questions and answers with Eric Rolf creator of Soul Medicine

Soul Medicine—the Anti-medicine of Creative Cause and Inner listening
By Eric Rolf

An interview with the author (translated from an article in El Mundo, a major European publication)

Questions and answers with Eric Rolf

Q: What is Soul Medicine and what makes it different or distinctive from other medicines or therapies?

A: What makes Soul Medicine distinctive as well as very different is that it is an “anti-medicine” and therefore the only one in the world developed completely as such. It could well be the most important development of our time in terms of health and wellness.

Said in terms we can easily understand, Soul Medicine does not believe either in sickness or in sick people in any absolute sense. What it does believe is in consciousness, creativity and communication. It is this triangle or trinity which produces the effects we have come to know as “being sick”.

Q: Is Soul Medicine the world’s only “Anti-Medicine”?

A: Curiously enough all the different medicines, and there are many, are to some degree an “anti-medicine.” What I mean is that all medicines accept to some degree that the person in some way has a direct influence on his state of health through shall we call it his state-of-mind. The thing is that none of the others completely and exclusively attributes the development of different states of health, including illness and accidents, to the individual, be it done more or less consciously. Soul Medicine does not accept external causes even though they often can appear as such.

We can also say that each type or model of medicine functions at a particular level of consciousness and that creates both its possibilities as well as its limits. Official medicine, what is known as allopathic medicine, until fairly recently (less than 50 years) did not accept in any way what today is known as psychosomatic effects or that the mind and emotions can influence one’s state of physical health I recall that in 1970, the same year I was developing Soul Medicine (just 35 years ago) I read a just published scientific paper that stated, as something a bit innovative, that “possibly as much as 20% of illnesses may have psychosomatic causes.” Now, about six or seven years ago I read another recent scientific document that stated that “possibly as much as 80% have psychosomatic causes”. That is more or less where the frontier of official science is at today. Nevertheless, when the cause is said to be “psychosomatic” it still carries the flavor or stigma that even though you may be uncomfortable and suffering that officially your illness is not “real.” They seem to be saying “you are only imagining it or creating the symptoms” and that somehow that doesn’t count as a legitimate cause. It only counts if it is external: if you are a victim be it of contagion, a microbe attack or an accident—actually, in most cases, one doesn’t get sick in an accident; one gets damaged or broken.. Official medicine not only cures, it also repairs—like a car mechanic who not only tunes up the engine but may also repair or replace something broken. That is the basic metaphor of the official medical model: we are physical-mechanical objects that when some part is not working we repair it, replace it or eliminate it. The car is just a car, a physical object, and the body is more or less the same.

Q: Is Soul Medicine basically psychosomatic medicine?

A: Only in the sense that life and our life is psychosomatic—of course it is, yet that is not the most appropriate manner of looking at it. It is like seeing through a limited or distorted lens.

The wider and more suitable lens is the lens of the individual’s creative consciousness and the communication that exists between life in a general sense and our own life in particular. If we are creatively responsible for our life experiences, and we are, even though that may not always be easy to understand or much less accept, then naturally that also includes our state of health or wellness and our bodily conditions. The rest of life participates in a supportive manner, although that may not always be comfortable.

Q: What simple guides might enable a person to use or be benefited by Soul Medicine

A: First to maintain conscious awareness of the 12 grand teachings or pillars of wisdom that are included in the Soul Medicine conceptual framework or paradigm.
I can outline them briefly although an entire book could be written about each one in order to explore it fully.

Know the existence is a single totality; that it is completely conscious and that it communicates with all of its parts or aspects. Life knows what it is doing and it talks to us.

Know that the universe is friendly and supportive even when it does not appear so or even appears to the contrary.

Know that we create our reality, that things don’t happen to us randomly that, more correctly, they happen from us and with some meaning

Know that each of us is unique and that we are capable of thinking, imagining and creating anything in some form or other.

Know that life is a mystery that changes from instant to instant and that everything is in motion and that it is also unimaginably well organized. Life is not a problem to solve; it is a mystery to explore and enjoy.

Know that we are 99% spiritual or non material and only 1% matter.

Know that the physical world makes more sense as metaphor than as something only physically dense. Reality creates reality in 3-dimensional metaphors

Know that there are no strictly chance events and that each person is a soul who is here with an evolutionary purpose. This is a spiritual safari, the adventure of the soul.

Know that life is considerably more creative and magical than it is mechanical. We are immersed in a great ocean of continuous creativity.

Know that the primary relationship is with ourselves and that it is about self acceptance and being creatively responsible for our actions. It is this sense of creative responsibility that allows us to learn and change our behaviour and its consequences, to evolve consciously

Know that the Soul does not get sick but it does need nourishment. If you don’t nourish your soul, it can seem as if your life is starving to death. Conscious breathing, meditation and prayer, art, laughter and good humor, including black humor, and cleanliness at all levels are a few of the principal nutrients of the soul.

Know that we are always looking in a metaphoric mirror by means of which life, the deepest part of ourselves, what unites us with mystery, is talking, guiding and entertaining us.

Q: Doesn’t this sound a bit like the Ten Commandments?

A: Well I’m happy to be able to say that one has absolutely nothing to do with the other. The Ten Commandments are simply ten prohibitions, actions one shouldn’t commit like not killing, not stealing, etc that while they make some sense they still are nothing more than prohibitions. What NOT TO DO. They do not include any knowledge or wisdom or in any way recognize individual consciousness. They also do not indicate any actions that might be useful. It’s true that Jesus says “judge not” but he also says love one another, he affirms the golden rule and also suggests loving your neighbour as yourself. This is all good advice, but still only advice.

The 12 great teachings are like fruits or delicacies of life that if one tastes them one not only experiences their validity and their spiritual nourishment but they are also capable of transforming your experience of what it is to be a living human being.

All valid knowledge has its roots in what is called universal or spiritual laws. However, what occurs is that by simply stating the laws they are abstract and we cannot always make a bridge from them to our lives in particular. That bridge is known as knowledge.

For example, we have all heard of the law of gravity but what the majority is aware of is just one small part of its potential possibilities, the part about what goes up must come down. There are applications in the field of aerodynamics that are also rooted in the law of gravity. A wise man once said that if the law of gravity is the glue that holds the universe together, the law of balance is the key to unlock its secrets. Balance is fundamental to the body, mind and emotions, for all levels of being. Now, to simply state: the law of balance: “everything needs, seeks or is in balance” is an abstract statement and requires exploration, penetration and the creation of useful structures mental and otherwise to create a bridge to our life.

The 12 great teachings are neither my personal advice nor warnings or prohibitions. They do not include or recommend any specific actions, except ways to nourish one’s soul, or any prohibitions. As you well know, it is one’s consciousness, one’s knowledge and one’s individual beliefs that dictate our actions—neither good advice nor most certainly prohibitions are of any use if they do not align with our knowledge and personal beliefs.

The libraries are full of good advice and both politics and religion are full of prohibitions and still atrocious acts and conditions continue along with a low quality of life both physically and spiritually. No, we don’t need anymore advice or prohibitions. What is lacking is greater spiritual knowledge and consciousness of higher states of being.

How many times have we heard persons affirming that we are all children of God and at the same time their own lives are a mess? They experience lack at many levels and generally experience their lives as being victims or prisoners and isolated in a world they feel impotent to change. If that is being the child of God then it must be a very small God who is very serious and with a bad disposition.

Fortunately that does not have to be the case as indeed many have found out. There are other alternatives when we expand our spiritual knowledge and elevate our consciousness or state of being. Imagine someone swimming in the ocean, quite a distance from shore and after a while he gets tired; but when he stops moving his arms and legs he notices that he sinks and unless he starts swimming again he may drown.

Then a companion tells him “if you relax, if you lay on your back and don’t move, the water will support you, you will float.” The only thing he has to do is try it, or not. He doesn’t have to understand the physics of water displacement . If he tries it he floats, he rests until he again feels like swimming.

It is even possible that there is a current moving the water in the same direction in which he was headed and that alone will take him to his destination, like a sailboat carried by the wind. As you may know, sailing is less about physical effort and more about knowledge and about the conscious awareness of maintaining the sail correctly aligned with the wind current. Someone said once: “in life as in sailing, it is not the strength of the gale, but the set of the sail, that gets us where we want to go”.

Q: If it is so simple why are we so hesitant to try something new? Is it fear?

A: Yes, it’s simple but it isn’t always easy because we have resistances and conflicting beliefs that seem to function until we realize that something isn’t right. Normally this requires a crisis of some sort and quite often an illness.

There is a method that can help us all when we are faced with new knowledge or a new possibility which is called “the worse case possible.” We simply ask ourselves what can be the worse thing that can happen if I try this new idea or action?” In the majority of cases it is relatively little in a negative sense. Perhaps we have to invest some time, a bit of effort or perhaps a sum of money, but it is usually little by comparison with having the problem and with the positive possibilities that are indicated.

It is hard to believe for example that there are large numbers of people in the world with computers and an internet connection who are out of work. Yet, with a bit of knowledge, effort and very little money they can have a webpage and have a possible stream of income with only a couple of hours work a day. I’m not talking about internet millionaires or “get rich quick” schemes just creating something useful and which can generate some money along with increasing one’s sense of wellbeing.

Q: Are there any other insights or teachings in the Soul Medicine paradigm?

The complete paradigm includes more than 200 insights or understandings. As a whole it constitutes what can be considered like a book about the physics of the soul. But the word physics indicates the physical or the laws and understandings regarding matter. This is similar but in terms of the non-material or purely spiritual. It might almost be called Spirit’s creative bridges. This has implications beyond what some call energy healing, which relates to something manifested and although not visible to the eye is visible to instruments. The purely spiritual cannot be measured physically in any way but yet is easily accessible and usable through individual consciousness and its principal instruments such as the heart, the mind and the soul. Life talks to us and also listens and responds. The communication between us is a two way street. Now, we are not always listening and this has consequences. Soul Medicine addresses this spiritual deafness.

Q: Do you believe in God?

A: Of course, I believe in my God and that each person has his own God and his own network of beliefs about how life works, who we are, why we are here and where we are going. These beliefs may be more or less conscious, but they are there. What is so is that no one is capable of defining that great mystery that is life or the existence. Life is not a problem to solve. It is a mystery to explore. What we can do is have a direct experience by risking our limiting beliefs and trying other more expanded ones. If everything in life can grow in some way, I would think that our idea of divine intelligence, of God, can also grow; as well as our fundamental relationship with that creative and conscious mystery.

Just the fact that someone belongs to a religious organization indicates very little about his true beliefs. Here in Spain one often hears someone say they are a “non practicing catholic.” something completely absurd, regardless of which religion is said to being “not practiced”. If one doesn’t participate actively in any relationship whatsoever then it doesn’t help to claim it since the only thing we are doing is admitting our lack of courage and commitment. It is like saying I am a non practicing wife or husband, which means being separated or divorced doesn’t it? If one no longer practices or gives attention to a relationship then that relationship is finished, regardless of whether or not there is another to replace it. Perhaps the best advice I can offer is that each person actively examine his own beliefs of all types, beginning with the spiritual or non material and including our beliefs about matter, the world and our relationships with each other.

Q: Since you say you don’t believe in sickness or in sick people in any absolute sense, how do see the process of getting sick and getting cured within Soul Medicine?

The first of the 12 great teachings says that existence is a single totality that is conscious and creatively communicates with all of its parts or aspects. This includes us, naturally. In other words, life knows what it’s doing and it talks to us, guides us shall we say, and at first in whispers. When we don’t hear or don’t understand, or choose not to listen, it keeps raising its voice until it finally screams at us. That scream is the pain, the illness or perhaps an accident.

Now to call a communication, regardless of how loud or painful it might be, an illness, not only takes it out of its appropriate context, it interferes directly in the process of listening, understanding and taking a new more appropriate action.

Within the Soul Medicine model, what is most important is not the illness or pattern of symptoms per se. That only indicates the tone of voice, how loud a scream is it—cancer is a louder scream than say a cold. What is important is “where,” which organs are involved. One of the pillars of Soul Medicine is the body’s secret code. This is an organ by organ description that indicates which part of your life is trying to get your attention. Knee problems, for example, among other things are related with the parents, with authority figures and with material and non material powers. The kidneys are associated with our relationships, above all the closest ones such as with brothers and sisters or close friends.

Q: Fine, let’s imagine that the sick person has read your book. He has a kidney problem and the book indicates close relationships as with brothers and sisters or close friends. What is the next step?

A: first, he reads the entire section and he relates with it in some manner within the context of his life. It is not a matter of “if” he relates, but “how”- Sometimes just by reading the section in the book things begin to clear up in the sense that we know or recognize that yes there clearly is a problem in a particular close relationship.

The next step is to discover when it really began, which event was the original seed that now—perhaps after many years—is bearing fruit. Another thing that distinguishes Soul Medicine is what we call “the inner creative language” or the secrets about how intuition actually works—how does life speak to us on a person by person basis. As far as I know it is the world’s only system or perceptive framework which clearly and simply describes the process in a useful manner and does not stop at “relax and listen to your inner voice”—good advice but which few are able to follow because they don’t know how or are looking for the wrong kind of information. Most people believe they don’t know the language life uses. They don’t even know it is a language. With all the talk about an inner voice, most seem to be waiting for a recognizable voice and yet our society also tells us that if you hear voices you’re a bit crazy: So what to do? There are persons who come to the courses just to discover how their inner creative language works and to make a conscious contact with their 10 inner senses. Over and beyond health considerations, it is very valuable to truly know and know deeply that life is talking to you and guiding you in many ways in each moment and how to listen and take action on the best advice in the universe. It is a bit like having God’s cell phone number.

Q: So when one uses intuition and sees that moment in the past in the relationship with his brother, what happens?

A: Let’s suppose that he not only sees the seed moment but that now seeing it from this space/time he can become aware of many new things, he can live it in another manner. In a brief moment of truth of a mental-emotional “aha!” he can release old beliefs and unblock stuck images and emotions. It is quite possible that in that very moment his pain can disappear. If one is listening to life, it does not need to scream and we can have a new body in the next moment. This life is much more magical than mechanical, more rich than poor and more creative, a work of art rather than a place only for being victims and suffering. It is true that we have come to this water planet to feel, to live our emotions, but not necessarily to suffer. A considerable amount of suffering is simply unnecessary and the result of the resistance to feeling. Pain is basically more of a resistance to feeling and acting than anything else.

Q: This sounds like miracle healing. Does it really occur often as you have outlined?

First, I don’t believe in miracles in the way it is usually understood. I say this because miracles are simply not necessary. Whatever we can imagine is possible in some way. My experience is that the existence is unimaginably well organized and conscious although we often walk backwards or are looking backwards and not at what is going on in front of us. To talk about miracles seems to me mostly a lack of imagination. That certainly indicates a very small God. It is like saying that first He puts his foot in it and then has to put his hand in directly. The ego doesn’t like to admit its ignorance and when we somehow create results, let’s say unexpected, surprising, beneficial and not always repeatable, the answer must be that God himself came and lent a hand.

For thousands of years Yogis and other wise men have known that life is not continuous, although it appears to be. The yogis say we have a new body with each complete breath. Today the quantum physicists say the same thing but on an even bigger scale. The say that the universe turns on and off in Hilbert time, an abstract, mathematical time. Basically this compares to a movie which although appearing continuous when we look closely we see that it is actually individual frames. The physicists also say that the universe depends on the observer, that the observer creates and changes the results. Therefore a different observation of oneself in another time is clearly capable of making direct changes from one instant to the next.

You ask me if this happens often. I don’t really know how to answer that honestly, clearly and so I won’t be misinterpreted. First we must understand that the large majority of sick people do not want to be cured. That may sound cynical but I assure you it is not. It’s true that many want symptom relief, relief from the pain and discomfort, those changes they want. What they don’t want is to lose the benefits and to pay the price in their lives—they want things to change without them having to make changes and that usually doesn’t function. Socrates said it centuries ago, “he who would change the world must first change himself.”

Now, it is true that there are persons who want healing and they are willing to do whatever is indicated or necessary. They are willing to pay the price in their lives and are committed to taking new actions to demonstrate it. In these cases, yes, the rapid changes occur often although physically not always from one moment to the next in a noticeable way. Remember the person may need to make a major life change, take new actions, live in another way for what for him or her is a believable period so that the new lifestyle is established as completely real for the person and he sees himself as a new person as well. I will say that at the very instant that a person makes a total commitment to the changes indicated that there is some relief. Sometimes pain that has been there for years can disappear instantly, but often this is more like a breather life gives us. We must fulfil our commitment with ourselves, take new actions, and truly become another person in order to have another body.

I can tell you that in the 35 years that I have been associated with these understandings or knowledge that I have seen a great many conditions considered grave or incurable, change rapidly and probably most things between a sneeze from allergies to a life endangering condition. I have also seen cases where apparently nothing at all happened and the person stayed about the same. Sometimes it happens that there can be important changes and then the persons go back to the old ways and habits and the symptoms return. Anything can happen. Fortunately the worse that can happen is that nothing happens beyond what is already the case. The best is total remission, a complete healing. Now for the person who truly wants to be healed without any “yes, but” I would bet on Soul Medicine and the Soul Medicine paradigm.

Q: Do you still see people individually and if so where?

A: Yes, but mostly I devote my time to courses where people can spend more time with me and live a while longer on the new planet. The ideal situation is that the interested person first read the book Soul Medicine—the anti-medicine of Creative Cause and Inner Listening and perhaps also read Counting on your Soul—the numerology of the soul. And then come to a course, and after, begin applying his personal information as well as the knowledge and teachings in his life. If there is still no change or let’s say insufficient change, then an individual session can be of great help either with me or with various other professionals who include Soul Medicine in their practice. I also do individual sessions by telephone which is basically the same as a regular session and sometimes better since there are usually fewer distractions. If someone is interested the best way to begin the process is to contact me by email awake895@gmail.com and tell me about your interests or condition and we can go from there in the most appropriate manner

Q: Besides Soul Medicine, have you written and published other books.

A. yes, I recently published Counting on Your Soul—the numerology of the Soul which is also available through my website http://www.ericrolf.com . Incidentally at the website there is considerable free information about the work including free chapters of the book.

Q: Since it is such a novel and extraordinary concept, could you simplify or sum up a bit more just what is or means an “Anti-Medicine”?

A: Soul Medicine is the only system or conceptual framework developed completely as an “anti-medicine.” It is the Good News about illness and healing. We are all familiar with the “bad news”. We are told;

--we were victims, first of the germs and perhaps later of the chemicals in the drugs
--it hurts and can hurt a lot
--there can be prolonged suffering
--you might even have a condition declared “incurable”
--you can’t buy health with money. At best you may have better quality care, which simply means you will be a little less uncomfortable.
--only the doctor is able to fully understand your condition and cure you by ways of treatments and drugs that only he and his colleagues know about and understand and which you may not even be able to pronounce.
--it could kill you
That more or less is the bad news.

The good news is that the basic concept, the box in which they have placed the entire matter of sickness and healing is completely mistaken or at best seriously limited.

--we are not victims
--an illness is a communication, a loud and clear one, and if you understand it and act accordingly in terms of what it says or indicates, you will heal rapidly. You may even be surprised by how quickly this can happen and it may even appear magical.
--Yes, we can “buy” good health. Life is free and that’s why everything has a price—but not always in money, that would be relatively easy.

The price you pay is in your life. Nothing happens until someone moves, takes a new action. The price is change, a new behavior compared to what we had been doing until now in that part of our lives. That costs perhaps even costs a lot, but we can pay it. Everything in life is paid for with some kind of action, in the same coin. The medicine isn’t chemical it is more alchemy. That new action or life direction will not have negative side effects because it is a vertical, transforming and regenerating movement, a leap in consciousness to a new state of being, of being a new person in a new world.

--and insofar as killing us? Well yes, that new action may well kill our ego or at least debilitate it considerably, but I assure you that your life and your body will appreciate it and be most grateful.

--If a person truly wants to be healed, with no “yes, but,” and is willing to pay the price in his or her life by taking the appropriate action and making the changes indicated, then the best, most loving bet I know is Soul Medicine. And yes, what makes it distinctive, different and seemingly magical is precisely that it is an “anti-medicine”. It is not about sickness, per se. That is only one important life area where it is applied. It is about your individual consciousness, creativity, inner listening and taking the action which is right for you. It is about healing the only illness that truly exists, which is varying degrees of “spiritual deafness”. It is connecting with your soul, your spiritual being and living and enjoying more of the other 99% of your life. It is about being you, being well and being free.

(Below is a brief biography of Eric Rolf )

Biography Eric Rolf

Eric Rolf, a western, spiritually based teacher/counselor, is a modern renaissance man.

Born November 27, 1936 in New York City, he has dedicated his life to the exploration of the creative and communications processes from their inner sources. He is also well known for his natural self healing and personal self realization activities with both individuals and groups of all types.

Eric Rolf is the creator and developer of¨
--Soul Medicine-- a revolutionary self healing model (see Soul Medicine the anti-medicine of creative cause and inner listening an E-book available by contacting the author)
--The Body’s Secret Code-- a unique organ by organ communications relationship with our lives
--The Inner Creative Language—the secrets of intuition and the 10 inner senses
--The Nutrients of the Soul—an activities guide to inner empowerment
--The Alma Paradigm (the soul medicine paradigm for living and self healing)
--The Eric Rolf Sacred Water remedies—11 highly energized, expanded awareness water concentrates
--The Numerology of the Soul—an advanced numerological perspective for personal insight
--Mineral Medicine—Using stones, minerals and crystals for self healing
-- Factor 99%--the Soul Nutrients Newsletter—focusing on awareness, creativity, health, intuition and wellbeing
He has also written a number of books including
Counting on Your Soul—the numerology of the soul
--Soul Medicine—the anti-medicine of creative cause and inner listening
--Fruits from My Tree
--Teachings: the path of flavor
--Time/Life Quality
--Eric Rolf Speaks about the Sacred Water remedies (with J. Leon)

Eric Rolf teaches groups in seminars and workshops and attends to individual consultations in person and by telephone. A number of well known individuals and companies have benefited from contacts with him including: Exxon, Swedish Telephone, a wide range of advertising and media agencies, and artists Gilbert Williams, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Paul Simon, and Carlos Santana. He also worked for NASA during the Apollo program and was nominated for a Genie Award for his accomplishments related with intuition.
In addition to the US and Hawaii Eric Rolf has lived and worked in various countries in the Caribbean, South America, Scandinavia, England, Germany and France.
Since 1981 Eric Rolf has lived and worked in Europe, primarily in Spain and Sweden. He currently lives in a small fishing village near Malaga on Spain’s southern Sun Coast. He continues to conduct courses in Europe and recently has begun re-initiating work contacts in the US via the internet and through occasional visits. In October 2008 he plans to transfer his home and base to Sedona, Arizona and expand his teaching activity on the internet.

Eric Rolf’s contact information is awake895@gmail.com

Tel—(34)952 408973

www.ericrolf.com

Contact page

Eric Rolf conducts courses for individuals and professionals in English and Spanish in various countries by invitation and prior arrangements. He also attends to individual consultations in person or by telephone. The majority of courses are held in Spain and more recently in the US.

Course and lecture subjects include among others:
Soul Medicine
Numerology of the Soul
Soul Nutrients
The Inner Creative Language—intuition secrets
The Eric Rolf Sacred Water Remedies

Each year Eric Rolf conducts 2 weeklong live in courses
--Dynamic Silence (during the week prior to Easter Sunday)
--Vacation at the Beach with Eric Rolf (during the last week in July)

Both courses are open to the public and are held in Spain.

To contact Eric Rolf: erolfsoulmedicine@yahoo.com

or write:
Eric Rolf
Apartado 15090
29080 Malaga, Spain

by telephone: int+34+952 40 89 72
int+34+670 63 76 65

time difference for Spain Eastern Standard or Daylight Time plus 6 hours—noon in New York is 6 p.m. in Spain

To receive Eric Rolf’s free Soul Nutrients newsletter Factor 99% visit http://www.ericrolf.com