Creating the Foundations of Health:
A Conscious Approach Inspired by COVID-19

Jeff Vander Clute, 6 April 2020

This is a transmission of Love.

There has been a growing sense that the pandemic is not what it appears to be. When I connected with the consciousness of life, and invited it to reveal more of the reality underlying what we think is happening, I saw that the novel coronavirus is not the greatest causal factor for why so many people are suffering from COVID-19. The initial insight that came through meditation is that the coronavirus is one factor among a number of cofactors that together create the conditions for disease. Then I noticed, intuitively, that the virus is actually a minor contributor relative to the other cofactors, all of which are humanity’s responsibility. This led me to the conclusion that humans have created this pandemic, unintentionally, through our unconscious behaviors.

In order of importance, I get that the most significant cofactors for COVID-19 are:

1. Confusion about one’s true nature
2. Harmful decisions and beliefs (especially about ourselves)
3. Level of fear
4. Pollution (especially air pollution)
5. Degraded body
6. Judgment

In the absence of these conditions, I saw that the virus will be readily removed from the body. On the other hand, when more of the conditions that favor illness are present, there is a greater risk of a health crisis, regardless of whether one is young or old. Although age correlates highly with (5), especially, young people will also be susceptible if some combination of the cofactors is strongly present for them.

Before proceeding it is essential to underscore that this article is not offering medical advice. Hundreds of thousands of medical professionals are working around the clock, under incredibly difficult circumstances, to reduce the human toll of this pandemic. They deserve our love, appreciation, and support. What this article does offer is sourced information that cannot be obtained using standard methods, but which may nevertheless be helpful in illuminating the deeper dimensions of COVID-19 and disease more generally. This information suggests a consciousness-based approach to creating the foundations of health, which we can put into practice immediately. My hope is that by tending to the foundations of health, the human family will never again find ourselves in such a grave predicament.

The Cofactors of Health

To create the foundations of health, we need to cultivate certain conditions within our individual and collective consciousness. This statement immediately raises two questions:

1. What is consciousness?
2. What are the conditions within consciousness that support excellent health?

For our purposes, consciousness is the profoundly subtle aspect of who we are, both individually and collectively, that makes decisions and evaluates the outcomes. Consciousness determines our experiences, and our experience of health is largely a result of what is happening at the level of consciousness. Unfortunately, humans have been almost entirely unaware of this activity, but that is something we can change.

In answer to the second question, the following “cofactors of health” revealed themselves. These are the antidotes to the cofactors of disease that I sourced initially in relation to COVID-19.

1. Know the True You

When we know who and what we are in reality, our bodies become much stronger and more resilient. Although our true nature is something that each of us will discover through contemplation, and I do not wish to impose metaphysical or spiritual ideas, the first cofactor for health that came through is decidedly spiritual. The simple practice that emerged as a remedy to confusion about who and what we are is repeating “I am Supreme Spirit” for five, ten, fifteen, or even thirty minutes. When there is total realization of the truth of these words – which might take years, so please be patient – no microbe, substance, or environmental influence will be able to harm you. Throughout the ages, avadhutas and realized sages have demonstrated the possibilities of existence beyond the reach of poisons, diseases, and various other dangers. You will find true examples in the books of Sri M, Paramahansa Yogananda, and Swami Rama1. Even before the ultimate state of imperviousness is attained, health benefits manifest on the path of self-realization. These may start at the spiritual and energetic levels of being; however, eventually the physical body will experience greater vitality as well.

“Know the True You” is listed first since we tend to develop the other cofactors of health naturally when we know our true nature. At the same time, I appreciate that such overtly spiritual language will not resonate for everyone. I would love to learn what happens when people who do not consider themselves to be spiritual repeat the affirmation. My sense is that the practice can help all of us, whatever our belief systems may be.

2. Make deeply beneficial decisions

Humans are fully capable of making decisions that are aligned with reality, and we can also choose to live in ways that deny the basis for our existence. Our decisions have much more power than we may realize, and to the extent that we choose to believe that we are small, flawed, powerless, separate from life or the divine, and alone, we are asking to experience sickness, accelerated aging, and death. Fortunately it is possible to change our choices and our beliefs. The antidote to a lifetime of making decisions that are harmful to our well-being is to practice “deciding for Love” – the most powerful force in the universe. Whenever you are making a decision large or small, you can slow down, touch your heart with your left hand, and ask, “Am I deciding for Love?” You might need to wait for a minute or two for the answer to come as a feeling, an image, or in some other way, but you will receive the answer. Over time, as you recreate your life situation through decisions that are for Love, your body, mind, heart, and soul will become increasingly harmonious. When your physical body and whole being are thriving, it is far less likely that disease will manifest in or around you. By choosing Love, you are bringing healing to yourself, your communities, and the world.

3. Reduce fear

Many of the messages that have been circulating in the media encourage people to be afraid. Although caution, prevention, and vigilance are all necessary during the pandemic, when we act out of fear the results often run counter to what we are hoping to achieve. What works much more reliably is to act from a state of peace. When there is peace within, the vast intelligence of our bodies coordinates the mechanisms of health automatically. In addition, as is the case with viruses at the physical level, there must be “receptors” within our consciousness in order for disease to manifest. These receptors are essentially the places in ourselves where we are afraid. When we are in a state of peace, fear dissolves and we have fewer disease receptors, figuratively speaking. The antidote to fear, and the way to find peace immediately, is to stop thinking. When the thinking mind slows down, our unhealthy thoughts dissipate and we stop imagining worst-case scenarios. This allows the mind and body to rest and reset. The good news is that you do not need to be a skilled meditator to calm the thinking mind. I have found that as long as we are sincere and open to receive guidance, life will support us through every situation and teach us the ways of peace and fearlessness.

4. Maintain a clean environment

Chronic exposure to pollution weakens our immune systems and makes us susceptible to many illnesses. According to the World Health Organization, “air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year … largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.” The European Public Health Alliance has advised that consistently high levels of air pollution “may have intensified the coronavirus disease in certain areas.” On the flip side, when we reduce pollution, the benefits can accumulate very quickly as well. According to one study, the reduction in air pollution in China during two months of shutdown has probably saved 77,000 lives, which is many times the official COVID-19 death count for that country. Evidence for the value of cleaning up the natural environment is overwhelming, and environmental remediation is a solution that everyone can help to implement. In Estonia, 50,000 volunteers cleaned up 10,000 tons of garbage in a single day, and their success inspired a movement called “Let’s Do It! World” that is now active in over 100 countries. A global mobilization to clean up the air we breathe – along with the water we drink, the soil we grow our food in, and the other ingredients for life – will save lives and reduce the number and severity of future pandemics.

5. Heal your body with self-love

When our bodies have been compromised due to pollution, unhealthy lifestyles, or issues that seem to be out of our hands such as a genetic predisposition to disease, we are more vulnerable to viruses and other disease agents. There is much that we can do on multiple levels to restore and maintain the integrity of our bodies, including reducing fear and worry through meditation and relaxation; gratitude practices; cleaning up our immediate environment; waking up to the truth of our nature; and making decisions that consistently align with self-realization. All of these are acts of self-love. When we act in a loving way, we heal our physical bodies along with the subtler dimensions of our being. With practice, we discover that nothing is beyond the reach of healing. As Bruce Lipton articulated in The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles, even our genetics can be transformed by upgrading our thoughts and beliefs. I have worked with a woman who was able to reverse Huntington’s Disease, a genetic condition that is thought to be 100% fatal. Nothing is impossible. Paramahansa Yogananda wrote in Autobiography of a Yogi that “whatever your powerful mind believes very intensely would instantly come to pass.” What is needed is the deep decision to heal and maintain the body in an optimal state, and the dedication to practice a healthy lifestyle.

6. Release judgment

When I tune into the consciousness of the United States, which has been struggling greatly with COVID-19, I see that the most significant causal factor for the disease there is the culture of pervasive and chronic judgments toward oneself and others. The climate of extreme polarization, in which many Americans across the political spectrum have resorted to name-calling and condemning one another, has helped to make the population more vulnerable to the effects of the coronavirus. Judgment is a form of mental pollution, and as with other forms of pollution the number-one remedy is to stop making more of it. A powerful way to cease judgment is to practice embracing ourselves and our differences. We can start today by listening to people who think and feel differently about life. We can find a place in our hearts for everyone by knowing that almost every human being has been hurting somewhere inside for a long time. So often our opinions and behaviors arise from the deep wounds of cultural oppression, systemic inequalities, and feeling unloved. Without condoning damaging behaviors we can begin to see the beautiful souls that are struggling to express themselves in what has been a mixed-up world. The antidote to judgment is to embrace one another as best we can, and to keep practicing so that we can strengthen the loving connections that will heal our societies and ourselves. Releasing judgment will strengthen our immune systems in the process.

Concluding remarks

When a condition is manifesting physically that means we have likely missed a number of signals and opportunities to resolve the issue proactively at the level of consciousness. In my experience, life is always signaling where we are out of alignment with our true selves and nature, and when we are too busy to notice or pay attention to these messages the symptoms grow in magnitude until they become impossible to ignore.

The current pandemic is the result of many missed signals and misplaced priorities, such as valuing economic growth over the health of humans and nature. We can change course now by learning to listen more carefully to life. We can pay attention to the wisdom of our bodies and to the health of the planet. We can learn from what has not worked, and we can make beneficial choices going forward. In particular, we can choose to create the foundations of health, for ourselves and for society, so that when a novel virus or other health threat comes along in the future, our immune systems will be able to respond effectively.

The global health crisis has gifted us with an opportunity to develop new systems of health based on consciousness, and my prediction is that radical levels of vitality will be ours if we choose this path.