Also by Robert Brumet

Other "Quest" Books

First Edition 2002

Eighth printing 2012

Copyright © 2002 by Robert Brumet. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from Unity Books except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews or in the newsletters and lesson plans of licensed Unity teachers and ministers. For information address Unity Books, 1901 NW Blue Parkway, Unity Village, MO 64065-0001.

Published by the Unity Movement Advisory Council, a joint committee of the Unity Worldwide Ministries and Unity.

Unity Books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases for study groups, book clubs, sales promotions, book signings or fundraising. To place an order, call the Unity Customer Care Department at 1-866-236-3571 or email wholesaleaccts@unityonline.org.

Bible quotations are from the Revised Standard Version unless otherwise noted.

Cover design by Jenny Neely

Interior design by Coleridge Design

Library of Congress Control Number: 2001093924

ISBN 0-87159-278-9

ISBN 978-0-87159-278-1

Canada BN 13252 9033 RT

ISBN: 9780871597779

Publisher's Note

The books in this series continue the work started by The Quest and Adventures on the Quest by Mary-Alice and Richard Jafolla. The Quest has succeeded in fulfilling its original objectives by effectively presenting an overview of Unity philosophical perspectives and basic beliefs. It also has provided Unity churches and centers a vehicle for individual spiritual growth and has supported community-building by encouraging intergenerational sharing and personal bonding. The Quest offers a planned, yearlong exercise in commitment, instruction, and focused learning.

While The Quest remains viable in its original form, this new series of books intends a more advanced application of its concept. This series offers a more topic-specific focus and a smaller-book format adaptable to a shorter course of instruction. This series assumes a basic familiarity with The Quest teachings.

All the books in this series are endorsed by the Unity Movement Advisory Council, a joint committee of the Unity Worldwide Ministries and Unity School of Christianity.

Acknowledgments

A book is rarely the result of the efforts of one person alone. Such is the case with this book. Many minds have contributed to the final product. I want to acknowledge Michael Maday for his invaluable support, encouragement, and guidance from the beginning to the end of this long project. I wish to thank all members of the Unity Movement Advisory Council for their guidance and review of the manuscript, and in particular, Glenn Mosley, Jim Rosemergy, and Bob Barth for their personal coaching. And finally, I want to thank the many friends and family members who have provided me with support and encouragement throughout this project.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1.  Spiritual Healing: The Quest for Wholeness

Adventure One

2.  Wholeness: The Destination and the Journey

Adventure Two

3.  Individuation: The Pathway to Wholeness

Adventure Three

4.  Spiritual Alchemy: The Transformation of Suffering

Adventure Four

5.  Responsibility: The Double-Edged Sword

Adventure Five

6.  Faith: The Mind of Wholeness

Adventure Six

7.  Love: The Heart of Wholeness

Adventure Seven

8.  Wholeness and Relationships: You Are Never Alone

Adventure Eight

About the Author

Introduction

You are about to join me in a quest for wholeness. A quest is a journey—a journey that requires inquiry, investigation, and exploration. Indeed, we will inquire, we will investigate, and we will explore the nature of wholeness. To begin a journey, we need to know where we are starting and where we are going. We need to know how to get from where we are to where we are going. We need to know what to take with us and what to leave behind. And we need to know the dangers, the pitfalls, and what to watch out for in our quest. We will do all these things, and perhaps much more.

Use this book as a guide. It is a handbook for your journey. As a guidebook, it will help you as you take the journey. Reading the guidebook is not a substitute for taking the journey. The map is not the territory. The true quest for wholeness is not a book. It is an experience, a very personal experience. Your quest is uniquely yours because you are uniquely you. No one will begin the journey exactly where you are right now. No one else's journey will take him or her to exactly the same places your journey will take you.

Let this be a journey of the heart as well as of the mind. Your heart will take you places where the mind cannot go. Be open to letting your heart lead you. Your mind can tell you how to take the journey, but only your heart can tell you why you must take it. Only the heart can reveal the deepest mysteries of the quest.

Wholeness is the destination and wholeness is the journey itself. Means and end are one; they cannot be separated. Think not so much about finding wholeness; let your quest be one of becoming whole as you travel the path. There is nothing to discover but yourself. There is nothing worthy of the journey but the discovery of your Self.

And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

—T. S. Eliot¹

We begin the journey right where we are and we let it lead us where it will. You will have many traveling companions on this journey. Honor them. Though their paths are not yours, they will help you discover your own path and they will also be your guides along the way. They will do this simply by being themselves and by being in your life. Consider each of them your teacher. Let the journey begin.

¹ T. S. Eliot, "Four Quartets," The Complete Poems and Plays (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Company, 1952), p. 145.

Chapter One

Spiritual Healing:

The Quest for Wholeness

To realize healing is to have the awareness of God as a living presence, not apart from us but the very life in which we live.

—Martha Smock¹

Spiritual healers can appear in many forms. A spiritual healer may be male or female, young or old, educated or uneducated. He or she may work as a physician, a nurse, a minister, or a counselor. A spiritual healer could also work as a lawyer, an accountant, a carpenter, or a mail carrier. She could be working in any profession. Or she may have no professional title whatsoever. You may recognize her or you may not. You may be one yourself.

A spiritual healer is a person who is dedicated to developing his own wholeness as well as the wholeness of others. He is a person who is committed to his own spiritual awakening and to the awakening of others. A spiritual healer is a person who is willing and able to be a channel for God's healing power-in whatever form is necessary.

Spiritual healing is the process by which we become whole. Yet, in one sense, we are already whole, because wholeness is our true nature. Spiritual healing is the process of seeking, discovering, experiencing, and expressing our true nature, which is wholeness itself. Spiritual healing is making visible the wholeness that lies invisible within each of us. To truly understand the nature of spiritual healing, we must first understand our own true nature.

The Foundation of All Spiritual Healing

There is only one Presence, one Power, one Reality. We call that Reality God. God is the one and only Reality; there is no other. God is the ground of all being, the foundation of existence itself. We are each an expression of the One Reality. We are each an expression of God. This is our true nature, which is wholeness itself. We are intrinsically spiritual beings, and as spiritual beings, we cannot be sick, poor, or unhappy, because we are wholeness itself.

As human beings, we can be sick, poor, and unhappy—and many of us are. This is the paradox with which we live: Our potential is great and so is our suffering. Our divinity gets lost in the guise of our humanity.

Humanity is the vehicle through which we are expressing our true nature. We are spiritual beings having human experiences. But most humans believe the converse to be true. Most people believe that they are innately human, and then strive to become "more spiritual."

Thus, we have turned reality upside down. Actually, we cannot become more spiritual, because our true nature is Spirit. A Chinese proverb says, "The snow goose need do nothing to make itself white." We need do nothing to become more spiritual.

Human suffering is the result of this reversed understanding of reality. Our experience of suffering is caused by our misplaced identity. Yes, we are human beings but, first and foremost, we are spiritual beings. Spiritual healing is full realization of this Truth.

Once upon a time the young son of a king was kidnapped by a roving band of barbarians. The boy was raised by this tribe and grew to manhood, forgetting about his nobility. Then a famine fell upon the land and most of the tribe died of starvation. As the young man lay alone, weakened by hunger, he had a memory of his childhood. He saw himself as a small child sitting in his father's arms. They sat at a table lavishly covered with every variety of delicious food. This vision gave him the strength to find his way back to the castle. And with every ounce of strength within him, he cried: "Open the door—I am the son of the king. My father awaits me." The astonished guards carried the young man to his father, who once again held his son in his arms.

The Cause of Suffering

Human suffering is the result of believing something to be real that isn't. We have embraced the unreal as real, and as a result, we experience suffering. We embrace facts as reality, and they are not. We embrace appearances as reality, and they are not. Facts change and appearances change. Reality does not.

We each embrace many illusions, for we are educated in unreality from the moment of our birth. The poet William Wordsworth said that "our Birth is but a sleep and a forgetting."² Our "sleep" is not a fault or failing on our part but is simply inherent in our human experience. Our suffering is not a punishment, nor is it a sign that we are sinful or flawed. It is simply a sign that at this stage of our evolution, we are more identified with our humanity than our divinity. This is the present human condition. This is the "sleep" from which we are to awaken.

It is said that soon after his enlightenment, the Buddha passed a man walking on the road. This man was struck by the Buddha's extraordinary radiance and peacefulness of presence. The man stopped and asked:

The basis of our "sleep" is an alienation from our true nature, which is divine. In this experience of separation from our true nature, we experience separation from others, from the world around us, and from ourselves. We have learned to perceive reality as outside of us rather than within. We have learned to experience ourselves as separate, vulnerable, physical beings surrounded by a potentially hostile world. Our lives are lived trying to protect and defend this vulnerable, separate self.

We are like a man standing on the back of a whale and fishing for minnows. Ralph Waldo Emerson observes that we ignore the "internal ocean" and proceed to go "abroad to beg a cup of water of the urns of men."⁴ We are blind to our own greatness, and this blindness is our sickness. To become whole is to recognize our own greatness. We cannot see our greatness as separate beings, but only when we know we are eternally connected to the Source and to one another.

Because of our basic sense of separation, we develop many false beliefs, many illusions about ourselves and others. We may believe that we are unlovable or unworthy or inadequate. We may believe that others are untrustworthy, unlovable, or even dangerous. We may fail to recognize that these beliefs are the product of our personal conditioning and of a culture which tends to perpetuate these beliefs. When we take these illusions to be real, we may experience a great deal of suffering.

Spiritual healing lies in knowing who and what we really are. Intellectual knowing is a start, but it is far from sufficient. Most of our illusions are embedded deep in the subconscious. For healing to occur, the knowing must go as deep as the illusion. Much of the spiritual healing process involves uncovering and healing these illusions buried deep within the mind.

Spiritual healing is replacing error with Truth in our consciousness. It is becoming free from the limiting illusions that we have unwittingly embraced. "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (Jn. 8:32). Indeed, all healing is a realization of Truth. By this realization we are deeply changed in body, heart, and mind. Spiritual healing is the death of an old and limited way of life and is the resurrection of a new and expanded way of being.

Suffering is the symptom. Believing an illusion to be a reality is the cause of suffering. Realizing the Truth is the remedy. Our primary illusion is a deep-seated perception of separation from our Source, our true nature which we call God. Conversely, the primary Truth, the foundation of all healing, is the realization of our innate oneness with God, our source and our true nature.

Suffering and separation are essentially synonymous. If you have one, then you have the other. They are as two sides of the same coin. Suffering is the tangible side of separation. When the Buddha said that life is suffering,⁵ he was referring to life as it is lived under the illusion of separation. He taught the Eightfold Path as a remedy for suffering and separation. When Jesus said, "In the world you have tribulation" (Jn. 16:33), he was referring to the world of separation. When he said, "I have overcome the world" (Jn. 16:33), he meant that he had overcome the illusion of separation. Jesus recognized that "I and the Father [the Source] are one" (Jn. 10:30).

To repeat an earlier statement, our suffering is not a sign of failure nor is it punishment for our sins. Suffering is part of the human experience because at this point in our collective evolution, we are deeply identified with the experience of separation.

We Are Spiritual Beings

We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Our spiritual nature is the reality of who we are; like the hand in the glove, it animates and gives direction to our human nature. A glove is useful if it fits the hand and if it is flexible and responsive to the movements of the hand. If a glove is stiff and brittle, it is not responsive. If a glove is too large or too small, it does not serve us well. The role of our human nature is to serve as an expression of our spiritual nature. To the degree that it does, we live with ease and joy. To the extent that it does not, we experience suffering and disease.

Unlike the hand and the glove, our human and spiritual natures are not different, in essence. In reality, the body and the mind are spiritual as well. We are spiritual beings expressing ourselves as human beings. We do not wear our humanity as we wear a coat or a hat. The separate categories of Spirit, mind, and body are artificially created simply to aid our understanding. From the mind's viewpoint, they appear very different, yet in reality they are not. By analogy, we see that H20 can appear in different forms, yet it is always the same substance. H20 appears in solid form as ice or snow, in liquid form as water, and in gaseous form as vapor or steam. Solid ice appears to be very different from invisible water vapor, yet it is, in essence, the same. The solid body may appear very different from the invisible Spirit, yet it is, in essence, the same.

The distinction between humanness and spirituality is .artificial because no real difference exists. The difference is simply one of perspective. We may believe we are only human, and that belief creates our human experience. Yet the reality of what we are does not change. We use the terms human and spiritual simply because these are different ways of seeing ourselves. We typically see ourselves as human beings rather than spiritual beings but, in reality, we are simultaneously both.

This recognition that body, mind, and Spirit are of one substance is extremely important in spiritual healing. In the illusion of separation, we not only separate body and mind from Spirit, but we usually separate body and mind from each other. In reality, the body and mind cannot be separated, for they are both, in essence, Spirit.

We create artificial boundaries that may be useful for communication and understanding, but when we think these boundaries are real, we live in a state of illusion. Several times a week I cross the boundary between the state of Missouri and the state of Kansas. As I cross this boundary, I don't feel anything tangible. I could examine the ground with a magnifying glass and I would not see the state line. The state line exists only in the mind of human beings. In a sense, it is a total illusion, and yet it is a very important illusion, for this designation of state boundaries affects the lives of many people. Likewise, the designations Spirit, mind, and body are important concepts for purposes of our discussion and yet there is no ultimate reality to these boundaries.

Because there is no real division among these various dimensions of our being, there seems to be an interrelationship between and among them. Of course, mind, body, and Spirit affect one another—they are not separate! If you were to jump on one end of a water bed, a person sitting at the other end would be affected. If you were to place a partition between the two of you so that you could not see each other, the other person would still bob up and down when you jumped on your end of the water bed. If this person doesn't know that you are jumping on the other end of the bed, his up and down motions might seem random or capricious, yet there is a very definite cause to the effect that he experiences.

To one who believes that body, mind, and Spirit are unrelated, it may appear that any of these may exhibit random and capricious symptoms. When we see that these dimensions are interrelated, we can see a pattern of cause and effect at work. Our various dimensions of being are related because they are of the same essence.

Conventional medicine and science have largely ignored the existence of our spiritual nature and have historically acknowledged relatively little relationship between mind and body. This has changed somewhat in recent years, but healing professionals are still categorized by the particular level of being—body, mind, Spirit—which they address in their work. Most healing modalities are still confined primarily to the dimension of the symptom. If a symptom is physical, the treatment is usually confined to the physical body typically in the form of drugs, surgery, or manipulation of the body. If a symptom is mental or emotional, the treatment is generally treated through talk therapy, although it is fairly common for drugs to be prescribed for the treatment of mental and emotional ailments. If a symptom is spiritual, then treatment is usually given by a minister, priest, or rabbi rather than by a physician or psychologist. The spiritual practitioner usually prescribes some form of spiritual treatment such as prayer, penance, forgiveness, or conversion.

Spiritual healing embraces every dimension of our nature. In reality, every level of our being is spiritual; therefore, spiritual healing includes all these levels. In the modern world, we have a clear delineation between doctor, psychologist, and priest, but in the ancient world, this distinction was usually not made. A healer was a healer, and he or she would work with the whole person because mind, body, and Spirit were seen as one.

Spiritual Healing Can Take Many Forms

In our desire for spiritual healing, it is important for us not to be attached to a specific image of how the healing should appear. Spiritual healing manifests itself in as many ways as there are individuals manifesting it. Spiritual healing is a movement toward a greater wholeness of being. This can take many forms.

Spiritual healing can include any form of conventional healing as well as any form of alternative healing. It is not a function of the treatment method but is a function of the view we hold and how we incorporate that view into the healing process. Spiritual healing can occur when we see every need for healing as an opportunity for greater awareness of our true nature and an opportunity to express more of our inherent wholeness.

There are infinite forms of spiritual healing. We typically think of healing as the disappearance of a symptom, but this is not necessarily so. If we have a headache and take an aspirin to make the headache go away, we have not necessarily experienced a healing. The true healing of the headache may require us to explore other physical systems and possibly discover that some system or some organ may be malfunctioning. The healing may require us to review and possibly modify our eating habits. It may require us to change our behavior and the way we live our lives. The healing may require us to examine and possibly modify some of our beliefs and values. It may require us to explore and heal some unresolved emotional issues. It may require us to explore our relationship with God and our deepest sense of identity. Spiritual healing means recognizing the interrelatedness of all aspects of our nature. To be healed is to be made whole. Spiritual healing involves all levels of our being.

It is not uncommon for a spiritual healing to appear miraculous. A so-called miracle is simply an effect produced from an unknown cause. When the cause is known, the healing ceases to be a miracle. It's somewhat like watching a magic show and then discovering how the magician does his tricks. The next time you see the show, you no longer see any "magic," because you now have an explanation. Healings that are common medical practices today would have appeared as miraculous a century ago, because there would have been no explanation for them in terms of the science of that day. There is no limit to what can be healed. There is only a limit to what we can explain.

What we call a miracle is miraculous only because of our conditioned and habituated view of the world. Many believe that only Jesus—and perhaps a few other extraordinary people—could work miracles. Yet Jesus himself told his disciples, "He who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do … " (Jn. 14:12). That which we call miraculous in one era is ordinary in another. At the time of Jesus, what could appear more miraculous than space travel, organ transplants, cloning, and computer networks? Yet today we see these as commonplace.

Conversely, a spiritual healing may not appear as a healing at all in the conventional sense. Sometimes .symptoms do not disappear, yet a spiritual healing is taking place. Paul of Tarsus had an enigmatic "thorn … in the flesh" which he prayed repeatedly to have removed. The Lord (his own spiritual nature) responded by saying, "My power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). The awareness of our spiritual nature may be made more powerful through a weakness of the body or the mind.

It may appear that death signifies a failed healing, but this is not necessarily true. Death itself may be the greatest healing possible when a soul has completed its work in the physical form and is ready to move on. And the process of dying may be a catalyst for deep healing. The awareness of an impending death may provide the motivation to explore aspects of life that may have been ignored during the course of day—today living. Relationships may be healed, resentments released, and a degree of surrender achieved that would not be possible when one is embroiled in the mundane facets of life.

Stephen Levine⁶ tells of an experience that made him redefine his understanding of healing:

Healing comes in many forms. Wholeness has many faces. It is essential that we let our minds and hearts become open to healing and wholeness in the very deepest sense of these words.

We are spiritual beings having human experiences. One of the purposes of our human experience is to discover that we are "gods in disguise." Perhaps suffering, in all its myriad forms, is but a symptom of the unawareness of our spiritual nature. We have embraced the illusion of separation from our Source. We have embraced the illusion of "only-humanness." Our suffering is a result of that illusion. We could say that suffering may serve a very useful function. It can serve as an incentive and an opportunity to let go of an illusion and to embrace Truth. It is an opportunity to become more than we have been.

We Are Multidimensional

The experience of spiritual healing always begins with our knowledge of the one and only Reality, the true Source of all life, love, wisdom, and healing. We are expressions of this Source that we call God, the Good. This knowledge is a necessary condition for spiritual healing. If this knowledge is deep enough, it may also be a sufficient condition. That is, it may be all that is necessary. Healing may then occur without any overt change in thinking, feeling, or behavior; and without any physical intervention. Healing may occur from nothing more than a deep realization of Truth.

On the other hand, it may be necessary to change or intervene at one or more of the other levels. Physical treatment of the body may be in order. A modification of diet, behavior; or lifestyle may be necessary. Exploring and releasing suppressed emotions or memories might be called for. A change in one's belief systems, values, or self-image may be required for healing to occur. Spiritual healing may include any or all these factors. Each change is seen to be guided by Spirit and leads to a deeper awareness of Spirit.

An example of a spiritual healing system that includes one or more of the above modalities is the Twelve-Step Recovery program. This program is designed to facilitate spiritual healing for those persons addicted to substances or behaviors that are harmful to them and others. The program begins with an admission that we, functioning solely from our human nature, cannot heal ourselves. Only by surrendering to a Higher Power is healing possible. Some of the steps in this healing process include changing one's behavior, lifestyle, and belief systems as well as asking for and extending forgiveness and making amends, when appropriate. This movement is leaderless, does not follow the teachings of a particular person, and does not proselytize. Yet it is perhaps the most successful spiritual healing movement in the world today. Its success is a testimony to the power of God working through human beings who are committed to spiritual healing.

Ultimately, all healing is a mystery. Whether healing occurs through an apparent miracle or through a conventional medical procedure, the actual mechanism of healing cannot be totally understood. The miracle of life itself can never be totally understood. Just as a farmer can create the conditions for com to grow but can never make the com itself grow, so a physician, a psychotherapist, or a spiritual practitioner can create the conditions for healing to occur, but she can never create the healing itself.

Spiritual healing is deep, profound, and mysterious. It is ultimately beyond definition and beyond the understanding of the human mind. But it is not beyond our reach. It is not beyond our ability to experience it. This ability is inherent within each of us. A realization of this Truth was the origin of the Unity movement. Spiritual healing was, and still is, the foundation.

Spiritual Healing and the Origins of Unity

"I am a child of God and therefore I do not inherit sickness."⁷ These words echoed in the mind of Myrtle Page Fillmore as she left the lecture given by Dr. E. B. Weeks in the spring of 1886. Myrtle was seriously ill with tuberculosis, a disease she believed that she had inherited and was powerless to overcome. At the time of the lecture Myrtle had been told by her doctors they could do nothing more for her. They said that she had only a limited time to live.

All these somber pronouncements evaporated in the glorious excitement that arose in her soul when she heard she was a child of God and did not inherit sickness. She took this newfound knowledge and put it to work in her prayer life:

I went to all the life centers in my body and spoke words of Truth to them—words of strength and power. I asked their forgiveness for the foolish, ignorant course that I had pursued in the past, when I had condemned them and called them weak, inefficient, and diseased. I did not become discouraged at their being slow to wake up, but kept right on, both silently and aloud, declaring the words of Truth, until the organs responded. And neither did I forget to tell them that they were free, unlimited Spirit. I told them that they were no longer in bondage to the carnal mind; that they were not corruptible flesh, but centers of life and energy omnipresent.⁸

After two years of dedicated spiritual practice, Myrtle Fillmore was healed. Her body was made whole. Her heart was filled with the desire to share with others her spiritual understanding resulting from this healing experience. Friends and neighbors who knew her marveled at the change that had taken place. Many were eager to hear how she did it. Before long, many people were coming to her for help and for guidance. The results were often astounding.

Myrtle's husband Charles was poignantly aware of the healing that had taken place in his wife and was occurring in the lives of many with whom she counseled and prayed. Although Charles was a partial invalid stemming from a childhood accident and was in almost constant pain, he was slow to accept the Truth that flashed into the mind of his wife two years earlier. Charles was a businessman, a skeptic. He had difficulty with the idea of faith in something that seemed so contrary to common sense. Yet the evidence was irrefutable.

He began to study principles of spiritual healing from a variety of teachers and teachings. Disturbed by what seemed to be so many conflicting statements and ideas about a single topic, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He writes: