Human energy field
Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum
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[Judy Jacka]
ACNEM Journal Vol 30 No 3 – December 2011
Introduction
Despite the recognition by modern medicine that electro-physical exchanges
underlie most cellular activity, scant attention has been directed to the
possible existence of a total or unified field or fields underlying the human
organism. Such recognition might revolutionise modern medicine in the areas of
causation, diagnosis and treatment of disease. This article briefly explores
the work of five medical scientists. They were all bold enough to pursue
investigations that indicated information for growth, disease and repair is
transmitted by the total electro-magnetic field, and perhaps even by more
subtle fields underlying the physical body.
When reviewing the medical research featured in this article, a major
challenge relates to the different terminology used by each researcher. For
instance, the Life Fields of Burr, the Etheric Formative forces of Steiner, and
the Morphogenetic fields of Sheldrake all seem to carry a common theme but each
is from a different perspective. The other challenge for the medical reader is
the dearth of peer-reviewed research. The subjects reviewed cover a period of
60 years and most of the research does not appear to have been repeated
recently.
Another difficulty is the possible confusion derived from the fact that
the electromagnetic (EM) field of the body is measurable, whereas the interface
or more subtle etheric field is not as yet measurable with physical
instruments. William Tiller, formerly professor of material science at Stanford
University, differentiated the electromagnetic field from the etheric by
calling the latter the magneto-electric.
From the various observations explored here, a useful and synthetic view
is possible and this view might provide useful information to the medical
practitioner and other therapists.
The concept of a human energy field in natural medicine goes back 200
years to Nature Cure therapists. They promoted the concept of a vital force
that was often diminished or disturbed before physical disease takes place.
Their treatments were based on promoting the life force or energy
through sunbaking, good nutrition, rest and relaxation Water treatments were
used to flush out toxins plus the use of traditional herbal remedies to improve
and
balance energies.
Modern nutritional and naturopathic medicine has developed complex
approaches to the exhausted and toxic states of many clients today. Yet even
amongst natural therapists there is reluctance to explore and acknowledge the
human energy field, possibly from pressure to join the evidence-based camp.
Exploration of medical scientists exploring human energy fields begins
with an American who began researching the subject in 1938. Between the years
of 1938 and 1970, Burr published 90 papers on the Life Fields. In his
professional life he was a lecturer in neuro-physiology at Yale University in
the USA, but his work on the Life Fields was never fully acknowledged.
The Life Field was described by Burr as an electro-dynamic field which
can be seen to vary in health and disease. The intensity of the field is
measured using a vacuum-tube or digital voltmeter to measure voltage gradients
(the difference in voltage between two points). Burr used silver chloride
electrodes. He found the gradients to fluctuate each month to form a smooth
sine wave in healthy persons with a variation between the points measured of 2
- 10 millivolts.
However, gradients varied strongly in the female mammal during
ovulation, at puberty, and provided a wild electrical pattern in some patients
suffering mental diseases (schizophrenia). As one practical example resulting
from Burr’s discoveries - the measurements were used as an accurate guide to
ovulation as the intensity of the field increases greatly at these times. This
would perhaps be a cheap and quick way of helping cases of infertility or for
contraception needs.
The human energy field Hewlett-Packard DC Vacuum Tube Voltmeter Model
412A recommended by Dr Burr to measure electrodynamic fields.
Implications for Diagnosis
Because measurements can be taken without the electrodes touching the
skin, Burr considered he was measuring a field phenomenon and he described this
field as serving as a mould for physical cells - providing the pattern for
growth. He found changes in the Life Field to take place before physical
disease occurs.
This finding was underscored by a colleague in the area of gynaecology at
Belleview State Hospital, New York. Louis Langmans experimented with 1000 women
suffering pelvic problems. Of 102 women with disturbance in their Life Field,
96 were found following biopsy to have malignant changes to the cells.
A diagnostic instrument based on the research was designed and patented
in Australia over two decades ago.
However there was no support from the medical fraternity or investors
and the shares on the stock market languished. One of the most famous
experiments conducted by Burr involved the direction for growth in electrical
terms of the central nervous system in a salamander. This direction was found
to be established in the egg before fertilisation and to remain unchanged
throughout growth to adulthood. We could ask what implications this finding
might have in the human system if a woman is exposed to EM fields that may
over-ride the delicate EM field of her ovaries. Many women during pregnancy are
sitting daily before computer terminals with routers discharging microwaves via
wireless technology. The levels emitted are far in excess of international
standards for health, designated to be below 10 microwatts per square metre.
Several decades later we come to the work of Robert Becker M.D. who took
the work of Burr much further and who was very concerned with the effects of
electrical products on humans.
Robert Becker MD and some of his co-workers appear to have shown
conclusively that the pattern for growth and development in living organisms is
intimately connected to electromagnetic fields associated with the nervous
system. Becker was a researcher in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the
State University of New York. Prior to his work, Lund and Burr had discovered
that the electromagnetic field associated with the body had direct current (DC)
potentials providing direction for morphogenetic and growth processes. The
field is described by Becker as dipolar, i.e. a head/tail axis and is a
summation of all the individual fields of all cells in the organism. Becker
repeated the experiments of Burr in the sixties and found the field to be
complex rather than dipolar. He states in his book “The Body Electric” that
“Evidence is quite conclusive that there are steady DC electrical currents
flowing outside the neurones proper throughout the body. These are non-ionic in
nature and similar to semi-conducting type currents. Peri-neural cells appear
to be the most likely site at which the currents are generated and transmitted.
They constitute a system for transmission of very basic data.” Becker proved
the relationship of this field to the nervous system through experiments in
which he reversed the usual polarity through application of an external
electrical current. The animal lost consciousness as the front vector on the
head which is normally negative became positive. The back vector was reversed
at the same time.
In 1952, Beams and Marsh conducted an experiment reported in “The Body
Electric” along the same lines with flatworms. These worms when cut, normally
re-generate with the head on the same end as occurs naturally. By introducing
an external current to reverse the usual electrical gradient, the head and tail
grew in reversed positions. Becker concluded that the electrical gradient
transmitted morphological information, i.e. information for growth and
development.
Electrical Parameters in Limb Regeneration
In 1972, Becker achieved regeneration of the forearm of a rat by
implanting negative electrodes in the amputation stump. This work was repeated
by Rose in 1982 in salamanders who had been completely de-enervated in the
forearm. In other words, electrical parameters were introduced to mimic what
occurs naturally in re-generating animals like the salamander.
Becker found it was the neuro-epidermal junction that was the
significant factor producing the electrical potential which in turn produced a
blastema from which regeneration of the limb took place. The regeneration was
not resulting from the nerves or epidermis alone. The information for growth appears
to be transmitted by the negative potential. The DC potential and the current
at the injury site appear to give the signal for the negative polarity. The
blastema caused differentiated cells to undifferentiate from which state
regeneration then takes place.
Becker was cited for the Nobel Prize for his work on tissue regeneration
but failed to receive it.
The electrical rhythm of the ovulation cycle in the human female as
recorded between a finger from each hand. Before and after ovulation the
potentials are negative. About 5-6 days before ovulation, the potential begins
to rise and increases above zero a few days before ovulation. Afterwards there
is a rapid decline to below zero, at which time the body is free of a
fertilizable ovum.
Becker concluded that intrinsic electromagnetic energy in the nervous
system is the factor that exerts the major controlling influence over growth
processes in general. This appeared to be clearly demonstrated in those
experiments where by varying the electrical parameters, instructions for growth
were changed resulting in unusual growth, or as in the case of mammalian
re-generation, in providing those instructions which enabled a healthy new limb
to be developed following amputation. Implications of Electromagnetic Interference
to the Human Energy Field.
The possible effects of power lines, television, hair dryers, microwave
ovens, wireless internet use, smart meters, diathermy, and many other common
processes and articles in our environment can now be envisaged. For if the
electromagnetic field of our body is associated with the carrying of
information for growth and re-growth, what happens when a stronger or different
field prevails over this basic body field? This area has been extensively
researched by Becker and his co-workers to show that if the normal mechanism is
suppressed by outside electromagnetic interference, aberrations in cell growth
can occur.
In relation to this concept, the International Agency for Research on
Cancer which is an arm of the World Health Organisation has declared cell
phones are possibly cancer causing agents.
The electromagnetic field associated with the body appears to be the
direct expression of the more subtle underlying field often called the etheric
pattern. The electromagnetic field provides a link between the etheric body and
the nervous system. Bevan Reid, an Australian oncologist took the further step
during the 1980’s of examining what he saw as evidence of an etheric field in
his laboratory.
Bevan Reid was a veterinary and medical scientist who held a senior
position in the area of oncology at the University of Sydney. Apart from his
late interest in the area of the etheric, Reid had nearly one hundred papers
published in the field of oncology during his professional life. He found much
more difficulty in publishing his work on etheric energy. He did not work
directly with the human energy field but his work does have interesting
implications for the human state.
Action at a Distance
His work first began with the microscopic observation that sodium
chloride crystals in his laboratory had branching patterns and this usually
only happened in the presence of protein material. He eventually traced this
effect to the laboratory next door each time they washed salicylic acid with
alcohol. Reid reasoned that the acid has a lattice-type structure and observed
that other lattice-type substances such as ice, rubber, polymer and crystals
had the effect in his laboratory of storing and transmitting energy to his
experiments.
Another anomaly with crystals involved his finding of a copper sulphate
pattern in his sodium chloride crystals 3 months after the former had been used
in the laboratory. It was observed that the presence of copper sulphate
occurred at certain times during the day which were later correlated with
slight changes in atmospheric pressure giving minute energy ‘fronts’ or tides.
Further work illustrated action at a distance with bacteria. Polystyrene
drying during experiments with bacteria some distance away produced an almost
identical copy of the bacteria on the plain polystyrene. Amazingly the copy
without the physical bacteria even stained gram negative in keeping with the
real bacteria!
The implications for medicine are immense due to the possibility of the
transmission of biological data through a subtle field without any physical
contact.
By 1982, Reid concluded that some force was coming through space and
producing affects related to the crystals and bacteria.
Vortices and the Etheric
Polystyrene was used to seal and preserve the earlier experiments in
which the copper unexpectedly appeared. By focusing on the polystyrene rather
than on the slide material, tiny vortices were found to have formed in the
polystyrene as it dried.
Reid compared the number of vortices on the slides during experiments
made at 'quiet' times in the laboratory. The vortices increased from an average
of 2 per slide to 20 at those times when a lot of activity was occurring.
Reid became very interested in the significance of the vortex. He saw it
as a representation of ether and as carrying information to imprint matter. The
whirlpool or vortex appeared from his viewpoint when form is imprinted on
matter. Reid viewed the extra number of vortices present during 'busy'
laboratory experiments as resulting in the release of more energy. He
understood the vortices as associated with extra energy in biological systems
and possibly as the basis for creation. Perhaps we could consider that the
vortices are the basic pattern in the etheric field.
An artificial vortex was created by Reid for the purpose of measuring
the physical distance between successive spirals. These were matched with those
appearing from space. Values of 1.5 - 3.5 millivolts were found and this is the
amount of electrical energy needed to drive a cell. This release of energy
underscores the relation visioned between the vortex and manifestation. Reid
saw from his experiments a continuous interaction between space and matter. He
envisaged the outflow from matter to produce an exact copy of the form and that
the inflow from the etheric may carry instructions for the pattern of a growing
structure.
Fascinating as his work appeared, the university did not share Reid’s
vision and thus funding and staff numbers were reduced. Since he was already
more or less at retirement age, he bought a beef cattle farm and moved to
Queensland in the early 1990’s. Like most of the individuals reviewed in this
article, Reid had the capacity to cross disciplines and present us with some
possible explanations of the human energy field. The patterning of matter
discovered in his laboratory goes beyond the EM field and has been explored in
yet a different way by U.K. scientist Rupert Sheldrake.
Rupert Sheldrake was another scientist very interested in patterns and
how they manifest as cells and tissues. He asked where these energy patterns
come from and where is the missing link in embryology to explain the relation
between our genes and the placement of organs and tissues. Sheldrake is a
scientist who has, apart from his scientific publications, promoted interest
within the intelligent public with several books which explore the subject of
energy fields.
The term morphogenetic field is not new, but Sheldrake has given a new
place to the concept of morphogenesis with his observations and the synthesis
he has made of the observed facts. He sees these fields as giving shape and
movement to the universe. They include animate and inanimate matter and include
many interlocking fields which in themselves are evolving and changing. Morphic
resonance occurs when the forms in one place affect the forms in another.
Thus like Reid, he saw patterning transferred from one area to another
but in a different context.
The fields are not seen by him as physical but enter into the physical, guiding
atoms, molecules and cells into the right place.
This resolves the gap in embryology as to what factor guides the
molecules and cells into particular places in growth and regeneration. These
master fields, from Sheldrake’s viewpoint, give the reason why crystals have
been observed to form more easily into particular patterns following earlier
and similar experiments. (The usual extraordinary explanation is that minute
crystals may be present in the hair, beards or clothes of the scientist after
the initial experiment, falling into the solution of subsequent experiments
thus acting as a seed crystal).
Behavioural Fields
Sheldrake was the first researcher to extend his concept of an energy
field underlying the physical form to the behavioural realm. Experiments
involving mice indicate that they learn tasks more easily after training of a
previous generation and even more extraordinary, observations indicate that
control groups also learn the tasks more easily.
The existence of fields which conduct information explains such enigmas.
Perhaps the most famous example of this kind is that of the ‘hundredth
monkey’ - who started washing her potato in the sea after monkeys on another
island learnt to wash their potatoes. There was no physical contact between the
monkeys from one island to another suggesting yet again, transmission of
information via a subtle energy field.
Since the first publication of Sheldrake’s work, his experiments have
been successfully duplicated including projects involving successive groups of
children learning nursery rhymes more quickly in areas separated by thousands
of miles.
Some of his latest research appears to involve telepathy by people
becoming aware of being observed apart from sight, sound or touch, and dogs who
know when their owners are coming home. Subtle fields connecting people and/or
animals may explain telepathy. The transmission of data via etheric fields is
no new idea to students of the ancient wisdom but is not as yet accepted by
mainstream science. Implications in the fields of education and medicine are
profound. Apart from the possibility of the etheric field providing the pattern
for growth and the need to protect it from adverse influences, the philosophy
underlying many natural therapies becomes more obvious. For instance, orthodox
medicine may accept more easily homeopathic principles whereby a person can be
influenced by infinitesimal doses of
remedies wherein no physical molecules are present. Homeopaths generally accept
that these potentised remedies penetrate the energy field of the patient. In
the area of behaviour, the effect from one individual or group to another has
significant implications for education, psychology, and the work force in any
community.
R.S. & etheric formative forces
The last work to consider is that of R.S. He pioneered work in medicine,
agriculture (biodynamic farming) and education (Waldorf schools).
Steiner trained doctors in the 1920’s to understand and influence what
he called the Etheric Formative Forces. His medical work, known as
Anthroposophical medicine, became centred in a Swiss clinic and continues today
with doctors from many parts of Europe and beyond taking courses in this type
of medical approach. Like Burr, Steiner saw the etheric field underlying organs
and tissues as providing the condition for growth, re-growth and healing.
Steiner developed a method for charting the etheric field known as
capillary dynamolysis, a form of chromatography. Absorbent paper is treated
with a metallic salt, e.g. silver nitrate or gold chloride and the substance to
be tested forms an individual pattern when applied to the treated paper. The
resulting pattern indicates the strength of the etheric field, e.g. in diabetes
or nephritis, the pattern almost disappears corresponding to very weak energies
in the patient. In contrast, if the etheric field is overly strong, the pattern
takes on the appearance of stones. A sample of urine is often used for the
test.
There is a typical or generic pattern from the urine of each species;
man, cow, dog, sheep, etc. Different metallic salts also cause pattern changes
within certain parameters. Doctors can do additional training to examine and
diagnose cancer from the patterns in a blood spot dropped on to absorbent
paper.
European medical doctors use this form of diagnosis following training
in the Swiss clinic at Arlesheim which specialises in cancer treatment. Again,
this form of diagnosis indicates the disease pattern as a distortion in the
etheric or Life Field for sometimes years before cancer develops.
At the Arlesheim clinic, treatment includes all those influences for
good health such as diet, water treatments, artistic expression, a body
movement called Eurhythmy, and the
specific mistletoe treatment which has been developed by Steiner. The type of
mistletoe varies with the cancer and injections are given under the skin every
second day. The mistletoe has both an immune enhancing property and is also
cytostatic to the tumour. Other therapies pioneered by Steiner include many
complex homeopathic formulas which are administered both orally and
subcutaneously. His research and treatment covered all acute and chronic
diseases and accompanied by diagnosis of the etheric field of the patient.
Conclusion
It is apparent that there is enough evidence to suggest that human
energy fields exist and that they carry information for growth and repair.
These fields appear to be at two levels; an electromagnetic field that
interfaces with the physical body (Burr and Becker) and an etheric field or
magneto-electric field (Reid and Steiner).
In addition, the morphological fields of Sheldrake suggest the
transmission of information deeper into the area of behaviour.
The implications are that distortion or disturbance to such fields
whether caused by electromagnetic, nutritional, or genetic factors may
contribute to the basic causes of disease.
One general area of agreement amongst the research described is the
finding that changes in both the EM and etheric fields precede organic physical
changes or pathology sometimes by years. This is probably the most important
point of the whole discussion. For an earlier diagnosis in many severe
illnesses would save time, lives and money. If there is indeed an energy field
underlying the human body that can be measured and used in diagnosis and
treatment, the resulting concept of holism and integration in medical practice
would surely be seen as the sine qua non of understanding re health and
disease.
The existence of a unified energy field may also explain the mechanism
for symptoms such as headaches, palpitations, and insomnia experienced by
increasing numbers of patients exposed to dangerous levels of microwaves from
cell phones, cell phone towers, cordless phones, and ‘wireless’ computer use.
Characteristic of all the researchers mentioned is their view of human
health and disease as related to the natural world, and in a more negative
sense, to man-made technology.
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