There were many more reports and pieces of literature that directly or indirectly provided 'proof' that we are spirit and can live on. I heard about spiritual healers, saw in a film how people were operated on with just their hands, how blood flowed and people were released from their suffering. There was a report on television about a shaman who had his tongue cut out on camera. Afterwards, he was able to summon up so much spiritual strength that he was able to reattach the cut piece to the original part without leaving a scar. I found a book by the English doctor Laurence J. Bendit and his clairvoyant wife Phoebe D. Bendit, who was a nurse. They described the spiritual processes from birth to death.
I could still observe forces within me that must have been of a spiritual nature. It was only gradually that I lost them, the more I became absorbed in my work. Certain dreams also made me very pensive again and again. I was so absorbed in the search for truth that I kept having questions and a certain restlessness within me. It happened that I dreamt the solution and woke up at a very specific time, almost to the minute! What was even more amazing was that sometimes I woke up at the right minute because of another sound - for example, a child calling! One day - I must have been about 35 years old - I dreamt again, but lo and behold, I dreamt that I would no longer dream (would no longer have such instructive dreams). From that day on I was on my own and had to go my way without any visible support.
Years later, I came across a book by the professional English healer and therapist Malcolm S. Southwood, who had been accompanied by an inner voice for a long time, until one memorable evening it told him: "It's time you took responsibility for these things yourself. From now on you're on your own. Learn to understand what you are doing and how to use your own spiritual power and love.”
In his book The Healing Experience, Southwood describes his journey to becoming a professional healer. The German edition is called 'Beruf: Heiler' and was published by Knaur-Verlag. Southwood reports:
I have been working as a professional healer and therapist for over ten years now, helping people from all over the world. The material in this book comes from my experience with thousands of patients. I have always been open to new ideas and have tried to break with dogma and dispel the dark clouds of superstition that cast their shadows over the world of healing.
I am what is commonly known as a spiritual healer. This is an indescribably poor term because it is open to so many different and often erroneous interpretations. I will only report on my personal experiences and beliefs and will not speak for other healers. Healing is an individual art, which is why healers, like artists, have their own distinctive style. There are no two painters who paint alike, nor should they criticise those who use a brush differently. Rather, each should consider how they can benefit from the other's technique.
How did I become a healer? How does a businessman get involved in something like this? At the time I had my own international marketing company for agricultural products. At the same time, I was under contract with one of the major US oil companies, where I was responsible for marketing agricultural products. This job involved travelling all over the world.
One day, I had just returned from a business trip to London and was on my way home in the evening when I got stuck in a traffic jam. I happened to see a sign in a window that said 'Spiritualist Church'. At first I didn't think much of it, but as the week went on I couldn't get the words 'Spiritualist Church' out of my head. I started asking around and pestering anyone who might know what a 'Spiritualist' was. I must have got on people's nerves, because my wife finally suggested that I attend a service. “It won't be quiet until you see for yourself what it's all about,” she said. So I went to one of their services the following weekend.
I have to admit that at first I thought everyone there was crazy, especially when, during the ceremony, the pastor pointed at me and said: “You will be a healer in the name of God, because you have a great white aura around you. The work you are meant to do is starting right now!” Believe me, I couldn't get out of that church fast enough. I was supposed to be a healer! What an absurd idea! I had a wife and four children to look after, a business to run. I must have been out of my mind to step over that threshold! Yet, for some inexplicable reason, the Church kept drawing me back. And each time I went, I received the same message, until finally people began to come up to me and ask me to heal them of their headaches, knee pains and other ailments. What was even more surprising was that I was actually able to help, and so more and more people turned to me for help.
After a while, the same inner voice that had urged me to attend church services told me to stop. The church had served its purpose and set me on my way, and from now on I would stand on my own two feet. It may sound strange to talk about an inner voice giving me instructions, but it was not the first time I had come into contact with it. Even as a child I had heard this voice guiding and directing me, and I had never had reason to believe that it was anything extraordinary. I simply believed that everyone has such a protective and guiding voice within them. Yes, there have been times in my life when this voice has spoken through me and I have heard the thoughts of another person on my lips. More than once it has saved me from a difficult situation. When I couldn't think of an answer myself, I just had to let this 'inner voice' speak through me.
Shortly afterwards, in 1979, I fell seriously ill and was taken to the local hospital. I have little memory of my time there. All I know is that I left my body. What I do remember is extremely vague, but I remember that I went somewhere to learn. I was undergoing some kind of intensive training. The doctors were convinced that I was hallucinating, but I was not. The whole thing lasted no longer than about five days. During that time I was in isolation, had two lumbar punctures and a whole series of tests. In the end, no one could really say why I had suddenly collapsed in unspeakable pain and fallen into a kind of coma. But one thing was clear: the man who went into hospital was not the man who came out. It took me a whole year to fully recover, and during that time I visibly lost interest in my work. My whole outlook on life and death and all my emotional values had changed. And something else had changed: my gift for healing. In a sense, I grew wings in this regard, and more and more people came to me for help with all sorts of ailments.
After a while I closed down what was left of my business and began to focus entirely on healing. I felt I was reacting like most people do when they suddenly realise they have something truly valuable to offer. I wanted the whole world to know about it. My enthusiasm was almost unstoppable. First of all, I said to myself, I had to get the public's attention by advertising. At that moment, that little inner voice spoke up. “Don't advertise!" it said. What nonsense, I thought. Why have such a talent if you don't make the most of it? And so, for the first time, I ignored my inner voice and set about organising an advertising campaign.
After the day when the voice said, “Don't advertise” and I replied quietly but firmly, “Leave me alone!” I received a second warning. I had made an appointment to see a patient that morning. At the appointed time, there was indeed a knock at the door, but instead of the expected patient, a priest stood before me. I didn't know him and must have looked rather surprised, because he immediately began to apologise for his appearance and explained to me in a somewhat hesitant tone that he didn't really know why he had come either. He had been driving down the road on his way to a meeting when he suddenly felt an irresistible urge to turn into our driveway and drive up the path to our house.
“I don't know why I'm here,” he shrugged. “May I come in anyway?”
He entered the room where I treated my patients, and I told him I didn't have much time for him because I was expecting someone. But he didn't listen to me.
“What a wonderful view,” he said, looking out the bay window at the swimming pool. “What do you do? What is your profession?”
And so I told him about my gift of healing and gave him some of my devotional writings. After we had spent about half an hour together without exchanging another word, he said quietly, “This is a wonderful place and you are not alone here. I don't know why I feel compelled to tell you this, and I don't understand it myself, but under no circumstances should you advertise your gift.”
With these words he got up and left my house. I never saw him again. Nor did I see the patients who had appointments with me that morning. I don't know what happened to them. I was in a very difficult situation. I had given up my business and my source of income. And I couldn't advertise to make a new living. But all was not lost. It was certainly not advertising when the local doctor, with whom I was good friends, sent me the patients whom the state health service could not help. So I went to him and told him about my work. He said he had heard about it and that I had already helped some of his patients. He promised to refer those who might be interested to me. I didn't see this referral as advertising, but the voice inside me disagreed. I was unable to help any of the ten or twelve patients the doctor sent my way. I had to conclude that I had completely lost my ability to heal. I could not help anyone. So I had ruined everything. I had thrown away the chance of a lifetime and my incredible gift, all because I thought I knew better. Now I had no choice but to revive my business.
After about six months, when I had long given up any thought of working as a healer, a woman called and asked for my help. She had arthritis and was in great pain. I explained that I no longer worked as a healer. She was so disappointed and begged me to try one more time - how could I refuse? So I told her to come to me and held my hands over her - and lo and behold, it worked. I felt the power flow through me again and heard a little voice inside saying, “In the future, do as you are told!”
For a long time that voice accompanied me on my path. But one memorable evening, as I was discussing spiritual matters with some friends, it said to me: “It is time for you to take responsibility for these things yourself. From now on you're on your own. Learn to understand what you're doing and how to use your own spiritual power and love.” From that moment on I realised that healing is much more than holding your hands over a patient and leaving someone else in charge.
Southwood continues: “Healers are not special. They have not been chosen by God or anyone else because of some supernatural quality or belief... Healers are usually ordinary people with a sincere desire to help others. Healing is a gift, but it is not given because of a particular philosophical belief or for services rendered. Healing is an innate ability that many people have, some more than others. As with painting (which most of us can do to a greater or lesser extent), some are better, some are less good, and some have very special abilities in a particular area of healing; and with increasing practice the quality of work improves many times over for all.
Some healers prefer to work in a group, others alone. Some close their eyes and meditate while healing, others need background music. There are healers who work in organisations such as church institutions, while others work completely independently. There are also a number of groups that specialise in particular conditions. Some believe that you can only heal after you have completed the appropriate training and undergone some sort of initiation or ceremony in front of your peers to prove yourself worthy of their acceptance and support. Others believe that one must be a follower of a particular faith, have acquired sufficient understanding and knowledge of a particular religion or moral philosophy to be acceptable to God, much like themselves. Ultimately, however, it does not matter in the least what you believe or who you choose as your teacher. Either you have that certain something that makes you a healer, or you do not.
So what does a spiritual healer do? Very little, actually, that you can see or judge. They stand behind or in front of their patient, alone or with a colleague, and transfer spiritual or physical energy from themselves or through themselves to a person who has requested treatment. As these energies flow into the patient, the normal state of health is partially or completely restored. I say partially because it often takes more than one session to heal completely.
So what do I do when someone comes to me for healing? A person is made up of body, mind and spirit. How I approach a patient depends on whether they have a physical, emotional or spiritual problem. When it comes to physical ailments, very little can go wrong. The body is an ingenious 'machine'. It controls and maintains itself completely independently, requiring only fuel in the form of energy, which we get from food. Except in the case of genetic defects, accidents, poisoning or disease, our 'machine' is absolutely reliable. There is a fifth area: trauma.
I believe that most disorders, apart from the four exceptions mentioned above, have their origin in the soul. Healing therefore means helping the soul to come to terms with a difficult situation so that it can work in harmony with the body. If the interaction between body and soul is disturbed, the soul will collapse over time.
By the time a patient comes to me, they have usually tried all the orthodox methods and have been told that they just have to learn to live with their problem. If a patient comes to me without having consulted a doctor, when he obviously needs conventional medical treatment, it is a matter of course for me to accept him only if he is willing to seek orthodox medical advice first".
Malcolm S. Southwood then goes on to describe his methods of healing and his contribution to healing, concluding:
“As long as a healer believes that healing is a gift and as such requires no further development or care, he will inevitably remain in the role of amateur operating on the fringes of our health system. Of course, the ability to heal is a gift, but this is no reason to assume that one can dispense with demonstrating minimum standards of professionalism before declaring oneself competent in the art of healing.
Healers also need training and education to fully develop, use and understand their gift. Basic knowledge of counselling methodology, psychotherapy, physiology, biology, religion, metaphysics and other subjects directly or indirectly related to their work is essential if healers are to advance their professional status.
Once healers begin to take themselves seriously, doctors will follow. Healing therapy is urgently needed to address the root causes of the many health problems in our society, because drug treatment alone is not enough. I am convinced that the medical profession has lost its way in the jungle of technology. It has limited itself to treating symptoms that the subconscious mind continues to produce regardless of medical intervention, until someone finally looks beyond the symptoms and identifies the causes. That is true healing.”