Vibrational Medicine for the 21st Century

Dr. Gerber's book examines a number of non-traditional systems of healing, but it is much more than another compendium of alternative therapies. It also accepts and assumes a very different picture of life itself than the more conventional view of the American medical establishment. Is a human being just a biological machine that is alive when all of its parts are functioning? Is overcoming illness just a matter of fixing the part that isn't working?

The Nature of Life

Vibrational medicine is based on a particular set of beliefs about the nature of life. There has always been a dichotomy between the mechanistic and the vitalist view of life. Dr. Gerber is a vitalist, an old concept that is making a comeback in the form of vibrational medicine. Vitalist beliefs are based on very old and widely accepted ideas, but these ideas play no part in the typical medical treatment that most Americans receive when they visit a doctor or spend time in a hospital. Yet, there is an overwhelming body of evidence that human beings possess an etheric double which is invisible to most of us, but which clairvoyants see as the human aura. Other evidence indicates we may possess many etheric layers, each having its own qualities and purpose. Dr. Gerber states that "our soul, our 'true self,' expresses itself through a physical body that is subtly influenced and molded by these various higher spiritual bodies."

Energy Systems

Besides these extra "bodies" we also have points of energy within our physical body known as chakras and these are joined together by meridian lines. Dr. Gerber discusses two kinds of energy our bodies use to stay healthy. The energy the Chinese identify as chi and the Indian concept of prana. The chi energy is carried through a system of meridians to all parts of our bodies, but it can become unbalanced, resulting in illness. Clairvoyants can often see the unbalance in the human aura before it affects the physical body. Chi energy is partly inherited, partly from the food we eat, and partly from the environment. Acupuncture, which is becoming widely accepted, works by stimulating chi energy along the meridians.

Prana is energy that comes from the environment and is carried by sunlight and oxygen and is taken into the body through the charkas and then distributed to the organs of the body. The free flow of prana is affected by our emotional state; a person who is not at peace is likely to become physically ill because of a blockage preventing the movement of prana. Some of the emotions Dr. Gerber says can cause prana blockages: anger, hatred, bitterness, greed, hopelessness, and depression.

Healing Methods

It follows easily that once you accept this picture of life, you will build a different system of healing than a culture that operates on the "biological machine" concept of human life. Indeed, the Chinese and Indian healing systems ARE different, and some of their concepts - like acupuncture - are gaining acceptance because they work. But Dr. Gerber also explores healing systems that are virtually unknown in America. I found fascinating his discussion of healing with flower essences. It followed a chapter on Homeopathy that answered a lot of the critics who say homeopathic remedies are so weak, they may contain no molecules of the original medicinal ingredient. I had always wondered about this too, since we are used to assuming it is the ingredient that does the healing. But what if it is a subtle energy that does the healing and what if this energy can be imparted to water (or some mixture of water and another "carrying" ingredient)? This same theory is behind flower essence healing, where flower petals floating in water and exposed to sunlight can impart their energy to the water.

This imprinting of energy can be taken even further, where patterns on paper can carry the same vibrational information as the energy in water. They become a kind of storage system for the energy pattern that can then be used to create more energized water. These concepts cannot be proven since this energy is not easily detectable with common instruments. The evidence for it is mainly in the results seen in patients treated with energized water.

Another fascinating chapter is about radionics, or the study of subtle earth energy, the kind used by dowsers to find water or oil underground. A number of medical practitioners beginning with Dr. Albert Abrams in the early twentieth century discovered that the human body is sensitive to this energy and that is can be used for diagnosing illness. Each illness is characterized by a specific frequency. Radionics seems to work with magnetism, another topic Dr. Gerber covers thoroughly. Dr. Ruth Drown worked with Abrams and later streamlined his system for using radionics for diagnosis. Unfortunately, despite great success with patients, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) went after Dr. Drown and shut down her practice and convicted her of "quackery."

Opposition to Non-Standard Methods

If I have one criticism of Dr. Gerber's book it is that he did not adequately discuss the whole issue of persecution (and prosecution) of medical practitioners who deviate from standard treatments. A great deal of possibly beneficial medical research and practice has been lost to us by overzealous agents intent of preserving the status quo. Much of the opposition to vibrational medicine concepts come from organizations like the AMA, which operate to protect doctors' income more than to help Americans get effective health care.

I like that Dr. Gerber makes no apology for the far-out (and far-reaching) healing methodologies he presents in these pages. He tells us their history, in what situations each seems to work, and examines possible mechanisms to explain how they work. Some of these treatment methods have been attacked on the grounds that we don't know how they work, but that is true of some accepted methods as well (how does aspirin work?). Many of Dr. Gerber's explanations rely on the picture of life as having etheric spiritual components that affect physical well-being. As more people wake up to a wider view of life, more will be willing to explore these non-conventional healing methods. And that might mean a much better health care system than the greedy, overpriced and frequently ineffective medical care we get now.

GET THE BOOK

Buy A Practical Guide to Vibrational Medicine: Energy Healing and Spiritual Transformation by Richard Gerber, M.D., an updated version of this book, at amazon.com