Healing as a Sacred Path

Bob Keck begins by describing his own childhood and his passion for athletics. He was brought up in a loving stable family – it sounds to the British ear like one of those good, wholesome American families in which there is a kind of innocence and simplicity which we don't so often find over here. Keck's burning goal was to become a star of American football. The dream was badly shaken when he suffered an attack of polio aged 13 years, recovering well from the acute illness but afflicted by the post-polio syndrome of severe muscular cramps and fatigue. These he largely overcame by redoubling his athletic prowess. Then there was another crisis – he broke his back aged 18 years, falling while carrying his canoe during a portage. There was no paralysis but major surgery had to be performed. Once more, Keck made a heroic comeback and within a few years 'at the pinnacle of my young life only had left the delicious decision to make, whether I should take up baseball or football!'

But within 48 hours of that same day, Bob Keck's life changed forever. This was not another physical crisis but an unbidden spiritual illumination, as he sat and listened to a visiting preacher in his local church. In an instant, 'I had experienced having every cell of my being infused with divine love and I was now committed to the service of that love'.

Radical changes followed – a graduate theology education and then becoming a Methodist minister, now with wife, son and daughter. At first all was well, but then, due to his old injuries, there 'descended on him a slide down into the hell of physical pain and suffering', a recurrence of the post-polio syndrome, endless medical investigations and increasing disability. Keck's marriage ended and he could no longer able to carry out his pastoral duties. In his dark night of the soul came a profound healing dream, which showed a way forward. Almost and once, Keck came across a physician working with self-hypnosis for pain management and began meditating. 'Unexpectedly, like the exquisite feeling of diving into a cool pool after having your body burning for years, I was suddenly free of about 80% of my usually severe level of pain'.

Part 2 of the book is concerned with Keck's search to establish a truly integrated approach to healthcare. Much of this will be familiar to Network readers; here are a few of the problem headings: 'A reductionistic and fractured world', 'hierarchical arrangements', 'total power and control from above', 'the crisis of faith', 'the need to be certain', 'matter is what matters', 'nature and the human body are like machines', 'the experts are in charge' and 'health is the absence of illness'.

Keck goes on to explore the synergy between medicine and spirituality, citing some of the research that correlates health with spirituality. Miracles are not rare events 'out there' but readily spring from within, once the capacity for self-healing is recognised. Keck outlines his own approach of 'meditative prayer' (not intended to be exclusively Christian). The five steps are: communion, an attitude of gratitude and appropriation of appreciation, receptivity, intercession and personal transformation. As to the pharmacology of pain relief, Keck points out that some endorphins are 190 times more powerful than morphine!

Part 3 of the book covers 'an ecology of the heart'. Keck cites the work of Dean Ornish, and shows that health can only be understood in relation to our capacity to love others as well as ourselves. This doesn't stop at human relationships but encompasses the planet and all therein, including animals and nature. Keck adds, 'a caring, sharing and supportive community is absolutely a God-send, or more appropriately, a God-manifestation'. He offers five rules for awakening the healer within. In summary they are 1. Have an open mind (but keep an ear for tall tales – discernment is required) 2. Nothing is impossible if you set your heart on it (like Roger Bannister breaking the 4 minute mile) 3. Throw out percentages ('just keep exploring with awe, wonder and a deep sense of gratitude, the mysteriously huge whale of inner healer potentialities') 4. Don't be half-brained (use both cerebral hemispheres for whole-brain spirituality) and 5. Live the authentic soul-full life ('like the almond tree, let's blossom precisely that which is truly and only ourselves').

As to dealing with illness when it arises, Keck advises us to treat illness as a unique personal experience, a wake-up call, the chance for the birth of a new soul-self, and a great opportunity to get to grips with the language of symbols, in relation to the body (symptoms) and the mind (dreams).

The book closes with taking a look at some of the more extraordinary features of modern science (chaos theory, dissipative structures, strange attractors, quantum effects) that underline the interconnectedness of everything, and which all bear on the arrow of time. For Keck, it follows that the experience of being (in the eternal now), while essential, is not enough. We also need to get on with becoming (the eternal potentiality). Nothing is static, all is flowing and we each must contribute to the flow.

Bob Keck, now in his 60s, writes with the confidence of a lifetime's work in the field of healing and health. His style is approachable, easy to read and lightened with humour and many apt anecdotes. This is a book highly recommended to the general reader.