Spiritual Alchemy and Transformation: September-October 2000

Power, Spiritual Alchemy and Transformation:
A Talk with Caroline Myss

by Dawn Baumann Brunke

Caroline Myss, Ph.D., has degrees in journalism and theology, as well as a doctorate in intuition and energy medicine. From 1982-1995 she worked as a medical intuitive, "seeing" illnesses in a patient's body by intuitive means. In partnership with C. Norman Shealy, M.D., Ph.D., a Harvard-trained neurosurgeon and founder of the American Holistic Medical Association, Caroline recently co-founded the Institute for the Science of Medical Intuition.

Some of Myss' books include Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing and Why People Don't Heal and How They Can. She is currently writing yet another book tentatively titled Sacred Contracts (to be released in June of 2001 by Harmony Books), which explores the transformation of the self. As Myss notes,

"Many descriptions can be applied to the nature of the spiritual journey. For me the concept that most suits the model of spiritual development and self-investigation is to enter into the self through the archetype of the spiritual alchemist in search of the process of personal transformation."

It is on this topic that our interview began.

DB: Let's begin with the spiritual alchemy theme you're working with in your upcoming book and workshop. Who is the Spiritual Alchemist? Is this the same archetype as the Magician?

CM: No. The magician is different. Think of David Copperfield. He's not an alchemist.

DB: Right, he works with illusions. Whereas with alchemy, we're looking more to transformations?

CM: Precisely. That's one of the major differences. You might think of transformation as the theme of the alchemist. Spiritual alchemy is the journey of self-transformation. I teach people to identify the thoughts and patterns in their life that qualify for "lead" and how to take that lead into their inner laboratory and convert it into gold. That's the theme around which I've built this workshop.

The reason why I think this subject matter is so appealing is because the alchemist archetype has become very seductive to people, even down to being the central focus of what are now the most popular books on the planet -- the Harry Potter series. The whole idea that there's an entire school of wizards is about alchemy and transformation. It's interesting to me that even though the author J. K. Rowling may have no idea what she's doing on a conscious level -- and I'm not suggesting that she doesn't, but let's play out for a moment the idea that she was just inspired to do this -- what if she is setting the groundwork early on for children to be totally captivated by the idea of transformation? That that's really what's going on underneath the pages of those charming, charming books. It looks like Harry Potter is off to a wizard school, but in fact what kids are inspired to think is: is it possible to do transformation?

DB: And that's probably why the book is equally popular with so many adults right now as well. I've read three of the books and I'm totally…

CM: Captivated is the word. Captivated and enchanted by the book. That's exactly right. There is a process of enchantment that goes on with the thought that there is a level of power that we can activate within ourselves that is very real. It's not a lark. And that process becomes awakened when we recognize that the journey of life is fundamentally one of transformation.

The thing that I find so interesting is that when people are in my workshops they think they've chosen to somehow or other undergo transformation. That's a phrase I've heard thousands of people use -- "I'm undergoing transformation." You have to understand -- we have no choice in the matter. There isn't one human being who isn't being directed by that fundamental archetype of continually re-evaluating their relationship to power. The whole theme and focus of my workshop is power and how human beings relate to power. What causes someone to lose his or her power? How does one become empowered? I don't think people are aware that power is indeed the fundamental ingredient of the human experience and that everything they do, say, where they live, what car they drive -- everything is a power statement or lack of it.

DB: How do you define power?

CM: Power has multiple levels of manifestation. On one level it's stuff. People are stuffologists and the more stuff they have the more power they have. You can have an inner tube or you can have a yacht; if you have an inner tube you don't have any power but if you have a yacht you do, even though both of them are no more than stuff to sit on the water with. On the physical level, power comes in the form of beauty, in the form of the physical geography of your body. Physical power also includes money -- let's not forget that.

After the realm of physical power comes mental power, such as your job, what you do, the pedigrees after your name, doctors, lawyers, CEOs and other alphabetic appendages. Then, after that -- and this is so humorous -- because the next level of power that people admire is the person who doesn't need power. The person who doesn't need power is the one who becomes most powerful. There you have the realm of the spiritual. When someone gets to the point where they don't need any power to be on the planet, then they are deemed the most powerful. Isn't that ironic? Don't you think it's hilarious?

DB: Well, it's the completion of a cycle. So, yes, it does get funny at that point.

CM: Precisely. And I can't tell you how primal this fight for power is, and how subtle it is. In a workshop, for example, people will come into the room and run like crazy to stake their territory to the closest seats towards the stage. They'll throw their coats or notebooks on the chairs, and the understanding is "If I'm here today, I get it all weekend." There's no policy that says who gets to sit where or when. But what they'll do is leave their stuff. Make no mistake that this is a statement of power. You cannot imagine the physiological responses that I've witnessed in people when someone else has taken their chairs. You have what equates to a power violation that is a form of territorial rape. And people don't realize that in every single exchange they have, they are actually dealing with power. So, what I focus on is teaching people a model of what I call inner reference that they can use to identify when they are losing power and why, how much and how fast and how to recover it.

DB: Though, as you mentioned before, isn't the kicker not to even need the power?

CM: That's not true. The point is to redefine your understanding of what is power. It's essentially your soul. Power in the physical world is your capacity to experience the force that your soul has to maneuver matter, to incarnate matter, to control matter and maneuver it. What you're witnessing at the physical level is your soul in action.

DB: Are we talking about "creating your reality?"

CM: We're talking about co-creating reality. We don't create reality. We don't even co-create reality. We respond to reality. And what we're recognizing is that we have the capacity to consciously respond to our lives and that choice of response has more influence than we've ever even considered before -- biological influence, physiological influence, emotional influence, physical influence -- and that every single response kicks off consequences on a million different levels. We never knew that before. So when we think about something like co-creating our reality, it's far better and more accurate to say we co-influence it. Because we do not create it. We simply respond to and we influence it.

In workshops, I say to people, "How many of you think you create your own reality?" and their hands go flying up. I say, "How many of you are happy?" Then the hands don't go up and I ask, "So, how good are you are with this creating your reality stuff?" I'll say, "I've got bad news for you. You don't create your own reality. And the sooner you realize it, the more you'll remember you have to pray."

DB: It almost sounds as if you are saying reality is something out there that is created for us.

CM: No. We respond. Do you think you create all of nature?

DB: Not literally.

CM: What do you do with it? You respond to it. And in your response, you are influencing the reality within which you live. But you don't create the outside world. You simply respond to it.

DB: I'm thinking in more basic terms -- artistic terms, for example: you write a book, create a painting.

CM: Well, yes, you create that. That's different. That's baby stuff. Those are projects, but in an interesting way if you really thought about it, do you create that or are you being directed spiritually to do that?

DB: I suppose it's a combination.

CM: Yes it is. So, therefore, you co-influence. You see, you really have a partnership with the creative force of life. You have a partnership with divinity and you have a partnership with that which is called the force of creation. If you understand that, then you recognize that that partnership requires that you make choices. Choices within the paradigm of alchemy are like formulas within a laboratory. If I choose negativity, then that's going to result in a certain type of consequence in my laboratory, so I do co-influence my reality because I'm creating a very toxic one. That's how it goes. In my workshop, I teach people the principles of what creates what consequence and when something is very positive how to use that to melt down some intense lead in their life that's causing them harm.

DB: I'm still not understanding what you mean about not having a hand in creating reality. Let's say you get to a very expanded state where you are identifying with All That Is, for example. At that point you are creating reality; aren't you?

CM: No. You're accepting it. At the end of the day, what all spiritual traditions aim for as the state of samadhi or enlightenment is a full acceptance of All That Is without the need to change anything.

DB: Okay. I'm comfortable with that.

CM: So, at that point are you creating reality or are you accepting it?

DB: I would say all of the above: accepting, creating, feeling, experiencing, being. If you are All That Is, then you are doing all of those things, being all those things.

CM: Well, it's interesting because from the mystical texts none of the great mystics would ever use the word create. Never. They all say release, surrender, accept, but never create because that's the realm of the divine. For example, if you read the book of Job, you'll find that's the last time Yahweh addressed people in the first voice. He said to Job, "I don't owe you an explanation for what I do when I create anything. Because you don't create. Your job is to accept what I create, not to tell me what you're going to create with me. That's ridiculous."

You should read the book of Job; it's fabulous and probably one of the most popularly studied and scholarly works in the scripture precisely because it deals with this question of creation and whether we influence it or do we simply accept it. Is the ultimate act of peace the surrender and trust that the reality that has been created for us is the most perfect reality that could be created for us, and, therefore, we accept it and, in accepting it, that's the ultimate act of creating our reality? It's paradoxical.

DB: So, we accept it as the perfect creation…

CM: Bingo!

DB: …that we created.

CM: No! We accept it as that which WAS perfectly created for us. That's a very different and crucial difference in wording. We accept that it was created as perfect for us, not that we created it perfectly. We don't have that kind of clout. It's unfortunate, but we don't. We just don't. That's the way it is. If we did, people would be able to heal themselves in the blink of an eye and they can't. People's lives would be happier and they're not. People's children wouldn't be drug addicts and they are.

At what point in your capacity to create reality do you draw the boundary between your life and someone else's? If you create your reality, why can't you make that person in your life love you because they are in your reality? Because you can't. You don't have that kind of clout. Any more than someone can say drop dead and you really do. That's preposterous. They can't create your reality even though you're in that reality. Think about that. It's not possible.

DB: How about we talk about the transition points as one moves on one's spiritual journey from one state of consciousness to another?

CM: Well, the first transition as I see it is when you begin to separate from what I call the tribal or group mind. I believe -- and I think it's more than obvious -- that the first stage of consciousness for people is group consciousness, where their consciousness is held and where they hold others within thoughts that all of them believe. In the process of doing this, none of them is solely responsible for the cause and effect of these belief systems. Let me give you an example. Numerous times in workshops I ask how many people see themselves as a consciously, sophisticated individual, and hands go up. I remember challenging an English woman about one of her belief patterns. She was saying, "I could imagine that there might be other nationalities one would want to be other than English, but I personally cannot imagine what one of them would be." I looked at her and said, "I can think of one." And then she caught herself and said, "Oh, well I certainly don't believe that myself, but I was taught that." This is how people let themselves run back to the group mind, because it's such a safe way to say, "I'm not really at fault"; "I was simply doing my job"; "That's the way we are"; or "We grew up that way." So, the first level of the psyche is the group one.

DB: The "everyone believes this" mentality.

CM: Right. But eventually every single person begins to feel suffocated with that state of consciousness. That's what the teen-age rebellion is all about. At this stage, people say, "I've got to experience who I am and discover what I believe separate from what I was told to believe." The rebellion starts, and that's the phase where the self begins to discover the self. At that point, a person wants to discover their personal heart, what reality is for them, separate and above from what the tribal mind tells them. Here's an example. It's been my experience that many people have encounters or experiences with spirituality, such as deep profound dreams of direction or guidance that are not common to people who are involved in religion versus spirituality. When they would speak to their family, who are very religious but not what you'd call consciously spiritual, the family would deny that such a thing could happen. And so within the person who is developing his or her own spirituality, being able to expand your reality to say, "Well, this is normal and this can happen" is something that every person begins to yearn for at some point along the way. They want to experience the birth of themselves, and that's the second stage. It's during that phase that you kind of fill up on yourself and with yourself.

The next stage is the search for meaning. It is to say, "Now that I've discovered myself and know myself, I'm still hungry; this still isn't enough." And that's when the search for meaning in life kicks in with full measure. It's when people start to turn in some way, whether consciously or not consciously, toward the examination of the spirit. As Carl Jung put it, you begin to wonder if what you do in the world makes any difference, if you're making a contribution to people's well-being. My brother is a trader at the Chicago Bond Pit, so I've gotten to know several traders, most in their 40s, who are now going through exactly this shift in which they are saying, "I don't want to trade the rest of my life; there's no purpose in it. I'm not helping anybody. There has got to be something else that I can do." So they are going through this -- for some of them -- crisis. It's a crisis of meaning.

DB: So, one of the ways this last stage works out is through service?

CM: Yes, they are looking for a means of service. That's correct. You could say that the three stages are first the examination of the physical world; secondly, the psychological-emotional world; and the third is the spiritual. A lot of what I talk about in my workshop is what it means to find one's path of service.

DB: Let's pull that back into power, where we began. Service is connected to that phase where you don't need power, or, perhaps more precisely, where you are channeling power through you. Service is a movement of power through you to help others and the world.

CM: Yes, that's exactly right. For me, this is why this workshop is of value to people, because everybody at some point in their life explores their relationship to power: how to accumulate physical power, how to become empowered through that which they accumulate, and how to return power to life.

Courtesy of  Alaska Wellness Magazine