The Universe viewed in a holistic way
The idea of the universe forming an indivisible network encompassing the realms of nature and of man - a network in which every seemingly insignificant event is connected to any other event - was prevalent wide into the beginning era of modern science. Well-known figures like Pythagorean, Hypocrites and Plato may serve as an example. As far back as 280 by Christ Plato (Politeia) wrote: „One should not treat a single part without treatment of the whole. One should not try to cure the body without healing of the soul, and if mind and body are to get well again, one first has to treat the soul. This has to be heeded first. Don`t let yourself be talked by anybody into healing his mind before healing his soul. For it is today`s great error in the treatment of the human body for the physician to separate body and soul.“

The mechanistic world view
In the 17th century Galilee, Descartes, Newton and others provided the mechanistic conception of the world which constitutes the fundamentals of modern medicine to this day and in which man is reduced to a machine. Medical science is trying in vain to put down its theories and its therapeutic approach to Newtonian physics and chemistry - the basic natural sciences, which today have been outdated for quite a while - which means there is no scientific basis to modern medicine. Albert Einstein with his theory of relativity and a few years later, Werner Heisenberg with his quantum theory brought the holistic world view back to the scientific community: again all kinds of phenomena are being viewed in their interrelatedness.

Everything is interrelated
David Bohm elaborated on the holographic order of the universe: everything is contained in everything. This allows for the integration of the notion of synchronicity as developed by Carl Jung: seeming randomness is immersed in deep purpose, all incidents are interrelated. Biochemist Rupert Sheldrake coined the term „morphogenetic fields“: the development of a living organism is being controlled by a holistic energy-field of some kind. In the last instance all living organisms are composed of atoms and molecules, but the notion of „life“ also includes the notion of an organizational pattern of networks. Cyberneticians transferred this insight to the brain as being a neuronal network: the brain communicates as a huge system of interconnected and interrelating network structures. Being nonlinear, it has the ability to function by means of feedback and self-regulation: it is able to self-organize. As far back as 1943 brain scientist W. McCulloch published research evidence on this matter. In the 1950`s physicist Heinz von Foerster became an important conveyor of the concept of self-organization.

The mystery of life: Self-organization
Chemist and physicist Ilya Prigogine won the Nobel prize for his theory of „dissipative structures“. He investigated physical and chemical systems and extended the notion of self-organization by including the ability to form new structures and behaviors. He did research into non-equilibrium systems, describing them by means of nonlinear equations. Biochemist and Nobel prize winner Manfred Eigen coined the notion of molecular self-organization, trying to get to a solution of the mystery of the origin of life. In the 1960`s he explored the prebiological phase of evolution, thereby discovering that the roots of life obviously reach down to the realms of inanimate matter. He extended Prigogine`s theory by adding the notion of chemical hyper-cycles, which have the ability to self-organize, self-reproduce and evolve as well as to self-copy and correct copying mistakes. This ability has only be known in the context of living systems - formation of genetic structures.

Self-organization - the underlying principle of brain functioning
In 1970 brain scientist Maturana coined the term „autopoiesis“ (self-effectuatedness). The nervous system functions within a circular organizational process. Life is a constant process of cognition, which is self-organizing, self-effectuated. „In a living system the result of its operation is its own organization.“ Living systems put up their own boundaries, are far from equilibrium and in need of a constant flow of energy. Self-organization produces a structure at the physical as well as at the informational levels, both inter-pervading. Thus life consists of both of the following components: the organization of information which builds an informational pattern which in turn is materializing simultaneously.

The earth is a living organism
As Lovelock stated in his Gaia theory earth`s atmosphere constitutes an open system far from equilibrium which is characterized by a constant flow of energy and matter. Thus earth is a living, self-organizing, constantly self-developing system. Up to now - following the view of mechanistic physics - earth was thought to be an inanimate planet consisting of stone, water, and air, on which, by chance, life found „appropriate conditions“ to emerge. The Gaia theory instead states life itself having created the conditions for its own existence - earth being part and parcel of life in general. This new view of things, after having been opposed firmly in the beginning, has by now found its corroboration and acceptance in the scientific community. Living nature is intrinsically endowed with spirit and intelligence, it doesn`t follow a set plan or purpose - it can be described by the following notions: - continuous flow of energy and matter through an open system with organizational boundaries - a non-equilibrium state of stability - the vital role of feedback loops in the emergence of new organizational patterns by way of self-organization - and the mathematical description of these processes by means of nonlinear equations.

Synergetics - the theory of combined functioning
In the early 1960`s physicist and mathematician Hermann Haken - known as the father of laser theory - succeeded in integrating the concept of self-organization into the field of physics, thereby creating a connection between quantum and classical physics. He demonstrated the ways in which new organizational patterns emerge from self-organization, thereby establishing the basis for discovering general notions of the physics of non-equilibrium states which couldn`t be described before and founding a completely new field: synergetics - the theory of combined functioning. He failed to win the Nobel Prize by just a little - maybe for the reason that he had created a new paradigm not so easily accepted by the scientific establishment. Today he is pioneering in the field of synergetic computer development. He found that the perceptual process in humans is subject to continuous symmetry breaks and is successfully transferring this way of pattern processing to computer modeling.

Synergetic Therapy (Synergetik Therapie)
Hermann Haken`s discoveries - as well as the theories of Nobel prize winners Prigogine and Eigen - constitute the theoretical background of S.T., in which this view has been transferred to the therapeutically relevant level of information processing in the conscious and subconscious mind. In the early 1980`s Bernd Joschko stumbled upon Hermann Haken`s theory of synergetics. Ten years ago he conferred the name of Synergetik Therapie to a pragmatically developed therapeutic method which integrates quite a few approaches from the field of humanistic psychology. In S.T. Haken`s view is transferred to the processing of inner energy-images.

Synergetik Therapie applies the principles underlying the self-organizing activities of the brain
In a state of deep relaxation the client is able to access his neuronal connections, patterns and networks in terms of „inner imagery“, to experience them emotionally and bodily and thereby changing them in a „synergetic“ way by means of „inner reprocessing“. It can be definitely confirmed that this inner pattern processing is subject to the principles of self-organization, thereby allowing for deliberately generating different organizational patterns. Thus everybody is capable of producing his or her own health. By use of this method it could be demonstrated that an interconnection exists between body, mind (interpretation, evaluation) and inner imagery. The results found in 10 years of research - which has been extended to processing so-called incurable diseases 5 years ago - justify the working hypothesis that all diseases are represented in the neuronal connections - neuronal matrix - which can be resolved by the client him or herself by means of synergetical processing „from the inside“. There are a few methodological limitations to this, however.

Scientific basis
The method of S.T. has first provided medicine with a scientific basis including all of the existing new system-oriented approaches. The emphasis of the approach is no longer on fighting the symptoms on a physical level, but on causal dissolution on the primary level of disease formation. The new scientific approach of psychoneuroimmunology emphasizes this causative level by ascribing a neuronal imprint to all psychological experiences, those imprints being directly connected to immunological reactions which in turn have an effect on the organ level as well as on the structural level of the body.

Strategic approaches are not sufficient in dealing with living processes and healing
The hierarchical level where disease belongs has been turned upside down. The intention is no longer in fighting disease on a physical level, but to lead the dis-eased person back to a harmonious internal organizational state. It`s not the bodily situation that needs to be changed - it`s rather the informational level - as represented by the neuronal matrix of the brain - that needs to be led to a different, a higher organizational state. This can`t be done strategically! That`s why most of the existing therapeutical methods are not really effective as they don`t allow for the „wisdom“ inherent in the self-organizing process to unfold.

Disease is self-effectuated
Disease can be considered as symptom and expression of an imbalance that has been caused by a „refusal to evolve“ on the part of the individual concerned. That is to say the person hasn`t been able to process certain experiences in an appropriate way, he or she has been accumulating or repressing more and more, thus destabilizing his or her divine organizational state of „health“ and „liveliness“ in a progressive fashion („vicious circle“). The dis-eased person is a person who has denied his or her attainment of spiritual maturity. Every human being is part of evolution as a whole and is subject to its laws. The „divine“ energy flow which permeates him/her is partially inhibited, his/her life state, which only is possible far away from equilibrium, is weakened, so that sometimes a very small trigger is sufficient (e.g. death of a relative, which is too much for the person to endure on top of all of his previously accumulated experiences) to convey him/her (by means of symmetry break) to the „organizational state of death“. Investigation into the processes of self-healing has been demonstrating time and again that sometimes a minute trigger is sufficient to make disease happen - the well-known „beating of its wings of the butterfly“ in chaos research, through which a system is brought to a major shift („toppled over“). Of course it is possible to reverse this process: small changes in the neuronal matrix by means of changes effectuated in the energy imagery by confronting images and emotions, thereby triggering a self-organizing process in the informational structure, make it possible to reduce a state of illness (e.g. psoriasis) in a few therapeutic sessions to a stable state of health and to cause the symptoms to dissolve.

The world view of Hermetic philosophy
The hermetic world view can be integrated on a content level. However, instead of aiming at integrating duality by „remembrance“, S.T. instead aims at generating new states of organization as they have never existed before. Existence as a whole is in a continuous process of development towards unknown open „ends“. The polarity of mechanism on the one hand (God as clock-maker, everything is static) and vitalism on the other (causation can`t be accounted for in physical terms; teleology) has been transcended.

Synergetik Therapie is part of transpersonal psychology - it enhances the expansion of awareness
States of deep relaxation not only facilitate „inner journeys“ into an individual`s personal neuronal networks, but also into the realms of morphogenetic fields, of Carl Jung`s „collective unconscious“. Therefore Synergetik Therapie, with its „extra-normal states of consciousness“,can easily be categorized as pertaining to the field of transpersonal psychology (Stan Grof being one of its best-known pioneers). The primary goal of the individual Synergetik Therapie sessions, however, doesn`t consist in generating spiritual experiences of a holistic kind and in utilizing those states of expanded awareness for self-healing to occur - it rather consists in transferring the subjectively experienced energy field of neuronal connections into a state of so-called deterministic chaos, out of which new, evolutionary organizational states, which bring about new, unprecedented personal qualities, then emerge all by themselves.

Generating new internal organizational structures
The primary goal is always to bring the present organizational state to the turning point - as defined and mathematically described by chaos theory - where development of turbulences brings about phase transition from order to chaos. Chaos research offers direct instructions to make this happen. As Otto Rössler, professor of theoretical chemistry, discoverer of the Rössler attractor, said:“ The dynamics of chaos is generated by active, sharp (male) intervention into the passive, dormant matter of (female) three-dimensional space.“ Practical application of this is effectuated in Synergetik Therapie by continuously inviting the client to talk to all emerging parts (energy images) in his „inner world“ in the present tense, to have those images talk to each other and to confront them in accordance with his or her own arising impulses. The continuous free flow of energy imagery in this free-floating inner-world journey simultaneously unblocks all kinds of existing barriers, thus destabilizing the present energy structure: deterministic chaos ensues, out of which „inevitably“ new order arises: health as destiny. All „shadow parts“ undergo automatic transformation - a new context is formed. The journey to the light passes through „hell“.

Helpful inner-world figures
The achetypal symbols as described by Carl Jung are autonomous inner-world figures which help in an active way - to the great amazement of the clients. Interpretation of the events is not important in this process, conscious insight into connections and interrelations are of secondary importance, the focus „only“ being on the re-patterning of the neuronal matrix. Like the pictorial sequences on a T.V. screen, which are just composed of pixels - individual points of light -, the „inner imagery“ just corresponds to „neuronal firing“ without any intrinsic constraint towards identification: the Zen master`s stick of Synergetics. By means of this process Synergetik Therapie produces „divine energy-flow“. This oftentimes goes along with undescribable feelings of bliss and an enormous heightening of awareness, with feelings of love and higher self-esteem - there is always an enhancement of the ego-structure of the client. All of this is acting in turn on the physical level - self-healing occurs.

Synergetik Therapie as a new professional field
As content doesn`t matter, Synergetic Therapie can`t be labeled „psychotherapy“; as there is no „treatment“ involved, Synergetic Therapie is not subject to the law concerning non-medical practitioners (Heilpraktikergesetz). Neither is it faith healing of any kind, no „cosmic energy“ being transferred. The client is fully responsible for what- ever happens in a session - he is only being accompanied in a supportive way by the Synergetik therapist who is helping in a sometimes provocative way - by producing sounds (CD equipment), music or giving suggestions - to create a temporary state of deterministic chaos. The areas of application of Synergetik Therapie are quite extensive. They are not limited to physical illnesses, all problems and identifications being retraceable to their neuronal basis in the brain - relationship patterns, management issues, they can be easily applied to scientific research, etc. Training in this method and its applications is easily available. Basic training has been conducted for 4 years now in the Synergetik Therapie Institut in the Kamala center. It takes 25 days (in several blocks). There are good chances for future practitioners in the field of Synergetik Therapie.

Self-healing vs. dependency
The time is ripe. More and more people are looking for an approach that is different from the orthodox medical point of view which is focused on fighting disease at a symptom level. The pharmaceuticals industry as well has become aware of this new approach - its representatives at the Paracelsus medical fair persuaded the organizational management to prohibit physics engineer and founder of Synergetik Therapie Bernd Joschko from lecturing and participating in the exhibition. An extensive documentation as well as a collection of more than 100 transcriptions of individual sessions will be published soon in which the synergetical way of functioning of the brain and the resolution of many patterns of disease - the synergetical self-healing process - will be shown in an impressive way.

Kasten S. 3. In a state of deep relaxation awareness can be considerably increased. The following transcript describes the finale of an individual session. Client (female): I`m feeling light, like floating in the air. No more numbness. I feel like being out of my body somehow. (I ask her to look at herself from outside.) Yeah, that`s what I`ve been doing all along, oh, that`s interesting. Just imagine, I can even see my blood streaming. Oh, but now that`s kind of gross. Ah, I never experienced such a thing in my life. Oh Lord, oh, isn`t that far out. (I guide her awareness to her cancer:“Can you see it?“) Yes. („Put your hands above it - maybe you can even influence it.“) Client: (laughing) I was going to hold my hands above it and looking at my hands - oh Lord, what`s there? You first have to get used to a thing like that. Yeah, I was going to put on those hands - but then I see my hands as well ... („You probably can see the bone structure or else ...“) Yes - I wish everybody could see what I`m seeing at the moment. Just imagine, I see my body - how everything moves. There is incredible movement in there. Everything is moving in my belly. My intestines are moving, and everywhere there is some flow. The whole body is moving. Till now the body has been something solid in my eyes. But it`s not solid at all, everything is in a kind of flow. It`s moving in all directions. (Again I ask: „What about your cancer?“) I got to remove my hands, otherwise I can`t see it. It looks like cotton. What do my lungs look like? How to describe my lungs? That`s really amazing. The lungs are completely permeable, the air passes through, they are not solid at all, like candy floss. No, it`s like totally ... I just can`t describe it. I`ve never seen a thing like that. Well, like a hollow space, a hollow body, interweaved with very, very subtle fibers. All of this is incredibly soft and tender. And it is in constant movement, and inside of it there are like small little balls of cotton, and that is the cancer. They just sit there, but they are not anchored, they are not connected to the lungs, they could go away easily because they are not coming from the lungs, but they are just sitting there, and there are other things, too, like small particles. Like little knots, and I`ve got the feeling that there`s some alien element there. Yes, there a small little knots there, and everything is slightly moving and flowing, the whole body is.

Planet earth - a flat disc? The human being - a machine? The mechanistic world view of orthodox medicine - does it apply? In Israel the hospital doctors went on strike - immediately the death rate went down about 50%. In Bogota, Columbia, the doctors went on strike - the death rate decreased about 35%. The mechanistic world view of orthodox medicine produces „helpless helpers“: the medical profession as well as bar owners have the lowest life-expectancy of all occupational groups. The incidence of alcohol abuse among medical doctors is eleven times higher than in the average population. The suicide rate among British medical doctors is twice as high as in the average British population.

The medical profession is in need of a new view of the world and of the human being. It is in need of in-depth health research, of a definition of healing processes and of encouragement and support regarding research into self-healing processes. People at large need to take responsibility and to participate in decision-making processes.

Succinct description of Synergetik Therapie
Synergetics - the theory of combined functioning - constitutes the scientific basis of Synergetik Therapie. The principles of self-organization as discovered by Hermann Haken are applied to the energy images stored in the brain. To do this, the client is put in a state of deep relaxation. Now he or she is able to consciously perceive all the energetic phenomena resulting from the neuronal functional processes of his/her brain in a free-floating process called „active inner-world journey“. Those energetic phenomena usually appear as „inner images“, they are however linked to feelings, emotions and bodily reactions. These associatively connected „inner images“ also occur in terms of concrete, sometimes repressed memories of real events linked to subjective interpretational patterns. The symbolic language of the subconscious mind oftentimes expresses itself directly in terms of energetic imagery or else in so-called „autonomous figures“, thus being experienced by the client with all of his or her senses as his/her own reality. In this „experiential inner world“ different laws of action abide, everything being connected to everything else. Each individual brain is an energetic unity in itself, but at the same time interacts constantly with the body and is connected to so-called „morphogenetic fields“. All information is structurally present simultaneously in terms of neuronal matrix and can be decoded in terms of time by means of „active inner-world journey“. This is why patterns of disease can be made directly visible internally as energy patterns. By means of continually repeated „new and different acting“ in the inner world a self-organizing process is being triggered which can be far-reaching to an extent that these energy patterns - in exact correspondence to the principles of synergetics - take on different states of organization, thus triggering a process of self-healing. On the physical level of the body this is expressed in an enhancement of the functions of the immune system - the symptoms disappear. This „inner action“ is always initiated by the client`s volitionally controlled „ego-structure“, it is being supported by cooperation with the synergetic therapist who accompanies the process. Synergetik Therapie is a process of guidance to self-healing - it cannot be done against the free will of the client. This pragmatic approach is characteristic of Bernd Joschko`s method which 10 years ago he named Synergetik Therapie. Up to now his experiences justify his working hypothesis: nearly all diseases can be healed - but only if the client takes responsibility for his or her own process. Thus Synergetik Therapie has been defined as purely being an instruction or guidance to self-healing. Synergetik Therapie is not subject to the German legislation concerning non-medical practitioners. Training started 5 years ago. All of the newly won empirical knowledge as well as the basic know-how and pragmatical tools of Synergetik Therapie are being taught in training seminars which can be attended by everybody - no previous experience being required. Thus a new professional field has been created in response to many ill people`s desire for responsibility, initiative and self-healing. This field has been unexplored and unoccupied up to now. Extensive documentation will be published soon.

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The method of „active imagination“ is strategically aimed at installing positive, desirable images or behaviors. The best-known expert in this method is Dr. Carl Simonton. 15 years ago he first instructed his cancer patients to visually wage war against the cancer cells, with considerable life-prolonging results. However, this also is just fighting symptoms - this time on a psychological level. Enhancement of all-over vitality and natural healing power can be achieved by this method. Synergetik Therapie deals with the entire context - each single incidence or symbolic image is being worked on - thereby causing changes in the images to happen retrospectively by their own accord. The desert starts blooming by itself, the deep crevice in the floor is closing, the immune defense starts activating it-self etc.: resolution of neuronal imprints takes place. The energetic disease structure is being dealt with on an informational level - it is not just being weakened, but dissolves permanently on a causal level. This method of bringing about changes in the inner-world imagery by applying the principles of self-organization can be demonstrated in every individual session - it can be learnt and put to use by everyone.