Articles
The LIFE FORCES

- an interview with Solihin Thom

reprinted: New Times, Seattle 1993


Preamble: Solihin and Alicia are from England, living with their 4 children in Portland, Oregon. Solihin practiced as an osteopath, acupuncturist and clinical kinesiologist, and Alicia as a Master practitioner in NLP. They have come here to write and teach their work. Solihin has successfully introduced a number of differing workshops: Cranial Fluid Dynamics -- an enlargement of the original craniosacral and osteopathic models, Opening Human Potential -- a 5 part workshop course, using clinical kinesiology and hand modes to talk to the deep unconscious, at the content level of being. This interview will concentrate on their other workshop series ? The Life Forces ? and ? Healing the Family Tree.?

Treshell: The last time I read about you; Ralph Wilson discussed the breadth and diversity of your work, not so much the detail. [ New Times July 1991 Vol. 7 No. 2 ] The idea of the Life forces -- where has that come from ?

Solihin: The model of the Life forces is very old; it would seem to be the content of all religious models. Man however has couched or used language to hide the content of the reality of these messages. Mythology has been the real storyteller for us to understand the nature of the forces and of our inner content. Myths allow us to understand our stuck state, with regard to the forces that hold us in their sway. Present day use of myth is perhaps at best; misguided, at worse; dangerous.
The forces that arise within us are the forces that Life has given us. They are the forces that have motivated all forms of life to rise and develop the potential for survival, for propagation, for evolution, excellence; for a raising of consciousness.
We contain the evolutionary memories of all forms of Life within our DNA and in our neurological development and parts, and for those who need to hear this: in our etheric blueprint.

Treshell: I have never read anything or understood much about these forces. How do they manifest ?

Solihin: Stories from all over the world, in religious text, in myth, in fairy tales have, as their base the story of the forces that are within us. The language used in the ‘form’ of the religion is suitably obscure. The inner workings of all religious models -- in Arabic the Tarikat or Path -- contain reference to the various nafs [lower selves] or souls that we possess. A better word may be content or inner nature. These inner natures must, to manifest, have a force to do this. The force is the movement of energy, much as a gallon of petrol is useless until it is ignited. The force needs the nature to ignite it, but also needs a vehicle to inhabit. The vehicle is us. Our form. Within our form is the energetic memory of all of life’s longing for itself. The Will of the Creator is manifest. This Will arises as a force from mother earth and from our ancestral heritage or code. It is an upright force, one that all of life has, that lifts us up -- it is the essence of integrity -- a quality that we need to possess and use if we follow the straight path, and be connected to our inner selves. This is the real meaning of the Staff in the medical symbol of the Caduceus. This force allows us to bring into awareness -- into our feeling nature -- the resonance’s of our ancestry, culture, religion, etc., It allows for an awareness of these material forces, for clear feelings, controlled instincts, for integrated hearing, straight talk, for clarity of intellect and to move towards One direction.

Treshell: Is there more...?

Solihin: There are many forces. There are these material forces that motivate and occupy our body, and are indeed of our body. We cannot escape the material nature nor the forces. It is by manipulation of these forces that we can make money, build houses, create material goods for our needs. Out of the material world Humankind creates what he needs, but often what he doesn’t need. These things can benefit life. Unfortunately the material forces are so strong, so seductive that they corrupt us, bringing us down to that level. This is the level of the material being. These material things possess a force strong enough to seduce us, control us. As can the ancestral forces or resonance’s that we contain in our code. In this case we fall under the sway of the distortions that our ancestor’s never resolved. Abuse, materialism, magic, power, slavery, theft, dishonesty, apathy, illness -- the list is endless. It is the chronicle of Man, and it lies within us. Patterns that have not been resolved through our lineage and our parents, enter us at conception through the father, and made manifest at birth from the mother. The clearer we are when we conceive our children the less baggage we inflict upon them, and likewise how they are born - the state of the mother and the birthing process - can be of real importance.

Treshell: So these material forces seem to be incredibly powerful, are there other forces that we have to contend with ?

Solihin: Yes, there are forces that arise from the vegetable kingdom. The plant kingdom developed unusual capacities to sense. It is at best a passive capacity, but allows plants to sense their environment and react to it. We too can do this. We possess neurologically similar, although more evolved vegetative mechanisms. We tune into this sensory world through our sensory apparatus and interpret these neurological stimuli as feelings. We can listen to both external stimuli or internal. Our higher cortex interprets the data, chunks it up through association, and place labels upon them. We call these feelings. Feelings are forces -- they change our state. They can uplift us or they can ‘force’ us down to them. We all know what some plant forces can do, as well as feelings. The feeling of love lifts us up, the feeling of melancholy keeps us low, the feeling of depression takes us into apathy. Likewise marijuana, for example -- narcotics that are plant-based -- only awaken the feelings at their own level. A plant force cannot raise our consciousness beyond its own state. We can have inspired or at least human experiences but they are still of a vegetable state. ‘ Vegged out’ was a term used when stoned. Alcohol arouses or puts to sleep the animal nature, as it stimulates or depresses the force of the animal. But it doesn’t raise consciousness beyond the world of feelings.
Likewise material hallucinogens - LSD, and other synthetics, created from the mind of man, only opens the door of perceptions within the material or mental consciousness. So much for our visions, our samadhi, our revelations! They are valid-- but they only exist at the lowest or material level of consciousness.

Our instinctive nature - provided by our 2 large cerebral hemispheres and the hypothalamus and limbic systems - needs a force to motivate it. People who are paralyzed from the neck down are often called ‘vegetables’ for they are non-locomotive. They do not possess the animal force, although still within a ‘human’ frame. The animal force is used for work, sexuality, for action, for defence, for survival. For partying, for running, for games, for bullying, for warfare, for abuse. We can embody differing types of force - they are our animal forces, which may or may not coincide with our real animal nature. The North American Indian shamans used this capacity and understanding to change shape at will. This is magic, the province of personal power. We can use these forces well, or we use them to harm our selves or others. If our animal nose - the rhinocephalon - is asleep then we may be attracted to the wrong ‘animal’ partner. If we possess the animal nature of the fox, as an ancestral unresolved pattern, then our behavior could manifest as a sly, slinky, sneaky ‘ chicken’ thief. If we embody the force of a bull - perhaps we blunder around the proverbial china shop. If we manifest the force of a cockerel, then our sexual proclivities may well be indiscriminate. We loosely talk about someone being a vixen, a tiger, sheep or exhibiting possum-like characteristics-- we pepper our language with references to these other levels of being, but rarely have conscious understanding.

Treshell: Phew ! What about the human force ? Is there one ?

Solihin: There is both human force and nature. Like all the other forces the human life force resides at every level.
The levels of consciousness are: the material, the vegetable, the animal, the ordinary human and the Noble or True Self.
Humans who operate from the place of form or the material nature, may have arise the idea of being human and also the idea of inspiration of a Noble human ideal. This takes those who have been successful and ‘motivates’ them to do good works, or human welfare projects. Philanthropists for example. At this level there may be no inner content to their deeds.

At the feeling level there is the force that gives us ‘human’ feelings - the force that nourishes the animal or will, to do or act upon those feelings.
At the animal or instinctive level of being there is the force of a ‘human’ animal - the force that uplifts us into a more reflective rather than survival mentality.
At the level of a human being, the neocortex is the part that differentiates us from animals - the human form that has human content is the force that allows us to: think, following that to feel, and then to act, by seeing from the inner the way forward. The real human then has the possibility to touch and taste the idea, the feeling for, the act towards, the inner vision to, and the choice to surrender to the Creator of All. This is when Mankind gets in touch with both the two remaining forces that is in our province to talk about.

Treshell: And these are...?

Solihin: The Ruh Kudus and The Ruh Ilofi - these are Arabic terms so to translate them; they are the Force of the Angels and that of the Holy Spirit, and the Force that is the Power of the Light of God - that is the power the permeates all of Life. The force of the Angels can be accessed at all times through surrender to God from the level of the human. The Force of the Light of God is a gift, and enters through the level of consciousness that we may call the Rohani or Noble Human being. It happens by surrender of all that is below us: our mind, our heart, our wishes, our will, our feelings, our ancestry and code.
The Ruh Kudus guides Mankind, oversees us, and keeps us out of trouble. The Ruh Ilofi is that which teaches our inner being what is real, and what cannot be explained by words. It cleans our soil; creates content, wholeness, guides our direction to Oneness with God. It allows us to find our destiny, and to understand why we are here. It prepares us for death from this plane, and the awakening of the inner content, so when we die, we are awake within. Our lower subservient natures and their attendant forces can be left here, and the Noble Human can go back to whence it came from.

Treshell: So you teach this in your workshop ?

Solihin: Teach is not our intent. To experience the lower life forces and your nature - the state of - is what the aim of this particular workshop is. To gain an understanding of the options open to Humankind. To understand the trickster, the mind: whether it be your ancestral mind, feeling mind, instinctive mind or human mind... and how this attribute, this ally can corrupt and distort reality, as well as being a friend and a valuable tool for us and Humankind. To gain inner understanding of the higher and lower Life forces, and the natures, To give a map of sorts to help people see where they truly are. To help them see the two ways towards God - the way of personal power - and the way of those that surrender all to the Source of All, with trust, faith, patience and sincerity.

Dr Treshell Jones LAc
@ 1993