Clancy D. McKenzie, M.D. – USA
[Dr. Clancy McKenzie is one of the world’s foremost experts on schizophrenia and mental health]
Proper nutrition, exercise and relaxation are recognized as vital ingredients for a long and healthy life. But a fourth ingredient, LOVE, can add as much to one’s energy and longevity as all other factors combined, and yet this important factor is all but omitted from current health protocols -- and even from scientific study.
While love’s great power might be overlooked in modern science, it is not lost in scripture. For example, in Song of Solomon 8: 6-7: “Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away….”
Love’s powerful effects are noticed but not deciphered. Take for example a man who eats nothing but junk food, smokes, doesn’t exercise, drinks beer, sports a potbelly and leads a stressful life. If he falls in love, suddenly he has more energy than a person who lives on health food and exercises daily. What is the source and mechanism for this enormous flow of energy? How can we harness it and use it at will? These questions are especially important in the health fields, because this energy is also the healing energy, or the life force itself.
A new definition helps make sense of this powerful but elusive and subtle energy: Love is an attention or energy directed outward, the byproduct of which is happiness. The opposite is need or desire, which is the same attention or energy directed back to the self, and the byproduct of which is unhappiness. Reverse the direction of flow of attention or energy and you have the opposite feeling. Fall in love and you are in a state of bliss – but as soon as you want the other person to love you, you are miserable.
Fall in love and you have so much energy you can work day and night, but as soon as you reverse the direction of flow back to the self: “Oh woe is me, aches and pains,” you have so little energy you can hardly move.
Subliminally we see this love energy. When a person falls in love, we say: “He’s beaming, glowing, radiant, vibrant, turned on.” Thus we see, at some level, an aura – which brightens in proportion to the increase in love. Holy people, or saintly individuals, are those who approach total love, and they are depicted with bright auras or halos, or surrounded by light. They also are known for their great joy, peace, and bliss.
Biblical accounts describe scores of such holy people who lived hundreds of years. This supports the concept that love energy is the life force itself, or the healing energy. Need or desire, which is the exact opposite, roughly can be equated with what is called “sin,” and we have read: “the wages of sin are death.” Or, “Touch the forbidden fruit and you shall surely die.” This is energy flowing in a direction opposite to the direction of flow of the life force, and opposite to the direction of the flow of love energy. It is multidimensional and represents both physical and spiritual death. Anger is the most common emotion associated with heart attacks. Depression, which relates to need, not love, correlates with cancer. Stress – which is associated with worry – correlates with hypertension, diabetes, and ulcers. This list could go on and on.
Note: We do not find a similar list of medical ailments that correlate with feelings of love.
Profound truth often is profoundly simple once revealed. Perhaps this is so with our new definition of love. While this law that applies to the flow of love energy appears obvious, usually it remains a mystery throughout life. We start as little children thinking that when we get what we want, then we will be happy. Wanting produces tension and a state of discomfort. When we get what we think we want, there is momentary relief of that tension and discomfort. This causes us to believe that satisfying our desire is the route to happiness. But soon we begin to want more, which propels us back into the state of discomfort and dissatisfaction. This wrong-concept follows us throughout life. In Eastern disciplines it is known as the Maya trap, and indeed it is a trap because it snares many of us from birth to death:
Sadly, many never learn that you cannot get happiness; it is the byproduct of giving. Thus, “It is better to give than to receive.”
Some have everything but happiness, while others have nothing but happiness. Who has more? Our formula might dictate that the easiest way to become a saint, and enjoy greater peace and happiness, is to care and do for those who have nothing to give in return. By eliminating the possibility of worldly reward we eliminate the thought and therefore the desire to receive anything in return.
This perhaps is how Mother Teresa became a saint, helping the dying in the streets of Calcutta. They had little or nothing to give in return. While appreciation always is welcome, she probable did not even seek that. If appreciation were her goal, she might never have reached such heights.
Having does not preclude happiness, but attachment does.
The closer we approach total love directed outward, with no energy moving back to the self, the brighter our auras become. This is in keeping with the words I heard during the night: “The aura is the edge of the soul.” It makes sense that this is so. When we love, we are more like holy people, and our auras brighten. Could this explain the concept of drawing energy from the soul? Love provides energy. When we do something for someone else, which is love, we are more likely to succeed. Athletes sometimes perform beyond their capabilities by dedicating an event to a deceased teammate, or to a child dying of cancer. Many mothers conquer life-threatening conditions because they have a child who needs them.
One night I had a vision of a Holy Man. He could have been the Buddha. He was sitting in a lotus position, surrounded by light, extending arm’s length above his head and surrounding his body. This beautiful light and energy was flowing downward, like a fountain, and I immediately knew this was the fabled fountain of youth. Simultaneous with that awareness was the awareness that as soon as you want to live forever, you shut off the flow, because that is energy flowing in the opposite direction. You could want to teach forever, or want to help people forever, but to want to live forever is need or desire, or the opposite of love.
This experience reminds me of one several decades earlier when I thought I became that love energy, for a brief but unforgettable period of time. I had been meditating with Swami Chidananda in a small retreat on the ocean, in Mahabalapurim, southeastern India. This was a real privilege because Chidananda, a Bhakti yogi, was regarded by many as the spiritual leader of India, and he was the most Christ-like person I ever have met.
As the second week of the retreat was coming to a close, I received a letter from Swami Kripalvananda, a highly evolved Kundalini yogi, who wrote that I could visit him any time the next week. I was thrilled because of what I had heard about him. As I was retiring for the night, I thought about asking him how to become the total love energy toward all people all the time. I reasoned that if I could take the most intense feeling of love I ever felt, multiply it 1,000 fold and feel it toward all people all the time, what an incredible state of bliss that would be!
When I began drifting off to sleep, lying on my back, I felt a strange downward pulling on my earlobes. Soon I was in a timeless dimension, but I became aware of an energy descending downward one millimeter at a time, like a water level, and when it reached the bottom of my earlobes, they were pulled downward.
As the energy reached the top of my shoulders, I became aware that it was a very powerful force, and I felt I could move mountains with it. I thought maybe I should move it around and do something with it, but mentally I heard “no, just let it happen.” So I let the energy progress downward, toward the foot of my bed – one millimeter at a time, even across, like a water level.
When it reached my lower abdomen, I suddenly became aware that I had taken on the facial expression of another person: lips up and out, high cheek bones, elongated earlobes and big gold earrings nearly reaching my shoulders.
Immediately I thought: “What’s this? Possession??” Instantly I saw Buddha lips and heard “No, you have been meditating with the spiritual leader of India for two weeks; it has to be something positive. I became aware that just as negative entities can possess a person, positive spiritual forces can indwell within us too. So I allowed the energy to continue its downward flow.
The next week when I visited with Swami Kripalvanandaji, I asked him how to become total love energy toward all people all the time, and I thought he wouldn’t stop laughing. When finally he regained his composure, he wrote on slate with chalk – because he had not spoken for 30 years – and a disciple translated: “When you want to hit a target with an arrow, you aim only at the bull’s eye.”
Profound. When we reach out to another person, we reach out with our love-need combination, and while the love portion of that continuum cannot be hurt, the need portion can – so we do not reach out as fully. When we reach to the Highest, we are reaching to total love itself and there is no rejection – so we can reach more fully, without fear of rejection. Furthermore, we begin to emulate Love itself.
Six months after returning from India, I looked at a photograph of the statue of the deity form of Kripalvananda’s guru, and it sent chills up my spine. Lips were up and protruding forward, cheekbones were very high, and the earlobes were practically down to the shoulders – with big gold earrings!
It was like I had become that being when I had my strongest desire to become total love energy toward all people all the time. That deity was Lakulish, the 26th incarnation of Shiva.
As I write about this today, I wonder if this powerful energy flowing downward is the same love energy I saw flowing downward in the fountain of youth vision. There are scriptures that seem to point directly to this: Proverbs 13:14 The law of the wise is a fountain of life to those who depart from the snares of death. This is repeated in Proverbs 14: 27 Reverence for the Lord is a fountain of life to those who turn away from the snares of death. This is akin to the First Commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” This is the fountain of life, and the snares of death are non-forgiveness and desires of the flesh.
The Laws of Physics as applied to the Energy of Love:
When I began the study of love energy, I approached it like other physical laws; I searched for energy that follows precise unchanging patterns that are qualitative and quantitative, and which are subject to precise measurement.
I found no such study related to the laws of flow of love energy in scientific investigation. Perhaps I did not search deeply enough in the scientific literature, but to the best of my knowledge this has not been scientifically studied and quantified.
An odd thing did begin to happen, however. I began to receive information during the night regarding this mysterious energy, and that information proved to have validity. It matched what I later discovered was part of the spiritual truths that are unchanging and which are found in major religions around the world.
For this reason this writing on Love Energy necessarily contains more biblical references than references from anything in the known scientific world.
It is my hope that this will stir the interest of scientists. Science is open exploration, and the findings regarding love, point in the direction of the existence of precise physical laws that are qualitative and quantitative. It also is my hope that the biblical references do not cause some readers to negate the important findings regarding the flow of love energy and its application to health and happiness. Similarly it is hoped that reference to teachings related to one spiritual discipline do not cause persons of another belief system to negate the total content of this work.
With this as a disclaimer, let us continue this exploration together:
When I programmed a dream to learn what to do to enhance spiritual growth, the answer was that I had to achieve total forgiveness and be slow to anger. That dream was followed by four weeks filled with the most outrageous situations I ever encountered. Coincidence? I doubt it. We are forever being taught.
It is hard to imagine the harm caused by bitterness, resentment, and non-forgiveness. Can you imagine how much of our life force is lost by holding onto angry thoughts and non-forgiveness? Many healers claim it is impossible to heal without first achieving forgiveness of others.
Love flowing outward can be neutralized by an equal amount of bitterness and non-forgiveness flowing outward.
Love flowing outward can also be neutralized by an equal amount of need and desire flowing back to the self.
If you express a certain amount of love, an equal amount of non-forgiveness, and an equal amount of attachment, needs and desires, what is your net outflow? How does that benefit you? How much positive energy are you accumulating? How bright is your aura? How lasting is your fountain of youth? How secure is your soul? Loving means reaching out to all people – not just to family. Christ noted that even the tax collector can do that, and therefore it is not to our credit.
So far we have love energy flowing outward, which gives us healing, strength and longevity – and this is negated by an equal amount of negative energy flowing outward. It also is nullified by an equal amount of need and desire flowing back to the self. Either of these other forces can neutralize our love energy flowing outward.
We often hear it said that we must love the self first. This has great popular appeal and people are quick to endorse it – but it is the wrong direction of flow of love energy.
Whenever I hear a preacher utter the words “You have to love the self first,” I quickly retort with: “Yes, and love God second.” It takes a while before they can collect their thoughts and reflect on this. It is true that we should not hold anger toward ourselves, along with self-blame and self-condemnation. When we distinguish between the flesh and the Soul, then like Paul we can identify with the higher Self and disparage the things of the flesh. When we make that distinction, then we can dislike our wrong-actions and wrong thoughts, because we identify with and cherish the Spiritual within.
Love your neighbor as yourself probably means do for your neighbor as you would do for yourself.
So the positive love energy must flow outward. But if there is an equal amount of need and desire flowing back to the self, it neutralizes the love directed outward. Similarly if there is an equal amount of bitterness, anger, resentment and non-forgiveness flowing outward, that too will neutralize the love energy flowing outward. So we have two factors that neutralize our love energy flowing outward.
More recently I am aware of a fourth component in this flow of love energy – which is the receiving of the suffering of others. When we love others, we suffer with them and receive their sorrows. This completes the circuit, stirring our compassion and causing us to want to do more to help them.
The receiving of their sorrows is like the ground wire in an electrical circuit. It seems to be a fourth channel related to love energy. With the fourth dimension, the receiving of the suffering of others, we should reflect on the enormous compassion that was stirred in the Buddha when he witnessed human suffering for the first time. It was largely this compassion from which his love energy evolved.
This formula is like the laws of physics. If there is equal force going in two opposite directions, nothing is accomplished. There is no positive net outflow of energy for our fountain of youth. Notice that now practically the whole world is moving in opposite directions. Like creates like. Love creates love. Hatred creates more hatred. Bombs create more and bigger bombs. Where is the endpoint? It is written we cannot end hate with hate; we can only end hate with love. Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turns away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. Proverbs 25:15 By long forbearance and calmness of spirit a judge or ruler is persuaded, and soft speech breaks down the most bonelike resistance..
There is yet another dimension to this love energy:
Love and hate are not opposite sides of the same coin. It is love and need (desire) that are opposite sides of the same coin. When these needs are not met to our satisfaction, we respond by sending out negative energy: anger, hurt, bitterness, rage, even murderous impulses and non-forgiveness that some of us hang onto for the rest of our lives. This is negative energy sent outward, which neutralizes an equal amount of outward flow of positive love energy.
Can you imagine the net outflow of love energy in a person who holds an equal amount of bitterness, resentment, and non-forgiveness? Much of this stems from very early in life, when needs are great and everything seems unfair. This can rest deep in our unconscious minds, but as we practice methods of increasing our love, by continually aiming our love and appreciation outward, even deep-seated unconscious bitterness will begin to change.
This same principle is stated in Proverbs 13:14: The law of the wise is a fountain of life to those who depart from the snares of death.
This is akin to the first commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” This is the fountain of life – as long as you depart from negative energy flowing outward (rage, bitterness, non-forgiveness) and depart from desires of the flesh, for the self. These two are “the snares of death.”
This is repeated in Proverbs 14:27: Reverence for the Lord is a fountain of life to those who turn away from the snares of death. Jeremiah 17:13 also refers to the Lord as the fountain of living waters.
These scriptures pertain to love, and love produces both happiness and good health. These considerations are particularly important in terms of treating physical, mental and emotional illnesses. Physical problems heal faster when persons predominantly love, and mental and emotional illnesses can quickly disappear with love. If one were to study the scriptures and endeavor to follow their teachings, the bible might prove to be our best medical manual.
If God is love, then that would mean when we send out love it is God flowing through us; it is Love, Energy, the Creative Force. It is when we send out this energy that we are filled with love, filled with the Holy Spirit flowing through us. Thus, instead of seeking love, it is more productive to reach out with love.
I recall an elderly nurse at a healing crusade who prayed: “Meet their needs, Lord. I am too old to bother with. Take care of them.” Instantly she was healed of a severe back injury of many years duration.
So perhaps in order to be “filled” and to receive, we need to love, praise, worship Him and help His children, with ample expression of gratitude and thankfulness for all his blessings – but without focusing on receiving something in return. Gifts are welcome, but if we do something only for the purpose of getting something in return, that is not love.
In summary, the love must flow outward, but without desire, lust, greed for the self, and we must not send out bitterness, resentment and non-forgiveness. But when we love, we receive some of the burden of those who suffer.