It is now necessary to understand how modern medicine's approach to health is in error. Let us return to the woman who has had every cancerous cell removed from her body. Physically she is now entirely free from cancer. There is no physical reason why she should get cancer again. But she has a high chance of doing so, statistically. Why? Because, in the type of treatment that she has received, the cause of the illness has not been dealt with. Only the symptoms have been destroyed. The reason she developed cancer in the first place still remains. We might argue that the reason a person develops cancer is because they smoked heavily, or were exposed to asbestos in their youth, or were sunburnt too many times – the list of physical causes could go on indefinitely. Certainly these are contributory factors. It does not explain, however, why many people can be exposed to exactly the same risks without ever developing the disease. For example, a relation of one of the authors smoked at least twenty cigarettes a day from the age of sixteen, and lived to the age of ninety five, enjoying excellent health until she passed away in her sleep. Similarly, not everyone who experiences repeated and severe sunburn will go on to develop skin cancer. Neither will everyone exposed to asbestos particles go on to develop lung cancer. Yet if these carcinogenic influences are so very dangerous – why are there any exceptions? It is now being suggested that some people are more disposed than others to develop cancer due to their inherited genetic make-up. Whilst this "cancer gene" theory may also be a contributory factor we do not believe that it can ever be the sole reason for someone to develop cancer. The answer to our question lies in understanding a little more about the journey that cancer – or any other form of dis-ease – takes from conception to realisation as physical symptoms. The world of quantum physics may seem like a strange place to go for this understanding but in fact Einstein was one of the first people to give us a scientific explanation as to the true nature of physical matter. He discovered that all matter (ie rocks, trees, people, water, buildings) is in fact vibrating energy. What are the implications of this statement in relation to our health? To answer this question we also need to look at the ancient systems of healing from across the world – in China, India, Australia and the Americas. For thousands of years, long before Einstein's Theory of Relativity overturned Isaac Newton's theories, many people have known that there is more to the human body than the solid physical form we can all see and touch. This ancient wisdom concurs with Einstein's theories in the understanding that the body is just energy vibrating at a certain frequency, and our thoughts and emotions are also energy vibrating at a different frequency – higher than that of the physical body. The higher frequencies cannot be seen with the physical eyes – though many healers, shamans and 'sensitives' can see or feel some of these energy fields, which exist both inside and outside the physical body. The existence of this 'energy counterpart' cannot yet be proven scientifically - our technology has not yet developed any means of recording or observing it. Only Kirlian photography, which can photograph energy fields to a certain extent, has made any inroads in persuading sceptics that such energy exists, but this is still not sufficient proof from a wholly rational and scientific point of view. Meanwhile, holistic practitioners all over the world continue to focus their healing techniques on the body's subtle energies, with or without scientific proof, on the basis that the daily results experienced by their patients are all the evidence they need that such energy exists. But what does this energy counterpart or body do and how does it affect dis-ease? The energy body provides the life-force which drives the physical body. When the physical body begins to show signs of dis-ease, it is because there has already been damage at the energy level. The energy body is non-physical, therefore it cannot be harmed – directly – by the purely physical effects of things such as toxins, bacteria, viruses, drugs or even violent trauma. There is only one thing that can damage the energy body and that is stress. Stress takes many forms. We may experience it as grief, bereavement, worry, fear, frustration, jealousy, anger, anxiety or exhaustion. We may experience it as the shock waves resulting from a physical onslaught such as surgery, a car crash, drugs or alcohol abuse, or pollution in our environment. Whichever of these or other examples of stress is the cause of our particular dis-ease, the point is that a breakdown has been caused at the energy level and it is at this moment that dis-ease has been born. It is as if our energy body is like a suit of armour that protects our physical body. All the time that our suit of armour is maintained in perfect order, our physical and mental health remains good. But when the protective armour is damaged, the physical body becomes prone to attack from outside until the armour itself has been repaired. We are beginning to see how the physical symptom, which modern medicine treats as the problem, is in fact the last stage of a breakdown in energy which may well have started at a much earlier time – sometimes as far back as in the womb. It is true that when dis-ease has reached this late stage, the physical symptom needs to be addressed, but correcting it alone will not prevent another attacking element breaching the same hole in the armour. This is why some people seem to be permanently in a state of dis-ease. Their energy body has been damaged and they are unable to fend off attacking forces. But for those whose armour remains intact, whose energy has not been damaged by stress, virtually nothing can pose a threat to their physical body. This and this alone is the reason why some people can be exposed to supposedly lethal forces and yet suffer no illness. This explanation also gives us an understanding of how a person 'miraculously' recovers from an illness which has been diagnosed as terminal and untreatable. They have, by reaching the root cause of their stress and altering their circumstances in order to eradicate it, effected a complete repair at the energy level, leading to a recovery at the physical level against all expectations. Even now, as we start to absorb the significance of the five great myths and as we begin to acquire a basic understanding of how we really function, we are also beginning to activate and listen to our own internal guidance system. It is a system designed to provide us with every bit of help that we could possibly ever need in life from the instinctive gut feeling of knowing that a house we have been to see is the right one to a mother's intuition regarding the well-being of her baby. Sometimes we call this guidance intuition, sometimes instinct, sometimes emotion. What we all need to learn is how to recognise it. This recognition will become easier as we progress through this book. Once we have made the decision to take responsibility for ourselves, we start to take notice of our own internal signals in a way that we would not if another person were in charge of our healing. We begin to find that we can become aware of the dangers of dis-ease earlier – there are many warning signs that we customarily ignore – and we also find that there is much we can do using natural methods to prevent the manifestation of illness or to heal it once it has taken hold. It is purely the focusing of our attention in the wrong place that prevents the recognition of our own internal warnings. We have not been brought up to 'listen' to ourselves and so we don't look for meaning in illness. We carry on with our lives in exactly the same manner, hoping that these uncomfortable moments will somehow disappear. But they do not. And they will not. Not until we cease shifting the responsibility for our well-being to someone else can we regain our ultimate ability – to provide ourselves with perfect health. For those of us who feel threatened by the thought of casting modern medicine to one side, please take note: taking responsibility for our own health does not necessarily mean turning our backs entirely upon the medical profession. Serious side-effects can be suffered by people who have been on heavy doses of steroids, anti-depressants or other drugs, and who suddenly stop taking them. We are not advocating that people suddenly become independent to the degree of foolhardiness. Neither are we saying that, in certain circumstances, modern medicine isn't able to act as the catalyst by which someone may begin this natural process of true healing. But we are advocating that we must understand the consequences of every drug or treatment that we are prescribed, and that we find out what side-effects these treatments may produce. We need to understand fully what part any medical treatment will play in our journey to reaching the cause of the dis-ease before we agree to have it. For our aim has to be to reach the cause. Imagine a child playing with a Russian doll and her goal is to reach the smallest doll in the middle. If the child uses a hammer, the destination is unlikely to be reached without all the outer dolls becoming damaged, possibly beyond repair. But ask the child to use her fingers, her own natural methods, and sooner or later she will arrive at the centre with all the dolls still unbroken. The journey to the doll in the middle may be slow, frustrating and at times even upsetting, but the child carries on in the knowledge that the goal will be reached. If we apply this approach to our own health, using only natural and sympathetic methods and with the aim of avoiding any violent tools when possible, we can also arrive at our destination with all our layers intact. Our journey too might be slow, frustrating and possibly sometimes upsetting, but it is a journey undertaken in complete co-operation with our own inbuilt guidance system and one which will eventually restore the health and happiness which are the birthright of each one of us.