of victim/aggressor? To the degree of feeling very restricted and wanting to get out urgently. She is the Claustrophobic Type in her coping mechanism._

 _N.B._ _The sensation will almost always be accompanied by hand ges_ _tures, whereas the coping mechanism is almost never accompanied by hand gestures.)_

 **R:** When you say "punch," what do you mean?

 _(She keeps wandering back into the external story, the situation in which she experiences the sensation. Our task is to keep bringing her back to where the energy lies, until she takes us to the next level.)_

 **P:** It comes very suddenly. I have to get up and pay attention. It leaves me mentally very weak and shaken up.

 _(The punch has the effect of shaking her up. Shaken up is non-human-specific. It is out of context and has energy. So it is coming directly from the sensation, from the source. A punch that shakes you up.)_

 **R:** "Shaken up," meaning?

 **P:** I start questioning many things. What did I do? It just shakes me up. It makes me feel.

 _(We don't want feelings, so we go back to hand gestures and ask her about them.)_

 **R:** You showed something with your hands?

 **P:** [ _She shows a punch with her hands._ ] It is like this! Itching and burning. It is saying, "Get out and move! Don't just exist here. Live." Nobody has lived with in-laws and coped with them for so long. My allergy is very angry with me.

 _(Again she personifies a symptom, this time "my allergy," as if it existed as an antagonist, distinct from her.)_

 **P:** I have a lot of anger inside. Not just throwing something, but punching. I feel like holding my in-laws and shaking them, but cannot do it.

 _(What she feels is happening to her, she feels like doing to her in-laws, to others. She feels like breaking, punching, shaking. This is what she experi_ _ences herself, and so wishes to do that to others, in accordance with the first postulate.)_

 **P:** I do not feel like punching a soft pillow, but smashing something, like the television. I hate noises and my father-in-law watches the television very loud. I feel trapped in my room.

 _(She specifically wants to smash the television. We have to understand what the television represents. Everything that she says is important. The television is a trap for her; that is what it means for her. "Trap" suggests the level of desperation at which she experiences her sensation of victim/aggressor.)_

 **R:** When you say "trapped in my room," what do you mean?

 **P:** I feel shut in my room. The drawing room is my father-in-law's territory.

 _(She is trapped by his hold on his territory. This is animal kingdom. What is the issue in her life? Domination by the father-in-law. How bad is this issue? "He is trapping me, restricting me, and I have to get out.")_

 **P:** The drawing room is his private den. My children do not have the freedom to run around. The television is his property.

 _(That is his territory. The main issue for her is her father-in-law. This situa_ _tion between "him and me" represents and expresses the core sensation and energy in her life. It is her delusion, her nightmare, her worst possible situa_ _tion. Now we have the freedom to enter into that situation itself. We know the energy, we know the kingdom, and we know the situation. Now we want to understand this situation directly, in itself.)_

 **R:** What is the issue with him?

 **P:** He is a very dominating person.

 _(There is nobody other than you. Anything, anybody, any situation you talk about, you are only describing your own sensitivity, about your own inner state, in accordance with postulate three.)_

 **P:** If you explain yourself they see it as answering them back. My confidence was very threatening to him. Everybody else was sucking up to him.

 _(Here the question of confidence is emerging. In the case of the mineral, the sensation would be "I lack confidence, I cannot cope." The mineral feeling is of an inner lack in capacity, in function. In contrast, the issue for her is "my confidence threatens him." Here the issue of confidence is a comparison, a rivalry, a competition. It has to do with survival and external threat, that here is somebody who is a threat to my survival.)_

She spoke about how her father-in-law does not like it if his own son gets ahead of him. He falsely accused her, saying, "You know how rudely she has spoken to me?" She says she feels that "victim number one is me." He now picks on her daughter.

 _(The main issue in her life is domination. Her father-in-law dominates, doesn't allow her into his territory. She is trapped in her room as a result. He does not allow her to answer back. She is not allowed to challenge his authority. He is the boss. She has to abide by his wishes. Otherwise he blasts her, victimizes her. But she is strong and retaliates, so he picks on her daughter, who is weak. She gets very angry and wants to smash, break things, shake her in-laws. This is what she experiences as happening to her in her situation, and this is the sensation in the urticaria: a sudden punch, sudden violence. She blasts her hus_ _band. Her face explodes into hives. She is very open in the way she talks. She does not hide anything, makes no attempt to restrict herself. Like the urticaria, which is not hidden, it comes on the face. These are her qualities, the qualities of the other song within her, the qualities of the source._

 _It becomes evident quite early in the case that the main issue is one of survival: the father-in-law versus me. His authority versus mine. His terri_ _tory versus mine. This is the animal kingdom. And the main sensations are punch, blast, smash, sudden violence, burning, angry. There is also the feeling of being trapped, being restricted, and wanting to get out. These seem to indicate the Claustrophobic Type of reaction (or coping mechanism) to the sensation experienced._

 _Apart from the sensation, what is also very apparent is the openness with which she talks._

 _The source has to have the suddenness, the violence, the openness, and all the features that we have seen so far._

 _Having obtained the sensations in the chief complaint and in her situation, we now go to the dreams.)_

 **P:** My whole body is shaken up. I am thinking of plants and flowers. Of very beautiful surroundings: a house on the beach, no noise, peaceful. Suddenly my whole body is vibrating. There was so much love pouring out of me. Snake dreams; they are in the temple. Just before the culmination of the dream somebody gets hit.

 _("Hit" is similar to punch.)_

 **P:** I am scared of men. I had a dream where men are following me and I hide.

 _(In the dreams we see pursued and escaping, fear, snakes, beautiful sur_ _roundings that cause a reaction in her. We have reached the level of delu_ _sion. The next level is the sensation and the source itself.)_

 **R:** How do you react to animals?

 **P:** I am frightened of them. I am scared of stray dogs. Mosquito bites I can't stand. I am scared of insects. The house is full of cockroaches.

 **R:** What about insects?

 **P:** I am scared of insects, especially the bee.

 _(This is where the whole case comes together. She tells us the name of her source. The bee sting is sudden with burning pain, excessive swelling of the skin with redness and heat. It has sudden effects; the symptoms develop suddenly and rapidly. Among the bees in a hive there is violent anger and a lot of jealousy. Now we can appreciate how everything she says has to do with the source. It is not hidden, it comes on the face. It is like a punch: "It is telling me to get up and move.")_

 **R:** What about the bee?

 **P:** I am scared of bee stings. If it stings me, I will get a massive reaction. The honeybee, the queen bee, that one. They are dangerous.

 **R:** When you blast your husband, what do you do?

 **P:** I blast him loudly, otherwise what is the use? I am vehement. I have been put in a restricted atmosphere; it is slavish. I hate myself. When the maid or doctor is not around, I am there filling each and every role. I am not giving myself a choice. I am serving.

 _(Subservient to the boss; like the workers toiling for the queen bee.)_

As a child she was considered very, very active, running around, very dominating. Loves colorful flowers with fragrance. "I don't like flowers without smell. I love the smell of roses, jasmine."

She is writing the script of a movie. She overheard her husband once, after watching a movie, discussing with his friends how men should go to Goa to ogle women on the beach. She felt that these men should have done this in their twenties when single, not now when they have wives and children. So her script would have wives giving tit for tat to men. In her movie the wives would go to Goa and have one night stands with anyone, anywhere, to take revenge on their husbands.

 _(The themes that come up here are: sexuality, infidelity and lack of morals, jealousy, and revenge. "What you do to me, I will do double to you." Even here there is a kind of competition. "Anything you can do, I can do better."_

 _She says: "I can talk of revenge but not do it," but adds that if her hus_ _band ever had an affair, she would shoot the girl first and then him.)_

 **Complete Case Analysis by Level**

 **Level 1: Name**

• Urticaria.

 **Level 2: Fact**

• Worse three and four a.m.

• Want someone to "bang my head, the harder the better."

 **Level 3: Feeling**

• Very, very frustrated.

• Angry and abusive.

• Jealousy.

• Revenge.

• Sexuality.

• Infidelity.

• "Am I not good enough that you have to have an affair?"

 **Level 4: Delusion**

• It is a hard lesson.

• Trapping, restricting, no freedom.

 **Level 5: Sensation**

• Blast against.

• Comes like a punch. (Hand gesture)

• Exploding and blasting.

• Shaken up.

• Openness.

• Right on the face.

• Honeybee.

 **Level 6: (Energy)**

• Suddenness.

• Violence.

 **Case Explanation**

In every patient there is a human song and a nonhuman song, both sounding simultaneously. We should train our ears to hear the nonhuman song. As this case evolved she revealed that song, namely the song of the queen bee.

Interestingly, the life of a queen bee is as follows: Swarming usually takes place in the late spring and early summer when a new queen is bred within the hive. Queens are no different genetically from other bees in the hive. They only attain royal status by dietary means, by being fed royal jelly, a secretion produced by the nurse worker bees during the larval stage. The larvae of the hive that are not fed this royal jelly develop into smaller bees, the workers.

Immediately preceding the emergence of the new queen, unrest pervades the hive. This causes some of the older drones and workers to rally around the old queen and leave the hive with her (because she has aged to the point where she is no longer able to lay the number of eggs necessary to maintain the population of a hive), before the new queen emerges from her royal cell. As soon as the new queen has emerged, she stings to death all the other occupants of the "queen cells," her potential young rivals in the hive (larvae that have also been fed royal jelly). If the old queen has not left the hive then she, too, is stung to death by the newly emergent young queen. When this is done the young queen has fully established her regal status.

With the patient whose other song is so clearly from the animal kingdom, the insect subkingdom of the bee, we can clearly see the similarity as to how her entry into his house threatened her father-in-law's territory. She was young and confident. In her this nonhuman song is that of me versus the other. It is her against her father-in-law. She perceives him as the aggressor and herself as victim. She cannot enter his territory; he is the emperor and she is the slave, the server. He has put her in a restricted area, and she feels the claustrophobic response of needing to get out.

In the case of the husband possibly having an affair, she feels: "If the men can do it, I can do it better." She gets a lot of pleasure in just saying that. She is very moral and faithful to her husband and consciously would not dream of doing any such thing.

The survival of an insect depends upon it being active, being sexual, and being able to attack suddenly with great violence. Because the life of an insect is very short it has to reproduce very quickly, so there is a great deal of sexual activity. This is the kind of sexuality that the patient has in mind when talking about men going to Goa and ogling women on the beach. One-night stands. Anybody is good enough, whoever you can get will do. If not here, then there. It doesn't make any difference.

The activity of an insect is very fast, and death is sudden. It does sudden violence but also experiences its own sudden death. The patient also said she would kill by a quick method—shooting. It means there is no cruelty, no hiding, and no deceit. You just take a gun and shoot. Not like a snake, where there will be deceit and planning. Here there is no plan. Nothing complicated; very simple and straightforward.

(Refer to the qualities of the insect song on page 72.)

In this way we can hear her nonhuman song, tune for tune, note for note, as that of the queen bee. This is the source, the other song that is playing within her, whose song she lives and whose melody colors every aspect of her life. It expresses finally in her body as urticaria.

 **Postscript**

She was given a homeopathic ultra dilution (potency) of the bee (APIS MELLIFICA). With this she had a significant reduction of her urticaria, and her attitude toward her life changed. She felt more at peace and grateful for everything. Her attitude toward her father-in-law became much more accepting and even caring.

**Case Study 2**

 **A Twenty-Five-Year-Old Woman with Severe Depression**

 _(In this case-study interview, R = Dr. Rajan Sankaran and P = Patient. Italics are author's comments.)_

 **R:** What is the problem?

 **P:** [ _It is some time before she answers._ ] I have changed as a person. During my marriage I had emotional problems [ _weeps_ ]. This shattered me totally. Parents, elders, religion, and culture: I alone am the target of everything.

 _(She feels totally shattered, she is the target of everything. These statements are indicative of her inner turmoil, and we definitely need to take notice of them. But we must keep in mind that her chief complaint is emotional and not physical, so she will describe feelings rather than sensations. Feelings are individual-specific and can be misleading; therefore, at the beginning of the case we need to be open and refrain from forming quick conclusions. For example, "feeling targeted" may seem to point in the direction of an animal song, but we must wait to see which kingdom her deeper constant sensation indicates._

 _This sort of confusion ceases with cognizance of the fact that these are feelings and not sensations. The level at this point in the case is still the emotional level, or Level 3, and the words or feelings that we can rely on to lead us further will be those that are used repeatedly, out of context with what she is saying. If they convey an image (for example, if she said that she felt totally shattered, like a glass pane that had shattered into a thousand tiny little bits), this would be conveying a very vivid image of "shattered" and would add weight to the conclusion that the deep sensation is of shattered. Without such a vivid image, shattered may be regarded as no more than a mere expression._

 _The words that have energy or form an evident pattern throughout her speech are non-human-specific. Such expressions are universal, are solid. For example, if you were to ask her about shattered and she were to say that it is like being torn to pieces, then one could say that shattered holds. We ask about a word that appears to be a sensation and she uses another similar word, also conveying the same sensation more clearly. Similarly, if we identify a potential sensation and the person, on further questioning, is not able to lead us further in that direction, we might say that the word does not hold. For example, if we asked her about shattered and she said that she felt com_ _pletely alone, we could appreciate that here shattered is a feeling (that will lead to another feeling), and so cannot be relied upon as being solid enough to lead us to the next step, away from the feelings. If we persist with it,there are chances of our getting lost in a maze of emotions. We must note synonyms or antonyms of words used earlier and whether they were accom_ _panied by hand gestures, especially gestures that don't correspond to the words of the person. A hand gesture that is incongruous with the words the person is speaking while making it should always be noted, and the patient should be asked at some point what that gesture spontaneously brings up in him. So although we note "shattered" and "being targeted," we should not form any conclusions at this stage. We can be sure only at the level of sensation, Level 5. At present we are still at Level 3 (emotional, individual). At this level we hear only possible directions, indications, and early hints of a possible melody. We will completely mistake the melody and miss the other song if we draw conclusions at this level. We simply note, and wait for her to show us more._

 _Then she speaks of her lack of confidence in her bank job and how she would have continued the job, if permitted to, after her marriage. She nar_ _rates a whole sequence of events that should be simply regarded as her "external" story._

 _What we are interested in is the "story within the story," her "internal story" or inner song or turmoil. The "external" story is relevant and provides the outer context within which she lives and experiences her life, but the events of this external story are only facts, the backdrop or scene for her internal story. What we are interested in is how she experiences that exter_ _nal story, her unique way of perceiving and experiencing life. We listen and note the facts, and when there are feelings or anything peculiar, we note these. If there are words that meet any of the above-mentioned criteria, we give them more weight.)_

 **P:** After marriage, dowry was demanded. [ _Weeps._ ] It was a very big shock for me.

 _(The ideas of shocked and shattered make us think of the sensitivity of a plant, but she remains at the emotional level and has not yet moved on to sensation. We cannot infer the kingdom until she speaks at the level of sensation, Level 5.)_

 **P:** I did not understand anything that was happening. Was this a marriage? What was happening?

 _(It is as if she went through the marriage without being aware of what was happening. After her marriage, she had pain in the abdomen and was diagnosed with a gallbladder stone. Although she had not been aware of the problem prior to marriage, her in-laws accused her of not declaring the condition before marriage. Her in-laws informed all the relatives about hercondition, and her husband asked her to leave him if she couldn't bear living with his parents. Nobody was there to take care of her during pregnancy.)_

 **P:** My mother-in-law kicked all the servants out. Not one sweet did she let me distribute after the birth of my child [as is the custom]. The baby was small. I was brave enough at the birth of my child. Separation from my husband was not possible.

 _(Here we can note somewhat contrasting aspects of her nature: she is afraid to be alone and wants someone to take care of her, yet she is brave enough to handle the birth of the baby.)_

 **P:** I can't handle even little, little problems. I can't even hear these things. I feel tension.

 _(It is not the big things that concern her, but the little, little things. These things reflect her nature; they are unrelated to the situation and are simply aspects of herself. So they become important for us.)_

 **P:** I am not allowed to go to my own bedroom if my mother-in-law and husband are sitting there. She has ordered me not to call my son by the name I want. I should have a little bit of freedom at least. My husband also can't support me. I feel, "How unfair!" My father-in-law treats me like a bloody pig. If I go in front of him, he does this: [ _as if sweeping away something with her hand_ ] "Go away from here!"

 _(This is a comparison that corresponds to Level 4, the level of delusion. "I am treated like a bloody pig." This is her perception of how they react to her, how they perceive her. Because her brother (the only wage earner in her own family) did not have a good income, she felt that if she left her in-laws' house there would be no security for her and the baby. She couldn't even kill herself because then what would happen to her baby?_

 _There is desperation here. She seems to want support, a backup, some_ _one to take care of her. Without it, she is desperate enough to want to kill herself and the child. In a part of her case not shown here, she talked of feeling that her only way out was to kill herself and her child. This degree of intense desperation indicates one of the deeper coping reactions akin to the Impossible Type._

 _She speaks of lack of intimacy with her husband.)_

 **P:** He knows I am capable of intelligent conversation, but he doesn't share things with me. [ _She keeps moving a napkin in her hand, fidgeting with it, turning and twisting it._ ] It's as if I am dust or an object.

 _(This, too, is at the level of delusion, Level 4: "as if I am dust or an object." The entire time, as she speaks, she is vigorously wringing the napkin in her hands.)_

 **P:** I also want to feel independent. Even if I am capable, I don't have the confidence to start life afresh. What will I do without my husband's support? [ _She twists the napkin and then pulls it to straighten it out_.]

 _(She has now finished telling her story, and we have to begin questioning. So what do we need to ask her? Where do we begin questioning? Her story is overwhelming, but to understand what is at the very core of her turmoil, it would be best to steer clear of the story and her emotions, and cut directly, if possible, to the level of sensation. So far, we can recognize her main com_ _plaint: depression, the name of her state, corresponds to Level I; Level 2 includes the facts of her story. At Level 3 the emotions are apparent through her weeping, and we can also see the fear of being alone and a lot of ten_ _sion. At Level 4 are the delusions, for example, "I am treated like a bloody pig," "I am dust," and so on._

 _And then what we note is that she is constantly twisting and stretching the napkin in her hands, vigorously and continuously. This is very interesting. It was not evident from the beginning of the case but started only as the case proceeded. This means that from that point on she has reached the level of sensation (Level 5) or gone deeper to the level of energy (Level 6). This constant and vigorous twisting and stretching of the napkin contains the energy of the case._

 _If we observe closely, we may be able to appreciate that she has told us not only everything that she wanted to say but also everything that we need to know. We need to train our minds and senses to recognize the sensation and energy when a person gives us these. We need to pick up the energy, which is contained in the hand gesture, and from there let her direct us to the sensation, as energy is closest to sensation. If one focuses on the energy, the sensation is revealed to us very clearly, and then we will be able to appreciate that she expressed it earlier. With this in mind, the first question I put to her is that she should describe what she's doing with her hands.)_

 **R:** What are you doing with your hands?

 **P:** I do this when . . . I don't know what to do. No self-confidence. Moving through borders, folding it properly makes it straight. I don't like crumpled things. I can't stay confused.

 _(When asked to talk about confusion she speaks of how life had been "clear" for her in the past—for instance, she did well in school, did not want to marry, and wished to become a flight attendant and do something on her own._

 _We asked her about the hand gesture and she led us to confusion and clarity. So confusion and clarity are at the level of sensation. There is no speed, no direction, no movement in these, indicating that she has come away from the level of energy. And the level closest to that of energy is that of sensation. Therefore, confusion and clarity have to be at the level of sen_ _sation; this much is clear to us. What is not yet clear is the kingdom of her other song. This is what we are now attempting to clarify. We will stick with the sensation of confusion until the kingdom—plant, animal, or mineral—becomes clear to us.)_

 **R:** When you say "clear and confused," what do you mean?

 **P:** I know what I want to do, what I can do. I will do only what I know I am able to do. I will not depend on anybody. I don't want to depend on my parents, to say "I need you."

 _(Being clear is related to the issue of her ability and inability, and of depend_ _ing and not depending. Here is where we see the kingdom of the inner—the other song—expressing itself: the issue here is of ability, capability, or func_ _tion. This way of experiencing clarity and confusion is in the realm of the mineral kingdom; the key to understanding to which kingdom her other song belongs is to see that she situates her core issues in terms of ability to cope and function._

 _If she had said "confused is like bewildered," she would be giving us yet another sensation to explain her experience. This would indicate that she experiences "confused" purely as a sensation and would locate her other song within the sensitive, always-bothered plant kingdom. If her other song were from the animal kingdom, with its constant awareness of competition and survival, she would have responded with something like, "Someone out there can get the better of me and attack me when I'm confused." But because her core issue is, "Can I function?" with no deeper issues underly_ _ing that sensation, we can locate her constant inner experience within the mineral kingdom and its concern with ability, function, and loss. Probing into what her core words mean to her brings up the issue of independence versus dependence. The issue does not in itself indicate the kingdom; it is her reac_ _tion to the issue that will reveal the kingdom. For example, if in explaining her confusion she had said that she felt dominated by another person, unable to decide whether she should do as she pleases or what the other person wills her to do—constantly at odds with herself—then her other song would have been from the animal kingdom._

 _But she says, "I know how much capacity I have; I know what I am able to do. And I do only what I am able to do and I don't depend on others." This is definitely the mineral kingdom. In terms of sensation, this can be read as: "My structure has a certain capacity to function, and if there is anything that is beyond its capacity, then it needs support from outside." In these instances where the task is beyond her ability, she needs to depend. You will remember that she had repeatedly referred to her ability and talked about wanting support and a backup; this is what becomes clear when we pick up the energy in the case._

 _Having determined the kingdom, we now need to establish what kind of dependence we are looking at, or in what area she is dependent or requiring support. That will give us the subkingdom—for the minerals, the subkingdom is found by placing the patient's sensation on the periodic table in relation to the characteristics of the table's rows and columns. Further, by understand_ _ing how the person deals with the sensation we will be able to perceive the depth at which the sensation is experienced, and this will give us the coping reaction that the person tends to adopt._

 _We asked about the energy and we arrived at the sensation. We asked about the sensation and reached the kingdom. This is where we should train our mind and senses to be on high alert; what is going to be revealed to us now is the point of energy, the place where the patient's intensity of expres_ _sion and hand gestures are expressing the same thing._

 _She wants to be financially independent, to take control of her life, to make decisions without anyone forcing her. Money does not seem to be her main issue. The crucial issue for her is being able to make her own decisions. We have heard her entire story, and nowhere did money or financial security figure strongly. Her mother-in-law does not allow her to call her son the name she chose for him, does not allow her to talk on the phone, decides that she should have an abortion—issues she brought up in a part of her case not presented here—and interferes in everything. We can see now that the issue in this situ_ _ation is that she does not have control and cannot make her own decisions. In her case, the experience of not being allowed to make her own decisions equates with the sensation of someone forcing the course she takes, as in the situation in which her mother-in-law tells her to wear a particular dress when she wants to wear something else and she feels: "My decision is not wrong."_

 _The dependence is in the area of making decisions. She would like to decide independently, but someone forces her, and she is not allowed to decide for herself. She is not allowed to exert her independent, individual choice. The issue is of being an individual, something she is not allowed to be. She is not allowed to have her own identity as an individual, as someone else makes the decision for her. This is where she experiences confusion. The issue is that of identity, and in the periodic table this corresponds to the third row.)_

 **P:** If I have made a decision, and the person in front of me, instead of ordering me, molds the way he puts it, then I might do as he says. [ _She makes a hand gesture to express "mold."_ ]

 _(Force is what she does not like, and "mold" is what she wants. "Mold" is not an emotion; it cannot be a delusion. It is a word that is completely out of context as far as human experience goes. It is complete nonsense in that one cannot conceive of human experience, perceptions, or emotions described in terms of mold. One would have expected in this context that a person should say, "He should say it differently," or something similar. But "mold" is very peculiar. It has no human context; it is borrowed from something else in nature. We shall see later that this is related directly to the source—which is pure clay, a soft, moldable substance.)_

 **R:** What is mold?

 **P:** Say with love instead of in a rude manner. Then I am very willing to do it. Mold is a round object like a ball with a smooth surface and no disturbance. Like to touch a round ball, smooth surface. It is very smooth and rolls over, goes comfortably without bounce or disturbance.

 _(This is the realm of nonsense. It is complete nonsense, has nothing to do with logic, nor is it related to her situation. And at the height of this complete nonsense, we find the source. Everything that she is saying now must be related to the other song singing within her, the source—clay.)_

 **R:** Tell me about this, "I don't know what I want."

 **P:** Don't know what to do. Decisions are made. I am just told. No discussion whatsoever. "What do you think? What is your opinion?" Instead it is, "Do this and do that." I was also something.

 _(She has moved away and out of the level of sensation into that of the situa_ _tion. She reached Level 5, or the level of the source. Now that the sensation is clear, we will attempt to understand the delusion, Level 4, in terms of the sensation, Level 5.)_

 **R:** What is the opposite of being something?

 **P:** You are nothing. Treated like a doll, with a remote control in somebody else's hand.

 _(This is her delusion.)_

 **P:** If you press A, the doll will say A. If you press B, the doll will say B. If you press "Go there," the doll will go there. But the doll doesn't have a brain; I do. The doll is dead and cold; it will not affect her. It can't think or do anything. The doll is an object, but I am a human being. I get affected. I have my own emotions.

 _(We are back to the level of emotions. This is her disease, that she is affected and depressed. But when we examine this depression in depth, we come to the issue of her identity not being her own person but under the control of someone else.)_

 **R:** How does it feel to be a doll with the remote in somebody's hands?

 **P:** Very angry [ _angry expression on her face_ ]. I feel like just leaving everything and going away. Breaking something. Tearing something. Destroying something.

 _(This indicates the depth of her anger, and points to the reaction and coping mechanism of destruction, which would indicate the Impossible Type. We have seen the degree of desperation earlier on, when she feels like killing herself and her child. Further, the action is always opposite to the perceived feeling or sensation. If she feels like breaking, destroying, and killing, then she must feel that something in her is being broken, destroyed, or killed._

 _With a childish look on her face, she describes that "lonely" for her is like having nothing in this world. "What will I do without him? How will I feed myself? How will I feed my son? Financially, how will I support myself? I will be without support. Who will help me? Who will stand with me? I want someone to lean on."_

 _She is speaking the language of a very small child who cannot even feed herself. This is a very small child who cannot be by herself, is afraid to be alone, and still needs someone to care for and look after her, who needs love. It is the stage at which the child still depends on the parents for love and food. At this stage the parents decide what to feed the child, what to give her, where to send her. She cannot decide for herself, but her own indi_ _vidual identity is developing and she wants to exert it.)_

 **R:** You said in the beginning, "I have changed as a person." What did you mean?

 **P:** Earlier I was working and confident; I was doing something. I was independent. Now it has changed. I have to ask for everything. To go to my aunt's place, I have to ask. In childhood I had plenty of conflicts with my parents. My father used to abuse and beat my mother. She used to be right, but he wouldn't listen to her. My mother never did anything for herself. Everything was for us. She was nothing.

 _(We see the same words and feelings being applied to her mother as are true for her. The mother is no one but her. Once you reach the core of the case in every situation, every example will tell the same story._

 _Gesture alternates: folds napkin, then opens it up; keeps alternating.)_

 **P:** I couldn't study in college. My mother was so frustrated. She told me not to study. She used to beat me. She said, "Go to hell! Your studies are not important."

 _(She felt helpless not knowing what to do. "I knew I was doing the right thing. But I didn't know what to do.")_

 **R:** You are again folding and refolding the napkin. What's the significance?

 **P:** To tidy things. I can't stand untidiness. It makes me feel confused; I don't know what to do.

 **Case Analysis by Level**

 **Level 1: Name**

• Depression.

 **Level 2: Fact**

• Problem with parents, elders, religion, and culture.

• "I have changed as a person."

 **Level 3: Feeling**

• Totally shattered.

• "I am the target of everything."

• Afraid of being alone.

• Anger.

 **Level 4: Delusion**

• Treated "as if I am a pig."

• "I am dust."

• Nothing.

• Treated like a doll with a remote control in somebody else's hand.

 **Level 5: Sensation**

• Confusion and clarity.

• Ability and inability, depending and not depending.

• Being an individual (identity) or being a robot.

• Moldable.

 **Level 6: Energy**

• Hand gesture of constantly and vigorously twisting and stretching of the napkin.

 **Case Explanation**

The third row of the periodic table deals with the issue of identity.

The elements of the third row are sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, and argon (see below).

The third row has to do with the issues of identity and individuality, nourishment and development, ego and insult. Struggles with, or the attempted emergence of making choices, the definition of oneself and the relationship to others, care and dependence, and the development of ego are found in the third row. Within the framework of dependence, we see these persons expressing or attempting to express their individuality.

Let us examine each of these elements. With sodium the sensation is that of having no identity. Where a relationship is the main issue, we see the individual taking on the identity of the other person. This could essentially be expressed as, "I am not me; I am he." It is as if her identity is not her own. "My own identity does not exist. Therefore I need a relationship where the other person can be my identity. When I find that somebody I will take his name, his identity. Then his choices will be my choices. His life will be the life I choose. There is nothing left that is me; everything is he." This is the sensation with sodium.

In the case of magnesium the beginnings of a sense of identity are there, but while coming into this sense of separate identity the person experiences loneliness, which is very frightening. The sensation is, "I am me but I don't want to be me, because it is very frightening." The feeling is that of a very small child abandoned by his parents, who does not get the care, protection, and nourishment he needs. He has to make his own decisions, but he feels too young and highly incapable of it. When he is expected to make his own decision he wonders, "Are you sure you want me to make the decision?" because he would like the other person to decide for him. When he has to decide what to wear, he feels, "Are you sure you are not going to choose what I should wear?" because he would like the other person to choose for him. He has an identity but would prefer not to exert it (because exerting his separate identity does not yet feel safe for him) and would much rather have the other person decide and choose for him. He is always afraid of: "What if I make my own decision and you reject me?" He needs the other person, because for him it is fearful to be alone. He feels that to keep the relationship he so needs he must forego his own choice.

The third row of the periodic table

In alumina (pure clay), which contains the element aluminum, there is a confusion of identity: Am I me, or am I he? It is like a child who is doubtful and unsure of his identity and choice yet would feel forced if his parent were to make the decision for him. When the parents do not let him decide for himself, his sense of identity and his belief in his capacity are threatened, and he begins to doubt these fundamentals of his being: Do I have my own identity, or am I what these other people want me to be? Am I capable enough to be an individual in my own right, or do I lack that capacity?

In this current case she essentially describes: "When someone says A, I have to say A; and when he says B, I have to say B." Alumina is clay, which is soft and malleable. In molding anything you have to handle it softly and gently—and then you can turn it into any shape you like. If you are aggressive and try to force clay that is setting into a different shape, you will break it. Clay is soft and malleable, but it can set: it alternates between not having a definite form and having a form. What it is can be either clear or unclear. This is what she was showing us with the napkin.

In this case, her feeling is tantamount to: "I lack the ability to take care of myself and to decide for myself, though I want to." This creates a conflict: "Am I capable enough to look after myself and be independent, or am I incapable and dependent?" We see this conflict expressed in her confusion. Being independent means having to care for yourself and making your own decisions, and here she feels incapable, so she doesn't exert her choice or identity because of her inner experience of incapacity (a key mineral sensation). However, being dependent means that someone else is making your decisions for you, and here she experiences a desire to exert her own identity.

In silica we see obstinacy and very fixed ideas, with a complete lack of flexibility. There is a strong, fixed, definite sense of identity, as in, "This is me." Silica is one of the components of glass. It is not malleable like alumina but has a fixed, rigid, and unchangeable shape. If someone tries to alter its shape, it breaks.

Phosphorus is friendly, affectionate, and sympathetic. This is the child who is not content with the identity she has been given by her parents and family but feels the need for her own identity apart from what they have chosen for her. She makes her own friends and gains her sense of identity from being different. The feeling is: "I am not you. I have an identity apart from you and apart from what you have given me." She can be indifferent to loved ones and friendly with strangers.

Sulfur is egoistic. If we trace this trait right down to the sensation level, she feels: "I am proud to be me and I know better than you." She believes she is individual enough to know what is right and pays little heed to what others have to say. She feels she knows best; this is not a comparison that she makes, rather it is an assertion of her identity. He is the child who will say to her parents, "You know nothing." Her sense of identity is now fully developed, and she feels she knows it all.

Lastly, with chlorine or the muriate (muriaticum) element in salts, we see the main sensation to be: "I am the opposite of you. Whatever you are, I will be the opposite." She is dissatisfied with doing what others would like her to do. If the parents want her to obey, she will be obstinate and rebel. She has her own identity—very different from others—and keeps to herself.

 **Is There Sense in the Nonsense?**

The words that she used at the deepest level were: _smooth, ball, mold._ These words are completely non-human-specific. They have no human context and are borrowed from something else in nature, so they must represent the source itself.

I searched the words _alumina_ and _molding_ on the Internet and obtained the following data: "Alumina is one of the most moldable substances on earth. It can be molded into any shape."

Next, I typed the words _alumina_ and _balls_ into the search. The result was a series of photographs of what are called "alumina balls." Alumina is actually formed as small, round balls that can be ordered via the Internet. Its particles are highly spherical.

Alumina balls

Scanning with the electron microscope reveals the innate spherical nature of alumina—it is a smooth, round ball. There are also alumina grinding balls, which have a very smooth surface and roundness and can be used for a very long time. They are used in clay grinding for ceramic tile manufacturing, in the manufacture of glass, pigments, and glazes, in the chemical industry, and in many other fields.

I understand now that the source is very, very important. The entire expression of the patient's state is the human expression of the actual source.

 **Postscript**

The depressed woman was given the remedy alumina in homeopathic potencies and showed a remarkable transformation over the next few months. Her self-confidence went up; she could face her situation with a new perception and without the previous feelings of inadequacy, dependency, and self-doubt. Her manner of speaking changed from a childish whine to adult expression. Within months of treatment, she grew by years to her natural stage of development.

**A Forty-Year-Old Woman—A Dancer by Profession**

 _(In this case-study interview, R = Dr. Rajan Sankaran and P = Patient. Italics are author's notes.)_

 **R:** What is the problem?

 **P:** Asthma.

 **Level 1: Diagnosis/Name**

 **R:** Tell me about it.

P: It started as bronchitis in childhood. During pregnancy it turned into full-fledged asthma. I just couldn't breathe well. I was fine for seven months, and then it was triggered again, and when my daughter was one-and-a-half years old, it got aggravated and I was hospitalized. I have been trying to find out whether dust or change in season affects it. At times it suddenly flares up. At times it is under control. Sometimes at night I need to take the pump [inhaler containing bronchodilator] when I have an attack; otherwise, for months there is nothing.

 **Level 2: Fact**

 _(It is important to note the following facts about the symptoms at this level, that is, asthma aggravated near the seashore—mentioned as part of her intake—better when away from it. It is also important to note that for months there is nothing, and then one night there is a severe attack; this is the pattern of the asthma. She says it suddenly flares up.)_

 **R:** Tell a little more about this asthma.

 **P:** Throughout the day I am busy and so I am not so conscious about this. But it comes in the night when I am lying down. So I try to sit up, but after a while again—when I get exhausted—I slide down. Though I try not to use the pump, invariably I rush toward it.

 _(It becomes an urgent need.)_

 **P:** I have been trying different things. Cold things and fried I never eat, as I know it harms me. The other factors could be change of season, dust.

 _(There are many factors that seem to affect her, but she does not know what triggers it. There is no single concrete aggravating factor, and she has to avoid many things as a result. This is not uncommon in persons with asthmatic or allergic bronchitis. The peculiarity about the asthma is that its onset is sudden. This has the potential to lead us further, to understand the general disturbance. We should use this as a foothold in order to take our next step forward.)_

 **R:** You said it gets suddenly triggered.

 **P:** It started with a cold that just would not go, in spite of steam inhalation. But very slowly and gradually it increased, and again I started taking a bronchodilator, but it did not help.

 _("Suddenly triggered" does not really lead much further, so we try another route. We ask about the effect of the asthma on her and in this way attempt to go further than Level 2. But we should keep in mind that the effect of the asthma has to be in tune with "suddenly triggered.")_

 **R:** What effect does this have on you?

 **P:** On all these days I could not function. I stopped teaching and practicing dance for three weeks so as not to exert myself too much. In the past I could dance even when suffering from asthma, but this time it has really affected me.

 _(It is a fact that she is a dancer; let us set that aside for the moment. It is important for us to know what dance means to her. We do not ask about dance. Dance is at a deeper level. At some point we will see that her dance and her asthma are two expressions of the same sensation. Then we shall be at the very center of her being—sensation level, Level 5. At this point in the case we are still at the level of fact.)_

 **R:** How does this asthma affect you?

 **P:** This time it scared me. I remember the first time when I was hospitalized, I was shaken up so badly that I told myself that I would never get myself in this position again. That is how I started doing yoga. For a long time that gave me relief.

 **Level 3: Emotion**

 _(The asthma scared her and she was very badly shaken, and she does not want the situation to recur. This is in tune with "suddenly triggered." She is sensitive to things that are suddenly triggered, and they have an effect on her: she feels scared and very badly shaken. To take the next step we use this as a foothold.)_

 **R:** When you say, "It scared me," what do you mean?

 **P:** In the night when I am very breathless I feel it will do something to my lungs [ _hand gesture: she brings her hands close to her throat as if grasping it with both her hands_ ], that it is going to bring an attack, heart attack, that this is going to be fatal, that is it! I feel that this is going to cause some extreme trouble. That is my fear: that I will not be able to function, that I will be bed ridden. And that is something that I hate, just lying down, doing nothing for days; I become very restless. I hate anybody doing things for me. That scared me. I keep thinking, that's it! It is going to ruin my lungs, and it is probably going to make me absolutely invalid.

 _(Note how she describes the asthma: "It is going to bring an attack, it is going to do something to my lungs." She personifies the asthma, and it seems as if there are two entities here: the person and the asthma. It can make one think of the animal kingdom, where survival is the main issue, often expressed as "me versus the other." The other thing she says is, "I will not be able to function," which can bring to mind the mineral kingdom. It is too early to decide the kingdom; the level is too superficial._

 _What is clear so far is this: The asthma is something that is suddenly trig_ _gered, that scares and shakes her up very badly so that she does not want to be in that position again. And when it comes, her reaction could be put into words something like this: "This is it! It is fatal." She experiences it as something sudden and highly disturbing to the extent of incapacitating her for life._

 _What is more important is that she starts using her hands at this point. Her hand gesture indicates a sensation experienced in the lungs. From the fear, she has gone back to the local sensation through the use of hand gestures. If we keep our focus on her hand gestures and observe and follow those, then all confusion with regard to the sensation will vanish at some point.)_

 **R:** Describe that sensation. What is your experience of what will happen to your lungs?

 **P:** I feel that it is going to cause congestion, and there is no passage left to breathe [ _hand gesture: as if putting her hands around something to grasp it, with no space between the two hands, not even a little bit_ ] _._ And that will probably lead to death, or even an attack, a heart attack. [ _Brings her palm with all fingers spread out very suddenly close to her chest._ ] It is the end; I cannot go beyond that. There is nothing left.

 **R:** Just stick to that experience and describe it in more detail.

 **P:** Choking. That the next breath I take will be the last one. [ _Gesture as if grasping her throat with both hands. As if putting both her hands around something and encircling it._ ]

 **R:** Tell me, what are you showing with your hands?

 **P:** [ _Now every word is accompanied by a gesture._ ] As if there is nothing left, not even a little bit of space or passage for me to breathe. Congestion is accumulated. [ _With her hands, again she shows something being encircled, as if very tightly, and when she talks of there being no passage, she gestures as if she is drawing something very fine or narrow from between her hands._ ]

Repeated hand gestures are a key to the core sensation.

 _(What is significant in her hand gesture? All asthmatics feel choked, blocked, and so on. So what is the difference, what is special in her feeling of choked and blocked? The vivid description of sensation with so much use of hand gestures cannot be local only. With this much repetition and vividness, she is indicating a sensation that must be general as well. So when you keep asking about the local sensation again and again, at some point you will get the general sensation._

 _If a sensation is described with a hand gesture and this same gesture is repeated again and again, then it is a local expression of her whole general sensation. This general sensation expresses itself through every level of her being, in every aspect of her life._

 _This is why it is so important to respect and stay with the chief com_ _plaint—those symptoms troubling the person the most. This is where the person's energy is most vividly expressing its disharmony. This is where the deepest sensation will be most readily accessed. This is where the other song is singing most clearly._

 _We keep asking about the chief complaint, in this case her asthma, and pick up that moment when the local sensation—choked and blocked with the asthma—is being expressed so vividly, so repetitively, that it has to be an expression of something much deeper, something general to her entire being. As we continue exploring her case it gradually emerges that this sen_ _sation pervades her whole life, her whole being. And then we see that the same sensation and coping method are present in every aspect, enveloping the whole case._

 _Therefore, I have learned to trust this sensation more than anything else. In the beginning one would think that feeling choked/suffocating/congested is just a common experience for asthma patients, but actually every asth_ _matic will describe this breathlessness in a completely different way. For her it is this choked/suffocated/no-room-to-breathe feeling that troubles her the most. We therefore stay with this, her chief complaint, and explore the exact nature of the sensations she experiences. She describes more, goes to deeper levels, and all along the hand gestures guide us and confirm that we are journeying toward her core sensation._

 _I ask her again and again, "What comes up spontaneously when you make the gesture?" Every single aspect of a person is a part of her unique whole. In illness every part, every aspect is singing the same particular dis_ _cord that is unique to the patient, and it is often the gesture that most truthfully portrays this deepest level of sensation and energy. We just hold on to whatever their hands are portraying, aware that we don't know what the gesture signifies, but the person does. Only the person can describe what the gesture evokes. No interpretation by anyone else can be more than a guess. So we hold on to the gesture and ask about it repeatedly, about what it spontaneously brings up for her. At this point, she has told us what her hand gesture shows: no space to breathe, no space at all.)_

 **R:** Can you describe what you are showing with your hands? What is that?

 **P:** [ _She continues to keep her hands locked into each other._ ] I just feel that there is so much congestion that it is all blocking my lungs, that nothing is left, no space left inside for the next breath to go in. Nothing to take in, nothing to take out; that kind of a feeling and I won't be able to breathe. A choking. [ _She clasps her hands tightly together, stiffening her entire body with the gesture._ ]

 _(She is using many words and many gestures. We keep asking her to describe the sensation further and further until it is crystal clear.)_

 **R:** Forget the lungs for a while and only describe what you are showing with your hands. Describe this blockage a little bit more, whatever comes to your mind when you say "blockage."

 _(This is important, because here we are asking her to dissociate from the chief complaint, to dissociate the sensation from the local part and to gener_ _alize it. In this the person goes from Level 2 directly to Level 5. In bypassing Level 3, the emotional level, we avoid getting stuck and lost in these vivid but human-specific emotions. Instead, we go straight to the deeper level of sensation, the level we need to understand, the level that, in fact, gives rise to such emotions. We go to Level 5—sensation—where we can reach clarity and a much deeper understanding of her whole state. Then we can go back to Level 3 and explore the emotions with a degree of understanding. We are much less likely to get lost at Level 3 if we already have some idea, some hint, of her deepest underlying sensation.)_

 **P:** [ _Clasps hands very tightly as if she is squeezing something between them._ ] I just think of death. That is it, this is the last. There is a block, there is no space, and I am going to die. Or it is going to lead to something like a heart attack. Total . . . absolutely blocked . . . darkness.

 **R:** What comes to your mind? What is the picture like? When you say, "no space, darkness, and suffocation," what picture comes to your mind? This way you can describe to us how and what it feels like. I cannot experience what you are saying, so I need an example from you as to how it feels.

 _(We are now asking her to give an image, or a delusion.)_

 **P:** It is as if you were in a room [ _with the tips of both forefingers she draws a circle in the air_ ] and there is no place to breathe and there is not even a little bit of air coming in. Suffocation because of that. As if you are locked in a room and there is no air coming from anywhere.

 **R:** Describe this room and describe the block.

 **P:** It is always associated with darkness. It is a small, dark room [ _as ifcompressing something between her hands_] with no sunlight, not even little bit of space to breathe, as if completely sealed. It is a slow death; you are not going to be able to breathe. [ _Crouches with her hands clasped in front of her._ ]

 **R:** What is it that you are showing?

 **P:** I do not know whether it is fear or in some way I am protecting my lungs. I imagine myself like this [ _hunches her shoulders and crouches again with hands clasped in front of her_ ]—helpless. As if everything is congested, not only the lungs. Your nerves are taut, your fingers, back [ _stiffens her fingers_ ]. Absolutely numb feeling. Scared, shaken up, and helpless.

 _(And in this image a sensation is emerging: numb and taut. We will explore the sensation.)_

 **R:** Describe that sensation, the numb and taut feeling.

 **P:** I feel at times that suddenly my whole body is very taut. [ _She stiffens her entire body and clenches her fists tightly in front of her._ ] That is when I have to relax my muscles.

 _(This is the point at which the local sensation can be seen as one and the same as the general one. She has been using the hand gestures right from the time that she was describing the asthma, throughout the description of the image, and now she is talking about her whole body rather than the lungs, nerves, or any specific part. And the sensation here is taut and accompanied by hand gestures. We will continue to explore this until she can go no further._

 _Note also that she started by saying, "It is going to ruin my lungs," evok_ _ing the possibility of an animal sensation. But when we asked her to describe the pure sensation in itself and the image, what we got was only a sensa_ _tion. There was no victim-aggressor issue or survival issue there, there was no convincing other entity seeking to harm or dominate her, so we can rule out the animal kingdom. Nor was there anything to do with lost or missing structure or ability, so we can also rule out the mineral kingdom. And now we have come to Level 5—sensation—and so far there is nothing but a pure sensation. The issue here is only sensitivity, and this is the plant kingdom._

 **R:** What is taut? What are you showing?

 **P:** [ _She remains in the same posture._ ] I realize that I am very stiff all over my body, and I am not relaxed. I know that this is the problem, but why is it that my toes and knees do not appear to be relaxed? My body and my nerves are taut, too tight.

 _("Taut" gives way to "tight." So we use tight as our next foothold.)_

 **R:** Describe tight a little bit more.

 **P:** I feel that is an extension of the feeling I have in my lungs; I feel that it gets extended to all over my body.

 _(Now we see that the local is nothing but the expression of the general. The same sensation and coping method applies to the lungs; it applies to the body and to every area in her life. The same thing has to be expressed in her dancing, dreams, delusions, and every single aspect of her life.)_

 **P:** Just held up. As if my feet and hands are being tied up [ _gestures with hands as if winding a rope or cord around something_ ] and I need to unwind it [ _makes the same winding gesture in the opposite direction_ ], just relax them a bit. At times I can do that by taking my mind away from my chest and taking it to my knees, but I can do it for only a split second, and again I come back to my chest. My whole body is restless, taut.

 _(She started with taut, then went to tight, then to held, and then to tied—all of these being accompanied by gestures. To understand the sensation clearly, or for one clear and fundamental sensation to emerge, we repeat all these words to the person and ask her to describe them further.)_

 **R:** Like what?

 **P:** [ _Again the gesture of winding a rope, and then as if bundling something._ ] The way you feel when you tie something with a cloth. Something being tied with a cloth, wrapped with a string; that kind of feeling. Like you hold something in your fist, like this [ _clenches her fist tightly_ ], and when you open it, loosen the grip, you see the effect of it. As if it is a piece of something soft, like dough, and you see impressions on it. That is the kind of feeling, like some harm is being done to my body because of this taut feeling.

 **R:** Tell me a little more about cloth being tied.

 **P:** A tight feeling, absolutely tight, and the impressions you get when you open out the rope. [ _As if pressing something between the flat surfaces of both palms._ ] As if tied with something. [ _Winding something with her hands._ ]

 _(The sensation is that of being tied up tightly, tied up so as to make taut; and the opposite is to loosen, to unwind.)_

 **P:** There is suffocation and scars. When you hold the wrist and it is very tight [ _encircles one wrist tightly with the other hand_ ], and then you loosen the grip; that is what I feel all over my body. I realize that every part of my body is very, very, very taut.

 **R:** This taut, tight feeling: in what other situation do you experience it?

 _(I do not ask this question anymore. It is a leading question, and when you lead the person it becomes possible to find and seemingly confirm even an incorrect sensation in her life and so be misled. For example, right in the beginning she used the word "blocked." If instead of maintaining a wide-open focus at that early stage we had focused on "blocked" and asked her: "In what situation do you feel blocked?" it is very likely that she would have been able to give us an example of such a situation. And then we might have followed that whole story without ever reaching the true sensation—tied up. I prefer now to simply stay with the sensation until the person spontane_ _ously leads me to another area in her life, to another situation. Or then to ask about the dreams or a stress situation and see if the same sensation is repeated there.)_

 **P:** When tensed or late for something or trying to rush through something, but not to this extent; when you are edgy [ _stiffens fingers_ ] and you are running late.

 **R:** What do you feel when you are late?

 **P:** At traffic signals I feel, Oh! I am going to be late! And I know I must relax, but my body becomes tense—the same taut feeling.

 **R:** Was there any situation in your life that was very scary?

 _(I use the word "scary" because she had said of her breathlessness, "It scared me.")_

 **P:** Dogs used to scare me a lot. [ _Crouches a little and throws her head back as if something is coming at her._ ] A dog in the colony had gone mad. I was wearing nice red sandals; I must have been around eight or nine years old. I was running and calling out for help, and in that process the sandals came off. And I saw the dog had ripped them apart. [ _Gestures as if stretching something tightly with both hands._ ] I was so scared that he could have done that to me. [ _Grasps her throat and widens her eyes as if frightened._ ] That image stayed in my mind, and I was so scared of dogs after that.

 **R:** What was the feeling?

 **P:** That it could have happened to me. [ _Again gestures as if stretching something tightly between both hands._ ] If the sandals had not fallen off, he could have done that to me. He could have ripped my leg. [ _As if stretching or pulling something tightly between both hands._ ]

 **R:** What's the fear like?

 **P:** Claws tearing open my skin. Dog will tear, rip. [ _Makes claws with both her hands facing outward and then draws them apart, as if something is being ripped apart._ ]

 _(The feeling of being caught or tied is always associated with something acute and panicky. How does the taut, caught feeling come to her, in relation to the dog in this instance? It comes suddenly, it catches and it kills; and this is where the coping method and sensation intertwine all the time. We see that the tied sensation always comes on suddenly, always comes with panic._

 _The coping mechanism occurs only in response to the sensation and always qualifies that sensation. In this case the coping mechanism, panic, occurs only in response to the sensations taut and caught. If there is no underlying sensation, there is no need for any reaction; no coping mechanism occurs as none is required.)_

 **R:** What dreams do you get?

 **P:** If I have had a very hectic day, the same thing plays in my mind; it goes on and on and on. [ _Makes repeated circles with her forefingers._ ] I have a performance and so many things have happened that night, and the dream is like a replay of what has happened. [ _Again makes circles._ ] And if there is smoke in the room in my dreams, I feel the smoke is there everywhere. [ _As if something is encircling her._ ] Sometimes I am running, but my feet fail and I just can't run after a while. Sometimes it is related to aircraft, as if I am witnessing a disaster, or an air crash, or a midair crash. As a kid I was scared on seeing aircraft; I would feel, "My God! This huge thing! What if it crashes? People will die and I shouldn't be one." The first time I sat in a plane, I was scared and tense for a while, but after some time I relaxed a little. Then, later, sometimes scared of flying and sometimes not. This would be the worst death.

 _(Note that in the dreams, too, she uses the same gestures. Also, from the dream of running she takes us to her childhood fear of air crashes. Shedescribes the fear as an imagined airplane crash. In this image we see the same sensation of being tied up in a sudden way. Of being in midair and dying; that's it! You have no warning and you just die.)_

 **R:** What is the feeling about no warning and dying?

 **P:** You just fall down and die and there are pieces of you falling everywhere. [ _Brings her hands close together and then takes her arms far apart forcefully, as if showing something breaking and scattering._ ] Helplessness that you can't save yourself; you can't run away. [ _Crouches behind closed fists._ ] In a split second's time you are going to be nowhere. [ _Again takes her arms far apart forcefully._ ]

 **R:** Explain "you can't run away."

 **P:** In a train I wouldn't feel like that. I know that I would protect myself [ _as if covering her head with something like a hood_ ]; somehow you'll try to run out. But here the feeling is that you can't do anything. If there is an explosion in midair, you can't save yourself.

 **R:** Because?

 **P:** There is no time even to know that I am dying [ _brings hands together with fingers closed, and then takes them apart, opening her fingers at the same time_ ], for me to think. It will just happen. It won't happen slowly, just that explosion. [ _Takes hands forcefully apart, opening out all her fingers at the same time._ ]

 **R:** What are you indicating with your hands?

 **P:** Pieces everywhere; as if being ripped open [ _again takes hands forcefully apart_ ], and there are pieces of me everywhere.

 **R:** Talk a little bit more about this fear.

 **P:** I feel the same way when I get these nightmares. I am standing on the beach and the plane has just taken off, and right before my eyes there are so many people dying. [ _Again takes her hands forcefully apart, opening all her fingers out._ ] It is exploding—that's it: helplessness, fear [ _as if clasping her throat_ ] that I might have to witness something like that one day.

 _(She described helplessness and fear with regard to her asthma.)_

 **R:** A little more about this helplessness . . .

 **P:** Not being able to do anything, to rush out and help those people. [ _She needs to rush for the inhaler. She is using the same words that she used to describeher experience of her asthma._] Fear, people dying in front of your eyes, and the fear of watching something like that.

 **R:** What is the fear like? Where do you experience it?

 **P:** In the chest. "Dhuk" here. [ _Brings closed fists suddenly very close to the chest and forcefully opens them out._ ] You get a sudden push, a jolt.

 **R:** What do you feel in the chest?

 **P:** Fear. Restlessness. Choking. [ _As if clasping her throat._ ]

 _(Again she experiences choking as she does with the asthma. The gestures are also exactly the same. The sensation is the same in the asthma as in the dream.)_

 **R:** Describe this choking.

 **P:** In the same way as I described before, but not so bad. It is for a split second. Choking. [ _As if cowering with fists clenched in front of her._ ] Taut, the same kind of feeling.

 **R:** What's the feeling like?

 **P:** Helplessness. [ _Takes hands apart._ ]

 **R:** What are you showing with your hands?

 **P:** Pieces that my body is going to be ripped into and thrown in different directions. [ _Takes hands very far apart._ ] Helplessness that I can't do anything about it; I can't run away, can't save myself.

 **R:** Why can't you run away?

 **P:** There is no time. In other circumstances I can save myself, but not here. Because it's an explosion, and I am dying in midair. [ _Takes hands far apart force_ _fully._ ] No time.

 **R:** What is the feeling of no time?

 **P:** It is just happening. There is going to be absolutely no time for me to get up, to save myself. Split second.

 _(With the air crash, too, it is something that is sudden, something that hap_ _pens in a split second, where she is scared and helpless and feels choked and taut. The sensation of being tied, trapped, and the coping method of feeling panic stricken again come together, as they did in the chief complaint and the incident with the dog._

 _We have come to the point where our questioning of her—about the sensation she experiences with her asthma and other stressful events anddreams in her life—has led always to the same answer, the same sensation of taut, tied, caught. Therefore we move on to her dancing, to explore the relationship of dancing to her chief complaint and core sensation.)_

 **R:** Talk about dancing.

 _(Dancing is both her hobby and her profession. Dancing—the way she dances, what dancing means to her—will be an expression of her whole general sensation. It is important that we explore this area.)_

 **P:** I have danced all my life, since I was a child. It gives me great pleasure. That's me.

 **R:** What is that pleasure?

 **P:** I feel there are so many outlets to expressions. [ _Takes hands far apart again._ ] Just the joy of moving the hand and facial muscles. I enjoy every aspect of it.

 **R:** How?

 **P:** As if I am living in a dancer's world. Everything is in the form of either a movement or an artistic expression. Everything I see, flowers or trees, I see some aspect of dance in it. Maybe there is a movement in my body when I see something like that. It gives great pleasure.

 **R:** When you say that it is an outlet, what do you mean?

 _(We pick up the word that is accompanied by the hand gesture.)_

 **P:** As if there are things that you can't express yourself, but when I have danced I have succeeded in doing that; as if I have expressed everything that I have wanted to [ _takes hands far apart with fingers apart_ ], all unsaid things. When I have finished dancing I feel very nice, as if I have given vent to something that has been trying to come out.

 **R:** How is it experienced, this outlet?

 **P:** Relaxed. Facial muscles are relaxed and I have a broad smile.

 **R:** What is the opposite?

 **P:** The taut feeling that I described.

 _(Again, the feelings of tense and taut on the one hand, and relaxed and outlet on the other.)_

 **R:** What things make you tense, upset?

 **P:** Irritation with small things. Telling my daughter to get ready in time for school. Rush, rush, rush.

 _(She has used the word "rush" before, with regard to the asthma and the dream.)_

 **R:** What is the feeling?

 **P:** Irritation. Time-bound.

 _(Here you see the sensation of bound or tied coming up once again.)_

 **R:** What do you mean by time-bound?

 **P:** As if I am bound by time [ _again the gesture as if winding something with a rope_ ], and I am taxing myself by looking at my watch. I still keep doing it.

 **Case Analysis and Explanation by Level**

 **Level 1: Name**

• Asthma: That is the diagnosis

 **Level 2: Fact**

• Suddenly triggered

• Severe attack

• Aggravation at night, lying down

• Danced even with asthma

 **Level 3: Feeling**

• Scared

• Shaken up

• Fear that it will be fatal

• Helpless

• Fear of death

 **Level 4: Delusion**

• Closed room

• Dark place

• No outlet

• Airplane

• Dog

Fear of airplanes crashing is a very strong fear, but it is not yet the deep point in the case; we need to get to her experience of it to that extent, because what we need to know is her inner sensation when she imagines a plane crashing. I use delusions now only as a means to go to the next level.

Level 4, delusion, is just above Level 5, sensation. Therefore I ask what the person feels and experiences within her delusion; what is her unique inner sensation? It is as if the person gives us the external story, sets the scene, and tells us in which play she is acting a part. This is only partial information. What we need to know from the person is how she feels inside when playing that part in the play, what is actually her inner experience of that outer story.

We have the story of the dog ripping her sandals apart; and the outer event—what happened; but what we need to then find out is the inner event: what she actually experienced within herself when she saw the dog ripping her sandals apart. Only then do we come to the deep level of sensation, Level 5.

 **Level 5: Sensation**

• No passage to breathe

• Completely blocked

• No space left

• Choking

These are the initial views; they are not the deepest.

Description of hand gesture:

• Blocked, no passage

Body gestures will give the general sensation:

• Crouched, stiffened, tight, held, tied by rope or string, need to unwind, loosen These are very specific.

 **Level 6: Energy**

• Speed

• Sudden

• Coming toward

• Clasp

 **What Is Level 6?**

This shows the energy level, what she is experiencing, her energy pattern, her gesture. The speed and the direction are shown at Level 6. This energy is expressed in her sensation, in her delusion, and in the way her asthma comes on. The energy expresses, informs, and gives rise to all the other levels throughout her whole case. The sensation is based on this energy, just as the delusion is in turn based on the sensation. What she describes as tight and taut is the energy expressed at the level of sensation, Level 5.

Arising from this sensation, Level 5, is the delusion, Level 4: I am in a closed room and cannot breathe. Delusion is experienced mentally and emotionally. In contrast, this movement that informs the whole of every person's case is at a much deeper, more basic level than either mind or body alone. This movement (in this patient's case, of coming together suddenly, rapidly) is pure energy, Level 6.

At the level of emotion, Level 3, it finds expression in "I am scared."

Locally this energy is expressed in the physical symptoms, Level 2, as "My chest is tight and taut."

Finally, the expression of this energy is given a name, a diagnosis at the level of pathology: asthma (Level 1).

 **Postscript**

The interview process itself gave this woman several insights, and she could see the commonality of her "sensation" in various spheres of her being. This had a healing effect. In addition, she was given a homeopathic remedy from the plant family Euphorbiaceae. This family has the sensation of tight, taut, tied, bound; and the opposite of loose and untied. The remedy chosen for her was CROTON TIGLIUM, which within this family has the Panic Type of coping mechanism. Over the next six to eight months she not only recovered from the asthma but also experienced a significant reduction in her stress levels in various situations and a freedom in her being. Her dancing lost its compulsive nature and became a medium of creative expression for her.

Conclusion

THIS BOOK IS intended to share with you, dear reader, some observations based on simply watching and listening to people and asking them to say a bit more about what they experience in the deeper levels of their being. What has emerged is that at some deeper level our emotions, thoughts, likes and dislikes, dreams, fantasies, and nightmares—as well as our bodily illnesses—all share a particular language, a particular individual melody, if you will.

This melody is a pattern, an energy field, which closely matches the energy field of a certain plant, animal, or mineral. This pattern colors the way we live, work, relate, and suffer. It almost rules our very existence. If we are able to perceive that our troubles come from that deep level at which this nonhuman part of us resides, then the nonhuman melody can be diluted and dispersed. But this is very difficult to do. Tackling emotions or dreams at a not-so-deep level has, at best, only a transient effect.

To see the shape and nature of that nonhuman thing that resides in us, we need the ability to distance ourselves from our problem, which is easier said than done. It is as if we have become our problem and cannot seem to stand back and observe. The other song is so loud that there is hardly any space for awareness.

An adjunct or route to becoming aware of this other song within us is to take a homeopathic remedy that is the essence of the spirit of our other song, the individual melody that sings inside us. The voice of the other song is heard all through the testing of the various substances from the animal, mineral, and plant kingdoms. During the process of case-taking, as the individual (patient) unravels this inner story, his inner melody unfolds note by note and we match it with available data on the various substances. Then we try to identify a remedy that has the same melody, an ultra dilution (potency) of the substance from nature that has the same melody as the one playing within the patient.

We pinpoint the song in nature that matches the patient's other song as closely as possible by using descriptions from the subfamily level of plants, from the class level of animals, and from the row and column intersection point on the periodic table for minerals. The remedy produces significant change in the mind and the body, and consequently the disease pathology starts to heal. Given sufficient time, one sees changes in the patient's perception of and reaction to life, resulting from a dilution of his other song. The changes are manifested in the way he perceives his relationships, his life, himself—in short, everything.

Homeopathy acts at such a vital level, yet without much effort on the part of the patient beyond the process of initial case-taking, wherein he is led into the depth of his experience. Healing that happens in this way is at a very deep level. A treatment that touches lives in this fashion brings about the kind of quantum jump that is required in the life of the patient; it effects change at the deepest level of his illness—beyond his physical symptoms and pathology.

The ideas in this book are broad and are not restricted to the realm of homeopathy. People can use these to become more aware in their interaction with the world around them. We see these ideas being utilized in movies, art, architecture, politics, crime, news, art—truly, in every aspect of human life.

Advertisers use the sensitivity of our inner melodies to optimize the appeal of their products by striking the right chord within us. Advertisements cater to different types of people by using the main themes of the three kingdoms, animal, plant, and mineral. For example, an advertisement showing that one battery lasts 35 percent longer than another appeals to the buyer whose other song is from the mineral kingdom—with its themes of function and loss—because that person tends to base his purchases on quantifiable variables, like usage and savings. Then there are those advertisements that promise a certain detergent will make your clothes look whiter and last longer than those of your neighbors, who will envy you. Here their target buyers are people whose animal song has chords of competition and jealousy. And consider those advertisements that mean to touch you deeply through a display of love, affection, and compassion, such as the one of a mother whose annoyance turns to tender joy when the son she was about to scold presents her with flowers he was holding behind his back. This clearly softens buyers who have the sensitivity of the plant song.

The bulls and bears of the stock markets, the hawks and doves of international politics, speak the animal songs in human society. When we see a political leader saying, "We are being threatened by our neighboring country and we have to defeat them so that we can survive in peace," we can hear the melody of the animal song playing in him. The symbols that people use, the words they speak, and the choices they make all reflect a deeper melody from the nonhuman realm.

Nonetheless, what we are discussing here is the very essence of our life. It is that which is ingrained in our very existence and so should not be taken superficially or casually, like a coffee-table conversation. The ideas in this book are not a classification, for that would be very left brain, analytical thinking. This book is about a journey that takes us on an inward path. It is a process of discovery, not mathematical, logical analysis. It would be inappropriate to see it as deducing or drawing conclusions. If you follow the processes described here, then the inner world reveals itself, a totally new dimension that runs parallel to, but lies far deeper than, the person's outer expression visible to the world.

I recall a time when I made a trip from Mumbai (India) to a holiday resort some seven hours away. I took a bus in which I assumed animals were not allowed, but I had to take my cat, because there was no one with whom I could leave her. So I put her in a cane basket with holes and sat at the back of the bus. From time to time she would get restless in the basket and curiously stick her head out of it and meow. People would turn around to look, wondering where the sound came from. As for me, I would push her head back in and pretend I had nothing to do with it.

The other song is like the cat in the basket. It sticks its head out from time to time through words, gestures, expressions, and experiences that are not human-specific.

As the light of our awareness falls on the darkness of this other song, the other song's influence becomes lesser and lesser—making us healthier and, thus, more human—so that we can come closer to (as homeopathy's founder, Samuel Hahnemann, put it) a healthy state wherein "the reasoning spirit who inhabits the organism can thus freely use this healthy living instrument to reach the lofty goal of human existence."*5

This understanding for me personally has changed the way I see and listen on a daily basis to both myself and to those around me. I start seeing myself from where I am coming from rather than just by the words I use or by what I do.

With this knowledge you can listen to people's inner language and address it. You can see the state each one of us is stuck in and stop blaming. You start taking responsibility for yourself, your life, and your situation. There is less anger, fighting, and acrimony and more watching and being. It is substantially calming.

Knowledge of the other song makes one quieter on many levels. The realization is that when we interact with someone else, we are often only interacting with ourselves; that the dialogue is not really two people talking to each other but more a conversation with oneself. We come from such completely different worlds that we cannot even begin to comprehend what another is experiencing unless we see that person's other song emerge as his or her case is taken.

I believe that permanent and peaceful connections between people are possible only at the seventh level. This is true friendship or oneness. At this level we are beyond our disease states, sensations, and delusions; hence, we do not interact as one state with another but as one observer with another, and we come to the common point of all humans—the silent witness state—where there is acceptance of self and the other as the person really is. Being in the now becomes the accepted daily way of being.
Appendix

Some Questions

 **Is it possible for a person to have an animal song, a mineral song, and a plant song within at the same time? In the examples that follow, the subject seems to have an element from each of the three kingdoms. Is this possible, or is the case just not being assessed correctly?**

 **Example 1:** An architect feels ashamed (sensitive—plant) after he loses a competition (animal) to design the most efficiently structured house (mineral).

 **Example 2:** A person feels vulnerable (plant) in the cells of his body (mineral) to hostile microorganisms (animal).

 **Example 3:** "I am easily offended (plant) by rude classmates (animal) because of my internal weakness (mineral)."

The idea of kingdoms is this: When we go to the depth of a person's state, we find that it has a pattern that matches a substance from any one of these three kingdoms. A person has only one other song at a time, so having this singular song presupposes only one kingdom. Therefore it is not possible for a person to have an animal, a mineral, and a plant song all at the same time.

In the first example we have an architect who has lost a competition for the most efficiently structured house. When we ask him about his experience of that particular situation he may say, for example, that he feels ashamed or embarrassed. We have to take him one step deeper. "Describe the experience of being ashamed or embarrassed." That question will take him into a deeper level, where he will present not the emotion but the actual experience of it, which will be a sensation.

Imagine the architect opening the letter that announces the winners of the competition and reading the names—his not among them. The mineral-kingdom response would be something like, "I must be losing my ability to work in the energy-efficiency field." (This shows a feeling of lacking something, being incapable of something, or having lost something.) The animal-kingdom architect would think something like, "How could _he_ have won? He's an _idiot_! I'm much better than he is!" (There is a feeling of competition.) The plant-kingdom architect would say, "I am shocked and disappointed. It feels as if everything is sinking, or I am going downward." (This is pure sensation and reaction.)

So when you probe the case and delve into the same situation at a deeper level, you will find, at the core, the experience of the person—not his emotion, not his delusion, but his sensory experience. This will either be a sense of lacking something or losing something, which is mineral; a sense of competing, which is animal; or a sensation and a reaction to something, which is plant. At a superficial level all of us have qualities of all the kingdoms. But we are not talking superficially here; we are talking about the sensation level, and here it will be one and only one core sensation, one constant discomfort.

In the second example above, assume that a person feels vulnerable in the cells of his body, especially to hostile microorganisms. Here we also see both the mineral-kingdom and animal-kingdom features. In the third example the person feels "I am easily offended by rude classmates because of my internal weakness." The first feeling suggests the plant kingdom; the second, the mineral. These are hypothetical scenarios, but even if they were true, when you take this just a little further and ask, "How do you _experience_ the situation of being offended by rude classmates?" or "How do you experience the situation where you are vulnerable to hostile microorganisms?" the response he gives will not come from all three kingdoms. He will come to one core sensation—from one kingdom only. This has been my experience in several hundred cases, and this is something for which you need to dig deeper into your case and observe. Then you will see the truth of it.

 **In case-taking methodology, the practitioner gently shepherds the patient to express deeper levels of his experience of his chief complaint, moving from its name and local sensations to the emotions, delusion, vital sensation, and energy. We use the words _deep, deeper, deepest,_ and _depth,_ so clearly the concept is important, but why is a feeling of being crushed (for example) deeper or more useful than a well-described pain? Why have we added this concept of deeper, and how has it made a difference? Particularly, how does one tell when one has gotten deep enough to have reached the vital sensation?**

I think, again, the answer to this question will come only from seeing the method in action, either through a practitioner who follows this method or by trying it out in your own practice. Let me give you an example.

I had a case of a man with a tumor in his eyeball, and he described it by saying that this tumor caused a certain "imbalance" in his eyes. Then he described this imbalance as a sense of lack of coordination, and further, that coordination was the most important thing in his life; everything needed to be coordinated. Pursuing this line of thought, he offered several examples of coordination: the kind a pilot needs when piloting his plane, a rocket scientist when making a rocket, an actor when performing live on stage, and so on.

At some point, he described a situation where his mother-in-law had done something behind his back, and when I asked him what he had felt about it he replied that he had felt very disappointed and betrayed. Now these emotions of disappointment and betrayal are present in his case, and one might be tempted to come to conclusions from these. But if you state further, "Describe the disappointment," then you bring out the true individuality of the person's reaction to the circumstance.

When somebody does something behind your back, which is not expected, the feeling of disappointment is common, not individual. Hahnemann always emphasized the individualizing phenomena, the characteristic symptoms. Here, when we look at disappointment, it's not individual enough, not characteristic enough. Go further. When I asked him, "Describe the disappointment," he said, "It's as if somebody had punched me in my stomach." This now gets more characteristic. Take it one step further. I said, "Describe the experience of being punched," and he answered, "I feel completely suffocated." "Describe suffocation." And it opens out and you find that there is the suffocating sensation in many areas in his life, as when swimming, or in claustrophobic situations, and so on. That suffocation sensation, along with a need for the type of precision coordination and control used by a stage artist or an airplane pilot, was the core sensation. (The homeopathic remedy used in his case was ARGENTUM NITRICUM, from the mineral kingdom.)

So "ailment from disappointment" or "delusion that somebody had punched his stomach" are more superficial expressions of the difficulty. The deeper expression is the tremendous sense of suffocation that he felt not only in the situation with his mother-in-law, but in every area of his life. This sensation was so individual, so completely unconnected with the external reality, that it became his most individualizing symptom (both physical and mental). It was at the sensation level.

When you see that it is both physical and mental—that it encompasses his whole life, his whole story—and you see the same thing at the depth of _all_ his expressions—interests and hobbies, occupation, relationships, physical symptoms, and so on—you know that you have come to the depth, to the vital sensation. Everything comes together at this level.

 **Some teach that the patient's way of responding to stress is very important. In this system, the doctor tries to go from the obvious levels of experience of the chief complaint to the deeper levels. During this process, is it accurate to say that he goes from a description of the complaint to understanding the patient's individual response to the complaint? Is this similar to the way that others teach us to explore the patient's individual response to stress?**

Yes, we explore the description of the complaint as well as the individual response to the complaint. At some point in exploring the description of the complaint and bringing out its nuances, you find that it is the same as the response to the complaint. Body and mind come together at the level of sensation.

When we explore the person's physical experience of his symptom to its deepest level then we come to how he reacts to that particular problem; and when that in turn is examined to its deepest level it will come to the very same point, which is the sensation.

 **Are the non-human-specific characteristics within each person always a problem?**

When the non-human-specific characteristics within a person are persistent, when they form a pattern, and when that pattern fixes a person's life and he's stuck in it, then it becomes a problem, and that is the disease. If a person's sensations change along with the circumstance, if he is able to be in the moment—enjoying the wind and experiencing lightness and floating when on a mountain; when at work, experiencing his capability to work; when in a competition feeling competitive—this is absolutely perfect. Anything becomes a problem only when it's fixed and longstanding and colors and limits the person's whole life.

 **Is differentiation or individuality possible among humans without non-human-specific characteristics?**

Individuality will always be there. People are tall or short, intelligent or strong, and so on. But these differences will not limit the individual; they will not be pathological. Hence, they will not be stuck. Each one will experience his individuality as well as his freedom. That is health.

 **For a student who can grasp only very simple concepts, would it be helpful to say that mineral-song patients believe their problem is within themselves, plant-song patients believe their problem is from some process or substance coming at them from outside themselves, and animal-song patients believe that their problem is caused by some external entity?**

More or less, yes. You are right about the mineral and animal persons. The mineral person feels the problem as lacking something, losing something, or being incapable of something. The plant person does not see the problem as coming from anything outside himself. His problem lies in his own sensitivity and reactivity to something outside of himself.
Resources

**FURTHER READING**

Sankaran, Rajan. _Homeopathy: The Science of Healing_. New Delhi: B. Jain Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 2005.

Ullman, Dana. _The Consumer's Guide to Homeopathy_. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1995.

Ullman, Robert, and Judyth R. Ullman. _The Patient's Guide to Homeopathic Medicine_. Washington: Picnic Point Press, 1995.

Vithoulkas, George. _The Science of Homeopathy_. New York: Grove Press, 1980.

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Footnotes

*1 Miasm here refers to the type of coping mechanism.

*2 "What Are Doodles?" The Neurofibromatosis Association, September 2, 2007, www.nationaldoodleday.org.uk, or for the meanings, www.nationaldoodleday.org.uk/about/doodle_meanings.html.

*3 Eva Ibbotson, _The Secret of Platform 13_ (New York: Dutton Children's Books, 1998), 3–4.

*4 Robert A. Johnson, _Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth_ (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986), 8.

*5 Samuel Hahnemann, _Organon of Medicine: The First Integral English Translation of the Definitive Sixth Edition of the Original Work on Homeopathic Medicine,_ trans. Jost Kunzli, M.D., Alain Naude, and Peter Pendleton (Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher, Inc., 1982).
About the Author

Dr. Rajan Sankaran is an internationally renowned homeopath who has been in practice since 1981. The creator of the Sensation Method of homeopathy, he gives lectures and seminars throughout the world. The author of several books, including _The Spirit of Homeopathy_ , _The Substance of Homeopathy_ , and _The Sensation in Homeopathy_ , he lives in Mumbai, India.
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Copyright © 2008, 2011 by Govindarajan Sankaran

Originally published in India in 2008 by Homeopathic Medical Publishers under the title _The Other Song: Discovering Your Parallel Self_

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

 ** _Note to the reader:_** _This book is intended as an informational guide. The remedies, approaches, and techniques described herein are meant to supplement, and not to be a substitute for, professional medical care or treatment. They should not be used to treat a serious ailment without prior consultation with a qualified health care professional._

 **Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data**

Sankaran, Rajan.

[Other song]

Homeopathy for today's world : discovering your animal, mineral, or plant nature / Rajan Sankaran.

p. cm.

Originally published: The other song : discovering your parallel self. Mumbai, India : Homeopathic Medical Publishers, 2008.

eISBN-13: 978-1-59477-946-6

1. Homeopathy—Popular works. I. Title.

RX76.S28 2011

615.5'32—dc22

2011008667

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