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Written in March 1997, this paper was presented at a scientific/ spirituality conference in Israel. This is the first of five papers that present my thoughts on spirituality, which have been developing over the past thirty years. Change is central to our existence in this reality, in this material world. Humankind has changed the world out of all recognition and yet it remains true that the only lasting positive change anyone can make is within him/herself. Change oneself and one’s world changes. If you become a different person, obviously your world is different, and so are any dealings you have with it. If we examine the question of change, that is of bringing about change and growth in ourselves, it is clear that this can apply at a number of levels. I want to examine this, first of all in regard to our biological and human development, secondly in terms of the question of change in relation to psychotherapy, and lastly regarding what change means in terms of spirituality and the relationship at each of these levels to the growth of love. Even at its simplest, any change involves two things – work and suffering. The deeper the change to be accomplished, the greater the amount of work and effort, pain and suffering, involved. People resist change for this very reason, even when they realize that change will have a positive benefit. Because of the mechanistic attitudes which have accompanied the enormous advances of science and technology, the western mind has succumbed to the illusion that there is a remedy for every ill and we expect to be able to avail of this without any effort or suffering on our part whatsoever. At the most superficial, gross level, when someone comes to a doctor or therapist feeling they have problems, with symptoms like depression or anxiety, or simply feeling they can no longer manage, 32. Suffering and the Growth of Love 439 they usually come expecting the doctor to do something to relieve them. With the development of technological medicine during this century, we have all been conditioned to accept the current concepts as to the nature of health and illness. The belief has grown up, particularly in the west, that it is the doctor who cures. The body is seen as a machine with which something has gone wrong, and the doctor’s job is to fix it by giving medicine, by operating, or whatever. Certainly doctors can often relieve symptoms in this way, when the patient appears to have made little contribution to the change in their condition. The fallacy of this view has been exposed in many areas in recent years, none more so than with the advent of AIDS. This has made it only too clear that, without the natural healing power of the body, medicine and doctors are virtually helpless. Even if we take as simple an example as a fracture, the surgeon only realigns the bones in approximation to each other so that healing can take place. It is the body which heals and joins the bones together, and this takes effort and work on the part of the body and the immune system. It also involves considerable pain and suffering for the patient while the fracture is healing. Biological Development If we look at the development of living creatures, right from the moment of conception there is active change and growth. The inherent potential to grow and develop is there in the organism but this can only happen within the surrounding nurturing and warmth of the womb, with everything it needs supplied to it by the mother. Then the push towards maturation will happen in a purely natural way. There is now ample evidence that prenatal infants are sensitive and cognitive, and research confirms various forms of learning and memory both in the foetus and the newborn. In a valuable paper which reviews this recent work by direct observation of infants in the womb, David Chamberlain,1 who has described much of this work, has said, ‘As the light of research reaches into the dark corners of prejudice , we may thank those in the emerging field of prenatal/perinatal psychology’. He goes on: Is a baby a conscious and real person? To me it is no longer appropriate to speculate . . . when so much is known. The range of evidence now available in the form of knowledge of the foetal 440 The Writings of Ivor Browne [3.14.142...

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