The Science of Prayer and Healing

[Guest guest]

Excerpt: "Through conscious intent, test subjects (i.e.,

normal volunteers with no special abilities) were able to influence the

growth of fungus, molds, yeast and bacteria, often at great distances.

These studies imply that prayer has the potential to fight infections."Incredible! Read on....http://www.healingtherapies.info/prayer_and_healing.htmThe Science of

Prayer and Healing

nce ston, Ph.D.

Many alternative medicine therapies emphasize

healing from a holistic mind, body, and spirit perspective; any

discussion of the therapies would be incomplete without this

perspective. Mind-body approaches to medicine have gained increasing

acceptance in recent years. What about spirituality? Almost everyone

prays when faced with a traumatic injury like spinal cord injury (SCI) or a

debilitating disease such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Can this prayer

actually help one's health? Substantial

scientific evidence indicates yes. This two-part article will discuss

the scientific evidence correlating religion, spirituality, and prayer

with physical health, as well as several mechanisms by which their

healing effects can be mediated.

Prayer: A

Medical Taboo?

Preferring drugs, surgery, and high technology,

twentieth century medicine has ignored healing's spiritual components.

Physical laws delineated by Sir Isaac Newton in the seventeenth century

guide modern medicine. Under these laws, the universe - including the

human body - functions by specific cause-and-effect physical principles.

As such, the body can be understood by breaking

down and studying each component. Because consciousness plays no role in

such a system, spirituality has been considered irrelevant to health.

In addition, many people are leery of scientists

attempting to study prayer. They believe attitudes reflected by

scientists have contributed to many of the world's problems and do not

want prayer debased by scientific scrutiny. Society has a tendency to

compartmentalize prayer and spirituality. For example, the National

Institutes of Health (NIH, in Bethesda, Md,) was criticized for

sponsoring a study examining the effect of prayer in alcohol and drug

rehabilitation because it violated the constitutional separation of

church and state.

Because of such controversies and biases, many

scientists prefer to use phrases like "subtle energy fields" when

describing their research on prayer-like consciousness. Where prayer is

thought of as possessing emotional, subjective connotations, subtle

energy research is carried out by objective, "hard" scientists.

Nevertheless, many scientists have thought that science and

spirituality enhance each other and do not represent incompatible views

of the world. One of them is Albert Einstein, who stated "Science

without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."

The Comeback

of Prayer:

Prayer is making a medical comeback. Given that 94%

of Americans believe in God or a higher power (1994 Gallup Poll), it is

not surprising that 75% of patients think that their physician should

address spiritual issues as part of their medical care. Furthermore, 40% want their physicians to actively discuss

religious issues with them, and nearly 50% percent want their physicians

to pray not just for them but with

them. In a growing trend, 43 percent of American physicians privately

pray for their patients. An article in the Journal

of the American Medical Association (JAMA,

May 1995) entitled "Should Physicians Prescribe Prayer for Health,

discusses these trends. The mere presence of this article in this highly

respected bastion of the medical profession suggests that the barrier

between spirituality and health care is crumbling.

Organized

Religion: Good For Your Health?

Scientific studies demonstrate that individuals who

participate in organized religion are physically healthier and living

longer (see Is Religion Good for

Your Health, Harold Koenig, 1997). For example, they have lower

blood pressure and incidence of stroke and heart disease. Regarding

mental health, they have lower rates of depression, anxiety, substance

abuse, and suicide. Organized religion can promote health through a

variety of social mechanisms, e.g., discouraging unhealthy behaviors

such as alcohol and drug use, smoking, and high-risk sex; and providing

social support and a sense of belonging.

The Science

Behind Prayer:

In addition to the effects of organized religion,

prayer-like consciousness also has been shown to exert an influence in

numerous scientific studies. Although the effects of organized religion

can be explained through readily understandable mechanisms, the effects

of prayer cannot. After reviewing the literature, Dr. Benor (Complementary

Medical Research 4:1, 1990) found 131 controlled studies involving

prayer or spiritual healing. Of these, 77 showed statistically

significant results. A sample of some of these studies follows:

Lower-Life Forms: Through conscious intent, test subjects (i.e.,

normal volunteers with no special abilities) were able to influence the

growth of fungus, molds, yeast and bacteria, often at great distances.

These studies imply that prayer has the potential to fight infections.

With potentially

profound implications, subjects were also able to alter the genetic

mutation rate of bacteria. If

prayer can alter the genetics of bacteria, it is conceivable that it

could do so also in man. If this is indeed the case, man may not be

limited to what was previously thought to be his born-with, genetic

destiny. In fact, Gregg Braden in Walking

Between the Worlds: the Science of Compassion (1997) presents a case

that human emotion affects the actual patterning of DNA (the genetic

material) within the body.

Humans:

Prayer-like consciousness has been shown to inhibit the growth of cancer

cells, protect red blood cells, alter blood chemistry, and increase

blood oxygenation. In one study, skin wounds healed at a much greater

rate when treated with a spirituality-related treatment (perhaps a

therapy option for pressure sores).

In a controversial study carried out by

cardiologist Randolph Byrd (Southern

Medical Journal, July 1988), nearly 400 heart patients were randomly

assigned to either a group that was prayed for by a home prayer group or

a control group. This was a methodologically rigorous double-blind study

designed to eliminate the psychological placebo effect. In such a study,

neither the patient nor doctor knows who is receiving the intervention

(i.e., prayer). Patients who received prayer had better health outcomes,

including a reduced need for antibiotics and a lower incidence of

pulmonary edema.

Prayer researcher Jack Stucki has carried out

double-blind studies evaluating the effects of distant

prayer on the body's electromagnetic fields. In these studies, the

electrical activity in both the brain and body surface were measured in

subjects in his Colorado Springs laboratory. Nearly a 1,000 miles away

in California, spiritual groups would either pray or not pray for a

subject. The electrical activity measured in the prayed-for subjects was

significantly altered compared to controls.

Healing through Secondary Materials: Spiritual healers have been

shown to mediate healing through secondary materials, such as water or

surgical gauze, which they have held. A spectroscopic analysis of

healer-treated water indicated an energy-induced shift in the molecular

structure of the water. This healer-treated water maintained these

altered properties and its effectiveness for at least two years. These

findings suggest that it is, indeed, possible for sacred objects, such

as holy water, to possess power.

Distant or

Time-Displaced Prayer:

Non-Local

Prayer: The preceding examples indicate that prayer and spiritual

healing can exert its effect from a distance. As discussed in Larry

Dossey's Healing Words (1993), test subjects (again, normal volunteers with

no special "gifts") can influence the outcome of random physical

events even when separated by great distances.

This research, much of which was carried out at Princeton

University, uses random event or number generators. These generators

produce large sets of data like zeros and ones, which should average out

over time as in the case of flipping a coin.

Subjects, however, can influence the outcome of these generators

so the data is no longer averages out (i.e., no longer random). Focusing

and mental concentration seems to have minimal effect. Instead, the most

influential subjects described a bonding or "becoming one" with the

machine.

Time-Displaced

Prayer: Not only can test subjects influence outcomes over distance

but also, amazingly, they can affect past outcomes. Specifically, the

subjects influenced the output of random event generators in the past. In these cause-is-after-the-effect experiments, the

random events have already been recorded but not consciously observed.

This after-the-fact influencing was blocked, however, if another party

(even an animal) observed the pre-recorded data before the mental

influence is attempted. Hence, conscious observation seems to fix the

past.

If we can influence the past outcomes of random

event generators, some of which are based on atomic decay, is it

possible to influence our medical past, which is also based on atomic

events? For example, although annual physical exams can uncover problems

at an early stage, there is no statistical evidence that such exams

increase longevity in the general population. Although being careful not

to encourage individuals to forgo such exams, Dr. Larry Dossey

speculates that the physical exam may serve as the act of observation

that irrevocably locks the disease in place. This "medical looking"

may "erase the malleability of critical physiological events " that

many individuals may have been able to influence at some mind, body, and

spirit level if not examined.

A New

Energy?

Quantum physics is developing theories with

insights into non-local phenomena such as distant prayer. For example,

Bell's theorem, which is supported by experimental evidence, indicates

that once subatomic particles have been in contact, they always remain

connected. A change in one creates a concurrent change in the other even

if they are a universe apart. Some physicists believe that these

non-local events are not just limited to sub-atomic particles but

underlie everyday events, including prayer. To help understand a number

of inexplicable phenomena, including non-local events, many physicists

believe that a fifth form of energy exists (in addition to gravity,

electromagnetic energy, and strong and weak nuclear energy) that

operates on different principles.

Perhaps the life-force energy referred to by many

medical and spiritual traditions throughout history represents this

energy. Is it the energy referred to as prana in India and Tibet, mana

by the Polynesians, Yesad in the Jewish Kabalistic tradition, qi in

oriental medicine, or the Christian Holy Spirit?

Continue

on Part 2