Esoteric Healing commentary

Comment on Law III: The Problem of Energetic Complication in Esoteric Healing

In Alice A. Bailey's Esoteric Healing (pp. 54–55), the Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul outlines a deeply important principle for the advanced student of spiritual healing: that the astral plane is a centre of dynamic, emanating force which fundamentally conditions the life of humanity. The vast majority of human beings are swayed by desire—high or low—and this astral influence constitutes what DK terms a "basic condition." However, this condition is increasingly complicated by the incursion of energies from the mental plane, and, in more advanced individuals, by appreciable soul influences. It is this layering of influences—astral, mental, and soul—which DK calls a "problem of complication," and which he says constitutes a "hard saying" for the esoteric student to grasp.

The difficulty lies in the healer's need to accurately assess the energetic cause of disease amidst a complex interplay of planes. It is nearly impossible for the average student, and even for advanced aspirants, to correctly isolate whether the source of the disease lies in desire, thought, or a karmic impact from the soul's intention. The interplay of forces is dynamic, changing, and deeply relative to the evolving consciousness of the individual. The healer is thus required to bring to the process a subtlety of intuition and discernment that is only cultivated through soul alignment and many lifetimes of spiritual service.

This becomes especially significant in light of Law III:

"Diseases are an effect of the basic centralization of a man's life energy. From the plane whereon those energies are focused, proceed those determining conditions which produce ill health, and which, therefore, work out as disease or as freedom from disease."

The principle expressed here is that disease arises from the inner energetic centralisation of the life force. If that centralisation is primarily in the astral body, then the diseases tend to manifest emotionally and psychosomatically. If it is in the lower mental body, then disorders of nervous tension or over-stimulation of the brain and nerves may occur. If the soul is the centralising force and the personality resists its influence, there may be a purificatory crisis or a karmic clearance that takes the form of serious illness, not due to misalignment, but rather as a necessary evolutionary adjustment.

The corollary offered by DK is sobering:

"A shift of the inner attention (the mental attitude) of the patient can and will produce either real freedom from physical ills or an intensification of those reactions which produce discomfort, disease or death."

This shift of attention, when misapplied, can worsen the condition or catalyse an even deeper crisis. Great, then, is the responsibility of the healer in inducing such a shift. Without a clear reading of the patient's point of development and the karmic and ray factors at play, the healer may, with good intention, stimulate energies that overwhelm the etheric-physical organism or precipitate karmic effects prematurely.

Hence DK's warning: "Man's ignorance is great and the time is not yet." The implication is that healing must not be presumed as a mechanical art of energetic redirection, but rather as a sacred science requiring wisdom, timing, and above all, a soul-aligned intuition. The healer must work with humility, sensitivity to inner prompting, and restraint, realising that the soul of the patient knows the precise timing of healing, of testing, or of transition.

Ultimately, this law shifts the focus of esoteric healing from the symptomatic to the causal, and from technique to perception. It calls upon the healer to study the energetic locus of attention in the patient, to discern its plane of expression, and to act only when inner guidance and outer knowledge converge. It is only then that the sacred art of healing can be rightly practised, as an act of cooperation with the soul and its evolutionary intent. JPC.

“…The astral plane is a center of dynamic emanating force, which is fundamentally conditioning in its effect because of the stage of the individual consciousness at which that majority finds itself. Men are swayed by the impulse of desire of a high or low caliber. This is, of course, a broad generalization, for that basic condition is becoming steadily modified by impulses coming from the mental plane. This necessarily complicates the problem. Influences emanating from the soul are also becoming appreciably present, and still further complicate the problem of the advanced human being. This "problem of complication" (if I might so call it) constitutes a "hard saying" for the student to understand in relation to his own physical condition or to that of any one whom he may be seeking to help".    Esoteric Healing. AAB. 

I should like here, in this connection, to give you the third of the Laws which govern the sacred art of healing”. EH 54.  Alice Bailey.

JPC: We are constantly reminded of the fact that humanity is predominantly swayed by the plane of force called the astral plane and by high and low desire as a basic condition, and also are modified by mental plane impulses and appreciable soul influence. It is this complication which is a “hard saying” for students. Why does DK say it is a hard saying for students? Might it be that he indicates that it is almost impossible for such a mix of energy influences to be accurately taken into account? Let us recall that it is a problem and a complication. We can see that a relative consciousness is focused on three planes, the emotional, the mental and the higher mental of the soul, appreciably so.

Law III

“Diseases are an effect of the basic centralization of a man's life energy. From the plane whereon those energies are focused, proceed those determining conditions which produce ill health, and which, therefore, work out as disease or as freedom from disease.

It will be apparent to you, therefore, that a shift of the inner attention (the mental attitude) of the patient can and will produce either real freedom from physical ills or an intensification of those reactions which produce discomfort, disease or death”. EH.

JPC: A shift of mental attention will either produce freedom or worsen the physical illness to which he or she succumbs and indeed may even eventuate in further disease or even death. Great is the responsibility the healer takes upon himself in inducing such a shift of consciousness, and this should be given due thought. It is time to recall that previously, DK gave a stern warning that man's ignorance is great, and the time is not yet. In formulation, we have:

Diseases are an effect of the basic centralisation of a man's life energy.

Shift of inner mental attention = health or disease or death in time and space.

“In the three laws which I have given you and which you now have before you for consideration, it is obvious that the following facts emerge. These should form the basis of your reflection:

1.  Disease is the result of the blocking of the free flow of the life of the Soul.

2.  It is the product, or the result, of three influences:

3.  Ancient error, emanating from the past history of the person involved.

4.  Human taints, inherited because one is a member of the human family.

5.  Planetary evil, imposed upon all forms on earth by the basic condition, and by time”. EH.

JPC:

1. All disease is the result of a 3rd altered/catalysed substance producing soul inhibition. It is the result of three influences.

2. The results of the three influences were considered as… “These three influences all refer to current karmic limitation due to the influence of past Error, Inheritance, and planetary Imposition. All these reflect past conditions imposed in three ways on the form or body of man. The three methods produce disease, which is governed by karma, and it is obvious that this is a law of past causes.”

3. Ancient error from past history.

4. Inherited human taints.

5. Imposed planetary evil in time and space (by time).  

“* It is conditioned by the forces emanating from that plane whereon a man's consciousness is primarily centered.

To the above statements should be added a further fact, already mentioned, that: [55]

* There are five major groups of diseases, with their allied complaints and subsidiary diseases.

* Tuberculosis.

* The syphilitic diseases.

* Cancer.

* Heart difficulties.

* Nervous diseases.

I am not dividing what I have to say into organic and functional troubles, nor do I here refer to illnesses induced by epidemics or by accidents. I refer to those basic taints or predispositions that are the dubious heritage of humanity as a whole, and to those difficulties which are incident to those stages in evolutionary development which are characteristic of those upon the more advanced stages of the Path. It will be seen, therefore, that man comes into incarnation having inherited predispositions to disease which come:” EH.

JPC: The term to denote the past heritage of taints and predispositions to types of disease is “dubious” or perhaps of questionable and immoral tendency and origin. The following three facts of DK are related and analogous to the three above, which again are enumerated here.

4. Ancient error from past history.

5. Inherited human taints.

6. Imposed planetary evil in time and space (by time).  

"These causes are above the general comprehension of average humanity.

1.  From his own past; i.e., effects which are the result of causes initiated in earlier incarnations.

2.  From the general racial heritage of humanity.

3.  From the condition of the planetary life. These latter causes lift the whole problem out of the usual comprehension of the average man.

A human being is also predisposed to trouble if he has succeeded (as a result of a long evolutionary history) in awakening in some fashion, however slight, the centers above the diaphragm. The moment that that occurs he becomes subject, for a long cycle of lives, to difficulties connected with the heart or with the nervous system in its various branches. Frequently an advanced human being, such as an aspirant or a disciple, may have freed himself from the inherited taints, but will succumb to heart trouble, to nervous disorders, mental imbalance, and over-stimulation. They are [56] classified occasionally as the "diseases of the Mystics." EH.

JPC: Very clearly, a distinction is being made again that heart difficulties and nervous troubles or disease are not of the inherited classification but are part of the group known as diseases of the mystics or more occasionally, as those associated with advanced man and woman, the aspirants and disciples of the world. These we must recall are due to the pouring in of force to ill-equipped and inadequately developed centres to handle it, causing much trouble. The disciple has greater control of the lower centres than the awakening higher ones. Troubles of mental imbalance and overstimulation are also likely at some point. In fact a very fine line may separate genius and so-called madness. Master DK informs us that mental institutions and the like are full of disciples who are displaying signs of soul infusion, together with the personality battle and consequential temporarily unbalanced mental body.

"I would like to make it clear that it is not my intention to enter into the realm of physiological discussion, to elaborate the symptoms of disease, or to deal with the lesions, the pathological conditions, and the distressing details attendant upon the breakdown of any human organism. I am not going to write a treatise on anatomy or on the various sciences which have grown up from a study of the mechanism of the human being, connected as they are with the framework and structure, the organs, nerves, brain tissue and interrelated systems which compose that intricate piece of machinery, the human body. As far as the exoteric science is concerned, two things would successfully deter me:

JPC: Once again, we are reminded that this is not a treatise for the physiological elaboration or detail of the mechanism of the human body. This is dealt with elsewhere very successfully by others and in extraordinary detail, and we must recall, largely by clandestine and illegal means. We see that DK rightly notes that this was dealt with marvellously and with little that he could with profit add. We are to deal with states of consciousness producing wrong functioning and eventual wrong conditions by way of inner causes and sources.

1.  The whole subject is marvelously dealt with in the many books which embody the literature of medicine and of surgery. There is little that I could add which would be of profit in such a discussion as this.

2.  The readers of my words are not, with few exceptions, versed in the construction and constitution of the human body; and pathological details, the description of diseases, and the various unpleasant symptoms of human degeneration are unwholesome reading for the average man or woman. A little knowledge along these lines can be a most dangerous thing.

I seek to deal primarily with causes, with the inner sources of disease and deal with those states of consciousness (I do not say states of mind only) which induce wrong functioning, and eventually wrong conditions. EH 56.

The problem of the healer, therefore, is twofold:

* First, he must know whether the difficulty lies above or below the diaphragm; this takes him definitely into the realm of occult as well as of psychological knowledge.

* Secondly, he must [57] have a clear grasp of the patient's inner emphasis; this last aids him in the diagnosis of the first". EH.

JPC: We have a summary of the twofold problem of the healer:

1. Does the difficulty lie below or above the diaphragm?

2. Does he have a “clear grasp” of the patient’s conscious polarisation?

This information presupposes much occult and psychological knowledge. We have considered this with DK in his categorisation as “five groups of disease, and their various subdivisions are responsible for the bulk of the physical ills which attack humanity. A right grasp of their preponderating causes will be of definite assistance to future medicine. How much will be accepted is at this time doubtful.” 

We also considered two further cases, the disease of the heart and of the nervous system. The first three groups are relevant to the average person in the mass, whilst the latter two are peculiar to those a little above the average, with a generally higher intelligence, which also includes the world’s aspirants. Notably, diseases are categorised by intelligence and the focus of awareness, with the rise of the lower sub-planes of the mental plane seeing two new types of disease occur.

Therefore, in considering the three groups below the diaphragm and the two above, we see that we can determine whether, according to the symptoms and their locality, the patient is of the average or above the average stage of development; this is the first clue. Secondly, we can aim at deciphering the level of conscious awareness that he or she is polarised at, or which plane they are primarily and also secondarily focused upon. We can indeed see that this presupposes much effort and understanding, and also a certain level of rapport and empathy with the patient.

Rapid diagnosis and rash judgments, therefore, are dangerous and show misjudgment and ignorance. This is the problem to be confronted. Additionally, the Master states that “Much of the healing now done is worse than useless,” and we now have greater clarity on these important matters, which helps explain why. Let us recall that the true healer needs “not only a measure of esoteric knowledge, but - until he is an initiate - something of psychology, something of the work of a magnetic healer, and also be a trained medical man or surgeon.”

This law introduces a shift from external causes to internal energetics. The focal point of energy within the man, whether centred in the desire body (astral), in the concrete mind, or in the soul, determines the field of manifestation of disease. This idea has profound implications:

If a man is astrally centralised, he is more likely to suffer from diseases related to emotional repression, desire tension, or psychosomatic disorders.

If the mental plane is dominant, illness might manifest due to overactivity, worry, or fragmentation of thought patterns, leading to nervous or systemic disorders.

If soul influence is strong but resisted, karmic clearance or purificatory fires may result in severe physical challenges that are initiatory in nature, not pathological in the traditional sense.

Responsibility of the Healer

My emphasis is that inducing a shift in consciousness is not always beneficial. DK’s warning is clear: a premature or inappropriate intervention can backfire.

“A shift of the inner attention... can and will produce either real freedom from physical ills or an intensification of those reactions which produce discomfort, disease or death.”

This highlights the great karmic responsibility of the healer—not only to perceive accurately the energetic focus of the patient but to assess readiness for transformation. A true esoteric healer must:

Understand the point of the evolutionary development of the patient.

Know which plane the soul seeks to shift focus toward, and whether this aligns with karmic timing.

Avoid imposing their will or prematurely awakening higher energies, which may overstimulate centres or break down protective etheric barriers.

Conclusion: Complexity Requires Initiated Insight

DK’s stern statement that “man’s ignorance is great and the time is not yet” is a sobering caveat. The ability to work with such energetic complications requires not only technical skill but soul vision, and often an initiated understanding of karma, ray forces, and group alignment.

The framing, that the healer must tread carefully amidst a triangulation of astral, mental, and soul forces, is well made. Healing becomes a sacred art only when the inner planes are known by direct experience, and not merely as theoretical constructs. JPC.

Original. September 2007 - Expanded July 2025.