Internal possession of the mind

Begone, evil spirit! Begone! OK, so that’s not how a typical acupuncture treatment begins (at least in my clinic). Even for possession. And when we talk about possession in Chinese Medical terms, we’re not usually referring to an evil spirit or the devil, like in the movie “The Exorcist”. Instead, we’re referring to an internal possession of the mind. This internal possession occurs when a person is unable to control their own thinking, resulting in a pattern of compulsive thought and behavior.

Internal possession is something that most of us experience to a greater or lesser extent. When it becomes severe, it can lead to mental-emotional diseases such as depression, anorexia and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. In most people, internal possession is the incessant chatter of their mind that says things such as “Some big thing needs to happen in my life before I can be happy”, or “This shouldn’t be happening, and that’s why I’m unhappy”, or “Something that happened in the past is preventing me from being happy today”. If we free ourselves from this internal mind chatter, we are no longer “possessed” by our own mind and are at peace.

This theory of internal possession coincides with Eastern philosophical and religious thought. The answer lies within us and not in the outside world; therefore, problems arise from the internal and not from the external. Big houses, eternal beauty and fast cars are not problems; it’s the internal yearning for the material, the belief that the answer to happiness is an external phenomenon that leads to discontent. Through this process, the formless spirit becomes weighed down with material desires.

How is unhappiness rooted in reliance on external factors? When we depend on something that is outside of us, we give up control of our inner state. If we wait for the perfect job/partner/home to be happy, we may never achieve happiness. Happiness is an internal process that arises from accepting what is, right now. We can still work for change but also acknowledge that the present moment is as perfect as can be.

Let’s think about that for a moment. How can this moment be perfect? After all, I’ve got bills to pay, errands to run and a cranky step mom in town. How can I be happy? You first start by accepting what is and not fighting. Just accept and surrender to the current situation. There will then be no judgment about the current situation and your emotional attachment to it will decrease. What then follows is a sense of calm. And that is the beginning of spiritual awakening, of a dispossession of the mind.

Our minds exist to help us do certain things. It organizes tasks and calculates sums but we are not our minds. Our minds serve us and our thoughts are a mere collection of mental activity. Our spirit is the formless entity that arises when thinking ceases. Have you ever had an epiphany, a wondrous moment when something just popped into your head? It probably happened when you weren’t thinking; instead, just mindlessly humming a tune or taking a shower.

So how has Chinese Medicine dealt with possession? The great doctor Sun Si Miao (581-682 AD) wrote about the “13 Ghost Points” to dispel internal possession and cultivate greater spirituality. These 13 points mobilized the internal awareness of a person and in that manner, “drove out” the possessing thoughts. It was always understood that the path to healing lay within the patient; acupuncture merely illuminated that the path to enlightenment, the “Tao”, lay within each of us.