Tag Archives: to feel nothing

The “I want my M.T.V.*” Syndrome (*Material Tangible Validation)

The following reflection was prompted by a recent discussion amongst a group of us who give or receive certain “alternative medicine” treatments and healing sessions.  There are inevitably a few persons who lament not “feeling anything” while being treated. I can only comment on the healing modality I practice, which is arguably extremely subtle. As a result of its subtle essence, most people do not feel much during a session, agreed. Or rather, they don’t feel the way they expect to feel, the way they are used to feel. So their conclusion is that they do not feel, period, and therefore, that maybe nothing is really happening.

They start doubting the modality and its provider. Fair enough; it’s good to keep a discriminating mind. But let me ask: do you feel the Earth under your feet move and revolve? Yet, do you still doubt it does? The passage from day to night, the changing celestial perspective would tend to prove to you that it does, as modern science tells us, even though you may not understand the mechanism of how. Would you still insist that it can only be happening if you can feel it?gravityAdditionally, it strikes me as ironic that most of us go through life trying to numb our pains and discomforts with various drugs, alcohol, heavy foods, compulsive behaviors, etc. so that we won’t “feel” but nonetheless, we expect to “feel” on demand, as “proof of validity” of what seems to be too good to be true. Yet, what remains truly puzzling to me is that this concern, this demand, often persists even after a person has obtained an obvious betterment, or even after the issue is resolved that led him/her to seek help in the strangest of places, after the regular modalities have failed to lead to the desired results. I am no longer talking about a level of subtlety here, but very noticeable facts. Women & men with an infertility issue who get to conceive, people with recurring migraines who no longer experience them, people with insomnia who are able to sleep without prescription drugs, people with specific problems that disappear over a relatively short amount of time. No matter: many of us remain more attached to the addiction to an instant gratification and to a logical understanding of a process, than to the actual resolution of our problems.

Attuned to the Subtle?

This reminds me of an old fable by La Fontaine. A story about a farmer who dreamed about getting wealthy and then discovered one of his hens had started to lay an egg made of pure solid gold on a daily basis. As the fable has it, the farmer could not wrap his head around how the hen would do what she would do. It wasn’t enough for him to delight in the gift he was granted. It was “too good to be true” and he wanted to understand the process – and secure more wealth for himself by the same token. So he killed the hen and opened her up. Of course he found nothing there that made her any different than his regular egg-laying hens. But the source of his “magic” was gone forever…LaPouleAuxOeufsdOr

(Okay Monsieur de La Fontaine, I know your point in this fable was about greed, but it works to illustrate my point too, so thank you.)

In the end what is more important? Being in control or being recovered? Instant gratification or long-term amelioration? Next time we “don’t feel anything” during a treatment, a class, a meditation, a prayer, let’s choose a date ahead to mark on our calendars so we can later check, upon reaching that date – a few days, weeks, maybe a few months later – whether we have garnered any benefits from these “subtle nothings”. May we all get to learn to hear the silence and feel the subtle. Sat Nam.

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