Illness

The following is from Seth Session 159 (Volume 4 of the Early Sessions):


"I am going to take this instance of your friend's illness however to make a few points of my own, some that may not be too well received. A cure of any kind will never depend upon any given treatment. It will in all cases depend upon the belief on the part of the sufferer that he can be cured. It will depend upon his desire to be cured. It will depend upon the strength of the purpose that an illness serves. It will depend upon, in the last analysis, the individual's own ability to mobilize his own energies, for only these will effect a cure.

"Any physician of any kind can only help a sufferer mobilize these energies and direct them. A sufferer has adopted an illness into his own self-image, through suggestion, which to a large degree he himself has given. He has caused the illness, whether it be organic or otherwise, and only suggestion will rid him of it.

"It is indeed quite time for us to discuss the true nature and reality of what is so loosely called suggestion. We have indeed spoken much concerning the focus of energy, and a sufferer is truly entranced with the idea of his illness, and it is only this which basically allows the illness to continue. He focuses upon it both consciously and unconsciously.

"An illness is a failure to solve a mental or psychological problem in the correct manner. As long as the illness continues the problem remains unsolved, and a vicious circle is maintained because of this unwholesome balance. The sufferer focuses upon the illness, therefore avoiding his task of functioning upon the problem.

"The energy that would be used to solve the problem instead is spent maintaining the illness. It is therefore necessary that an attempt be made as soon as possible to solve the problem, which of course must first be discovered by the ego, which has avoided it.

"This first attempt to discover the problem, automatically and because of its nature, immediately aids the sufferer in changing the focus of his attention away from the symptom, which he has himself formed, and already the symptom is weaker.

"The trouble with many health programs for recovery is that they cause the sufferer to focus upon his illness more than ever. The unsolved problem is therefore pushed further away."

... "So-called suggestion causes not only sickness but health.

"The term itself is a very poor one. We will go much more deeply into this as the whole discussion continues. Needless to say, suggestion operates as strongly and as realistically and as practically within an atom, or a toad, or a leaf, as it does in man.

"Our material concerning the construction of the physical universe and of physical matter in general may now, perhaps, give you an idea of how important suggestion is. Also consider our material on expectation, for indeed expectation comes closer, as a term, than does suggestion.

"Our focus of energy is vital, both yours and mine. Expectation to a large extent determines the manner in which we will use this energy, and the types of constructions that will be formed. Your friend's ulcer for example is his problem in its entirety, constructed into the physical matter of his own organism.

"This is to be taken literally.

"The problem, as a mental manipulation, has not been settled. The resulting construction, therefore, is a faithful replica of his distortion.

"In some types of illnesses such distortions are mirrored or reflected, so to speak, many times within one organism. We will have much more to say along these lines."