Interview conducted by Stephen Briggs. Original publication for The Galactic Press.

Dr. Bernie Siegel M.D. is recognized worldwide as a bestselling author, ground breaking physician and surgeon. He is an inspirational speaker, and founder of Exceptional Cancer Patients, a specific form of individual and group therapy, utilizing patient’s drawings, dreams, images and feelings.  Dr. Siegel is a member of two scholastic honor societies. Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha he graduated with honors from Colgate University Medical College. His surgical training took place at Yale New Haven Hospital.  Bernie Siegel is author of such books as Love, Medicine & Miracles, Peace Love & Healing, Prescription for Living, Help Me to Heal, 365 Prescriptions for the Soul and other best sellers.  His popular children’s book Smudge Bunny is about how difficulties can become blessings.

Your powerful book, Love, Medicine & Miracles has helped so many people what part does faith and attitude play when it comes to healing?

Faith in yourself, your doctor, your treatment and your Lord can bring you peace of mind and with that your ability to heal is increased. I know people who have left their troubles to God and had their cancers disappear and others who think God is punishing them. So understanding what true faith is and that your attitude also changes your body chemistry are important factors in healing. Some prayers are not answered when we are at full term and it is time for us to be born again and commence a new and authentic life.

I understand you have had a near death experience.  Would you describe what happened?

When I was four years old I was home in bed with one of my frequent ear infections. I took a toy telephone I was playing with and unscrewed the dial and put all the pieces in my mouth as I had seen carpenters do with nails which they then pulled out to use. The problem was that I aspirated the pieces and went into laryngospasm. I can still feel my intercostals muscles and diaphragm contracting forcefully, trying to get some air into my lungs, but nothing worked and I was unable to make any sounds to attract help. I had no sense of the time but suddenly realized I was not struggling anymore. I was now at the head of the bed watching myself dying.

I found it fascinating to be free of my body and a blessing. I never stopped to think about how I could still see while out of my body. I was feeling sorry my mother, who was in the kitchen, would find me dead but I thought it over and found my new state preferable and intellectually chose death over life.

Then for no apparent reason the boy on the bed vomited and all the pieces came flying out. He began to breathe again and I was very angry as I returned to my body against my will. I can still remember yelling, “Who did that?” My thought as a four year old was that there was a God who had a schedule and I wasn’t supposed to die now. So an angel apparently did a Heimlich maneuver on me is the way I would explain it today.

Do you believe our time on Earth is predestined?

I really do believe there is a schedule we create unconsciously because of later life experiences. Twice I have had my car totaled by people driving through red lights and once I fell off our roof when the top rung on my wooden ladder snapped off. In none of these incidents did any significant injury occur to my body. Someone told me it was because I had an angel and he knew his name. I asked what it was and he asked, “What did you say when the ladder broke?”  I said, “Oh Shit!”  He said, “That’s his name.” I will add he always shows up when I call him in an impassioned way.

Why are so many people, distressed, depressed and worried these days?

It is because most people do not know how to deal with life’s difficulties. Life is not unfair it is difficult. Parents, teachers, clergy, doctors and others rarely teach us how to confront problems and see that they can be redirections, gifts and blessings as they make us more complete human beings. 70% of high school students have considered suicide. We need to be taught how to eliminate what is killing us and not ourselves. When God closes one door further down the corridor another will open and if it doesn’t use the window.

What is the best way to overcome anger and resentment? How do you forget a painful past?

There is appropriate anger and it is in defense of one’s self and one’s respect. You can love the other person but not like how they treat you. Submissive patients do not do well. You can abandon your past and use the energy to redirect your life rather than waste your life’s time with anger and rage and resentment. Then people are still injuring you because of your thoughts. So accept you are here for a limited time and that you are in charge of what you think and move on.

You said troubles can be a blessing in disguise, it doesn’t seem like that when we are going through tough times, will you expound on this?

As my mother said, “It was meant to be. God is redirecting you. Something good will come of this.” If you had a flat tire on the way to the airport on 9/11 would you be upset about missing the plane? We do not consciously know the future so stop picturing the worst and keep an open mind. By living in the moment as children and animals do you change the future?

You were founder of Exceptional Cancer Patients, which has helped so many.  Tell us about this.

As a surgeon I couldn’t cure everything. I care about people and it was a painful experience which our medical training ignores. A patient of mine said to me, “You’re a nice guy. I feel better when I am in the office with you but I can’t take you home with me. So I need to know how to love between office visits.” I was amazed at how few patients responded to my letter to help them live a longer better life by coming to a meeting and basically what I learned was when you helped people live they didn’t die when they were supposed to.

You have helped so many people heal their lives, tell us about YOUR experience with famous healer Olga Worrall.

 I had injured my leg training for a marathon. It was very painful and not responding to rest or therapy. At an American Holistic Medical Association conference Olga was a guest speaker. My wife told me to ask her to heal me. I was embarrassed to ask and very frankly a non-believer. Never the less my wife pushed me forward and Olga sat me down in a chair and placed her two hands on my leg. The heat from her hands was incredible. I remember putting my hands on the opposite leg to compare the heat sensation. There was no sense of warmth from my hands coming through the dungarees. When Olga was done I stood up and was completely healed. The pain was gone and I could walk normally. Another time Olga and I spoke at the funeral of a mutual friend. After the ceremony we were standing in a deserted hallway when she asked, “Are you Jewish?”   I said,   “Why are you asking?” “Because there are two rabbis standing next to you.” She went on to tell me their names and describe their garments, which included their prayer shawls and caps. Her description of them was exactly what I saw in my meditation and imagery sessions when I had met these figures while walking on my path.

Another evening after I gave a lecture, which felt like someone else was giving it and I was simply verbalizing it for them, a woman came up to me and said, “Standing in front of you for the entire lecture was a man and I drew his picture for you.” Again, exactly the face and features of my inner guide. I still have the picture hanging in our home.”

What part does laughter and optimistic thinking help in healing?

I was criticized for saying these things were therapeutic and blaming people for being sick, which is not what I was saying. I asked people what was going on in their lives to understand why they might be sick now. Studies show that loneliness affects the genes which control immune function, and that cancer patients who laugh live longer. Just laugh four times a day and watch how it makes you feel and the reaction from the people who hear you laughing.

What is your belief on reincarnation?

I was telling a friend about how busy I was and she said, “Why are you living this life?” Her intention was to get me to slow down and travel less but her question sent me into a trance and I immediately saw myself with a sword in my hand killing people. My first thought was that I had become a surgeon in this life to use a knife to heal and not kill.

I spontaneously went into a trance again a few days later and saw myself living the life of a knight who killed because he feared his lord and what he would do to him if he didn’t carry out his commands. I killed my wife, in this life, and her dog and was devastated by the experience. But at the same time it revealed to me why my wife’s face has always had a hypnotic effect upon me and why I am so involved in rescuing animals.

Ultimately it taught me about having faith in the true Lord and like Abraham, Jesus, Moses, Noah and others to understand that what our Lord asks of us is for the greater good and that if I had said yes I would have not been asked to kill anyone.

You believe animals are a phenomenal and frequently untapped source of innate healing?  Can you give some examples?

Animals are more complete than we are and excellent teachers. When in doubt WWLD; ask yourself What Would Lassie Do and see how it changes your life. Petting animals raises bonding hormones and helps our relationships and animals show us we are more than our bodies by how they live with afflictions. One study showed that if you had a heart attack and went home to a house with a dog the 12 month mortality rate was 5% while in a house without a dog it was 26%. They understand they are here to love and be loved and teach us about forgiveness.  One of our cats disappeared when a door was left open. After several weeks with no sign of her I was sure she was killed by a predator. A friend I had made, Amelia Kinkade, is an animal intuitive who lives in Los Angeles. We live in Connecticut and Amelia has never been to our home or near it. I pestered her to tell me where the cat was and one day I received an email, without even sending Amelia a picture of the cat, and it detailed the house, yard, other animals and people who were involved in the cat’s life. The next day I went out and found the cat exactly where Amelia said it was hiding. She told me in the email, “The cat is alive because I can see through its eyes.”

If that doesn’t make me a believer nothing will. I totally believe that consciousness is non-local and not limited to the body. I also have experienced this through the drawings and dreams of patients I have cared for which allows them to know their diagnosis and what the future holds for them. As Jung said, “The future is unconsciously prepared long in advance and therefore can be guessed by clairvoyants.”

I believe it is this unconscious awareness which we each bring with us when we are born. So I do not believe we literally live many lives but that we bring with us the experience of previous lives. Thus the wiser we get the better the future will be for those who follow us.

You have touched so many lives all over the world what are your predictions in the field of health and well being in the years to come?

I hope we will see medical education become more humanized and related to caring for people and their experience rather than just treating a body and a disease. Hopefully doctors will be trained in communication so their words do not become swords. I also think we will stop trying to kill diseases and fight wars and focus therapy on healing the body and resisting illness. However, if children are not brought up with love they become self destructive and invalidate the system.

How does one deal with adversity, the loss of a loved one, a pet, a job, their home etc.?

Read my book Buddy’s Candle. What is the point of grieving endlessly? What would your loved one want for you today? See your life as a labor pain and rebirth yourself when change occurs. When you finish school your graduation is called a commencement and not a termination. So keep beginning.

In 1978 you began talking about patient empowerment and the choice to live fully and die in peace, you embrace a philosophy of living and dying will you share this with us?

When people grow up with love their living and dying are not about failing but about experiencing life. They live their authentic life and so save their lives and when they tire of their bodies they can die surrounded by loved ones and not alone at night, which most people do in the hospital, feeling like a failure and guilty. Life is about our connections and relationships and the only thing of permanence is love. It connects the living and the dead.

Do you believe in visualization?

Definitely; your body cannot separate the actual from the imaginary. So visualize a successful operation and you will have a more rapid recovery and shorter operation due to changes in your body. Think about chemotherapy as the devil giving you poison versus a gift from God to save your life and watch the difference in side effects which occur.

Do you feel that there are no coincidences?

Elisabeth Kübler Ross said that all the time because Carl Jung said, “The future is unconsciously prepared long in advance and therefore, can be guessed by clairvoyants.” We create our futures. I work with dreams, images and drawings and people draw their past, present and future in their drawings and experience them in dreams too.

Where do you stand on reincarnation? Do you believe in life after death?

I have had a near death experience as a four year old choking on a toy I aspirated so I know we are more than our bodies because I left my body and was watching myself die.  People born blind who have this experience are amazed when they can see when they leave their bodies. My belief is that our consciousness exists even after our bodies die. So we are affecting the future by how we live and the message we pass on to others. I believe we are all born with an awareness of what those who precede us experienced so I do not believe it is me repeating things but that I am aware of what has preceded me and that affects my lifestyle, relationships, choices and even  the profession I choose.

Where can we find new prescriptions for healthier living and longer life?

If you do not have self love and self esteem giving you information is a waste of time. You need inspiration. So I try to re-parent people and let them know they are loved by becoming their CD, or Chosen Dad. Once they feel loved they look up the information as it is easily accessible. So how would you introduce yourself to God? The correct response to God is, “Your child is here.” And where are we all alike so a photograph would be unable to reveal who it is? A picture of our heart as we are one family all the same color inside.