A good doctor does not need patients to adopt spiritual beliefs to heal them?

[Guest guest]

Hi Z'ev, Doug, & All,

 

Greetings to you all, Brothers & Sisters of the Spirit, and also

Brothers and Sisters who would relegate spirit to the realm of

" unnecessary in healing " !

 

 

> A good doctor does not need patients to adopt spiritual beliefs to

> heal them. It disturbs me that the appearance we give to the public

> is sometimes the opposite. Todd

 

IMO, therapists (including doctors and vets) heal nothing! We are

merely " God's Hands " in the world, and we nudge the body's

natural (God-given) healing mechanisms.

 

Of course a good therapist can treat acute back sprain, migraine,

diarrhoea, etc, without recourse to discussion of spiritual values.

Yes, we can pull teeth, plate bones, do some life-saving surgery,

administer i/v electrolytes in shock, etc. However, the body HEALS

ITSELF, thanks to the Creator's designs and love.

 

In some cases, tapping into (or nourishing) the patient's psyche

and spirit / spirituality may be a key (if not THE key) therapeutic

factor, for example in chronic or serious imbalance, such as

addictions, psychiatric problems, serious neurological problems,

etc.

 

My aunt, Sr. Killian, who died in 2002 aged c. 80, was a beautiful

person, a great teacher and nun. In times of personal trouble or

illhealth (of which she had to endure a lot), her favourite prayer was:

" Over to You, Lord " (meaning: I leave the matter in Your Hands, my

God). She lived that prayer very well and it helped her and those

that loved her.

 

Z'ev wrote::

> ... spiritual in medicine ... is simply compassion and caring for

> people, not taking advantage of them in any manner, inspiring them

> to overcome disease, showing confidence and strength in the ability

> to help them, and seeing how health and disease are part and parcel

> of people's lives. These aspects of medicine are expressed in all

> cultures and in all eras.

 

Z'ev, I agree with all of that.

 

But IMO you omitted a crucial element - WILL and INTENTION to

heal - from what I believe is spiritual in medicine. That element

manifests in being AWARE of (worshipping) the Creator's Presence

and Power, and THINKING of the patient from time to time in

his/her ABSENCE. One can just concentrate on the ABSENT

patient for a few seconds, and " send " him/her love, healing and

Light by whatever means with which one feels comfortable. And

that applies to ANIMALS also. [some of us omit discussion of

spirituality with our animal patients ;-) and are satisfied to project

our goodwill to them instead].

 

> . . .I am not talking about rituals, banging gongs, chanting or

> wearing funny outfits.

 

People can overplay ritual and symbols but they can underplay

them also.

 

I would prefer to visit my doctor [a rare event, thank God!} in his

consulting room than on the beach. In his room, he is dressed

professionally and has his professional symbols, access to his

files, instruments (and the ubiquitous stethoscope) etc. On the

beach, he would probably be dressed in a swim suit, and I would

be over-conscious of his enormous belly and most unhealthy

obesity, not to mention the distraction of bikini-clad females within

sight.

 

I value appropriate symbols and rituals. For me, the question is

what are the appropriate symbols and rituals. Wearing a white

coat, a stethoscope; the smell of moxa? Taking the Pulses without

speaking as part of the examination? To each his/her own.

:

> Acupuncture is only truly nondenominational if it leaves the

> subject of transcendence to priests.

 

Z'ev:

> I agree that our job is not to sell metaphysics or religion to

> people.

 

I agree that it is not our job to SELL metaphysics or religion, or to

force our personal beliefs down the throat of another.

 

But I also believe that it can be useful to discuss the patient's

beliefs and attitudes to spirituality in serious cases. That

knowledge allows the sensitive therapist to reinforce his/her

physical therapy with appropriate parts of the patient's beliefs,

and/or to implant some useful (positive) ideas into the patient's

thinking process.

 

Doug wrote:

> it's not that I think that we should push TCM as more

> spiritual, it is that I object to you taking the spirit out of it.

> ... to say that spirit has no place in medicine [makes it] a hard,

> hard place.

 

Right on target, Doug!

replied:

> ... you keep saying I am removing something that was there and I

> say I am rejecting something that never was. You object to me

> removing something, yet I see no evidence that spirituality as you

> portray it was ever there. I object to something being added that

> was never a core part of the medicine, whatever other healing role

> it played in chinese culture.

 

The Priest-Healers may not have been at the CORE of TCM, but I

believe they were at its ROOT, before the Classics were WRITTEN.

And are there not mystical inferences in aspects of Chinese

astrology, numerology, feng-shui, body-clock, " as above, so

below " , etc?

 

> I say that casting ourselves as the priests of qi is a bad face to

> present to the public.

 

Society is a mixture of skills and talents. In our society, not

everyone must be a priest. In acupuncture society, there is still

place for some Priests of Qi.

 

> I would indeed see this stuff out of the curriculum and leave it to

> each to decide how to pursue this matter upon graduation. anything

> else smacks of institutionalized religion and cultism to me.

 

In agreement with Newman, one of the great Irish Educators, I

believe that third-level education should NOT be merely technical. It

should be broad-based, aimed at the formation of well-rounded,

balanced persons, to give them a general preparation for life.

Unfortunately, due to the obsession on materialistic and technical

details, much of Newman's vision has been lost even in the Irish

Universities (including UCD (Univ Coll Dublin), his University).

 

There is a BIG difference between spirituality, religion and cultism!

Spirituality crosses all religions, cultures and traditions. If there are

other intelligent beings in outer space, I believe that our ideas of

spirituality and theirs are very similar.

 

If it were my decision, I would include (without pushing any given

religion) in the undergraduate education of all medical and

paramedical (including veterinary) students MANDATORY

introductory lectures on spirituality, psychology, comparative

religions, positive thinking, visualisation, telepathy and medical

hypnosis, etc!

 

In my experience, many students are happy to listen to (and

criticise) such lectures. Of course, some students do not like such

topics in a " technical curriculum " . But the sooner that students are

exposed to such ideas, the sooner they can decide to develop (or

leave) them.

 

> If this stuff has never been mainstream in china, how or why should

> we attempt to institutionalize it.

 

It would be useful, if only to give students a laugh, and a break from

the slog of learning reams of difficult technical material!

 

In most cultures, including the Chinese, healing originally was

mainly the domain of the Priest-Shaman-Medicine Man-Witch-

Wizard. Yes, modern medicine (western and Chinese) has more or

less abandoned the priesthood aspect. But the tradition is not dead

yet. Even today, a minority of professionally trained healers are

conscious of, and thankful for, their spiritual roles as healer- priests

and priestesses.

 

> It would be hypocritical of me to espouse my desire for an evidence

> base medical system, but then include a component that is based

> upon faith.

 

I have argued elsewhere that trying to put TCM on an EBM footing

on a par with WM is an unrealistic pipe-dream unlikely to happen in

our lifetime, if at all. I do not dismiss that possibility completely.

 

However, the COST of good research, the difficulty of finding donors

to fund that enormous cost, and the TIME element in completing

that research, put the best case scenario to bring TCM & WM on a

par re " scientific evidence " 50+ years (at least) down the road. I will

be long dead by then. I cannot (and will not) wait for OTHERS to

tell me that what I know of acupuncture and herbs has no value. I

KNOW from personal experience that they HAVE great value. I do

not need others to tell me that!

 

In our personal land professional ives we are a complex mixture of

the rational (evidence-based), irrational (faith-based) and traditional

(culture-based).

 

I have been a professional researcher for almost 40 years. In that

work I wear my " evidence-seeking hat " . But I am also a spiritual

being. I KNOW in my gut that " Science is like a blinkered ass " .

For many reasons, " science " misses, cannot see, or cannot

examine many realities.

 

I see no contradiction or hypocricy in seeking BOTH scientific fact

/ evidence and spiritual meaning. Indeed, many of humanity's ills

are due to scientific advances in rich nations being used for

financial or power gains in the absence of global ethics or human

spirituality.

 

Our misuse / abuse of science, energy reserves and natural

resources for the benefit of the rich (and I include most of us on

this List as among " the rich " ) is isolating us from the poorer

sections of humanity and wreaking havoc on our earthly

environment, for which our descendents may rightly blame, if not

curse, us.

 

The Priesthood of Qi

is a lonely place to be

when the vast majority

of lost humanity

seek base materiallity.

 

With this note I salute the living Spirits of my dead aunt, Sr. Killian,

and my dead son (also named Killian, after his Grand-aunt)..

 

 

Best regards,

 

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