Transparency vs Spin in Healers
January 21, 2009
We would all love to believe that there’s a healer somewhere who can heal anything. Lots of people would love you to believe that they are that very healer! But the truth is such a healer doesn’t exist. The outcome of healing is always uncertain. The best of healers have people who don’t heal (at least in the ways they had hoped). Sometimes profound healings happen, and at other times nothing seems to happen. There are people who dedicate themselves to helping others heal and often they do. And yet, sometimes healing happens without a healer or an herb or supplement or anything that we can point to as a possible cause. “Spontaneous remissions” happen which do not involve a healer and sometimes aren’t even sought for. Someone could even fail to be healed with a skilled healer and then receive healing with a charlatan. All sorts of things can happen with healing.
Where do all these contradictions and paradoxes leave us? We aren’t left with easy answers, but if we are at least able to start by acknowledging what actually happens with healing rather than believe the spin that gets put on it, we at least have a chance of finding some useful answers.
There is a lot of talk now about transparency in government. We need to know what is actually going on, how things are being done, where they money is being spent and so on if we are going to be able to participate in shaping our futures. I think transparency when it comes to healing is also important. A recent comment on the website really struck me and made me want to address this issue.
Michele wrote:
“Why am I not experiencing Reiki as profoundly as EVERY publication describes, and why is there NOTHING on the internet or in books about Reiki difficulties?”
You can read Michele’s full comment and my reply here. Discussions about the challenges healers face and the varied outcomes they have do happen in some classes. They sometimes go on between students and their teachers or mentors of healing. But it’s true, you don’t see much about this in books or on the internet. My sense is that this is because most of what you read is by someone who is promoting a particular healing system or their own products and services. Of course, the only testimonials displayed are about the successes, not the “failures”. (Actually I don’t think there are failures in healing, but that’s a discussion for another time.) To some extent, those who make money as healers have an investment in keeping a mystique around healing, the idea that there’s some magic that can work every time. They may even do this unconsciously, selectively remembering the best outcomes and ignoring or explaining away the others. Whether conscious or unconscious, much of what you read about healing has a definite spin.
I feel it would be of great value to have more transparency in holistic and alternative healing. Although I feel the scientific method has its limitations in the realm of healing, it seems like science helps to keep the medical profession more “real”. You don’t see MDs advertising with testimonials to their cures. I think transparency might go a long way in helping us to be more mature and wise in the way we approach healing. That may not mean we subject everything to scientific research, but it would mean that we speak openly and truthfully about the outcomes we have actually observed. It would also mean that we look more deeply at what we mean by healing.
Of course, true transparency would change the face of marketing. Look at what it has done to commercials for drugs. After the lovely promise of a good night’s sleep or pain free joints, comes a long list of possible side effects. Although an ad for Reiki or an energy healer would not really need a list of side effects, it could include information about the different forms healing may take and reference to the inability to predict outcomes.
Often when people are attracted to becoming healers, it’s with unrealistic expectations. Unfortunately this can lead to disappointment and giving up on a path that could prove really rewarding. Because Michele’s experience didn’t match the descriptions she’d heard, she said:
“This makes me feel like I am not worthy to do Reiki, although I REALLY want to share it with others in a way that is truly helpful to them.”
My feeling is that if someone has the desire and intention to offer healing and does so in the right way, only good can come of it. It can nourish both the healer and the person seeking to be healed. Even the failure to achieve a desired result is a step along the way. Healing is always possible, even when it is not what we had hoped. It may just take a different form.
In the interests of exploring this more, and creating a place to discuss difficulties with healing and questions, I’ve created a Healers’ Corner page. I’d love to hear from healers about their views, experiences and questions about being a healer.
Comments
2 Responses to “Transparency vs Spin in Healers”
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I am a colour therapist which is a mixture of spiritual healing and colour psychology. I can balance the energy centres or chakras the same way as a reiki healer but by using different methods.
However, that only tackles half the problem, colour therapy is a self help therapy and includes an element of counselling to help clients maintain a sense of balance with regard to the stresses they face in life. This helps the client maintain their well being and hence reduce the need to be healed.
Hi Trevor,
My sense is that self care is the most important thing for anyone who is on a healing journey. I respect healers who, like yourself, who place an emphasis on helping their clients maintain their own well-being as opposed to creating a dependency on the healer.