Symptom and Significance
Beverley Kane, MD
Copyright © 2004-2022 Beverley Kane
reality — the beliefscapes — of everyday life. We are thus, in part, psychological beings
participating in the prevailing psychodynamic stereotypes of our civilization.
Seth describes the "period of stress in between beliefs" (NOPR #617 9/25/72) when we are
making the transition from believing in the power of doctors to believing in the power of our own
beliefs. These exercises are a tool for that process.
Nowhere is reality creation more evident than in our own bodies. The body is thought made
physical through cellular consciousness, organ consciousness, and ego consciousness. Seth says,
"You are the living picture of yourself. You project what you think you are outward into flesh. Your
feelings, your conscious and unconscious thoughts, all alter and form your physical image.
"...Your body does not just happen to be thin or fat, tall or short, healthy or ill. These
characteristics are mental, and are thrust outward by you upon your image." (NOPR 610 6/7/72)
Because of the multidimensional nature of the physical world, our bodies inhabit infinite
probable universes. Ordinary healing can be considered as a linear, analog transition from a
probable ill self to a probable healthy self. "Miracle" healing is a quantum leap between these
probable selves.
"The Point will be made that all healings are the result of one basic fact: That matter is
formed by those inner qualities that give it vitality, that structure follows expectation, that matter at
any time can be completely changed by the activation of the creative faculties inherent in all
consciousness." (NOPR #609 4-10-72)
In the beginning, Seth says, we are born into a state of Original Grace. Many entities choose
to be born with severe physical defects to dramatize the challenges in a given lifetime. But for most
organisms, the natural condition of Grace is unobtrusive good health. Ordinarily we feel well and
comfortable and, except for animal needs — hunger, thirst, sleep, sex, movement — we are
largely unaware of our bodies. When we experience discomfort through injury or illness, we
become aware, often painfully, of body parts and processes we took for granted or never knew
existed.
For minor ills, we tend to take a pill, whether Claritin™ or comfrey, and dismiss any further
concern. But when discomfort is severe or enigmatic or attains some degree of chronicity, we go to
one or many health practitioners seeking diagnoses and cures. Sometimes blood tests, body scans,
and even exploratory surgery prove inconclusive. Other times, although the diagnosis seems to fit a
textbook description, the usual treatments don't work. The patient might receive a series of best-
guess drugs that treat the symptom without addressing the underlying cause. Or she is simply told
there's nothing wrong, with the implication that the symptoms are all in her head.
In the rational, mechanistic framework of Western science, there may indeed be nothing
objectively wrong that health professionals can see and label. The naming of diseases can be in
itself a harmful practice that reifies a condition and locks a person into pessimistic expectations.
But in the richer subjective vocabulary of body language, there is indeed a dis-ease. Illness and pain
are always indicators of inner beliefs about something we need that daily life is not providing, that
consciousness is not yet directed to. Conversely, when we have unresolved conflicts or cognitive
dissonance – inconsistencies between our beliefs, desires, and actions – the body shows us a
physical sign. If the body's voice is ignored or summarily silenced by symptomatic relief, that voice
will become progressively louder as it antes up with worsened, recurring, or new ills.
Understanding the message is not difficult, but requires that we spend some time in creative
self-reflection, in what Seth calls psy-time.
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