A new scientific frontier of affective immunology is uncovering the close interaction between our emotions and immune system. At the same time, science is increasingly recognizing that Love is a powerful form of energy with tangible physical effects. Two prominent outcomes often cited in the literature are Love’s influence on the production of the neuropeptide, oxytosin, and the toning of the vagus nerve. Both are closely associated with enhanced activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, and its associated healing effects throughout the body. An interesting research question is what are the effects on Integral Resilience, when Love and Qi energy are combined? Our hypothesis, drawing upon western science and Chinese qigong practice, is a positive Resilience Multiplier Effect will result.
In our model the Heart plays a special role, combined with brain, Mind, and gut, as a step-down and step-up transformer. In electronics a step-down transformer reduces the voltage or power/potential of a primary source to a secondary one; a step-up transformer does just the opposite by increasing voltage. We hypothesize that the Heart conceived to be an energy field does precisely this: It captures and transmutes Love and Qi from the external universe and literally downloads and transforms this energy into physical, psychophysical, and psychosocial behaviors and measurable outcomes. We cite one of the most interesting reviews in the scientific literature.
It is also interesting to note some unique economic properties of Love that have not generally been studied by mainstream economists. First, the smallest tincture of Love can reverberate throughout the life time of both donor and recipient. This is the primary theme of Victor Hugo’s monumental novel Les Miserables, illustrated in the scenewhere the convict Jean Valjean steals the Bishop of Digne’s silverware. Jean Valjean is arrested and returned by the gendarme, but instead of accusing him, the bishop presents him with a gift of golden candlesticks with the instruction to uplift his life by similarly caring for others— which he unfailingly does for the remainder of the novel. Unlike other economic resources Love is undiminished but actually increases by giving it away. And, lastly, Love is essentially free energy. It is everywhere in Nature and universally available. It is just a matter of learning how to harvest it. With Love, and its progeny kindness, hope, and generosity, we enter a brave new world of abundance far different from the dismal world of scarcity contemplated by conventional economics.
What role might Love play in healing communities? and how, in turn, do healing communities nourish resilience within individuals, families, and organizations? This is a core feature of the moaisupport groups that play a central role in the Longevity Blue Zones of centennial communities in Okinawa, Japan, Ikaria, Greece, and Loma Linda, California. I have two personal experiences that reinforce the basic premise that Love can directly influence healing. Many years past when I lived in Hawaii, I had the good fortune to become friends with Dr. Mitsuo Aoki, a minister and professor of divinity at the University. Dr. Aoki was known in those days as the “Mother Teresa of Hawaii” because of his work with cancer patients. One of his most famous mottos was–and I hear his gentle voice as ever alive today–“when the experience of relationship is restored, healing begins.” Some of Dr. Aoki’s patients did indeed die from their cancers, but a statistically significant number went into remission, and almost all of them reached a place of peace and repose with their illness.
My other vivid encounter was when as an adolescent I visited Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s hospital in Lambarene, French Equatorial Africa with my parents. There were two hospitals in those days. The first was Dr. Schweitzer’s hospital, and the second, a “modern” hospital across the river. Dr. Schweitzer’s idea was to invite and to include the natives’ families who brought Love to the healing process. The modern hospital relied primarily on advanced western technology. We met with the medical director of the second hospital, a sincere Belgian physician who lamented the many vacant rooms and unused facilities, because so few patients and their families were interested in crossing the river.
How then to cultivate Love? Here are few easy tips to increase Love’s “market share” in your life:
- First draw a baseline—Explore your experience of love, especially unconditional Love, toward anyone or anything, by asking, “How does it feel”? (Note:nothow do I feel, but “it”.)
- Next, expand the experience—by opening all your senses, individually and then together:sight, touch, sound, taste, hearing, smell, time, synesthesia, and so forth.
- See if you can detect love’s special flavor or valence—Can you sense something fresh and alive each time?
- Quieting and Opening the Heart—You allow your Heart and Mind to soar. Your Heart fills with Love and Qi. You have the feeling of connecting everywhere. Your energy body, inner and outer, becomes very strong. Your power of perception deepens and clarifies. You can See the Big Picture.
- Be Kind to Yourself—Listening deeply to your body; focusing on what is truly important, and letting the small stuff slough away; not wasting yourself and your life on self-hurtful activities, people, or conditions.
- Expand the baseline—What happens when you open your Laughing Heart to increase the joy or lighten the burdens of others, beyond your immediate circle of loved ones or friends: for example, a business partner, a total stranger, even an adverse party? Again, ask yourself: How does it feel? Can you detect a distinctive energetic/emotional signature or pattern?
- Playing with the Universe—Finally, try this simple experiment: See yourself as the happy Hotei Buddha in Move 2 displayed in the Laughing HeartGuide (https://alliancesfordiscovery.org/guide/laughing-heart/move-2-finding-your-power-becoming-a-great-wave/)and send your Love pouring from the palms of your hands (laogong in Chinese) out to the farthest reaches of the universe, way beyond our solar system; pour out your Heart, and watch what happens. What do you discover when you play and connect with the Universe in this way?
This is the most direct and palpable demonstration I know of Love’s powerful boomerang effect.
References:
- Science of Love as Healing Energy
- Economics of Love
© Copyright April 2019 Julian Gresser/Big Heart Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
