“And now, dear brothers and sisters, when we realise that Love and Unity are the great foundations of our Creation, that we in ourselves are children of the Divine Love, and that the eternal conquest of all wrong and suffering will be accomplished by means of gentleness and love…” – Dr. Edward Bach
One of my intentions in writing The Heart of Awakening is to share information on the teachings and philosophies which have inspired my life and influenced my work as well as to offer practical resources which support transformation and healing both individually and collectively. I have found both in my own personal journey and in working with others for over 16 years that it is vital to find tools and resources, which resonate with the individual. Each person is different, unique and there is no single formula for healing and change. Even in accepting that there are universal truths, how they are cultivated and embodied is a personal experience. I have been most drawn to teachings which hold that life on earth is a school, that we are here to learn, to grow and to evolve and that view the heart and love as essence of this journey.
One of my most influential teachers is the visionary Dr. Edward Bach, creator of the Bach Flower Remedies. Some of you may be familiar with the essences. Rescue Remedy™ is perhaps the most well-known of all Bach Flowers; it is a part of medicine cabinets and first aid kits worldwide. There are actually 38 different Bach Flower Remedies, which comprise what Dr. Bach considered to be a complete system of healing.
Dr. Edward Bach (1886-1936) was a British physician. Early on in his career, he studied bacteriology and pathology, and later Homeopathy. He was struck by the fact that Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of Homeopathy, had recognized the importance of personality in disease in the 1700’s. Through observation and intuition, Dr. Bach was able to observe a variety of personality types and saw that different types had differing reactions to illness and to the healing process. Starting with just two flowers, Dr. Bach began by creating flower essences similar to oral vaccines, which he then prescribed according to his patient’s personalities rather than specific illnesses. What he soon discovered was that the flower essences stimulated self-healing in his patients by helping to clear negative emotions, attitudes, and personality traits that can inhibit the body’s natural ability to heal as well as the experience of happiness and inner peace.
At age 43, Dr. Bach closed his practice in London and went to Wales to connect more deeply with nature and to develop additional essences based on the emotions and personality traits he had observed in his patients. It was there that he learned that dewdrops, heated by the sun, carried the healing properties of the plants and this inspired him to develop the essences using pure water. His intuition became so sensitive that he could sense the healing effects of a flower by holding it or tasting a petal. He developed 38 flowers essences and the Rescue Remedy, a blend of five essences intended for use in crisis or high stress situations. He felt this repertoire which works on the principles of vibrational medicine, covered all of the negative states underlying illness.
Even those more familiar with the Bach Flowers are often unaware of some of the philosophies that are a part of Dr. Bach’s system. Some of the reasons that I resonate so strongly with Dr. Bach’s work, in addition to providing a highly beneficial tool for transformation and healing, is that the foundational truths he shares are in alignment with the ideas of the interconnectedness of all things, the evolutionary nature of life on earth, that Love is the essence of creation and that disharmony and disease are caused by being out of alignment with the our true nature. Here is an overview of his foundational truths adapted from his 1931 book, Heal Thyself:
The Foundational Truths of Dr. Bach
1. Man has an immortal soul, which is his real self. Our bodies, which are the earthly temples of this soul, are it’s minutest aspect. The Soul is a child of the Creator, as such as we will allow, it guides, protects and encourages us beneficently.
2. We are here for the purpose of gaining all the knowledge and experience which can be learned through earthly existence, for developing the virtues we lack and for wiping out all that is wrong with us, thus advancing toward the perfection of our nature. The Soul, knowing what environment and circumstances can best enable us to fulfill this purpose, guides us there.
3. We must realize the life we know on earth is but a moment in the course of our evolution, as one day of school is to a life. Our souls are immortal and the bodies we are conscious of are temporary instruments to do our work.
4. As long as our souls and personalities are in harmony, all is joy and peace. The root cause of disease and unhappiness is the conflict that arises when our personalities deviate from the path laid down by our soul, through our worldly desires or by the persuasion of others. We can rest assured that in whatever station of life we are placed, princely or lowly, it contains the lessons and experiences necessary at the moment of our evolution and gives us the best advantage for the development of ourselves.
5. The Understanding of the Unity of all things – that the Creator of all things is Love and that everything of which we are conscious is in all its infinite number of forms a manifestation of that Love, whether it be a planet or a pebble, a star or a dewdrop, man or an mollusk.
The beauty of all of this is that Dr. Bach, who was clearly a man of science, was willing to listen to the wisdom of nature and allow his intuition to be his guide. In doing so, he has left a legacy that continues to support our evolution even today through both his writings and the Bach Flower Remedies. He is truly an inspiration.
To learn more about Dr. Bach and the Bach Flower Remedies, visit The Bach Centre, home of Dr. Bach and the Bach Flower Remedy system in the U.K. For programs and practitioners in the U.S., visit Bach Flower Education.
I’d love to hear your thoughts or reflections on this post or any experiences with the Bach Flowers or Dr. Bach’s teachings.
