The missing link in health & thriving, part 1

It’s been a while since my last article as we have been in the midst of relocating from London to The Lake District. Although there have been many challenges, it is mostly a sense of new beginnings and wonderment that is showing up for Ago and I. We’ve managed to unpack, clear much of the mess and created enough space this weekend to share a few insights that may inform and inspire you.

My life and work are inspired and informed by the alchemical and transformative aspects of medicine. I meet my patients and clients where they are and take them beyond the presenting problems to deeper levels of physical health and thriving in all aspects of their life.

My major influences are Buddhist teachings, Daoist acupuncture, medicine, and the healing arts; and more recently the teachings of Sydney Banks. 

Syd was an ordinary fellow who had an extraordinary insight in 1973. That not only radically changed the course of his life but it would go on to transform the lives of countless people in the ensuing decades. What he saw was that there are three fundamental Principles, or universal laws, that explain how our psychological experiences are formed.

Over the past few years, I have been exploring the implications of this understanding and field testing it in my own life and work. The Principles have enhanced my ability to support my clients in finding clear and viable solutions to their specific health concerns as well as impacting many areas of their life and work. Furthermore the Principles are teachable and the results are consistent and reproducible.

To deepen this exploration I joined a 6-month long in-person 3 Principles Practitioner Programme with an outstanding teacher, Ian Watson. What attracted me to Ian’s course is his interest in sharing the implications of the Principles to health and healing. Here I share a few highlights that have resonated most with me.

What is a principle?

All principles or universal laws are constants. You can always rely on them to function predictably in the natural world. And while the principles that govern the physical world have been discovered, the same could not be said of understanding the underlying principles of how our mind works.

William James (1842-1910), a pioneer of modern psychology, wrote that when the fundamental principles governing how the human mind works are discovered, that would be the greatest breakthrough for humanity since the harnessing of fire. 

It is the understanding of the students and practitioners of the Three Principles that Sydney Banks did in fact uncover these essential Principles. Initially I was skeptical of this claim, but remained open-minded. I can now say that this simple understanding has profoundly impacted my life and work with my patients and clients and I am excited by the possibility of sharing this understand far and wide.

How the Three Principles are impacting me

The Principles have deepened my understanding and appreciation for the unity and sanctity of life. Although I had long intuited this, even having tiny glimpses of that at certain points in my life, the possibility of its being a reliable truth that I could live by remained elusive until now. Furthermore this understanding turns out to be very practical and applicable to everyday circumstances.

Rather than being groundlessly lofty and isolating, this understanding turns out to be eminently practical and inclusive, particularly in helping others see a way to heal themselves.  As I continue to embody the profound and practical understanding that the Principles point to, I no longer see that we are inherently broken and need fixing. What I have seen and experienced so far, whilst barely scratching the surface, has deepened my experience of life in generally and in particular the way I practice medicine.

Instead of imposing another set of beliefs and practices, the Principles actually take a lot off our mind by clearing up the misunderstanding about who we really are and where our experiences come from.

A key implication is that we do not need to be more of who we already are, but to see how we've come to believe otherwise. And when that lands for us, a lifetime of stress, fear, worry, insecurity and anxiety will simply drop off. We will live life lightly, with more ease and flow. Life then becomes a wondrous unfolding and expression of limitless possibilities.

One principle, three aspects, limitless possibilities

The invisible forces of gravity, electromagnetic waves and subatomic forces govern how atoms are formed, giving rise to the world ‘out there’. Similarly the Three Principles explain how our psychological experiences are formed. These Principles work simultaneously and interdependently to form our perceptions and experiences, giving rise to the world ‘in here’.

We know scientifically that behind all visible forms is a formless interplay of invisible forces such as light and energy. There is also a body of data that strongly suggest that the presence of the observer, more specifically consciousness, has a more significant effect than was once believed.

Although he spoke about the Three Principles of Mind, Consciousness and Thought, Syd always emphasized that they were one Principle with three aspects.

There are many labels that point to the mysterious, invisible, formless, nameless and numinous quality of this unity. It is often referred to variously as Dao, God, The Universal intelligence, Brahman, The void, Source etc. Syd referred to this as Mind - the energy of all there is.

I shall continue to unpack the implications of this understanding on human health, healing and thriving in part 2.