luck phil and watcher - I can understand your confusion at my statements - I find your statements confusing as well.
I will have to go back to the source of some of my statements - Centerpointe Staff - and speak with them to come to some kind of understanding before I respond back to you.
Much of what I said is taken directly from Bill Harris himself - me speaking one-on-one with him on the phone - back in 1992-93. One curious thing about my experience speaking with Bill back then - I have heard some of the recent recording that he has made, and maybe there are some kind of effects on his voice now through the mic system, but he sounded a bit different than that on the phone. He also seems to have mellowed quite a bit - he sounds much more calm and at peace now. I'll be nice and say that he came across as a bit "abbrasive" and irritable.
babayada - I agree with you that it is foolish to take anything someone else says as a proven "given". We shouldn't believe anything that doesn't resonate with our personal experience, though at times we may be asked to entertain an idea that resides outside our normal range of thinking, to help to see things from a different perspective. The things that I currently believe are based upon my own long-term personal experience and experimentation. These are my conclusions and they fit me and I don't ask that anyone take them in place of their own experience or conclusions.
You do hit on an interesting point when you say that the results achieved could probably be achieved in most any other system - and I couldn't agree more. The system is less important than the attitude with which you use it. What matters (in personal development) is that you achieve the proper attitude of commitment and do the regular work of a daily practice.
Another thing related to the above point, is that we need rituals in order to engage ourselves into anything; in order to believe in something, in order for things to have meaning and to "work" for us. That ritual can be related to science or pseudo-science - it doesn't matter which, what matters is the focus of our minds. The medical doctor believes, he KNOWS what to do in certain medical situation. He has his operational rituals which will bring about the needed healing. The psychic healer also has his own rituals, belief and knowledge. He goes through various techniques - very different from the medical doctor - to achieve healing.
I have always found it interesting how some people will say that the healing in the cases is related to a placebo effect. The one seeking healing believes that it will heal and so he is healed. It never ceases to amaze me how the ones writing this off as placebo effect, never seem to notice that a person healing themself with an idea, a "placebo effect" is any less incredible than if it were all related to a power in the healer.
Most people never consider that the placebo effect also works in apparent "hard science" situations, such as medical operations. The doctor completely believes what he does can solve the problem. The patients often have ultimate faith in the doctor to be able to help them. I mean, if you haven't noticed, people who believe in doctors REALLY believe in doctors. It would be interesting to do a study where a set of people who were supposed to get an operation were divided up into a set of groups and one would get the actual operation, one would get put under but would not have anything done to them - they would simply be left in their bed to sleep it off the anesthesia, though you might need to give them an incision scar. Both groups would believe that they had had a successful operation and that everything should be fine.
