This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "The Silva Mind Control Method" by José Silva. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Can you trust a holistic diagnosis? How do you make a diagnosis without examining someone?
The Silva Mind Control Method by José Silva claims that you can practice remotely diagnosing and healing others in the Alpha state. To diagnose someone, you’ll need to know their name, age, gender, and where they’re located.
Check out how to make a remote diagnosis of others with basic information.
Remotely Diagnosing Others
Silva warns that it’s important to only practice diagnosing people who are physically removed from you and who you don’t know (you can ask friends to supply information about people they know who are sick or injured). Unless you are that person’s doctor, you are not legally qualified to make a holistic diagnosis with a medical condition. In fact, if you discover a medical problem while mentally scanning someone you know personally, Silva says you shouldn’t tell the person at all—simply do your best to heal them in your psychic laboratory.
(Shortform note: Silva is primarily concerned with the legal implications of psychically diagnosing and healing someone. However, there may also be practical risks to diagnosing or healing someone you know or telling them about your attempts to heal them. Studies show that faith healing (a similar practice to Silva’s method) can cause harm when it leads to a sick person delaying traditional medical treatment for their illness because of their strong belief in the faith healer’s power. Similarly, if you tell a loved one you’re working to psychically heal them, they may delay getting treatment they need, ultimately harming their health.)
Once you know who you’ll be diagnosing, conjure up an image of them on your mental screen (since you don’t know what they look like in real life, this is where your advanced visualization skills come in). Begin scanning the image of their body on your screen, asking your assistants for help as necessary—for example, one of your assistants might point to a particular body part on the person you’re scanning. As you scan the person, Silva recommends you continuously describe, out loud, what you’re observing. Keeping up a monologue of what you see on your mental screen will crowd out your mind’s doubts and criticisms about whether what you’re seeing is real.
(Shortform note: In addition to bypassing your doubts and criticisms, speaking your observations out loud may have other benefits. Some researchers note that speaking aloud to yourself (rather than just speaking in your mind) forces you to fully flesh out your thoughts, which in turn enables your mind to connect those thoughts to others and form creative insights. To take full advantage of this effect, consider walking or pacing while you talk—studies show that moving can enhance your ability to think clearly.)
As you scan, make note of which areas of the body you’re drawn to—for example, you might note that the person’s left knee seems to be flashing more brightly than the other body parts, maybe because of an injury. Trust your instincts and try not to second-guess yourself; remember, even if it feels like you’re making everything up, that doesn’t mean that you are.
(Shortform note: Some psychologists make the opposite claim: The fact that something feels true doesn’t mean it is true. For example, if your spouse sighs, you might think they’re upset with you. The thought might feel entirely true, causing you to wonder what you did wrong. In reality, your spouse could just be reflecting on an argument they had at work—the sigh might have had nothing to do with you, no matter how true the thought felt.)
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Here's what you'll find in our full The Silva Mind Control Method summary:
- The method of using your mind to heal your body, sharpen memory, and solve problems
- How to unlock your innate psychic power to help yourself and others
- How you can use the Alpha state to heal others remotely
