Conversation with Dr. Kurt Ebert

Dr. Kurt Ebert is a neuropsychologist who has developed Attractor Field Technique (AFT), an energetic approach to facilitating healing and Acupuncture4TheMind a unique path to personal transformation that utilizes the stimulation of acupoints in the brain by sound energy. His practice is based in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, and he teaches AFT and Acupuncture4TheMind around the world.

KB: Popular conversation now includes a lot of discussion about awareness and consciousness and spirituality. Oprah even picked Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth” for her book club, and did a worldwide webinar with him, attracting over 700,000 people. What’s up? Can you put this phenomenon in context?

DKE: People understand the concept of physical evolution. Human consciousness is also evolving. We are in the middle of a paradigm shift in our understanding of consciousness, of equal significance as the center of the universe being the earth versus the sun, or disease being caused by humors versus bacteria.

KB: What is it that catalyzed these shifts in the past?

DKE: That which becomes accepted in western medical science is that which is proven to be true, measurable, seen. While some ancient history savants sensed that the sun was the center of the universe, and then Copernicus mathematically formulated this, it was not until Galileo’s improvements to the telescope, earning him the moniker “the father of observational astronomy” that the idea became truly plausible. Even he though was still relegated to house arrest in his last years of life because the Church would not still accept his proof for heliocentricity.

KB: So how did how did you yourself become aware that another shift is taking place?

DKE: While I was trained in classical western medicine, and worked for many years as a traditional therapist, I have always been intrigued by frontier science and research. The relationship between the mind and the brain and disease has always fascinated me. I went to a lecture by Dr. Richard Bandler on neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), and his investigation into the basic process used by all human beings to encode, transfer, guide and modify behavior. While his approach may be controversial, it launched me on a trajectory of exploring that which is unseen.

KB: Isn’t there equipment to measure that which you say is unseen, specifically things like MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). A lot of research is being done to advance our understanding of brain function.

DKE: Yes, that is true, we are getting better at measuring and to some degree adjusting brain function, but I am not talking about the physical brain, chemistry or electrical impulses – these are all relating to how things work. I am talking about the prime cause behind how things work. The mind is what gives us focused awareness, and the question is, what does the focusing? What part of us is aware that we are thinking? What part of us turns our thoughts into one area or another? From where is it that our thoughts come?

KB: Can you give me an example relating to a real life situation?

DKE: Someone might be in the depths of depression, and in talk therapy. There is a moment when that person’s thought patterns start shifting. The therapist languages the change as a “breakthrough” or ”progress” or “healing.” The client languages the change as “feeling different” or “lighter” or “more positive.” There is a palpable change in the energy in the client. Current, traditional science can describe the chemical shift in the brain, and the level and places of electrical activity, but it cannot account for why those shifts are happening.

KB: But there are some traditionally trained scientists who have written about these sort of energetic shifts, notably David R. Hawkins in "Power vs. Force" and Rupert Sheldrake in “The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance and the Habits of Nature.” The Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology – ACEP and the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine – ISSSEEM are also doing clinical research, are they not? SQID detectors (super quantum interference devices), perhaps are yet more sensitive than MRIs, and can measure energy from focused awareness, right?

DKE: Yes, all these things are indeed happening. Dr. David Feinstein recently wrote an article in the journal of the American Psychology Association documenting all the current studies; however, you must realize that this area of science is in its infancy and all these studies are highly controversial. The American Psychology Association currently does not accept continuing education credits for energetic studies.

KB: Just because there is controversy though doesn’t mean that it is wrong. Some of the biggest advances in scientific and social history have begun with controversy.

DKE: I would agree and expand on the idea: the simple fact that there is such an amount of controversy about these ideas right now is a strong indicator that they merit further exploration. Go back to how you started this discussion, noting how 700,000 people signed up for the Eckhart Tolle webinar with Oprah. People all around the world, in academic communities and the general public both, are turning their attention to questions of consciousness: these are signs of massive energetic shifts.

KB: In his book “A New Earth,” Tolle talks about becoming more aware of your thoughts, changing your thought patterns. It sounds easy when he writes about it, but it is really difficult to put these ideas into practice on a day-to-day basis. Do you have a sense as to why this is so? The desire might be there, and the intention is there, but it seems impossible sometimes.

DKE: I think that you have just identified the crux of the problem. There are many people like Tolle right now talking about becoming more aware. They can brilliantly describe the dark desolate place where they started, and then what it looks like now for them; they readily admit however that they don’t fully understand the process of awakening. The process is difficult, and I am taking a stand that it can be easier. What it looks like now is someone starts with a negative self-image: they say to themselves, “I am dumb.” Logic might help them come up with counter-arguments proving they are not dumb. Analysis might help them identify when as a child they developed that thought pattern and what kind of current events might trigger those thoughts. The thought “I am dumb” may diminish, but it keeps coming back. In my work, I am posing a totally different question: is it possible to tune out of the energetic thought pattern “I am dumb” totally, and instead tune into another energetic thought pattern that is “I am intelligent.” Facilitating this kind of shift, this process of awakening is where I focus my attention.

KB: So is that what you did when you discovered that sound frequencies could facilitate changes in thought patterns – you just focused your attention on the process of awakening?

DKE: Not exactly. Even I admit that I don’t fully understand the creative process. I did focus my attention, but I can’t really give you a place in my brain from where the idea for the sound frequencies arose or how it appeared. The German scientist Kekule who discovered the shape of the benzene molecule said that he had a dream of a snake biting its own tail, and then he figured out the circular configuration. For me, I focus on an issue, and then I get an idea that persists and will not leave me alone, and I am driven to investigate and understand it. I describe it as tuning in to a channel or as energy coming through me.

KB: So what you are saying is that we all tune into patterns of energy, and that you believe we are able to choose and change those patterns?
DKE: Yes and no. I have worked with thousands of people all around the world who have reported remarkable success using the AFT methodology. So yes, we are able to change, but we need some kind of assistance to be able to do so, like the AFT sound frequencies I have developed. It isn't just a matter of waking up and saying "I want to be more positive." We are all naturally stuck in energetic patterns and need support to move out of one energetic pattern into another more positive one. We have also begun clinical studies that will better help communicate the effectiveness of this methodology to the traditional medical community.

KB: Can you help us understand the concept of AFT and your new audio program?

DKE: Perhaps the best way to think about this is “acupuncture for the mind.” Eastern medicine has for centuries used an energetic approach to healing and well-being, referencing a network of meridians, or energy points throughout the body. What I found is that these meridians can be accessed not only through touch as is done with acupuncture and acupressure, but also through sound frequencies. This makes the work accessible to anyone who has a CD player or computer.

KB: Are there other methodologies that can effect similar energetic changes?

DKE: Acupuncture and acupressure and AFT are the systems with which I am most familiar, however I do know that research is also being done in light and color. Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing – EMDR for example, is a relatively new approach that is already accepted by the American Psychology Association. I predict others will follow.

KB: From your mouth to God’s ear, via the APA.

If you would like more information about Dr. Ebert’s work, or updates on his research, visit www.the-tree-of-life.com or www.Acupuncture4TheMind.

Science alone of all the subjects contains within itself the lesson of the danger of belief in the infallibility of the greatest teachers in the preceding generation. Learn from science that you must doubt the experts.

Richard Feynman, “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out,” 1999.