March/April 1998

Articles on the theme "Regeneration"

The Cosmic Dance
by Bob Gonzalez
How energy is transformed by Life's play. Foods and emotions that help regeneration.

An Ayurvedic Perspective
by Dinesh Mader
Ayurveda, the world's oldest science of healing, and its approach to regeneration.

The Jewel Within
by Rev. Pat Cross
A discussion of our spirituality and how we can recover our intrinsic abilities.

The Path of the Heart
by Carlos Warter MD
The importance of opening the heart to realize one's essential health and well-being, and achieve spiritual regeneration.

The New You
by Karin Pekarcik
How to reinvent yourself and create the You you really want to be.

The Psychology of Regeneration
by Patrick Plaskett
Undoing negative programming and becoming once again "as little children".

A New Light Body? by Audrey Craft Davis
Tuning into the body's ability to regenerate itself. A look at the future as we move into the fourth and fifth dimensions.

Physical Regeneration
by Zygmunt K. Skowronek
Concerning the importance of getting the nutrients we need in our diet.

Spiritual Regeneration
by Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati How meditation can lead to greater awareness of the moment and the God inside of you. Followed by a suggested meditation.

Walking on Fire
by Alvin Bartz
A hypnotherapist's account of a fire-walk experience. Regenerating the spirit to overcome self-limitations.

The Problem of Regeneration
by David Findlay
Making sure that what we re-generate is what we want to re-generate.

Other Feature Articles

Natural Health Q&A
by Eliabeth Fenton and Renee Gillombardo
A discussion of three characteristics of emotional health.

What is . . . A Medical Savings Account
by Susan Moyers
A tax-deferred savings account that allows you to select your own doctor and covers a variety of "alternative" therapies.

The Problem of Regeneration

by David Findlay

"Generate" means to bring into existence or create, and "re" means again. So why would anyone who has brought something into existence want to bring it into existence again?

Maybe because bringing something into existence does not ensure its continuing existence.

We create something and like the look of it. "Hey, isn't this a neat body? Come and admire it!" However, we want to make sure that it will continue to be around, so we work at continuously re-creating it. Otherwise we might wake up in the morning and . . . "where's that nice body?!!"

Continuously creating something, however, is very time-consuming. Like making money, it can easily become a full-time job.

So, how do we get around this?

Our brilliant solution is to put this re-generation onto auto pilot. It's a bit like writing a computer program that doesn't only run once but keeps on running in the background without us even being aware of it. Thus, we can wake up in the morning and our bodies are still here!

All this makes very good sense and this automatic regeneration is absolutely essential to life as we know it. I wake up in the morning and not only am I still here, but my wife is still here, the house is still here, our computer is still here . . . and looking around further . . . the country is still here, the planet is still here, and the physical universe is still here. Thank God!

In fact, when we thank God, we are in effect saying that God is responsible for all this, which virtually ensures that the automatic regeneration will continue for ever - for who are we to tamper with Divine Law? And then we get the priests who interpret Divine Law - but now we are getting into another subject!

So, why my title, "The Problem of Regeneration"?

There's the proverbial two sides of the coin. Re-generation is great if what is being re-generated is what we want. However, as they say, "Out of sight, out of mind". Once the re-generation is on auto-pilot, we tend to ignore it so that we can get on with other business - after all, isn't that why we put it on auto-pilot? I'd hate to have to learn to drive every time I take out our car. But, and this is a big BUT, what if the re-generation that is on auto-pilot is no longer the re-generation that I want NOW?

Can't we just generate something new and then set up a program that will re-generate that?

In theory "yes", but in practice the answer is often "no".

If we create a new program and put it on auto-pilot without doing anything about the old program, what happens? We get two sets of re-generation that are in conflict with each other. The result may be that the new program doesn't work as it should or, maybe because of force of habit, the old program just continues - ever known someone who tried to lose weight or stop smoking and failed? At best the result is likely to be stress - and even medical doctors will admit that stress is the forerunner of most dis-ease.

To change something effectively and permanently, without side-effects, we need first to take the re-generation on auto-pilot off auto-pilot. In other words, we need to become aware of the programming we are operating on. We then need to stop the re-generation of the old condition or whatever it is that we are trying to change. Then, and only really then, can we safely generate a new action, thought-pattern or program which has a reasonable chance of survival. Then - no, we're not done yet - we have to consciously re-generate the new program and keep consciously re-generating the new program until it becomes habit, at which point we can put it on auto-pilot.

Remember, however, that conditions change all the time. So, we have to be prepared at any moment to step in and take over manual control.

As a side comment, this is what makes me nervous about our growing dependence upon computers. We're getting very good at setting up the hardware and setting up the programs, but how many of us have the knowledge and skill, if necessary, to take them off auto-pilot (automatic re-generation) and stop them or reprogram them? What happens if they go wrong? What happens if some enemy tampers with the whole system? The collapse of civilization as we know it? Maybe this is an exaggeration now, but look 10, 20 or 50 years ahead to when human-beings as a soldiers will be replaced by computer-controlled robots, and the use of paper money will be a nostalgic memory.

So, what can we do?

The first step is to become conscious of the existing re-generation that is going on - particularly in our own lives, because that is something we can do something about.

One way is to examine carefully what we are actually doing and then track back to the re-generation that is keeping whatever we are doing in place.

Another more basic approach would be deliberately to practice non-re-generation. In other words, practice stopping doing anything - including thinking! The gentle art of doing nothing. Difficult. But with a bit of effort one can get quite good at it.

A warning, however. It doesn't work very well to say, "I am not going to do . . .". Why? Because we are putting attention on what we are trying not to do. A self-defeating proposition.

Practice sitting quietly and don't try not to do anything. Just note what one is doing - probably, at least, thinking - and continue without judgment to sit quietly. Gradually the "mad dog" or the "drunken monkey" of the mind will settle down. Then we can, as it were, "step outside". We are at that point in a much better position to do something about the re-generation in our lives that we wish to change. At least it's a start.

David Findlay M.A. is editor of Tampa Bay New Times and also a certified trauma specialist with a private practice is Clearwater, Florida. (813) 449-8964. Email: david@altnewtimes.com.

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