Doug Tales 123: Energy Work, Part Three

What do you “see” spiritually? Doug Mendenhall cautions in I See…Arise! (2016), pp. 50-54 that the terms “perceive,” “sense,” and “feel” are usually more accurate than “see” for most people learning about energy work. The visual terms which are used to describe one’s physical sight sometimes do not translate well in the realm of spiritual sight and perception:

An important aspect of learning to increase spiritual energy is visualization and breath work. It has always been hard for me to “visualize.” Through much hard work I have been able to “see” on many occasions, but to just “do it” has been hard.

Robert Bruce teaches visualization a completely different way. There are steps to becoming “clairvoyant” and being able to truly “see.” I hate to say this, but it involves understanding the concepts and then much, dare I say it—practice. Back to Robert:

“Most people have problems visualizing, and many believe they cannot visualize at all. But visualization is a natural ability that everyone can do perfectly immediately. Visualization is not a visual skill. You do not have to see anything visual in your mind when you visualize. If you do see something, it is a mind’s eye vision (clairvoyance) or an awake, lucid dream-type experience.

“Visualization is pure imagination, pure fantasy. Every child can do this perfectly. A visualization exercise or led meditation is exactly the same as any other fantasy, where memory is used to build a fictional scenario in the mind’s eye. It may be full of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, textures, and feelings, but nothing is actually seen visually.

“Memory plays an important part in imagination and visualization. Have you ever replayed past actions in your mind, in your mind’s eye, to help you find a lost item? Replaying or re-creating events—whether real or fictitious—involves the constructive use of imagination. This is perfect visualization, and everyone has the natural ability to do this perfectly—right now!

“The very word visual-ization is a big part of the problem, especially when used to describe inner practices like meditation and energy work. This problem is increased by the visual terms commonly used to describe nonvisual experiences, which includes all nonvisual psychic perceptions. This is compounded by people who psychically perceive things (not actually seeing anything visually) habitually using visual terms like ‘I saw,’ ‘I see,’ and ‘I am seeing.’ This is often misleading to students. More accurate terms like ‘I sense,’ ‘I feel,’ and ‘I perceive’ are less confusing.

“There is a hidden ego component in the above problem. In our competitive society, it sounds far more convincing if psychic perceptions are stated as being visual experiences. It can be related to how eyewitness testimonies are taken as evidence superior to gut instincts and feelings. ‘I sensed this’ or ‘I perceived this’ doesn’t sound as convincing as ‘I saw this!’ I cannot see the popular use of these terms changing, but clearer explanations and instructions can help overcome the problems they cause for students.

“The visualization problem is worsened in any group where the teacher and a few students happen to be naturally clairvoyant. Clairvoyants do see what they visualize in a visual mind’s eye way. They often do not realize that this does apply to the vast majority of people, and so students get the impression that visual visualization ability is the norm. This can lead to students believing that they are deficient in this area. This misunderstanding totally stunts student development. Many students in this situation will pretend that they can see what they are told to visualize, lest the rest of the class think they are deficient. This whole problem can be overcome by giving more accurate explanations.” (Energy Work, pp. 18-19)

I became aware of this “visual visualization” early on in this journey with my daughter. She came out of her coma “clairvoyant,” being able to see in her mind’s eye. Over time we met many others that I would always describe as “like my daughter,” though I knew most didn’t “see” as she did. Then I realized that on days in which her health wasn’t very good, she really couldn’t see and she’d just “fake it.” By that I mean she was still able to hear and perceive things, but would still use the term, “I see.”

In my own life I have had a hard time with visualization until I realized I could imagine things, and then I used that process. There have been times when a vision has come, as when our two youngest appeared to me and told me I had “to talk Mom into having more children.” Another time I saw a man with two children who was being prepared to marry one of my daughters and told her about him years ago. When he showed up I recognized him from that vision. Yet most of what I do is perceive, not “see” as Robert Bruce indicates. The Lord has blessed me with a gift of discernment. I have found that this gift does open up the mind’s eye, so sometimes I can see. It is all a process of learning and using the gifts.

The other night when we were discussing the use of a pendulum to help us spiritually, a good friend said that she felt something blocking her. I looked at her and could discern a dark spiritual net or netting over the top of her head. Then I could “see” it. What was seen was hard to describe, so I mentioned it was a spider’s web over her head. We had her use the pendulum to second witness what had been said, and it was right. There are many times now when voicing a blessing, I will be shown in my mind’s eye what the Lord wants said. So I have to then describe what He is showing me. This has been a process. I believe that learning about energy and running energy have been a big part of this process. It clears me out and opens me up.

I have seen what Robert talks about how others feel intimidated when around the sighted. It seems to make them feel totally inadequate, and then they don’t use their gifts. There have been times when I have been in a room with gifted people, and I heard “I see this,” or “I see that,” over and over again. I wondered on more than one occasion if it had become a competition. It is not a competition. It is about becoming aware of our own bodies: physically, mentally, spiritually, and energetically. Will there ever be deception? Absolutely.

What we think of ourselves has a huge bearing on what we are able to accomplish spiritually or energetically, but also on any level. When we had the energy workshop and energetically bent spoons, about 80% of the people were able to do it. I was all excited when I approached one family and asked to see their spoons. All of them said the same thing, “We can’t do things like this.” All of their spoons or forks were perfectly normal, nothing happened because they had declared it to be thus, and God’s natural law states that we get back what we give out.

When I hear people constantly say they can’t see, I now think in my mind, “They are right; they can’t see and never will.” They have declared it to be that way, so it must be. But when they stop making a negative declaration and begin declaring that they can, then they will.