The Body Electric
Electromagnetism And The Foundation Of LifeBy Robert Becker
HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Copyright © 2006 Robert Becker
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0688069711
Chapter One
Hydra’s Heads and
Medusa’s Blood
There is only one health, but diseases are many. Likewise, there appears to be one fundamental force that heals, although the myriad schools of medicine all have their favorite ways of cajoling it into action.
Our prevailing mythology denies the existence of any such generalized force in favor of thousands of little ones sitting on pharmacists’ shelves, each one potent against only a few ailments or even a part of one. This system often works fairly well, especially for treatment of bacterial diseases, but it’s no different in kind from earlier systems in which a specific saint or deity, presiding over a specific healing herb, had charge of each malady and each part of the body. Modern medicine didn’t spring full-blown from the heads of Pasteur and Lister a hundred years ago.
If we go back further, we find that most medical systems have combined such specifics with a direct, unitary appeal to the same vital principle in all illnesses. The inner force can be tapped in many ways, but all are variations of four main, overlapping patterns: faith healing, magic healing, psychic healing, and spontaneous healing. Although science derides all four, they sometimes seem to work as well for degenerative diseases and long-term healing as most of what Western medicine can offer.
Faith healing creates a trance of belief in both patient and practitioner, as the latter acts as an intercessor or conduit between the sick mortal and a presumed higher power. Since failures are usually ascribed to a lack of faith by the patient, this brand of medicine has always been a gold mine for charlatans. When bona fide, it seems to be an escalation of the placebo effect, which produces improvement in roughly one third of subjects who think they’re being treated but are actually being given dummy pills in tests of new drugs. Faith healing requires even more confidence from the patient, so the disbeliever probably can prevent a cure and settle for the poor satisfaction of “I told you so.” If even a few of these oft-attested cases are genuine, however, the healed one suddenly finds faith turned into certainty as the withered arm aches with unaccustomed sensation, like a starved animal waking from hibernation.
Magical healing shifts the emphasis from the patient’s faith to the doctor’s trained will and occult learning. The legend of Teta, an Egyptian magician from the time of Khufu (Cheops), builder of the Great Pyramid, can serve as an example. At the age of 110, Teta was summoned into the royal presence to demonstrate his ability to rejoin a severed head to its body, restoring life. Khufu ordered a prisoner beheaded, but Teta discreetly suggested that he would like to confine himself to laboratory animals for the moment. So a goose was decapitated. Its body was laid at one end of the hall, its head at the other. Teta repeatedly pronounced his words of power, and each time, the head and body twitched a little closer to each other, until finally the two sides of the cut met. They quickly fused, and the bird stood up and began cackling. Some consider the legendary miracles of Jesus part of the same ancient tradition, learned during Christ’s precocious childhood in Egypt.
Whether or not we believe in the literal truth of these particular accounts, over the years so many otherwise reliable witnesses have testified to healing “miracles” that it seems presumptuous to dismiss them all as fabrications. Based on the material presented in this book, I suggest Coleridge’s “willing suspension of disbelief” until we understand healing better. Shamans apparently once served at least some of their patients well, and still do where they survive on the fringes of the industrial world. Magical medicine suggests that our search for the healing power isn’t so much an exploration as an act of remembering something that was once intuitively ours, a form of recall in which the knowledge is passed on or awakened by initiation and apprenticeship to the man or woman of power.
Sometimes, however, the secret needn’t be revealed to be used. Many psychic healers have been studied, especially in the Soviet Union, whose gift is unconscious, unsought, and usually discovered by accident. One who demonstrated his talents in the West was Oskar Estebany. A Hungarian Army colonel in the mid-1930s, Estebany noticed that horses he groomed got their wind back and recovered from illnesses faster than those cared for by others. He observed and used his powers informally for years, until, forced to emigrate after the 1956 Hungarian revolution, he settled in Canada and came to the attention of Dr. Bernard Grad, a biologist at McGill University. Grad found that Estebany could accelerate the healing of measured skin wounds made on the backs of mice, as compared with controls. He didn’t let Estebany touch the animals, but only place his hands near their cages, because handling itself would have fostered healing. Estebany also speeded up the growth of barley plants and reactivated ultraviolet-damaged samples of the stomach enzyme trypsin in much the same way as a magnetic field, even though no magnetic field could be detected near his body with the instruments of that era.
The types of healing we’ve considered so far have trance and touch as common factors, but some modes don’t even require a healer. The spontaneous miracles at Lourdes and other religious shrines require only a vision, fervent prayer, perhaps a momentary connection with a holy relic, and intense concentration on the diseased organ or limb. Other reports suggest that only the intense concentration is needed, the rest being aids to that end. When Diomedes, in the fifth book of the Iliad, dislocates Aeneas’ hip with a rock, Apollo takes the Trojan hero to a temple of healing and restores full use of his leg within minutes. Hector later receives the same treatment after a rock in the chest fells him. We could dismiss these accounts . . .
Continues…
Excerpted from The Body Electricby Robert Becker Copyright © 2006 by Robert Becker. Excerpted by permission.
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10 reviews for The Body Electric: Electromagnetism And The Foundation Of Life
Vinyasi –
We can make our own
Organic Dietary Silica Powder
(as a liquid) by adding a trace amount of silver. I learned this by testing upon my own body some of the knowledge resulting from the research of Dr. Robert O. Becker, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and professor of same, who has a patent for wound care: United States patent # 5814094, and a book:
The Body Electric: Electromagnetism And The Foundation Of Life
.Recipe for making the Fountain of Youth, orthosilicic acid, safely at home.Orthosilicic acid is an inorganic bioavailable silica made by the natural processes of the Earth in the intermediate steps of forming opal gemstone.Orthosilicic acid nourishes the body to stimulate its production of collagen – connective tissue. When trace silver is present, collagen forms stem cells at the skin and pericardial sac surrounding the heart resulting in spontaneous regeneration of whatever is deficient within the body of greatest need.1. In a
Circleware Circle 64 oz Pitcher
, add distilled water, low magnesium earth salt (such as extra fine
The Spice Lab’s Pure Himalayan Salt – 10 Pounds – Finely Ground .5mm
– not sea salt),
Diatomaceous Earth Food Grade 10 Lb
, and optionally a bicarbonate of either
1 lb USP Pure Sodium Bicarbonate Powder Highest Quality Food Grade Pure Baking Soda
or
Potassium Bicarbonate – 1 lb.
or both, in the ratio of two parts salt to one part each of D.E. and bicarb. Don’t overdo the D.E.; a little goes a long way.2. Cut and shape two electrodes out of
LifeForce 72″ Colloidal Silver Generator Wire 9999 Pure 14 Gauge
to overhang into the pitcher along opposite sides all the way to the bottom, and form a tiny curl at the bottom end so as to avoid scratching the inside surface of the glass. Make sure the top end curls over the top lip of the pitcher – downward for a short ways and then horizontally outward – to form a short extension jutting out away from the pitcher. This is where the clip leads from a
The Silver Lining Colloidal Silver Generator with Magnetic Stirrer – 32oz Flask
will attach.3. Run the colloidal silver generator on its lowest setting continuously for a few days and make sure your machine is capable of stirring the solution. Set the stirring knob on the machine to a moderate speed.4. When you want to take a sip, turn off the machine and pour out a few ounces into a small disposable cup and discard any solution that you fail to consume within less than half an hour. Turn the machine back on making sure that the solution continues to stir.5. Do not turn off the machine unless you’re taking a sip or the pitcher is empty.6. Drink on an empty stomach between meals.7. Rinse the pitcher clean and scrub the silver wire with a copper scrub pad taking care not to leave behind any copper fibers.8. Supplement your diet with plenty of
Pure Calcium Carbonate 600 mg 100 Tabs
along with whatever mineral or electrolyte suits your fancy.EarthWorksHealth.com >> diatomaceous earth, food grade[…]
Hanna Instruments HI 770 Checker HC Handheld Colorimeter, For Silica High Range
Dr. Becker has a patent for the use of silver in wound care at this location:[…]Also see the photo documentation of Dr. Pramod Vora who has replicated one of Dr. Becker’s treatment methods:space-age.comThere is also a clinic in Australia which has been successful in treating cancer with Becker’s technique:[…]My effort at researching Dr. Becker:[…]Apart from drinking beer, there are very few conventional options in the standard western diet for supplementing ourselves with bioavailable silica for promoting collagen production in the human and animal body. When combined with minute quantities of silver (acting as a catalytic binding agent to collagen), bioavailable silica stimulates the production of non-differentiated (stem) cells at the growth layer of the skin and at the pericardial sac (surrounding the heart) supplementing whatever level of stem cells are already being produced by our bone marrow. Since our production of stem cells declines as we get older, stimulating our production of stem cells greatly enhances our ability to spontaneously heal from stress and injury.The silicon content of beer and its bioavailability in healthy volunteers. – PubMed – NCBI[…]The comparative absorption of silicon from different foods and food supplements. – PubMed – NCBI[…]Silicon deprivation decreases collagen formation in wounds and bone, and ornithine transaminase enzyme activity in liver. – PubMed – NCBI[…]High dietary aluminum affects the response of rats to silicon deprivation. – PubMed – NCBI[…]The only caveat to the regeneration of the body is the tendency for regeneration to drain the body of its alkaline reserve. Thus, is needed: silica to balance the body’s pH plus plenty of alkalizing supplements and methods, such as: the magnesium and calcium products cited above or others (such as:
Bone Meal Kal 250 Tabs
and magnesium malate or citrate),
Starwest Botanicals Organic Kelp Powder, 1 Pound Bags
,
Celtic Sea Salt, Fine Ground, 16 Ounce
and electrolyte powder,
Sleep Lavender Bath Salts 2 Lbs
, etc.So, it’s not enough to replicate Dr. Becker’s research; we also have to take responsibility for pursuing regeneration of any sort. I take a whole body and a whole karmic approach to this study since my five cats and I were all exposed to anti-freeze poisoning over ten years ago.My first cat died within a month of liver cancer. The second died three months later of connective tissue (collagen) cancer. This latter kitty had skin so brittle and fragile that it could break off in large flakes! I decided to put him down, immediately. A stroke felled the next kitty, then a sudden blood clot felled the fourth, and lastly the fifth died from hypothermia since she was old and feeble and had no one to sleep with anymore during a cold winter in which I chose not to heat my home due to a rise in home heating fuel! {I was severely allergic to her and could not let her sleep with me.} All of them died within two years after the six week poisoning had occurred. We also had been inhaling the transpiration of the anti-freeze erupting from out of the soil of these potted plants in our one room studio apartment.I waited over two years before seeing an oncologist who examined my blood under a microscope and reviewed my blood analysis and declared: “Well, you’re not at risk, but nearly borderline.” This, after two years of
Bitter Raw Apricot Seeds, 8oz. – 1/2lb
and
Cesium Liquid Ionic & Super Potassium High pH Therapy Minerals (32 oz)
and still no complete recovery. Anti-freeze is known to induce any one of the following: late onset type II diabetes, kidney failure, cancers of the liver, pancreas and blood (leukemia), just to name a few. Had I known this ahead of time, I never would have used that darned potting soil from a perforated bag which had been sitting in it for God knows how long to grow ourselves some wheatgrass and garlic shoots as potted house plants for all of us to enjoy!There is no treatment modality known by the medical establishment, but one fellow on the internet used
1 Lb. All Natural FOOD GRADE Activated Charcoal Powder from USA Hardwood Trees. Whitens Teeth, Rejuvenates Skin and Hair, Detoxifies the Body. Helps with Digestion. Treats Accidental Poisoning, Bug Bites and Wounds. FREE scoop included. 100% Carbon.
right away and that seemed to help him.There is also no method of testing for the presence of anti-freeze within the body. And both the body and the environment have no quick method for breaking this stuff down to defuse its toxicity, which includes: mutagenic and carcinogenic properties.But wait…. It gets better…I think bioavailable silica plus trace silver (in any form) holds the key to my recovery. In fact, I’m pretty sure of it.
Wilson Thompson –
Taming Heavenly Fire Wilson L.Thompson, Ph.D.Independence Day fireworks pale in comparison to thunderstorms that regularly rip our skies. Since Benjamin Franklin’s daring kite experiment with lightening, Americans have sought to tame electricity. More recently, Dr. Robert Becker reviews some twenty years of pioneering medical research that drives his electrotherapy in The Body Electric (William Morrow, NY, 1985). Readers learn of research-backed efforts to stimulate bone healing with low-level electric current. Still, advanced surgical skills must be augmented by the body’s healing response. The Body Electric is indexed, well illustrated and has a helpful, technical glossary.Much of Becker’s research addresses regeneration of limbs in salamanders. But, Dr. Becker is concerned, as an orthopedic surgeon, with regenerative growth needed to repair patients’ broken bones that too often fails to take place. Since there are “electrical currents in salamander limb regeneration, it was at least plausible that similar factors controlled the mending of fractures.” (p 137).Indeed, Becker reports using silver electrodes in his experimental electrotherapy to stave off amputation for first a Vietnam vet and then a muskrat trapper. He finds that electrified silver is “especially well suited for use against several kinds of bacteria simultaneously. It kills even antibiotic-resistant strains.” (p 167). His research targets “a cure for two of an orthopedist’s worst nightmares — nonunion [of fractures] and osteomyelitis (bone infection)” (p 168).Becker’s salamander- regeneration research opens the door for correcting our understanding of cancer. He questions the dogma that a cancer cell cannot be dediffferentated and reprogrammed back into a normal cell. Becker notes Merl Rose’s hypothesis that “regeneration’s guidance system could control cancer, too” (p 217). Further, Austrian cancer researchers have found that induced salamander tumors revert to normal skin after tail amputation. “The salamander ended up with a new tail and no cancer” (p 220).Becker also probes the impact of earth, moon, and sun’s electromagnetic fields upon human life. He finds relationship between sun’s magnetic storms and the rate of psychiatric admissions. In a sample of 28,000 patients in psychiatric state hospitals, “Significantly more persons were signed in to the psychiatric services just after magnetic disturbances than when the field was stable” (p 245).Not surprisingly, Becker is also concerned about hazardous biological effects of electropollution radiating from electromagnetic sources in our wired industrialized society. He cites research of Lester and Moore who found cancer incidence in Wichita, KS “was highest where the residents were exposed to both [airport tower] radar beams … [with death rates] twice that of the area’s nursing homes. It was lower where only one beam penetrated but lowest where the population was fully shielded behind hills” (p 300).Nevertheless, grants have been restricted for scientific study of dangers noted above, that is needed to refute “the oft repeated claim that these are just coincidences” (p 303). Was it really a coincidence that a “1979 study of Swedish high-voltage substation workers [found] an 8-percent incidence of genetic defects” among employees’ children (p 302)? Was it happenstance that raised birth defect alarms at Sears Dallas headquarters? Among their female staff exposed to emissions from video display terminals (VTDs) in newly computerized offices, “only four of twelve pregnancies ended normally” (p 302).Becker criticizes technological medicine for over-reliance on petri dish experimentation. This fosters a fragmented reductionist understanding of the body’s neural system. Such an “approach ultimately fails in the study of living things – hence the widespread demand for an alternative, holistic medicine – for life is like no machine humans ever built” (p 230). Robert Becker is implicitly at odds with the reigning evolution paradigm in medicine and biology. “There’s no room in technological medicine for any presumed sanctity or uniqueness of life. … no need for the patient’s own self-healing force nor any strategy for enhancing it” (p 19). He views denigrated placebo effect as “a physiological effect of mind on body, just as real as the effects of wind on a tree” (p 231).For Becker, the advanced research findings recorded in The Body Electric “presage a revolution in biology and medicine … [in which] whatever we achieve pales before the self-healing power latent in all organisms” (p 21). But, as Thomas Kuhn tellingly observes, “a scientific theory is declared invalid only if an alternate candidate is available to take its place.” (p 77) 1 . Accordingly, support for the failing evolution paradigm in medicine is not driven by scientific research. Rather, non-scientific matters of bureaucratized research and political correctness combine to prop up the theoretical status quo against assault of irreverent facts. In fact, a secular theorist, Carl Becker, has been emboldened to parody Psalm Eight in the Bible. “What is man that the electron should be mindful of him! Man is but a foundling in the cosmos, abandoned by the forces that created him”(p 15) 2 .Sadly, soaring medical costs, a rise in degenerative diseases, and routinization of medical care have intensified since Becker voiced his concerns (p-19). Medical care is further eroded by an abortion industry that supplies body parts and euthanasia coming online. God’s people are directed to Choose Life. We are committed to the Creation paradigm within which to expand our understanding of the body’s electrical grid. Dr. Becker’s findings are congruent with faith-induced strength that postmenopausal Sarah received to conceive Isaac (Hebrews 11:11) and the Psalmist’s observation that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (139:14). Yes, truly! 1. Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1962). 2. Carl Becker, The Heavenly Cities of the Eighteenth Century Philosophers (University of Chicago Press, Chicago,1932).
Claudette Lupien –
Without precedent this book reveals the magnitude of the human body’s capacity to heal itself including emotions as being also electric and therefore capable of being treated to heal. A revolution.
Gert Bo Thorgersen –
Among other, the book is exceptional good concerning the explanation, with many detailed drawings, about the return of missing bones for salamanders and frogs. And it was fantastic interesting in the book to read about how 2 patients with destroyed and rather missing bones were cured by the use of electricity.Personally, I suffer from osteoporosis, and have read many books about bones, but rather unexpected, in this book I learned more about bones.Among other I like to read history, and historically the book is god when going in detail by looking at discoverers, and forgotten pre-discoverers. And how, for many persons by logical thinking, like Ignaz Semmelweis, who told to was hands, then by being prior to the orthodox unions, was punished.Besides it’s interesting to read about their research concerning acupuncture. I have tried it many times, and it worked. But I found that for me it actually hid the case. During months I in the skin on the right-side upper leg suddenly had it like hundreds of needle stings, sometimes resulting in jumping out of the bed to stand up. I thought that it was caused by cut over nerves, and pain in the right arm, when I started getting acupuncture, and the needle stings disappeared! But then by coincidence I was scanned, and it turned out that I suffered from osteoporosis, which had resulted in the stings. But acupuncture is fantastic in helping many unsolvable problems, instead of by using bad drugs. But it looks like that in some cases the result only last 2 – 3 months.In the start of the book we read about faith, magical healing and shamans. And where as a result of faith, we by research always see some of the persons, who actually did not get the real pill, also were cured. And we read about testing the Hungarian Oskar Estebany, who first by an accident discovered how horses he groomed faster recovered from illnesses. But on these sides Rasputin ought to be mentioned. Especially he is known for how he stopped the bleeding for the Russian Tsars son, who suffered from bleeding, one time even by telephone. As a remark, he tried to stop Russia going into the First World war.
Aisling D. –
I bought this book because – as someone exploring grounding and earthing – I want to know more about how electricity, EMF, etc., affect the human body.Well, the first 80% of the book is mostly a textbook for doctors. I haven’t a clue what half the experiments meant, though the regeneration of body parts was someone intriguing.Then the author complains (not without reason) about his research being overlooked, criticized, and dismissed by those with their own (profit-related?) agendas. After the few pages of that, all I could do was sigh and keep skimming the book.But then… wow! He starts explaining the incredible (and rapidly increasing) amount of electrical energy that’s all around us, daily. For example, on page 274, the author explains, “The starting and stopping of an electric train turns the power rail into a giant antenna that radiates ELF waves for over 100 miles.”Blink. Blink.Umm… yes, that would be important to know about if you’re electro-sensitive. And possibly even if you’re not.Those kinds of insights are why I’m giving this otherwise-tedious book a four-star review.If you’re interested in a natural lifestyle, or in grounding (and earthing), or you might be electro-sensitive, this book is worth reading.Skip the boring first half of the book unless you absolutely LOVE biology and medicine.Go directly to the “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” chapter for utterly astonishing facts about the world we live in, and how much electricity and magnetic fields are all around you, every moment of your day.
Dulwich Hill –
I’m listening to this over and over. It’s just so revolutionary. Yes it really goes into the esoteric but it’s all based on this woman’s decades of experience with tuning forks and working on thousands of bodies. She has done the field research, done the academic research, and gotten an advanced degree. She’s no airy-fairy lightweight giving opinions. OK, she does give her opinions, but they are based on years of experience. An amazing amazing (said that already but true) eye opening and mind blowing book that connects the physical body to the etheric and one of the most powerfully spiritual books I’ve ever encountered.
Cynema –
The power of energy is just as profound in humans as in nature. What if the link between electromagnetism and electricity could enable us to heal ourselves through self-regeneration? Such is the premise of this fascinating book by renowned medical researcher Robert O. Becker, a pioneer in regeneration experiments. His books should be required reading for anyone hopeful about our future health and a willingness to think outside the box about our bodies and what we currently know and/or believe about medicine and healing.This book mesmerizes with revolutionary ideas in human biology and medicine — a theory based on the author’s extensive lab experiments in regeneration that have led to some radical thinking about human healing, health and longevity. As lives are longer and diseases ever rampant, such thought-provoking concepts about the potential for “self-healing” offer an alternative to life and longevity as we know it. Becker makes compelling arguments about the bioelectric nature of humans and the essential nature of “electricity” to human life. Harnessing these elements in targeted ways means the possibility of self-healing. It’s hard to deny the sense this eye-opening information makes, and also the establishment forces opposed to it. For me, it redefined how I look at the treatment for every illness, infection, disease and injury. If a star fish can grow new limbs, or salamander grow two heads where there was only one … why can’t humans harness bioelectricity for basic healing, curing cancer, or regenerating limbs?The experiments are complex, the information detailed but readily understandable, and I came away as a mind-blown convert to the potential of a radically different way to look at human healing and longevity that seems within arm’s reach.
Tenebrous –
I’m not quite sure what to make of this book. On one hand, it describes scientific experiments in excruciating detail, and lays out logical conclusions derived from them. On the other hand, it makes wild inferences and lends credence to things that should be taken with skepticism. It is not quite readable, and I found myself skipping ahead due to the level of detail being far out of proportion to the pace (ponderous comes to mind). Still, the information itself is interesting. I was intrigued by the way that the body heals and the fact that it can be stimulated to do so by electric current.The credibility that the author gives quite a few sources is unjustified. Although he mentions the Soviet research into electric/magnetic weaponry, he never acknowledges the nature of the Soviet government and its unrelenting reliance on propaganda. Instead, he trusts Soviet researchers implicitly. He complains about the nature of U.S. government grants, and rightly so, but ALL research in the Soviet Union was run by the government! Studies that were not useful to the Soviets were not allowed into print! So their studies must be viewed through the same lens as Chinese economic reports; if participatory governments should be watched carefully, how much more so countries in which all opposition is outlawed?He also discusses yogic practices and acupuncture as though there were enough evidence to back up either of them as being successful. He admits that the laboratory conditions exclude synergistic effects of multiple kinds of electric/magnetic waves, but instead of providing caution, he generalizes outwards from what he admits is “sketchy evidence”. Color me unimpressed.Other than living in upstate New York, I don’t see that the author has taken his claims about EMP seriously. He provides no practical counter-measures to the problems he describes. All that he recommends is a call to action to prevent people from being bombarded by new kinds of radiation. That’s hardly useful to people looking for ways to improve their lives now. It also makes me suspect that what we’re dealing with right now isn’t that bad, but I’m not completely convinced of that, either.At the end, I’m left with some interesting observations, some knowledge gained, but I’m not sure what to do with it or what it means. I already knew that government should be restrained and that many studies were bogus. I will keep researching, but I am disappointed about the quality and the credulity of this book.
Lz –
But I see that as my problem… it’s a very thorough text on the electrical nature of the human body.
Dave –
I haven’t actually read it yet. I flipped the pages and the drawings show that they know how to regrow your limbs. They insert a computer thing into your missing arm or leg and the body has a positive charge but your limbs have a negative electrical charge. They studied how lizards can grow their limbs back naturally and they found that they can do it for people I believe based on the photos. I would imagine inserting the right kind of computer chip and having the right electrical charge and not having the person bleed out or get an infection and watch the limb regrow in a month is possible but getting that right mix of those 4 things seem to be the challenge. But it seems like they already know what to do. Why they don’t do it is beyond me.