08.10.09
How Does Faith Healing Work?
This is Part Two of the question from 7/28/09 - The one that started, If There is No God, Why Do So Many Christians Claim the Lord Speaks to Them?
So the second part of the question that came from that same person was: “How does Faith Healing work?”
Answer:
Being able to heal others with touch, prayer, chanting, whatever is also common in many different cultures and many different faiths.
The crazy thing about it is that no matter which type of healer you talk to, each is usually convinced that HIS particular way of healing is THE only way of doing it and somehow proves his “God” is behind it all. Because the healing seems to work, such people often claim that as proof of the existence of God.
Well, how would you explain a Wiccan ritual that the Wiccans are convinced healed someone? I don’t know if you are familiar with Reiki. That is a form of healing that can be done by believers and non-believers alike - no “god” involved. Trust me, it works. Or, I should say, though I was incredibly skeptical when first introduced to it maybe fifteen years ago, it has always worked for me. So, there is no God involved in Reiki, though it is a sort of spiritual practice.
Why would Reiki work if only God could effect healing? My explanation is that all forms of prayer, faith healing, Reiki, etc. that are designed to heal someone “work” —-and they are all forms of the same thing but the details are different. They are all ways by which we humans can intercede on behalf of someone else through our intentions.
Now, there is a strong caveat here when you say something “works.” The “work” that happens may not be the cure the healer intended but it will work to the “Greater good.” See my article on that at http://beliefstagesandgrowth.com/blog/on-intercessory-prayer-reiki-and-the-greater-good/.
Deborah said,
October 15, 2009 at 6:41 pm
I have been reading with interest the comments and wanted to add something in regards to Reiki. Reiki IS a spiritual practice with the primary goal being the growth of the individual practitioner. It is NOT a religion with dogma or a “priesthood” that intercedes for us with a higher power. The practitioner of Reiki does not “heal” anyone and is only a conduit for focusing a life force energy that has been recognized by humans for thousands of years. Each of us is in charge of our healing however that occurs for the individual. Reiki as a practice is flexible enough to provide a framework within which spiritual growth can occur whether you are an atheist or a believer in some higher power. The practitioner has no “intention” to heal other than to be an open channel for a universal life force energy that even most scientests will agree exists. Focusing the energy simply reminds the receipient how “health and well-being” feels but we get to choose for ourselves the form that “feeling” will take. Of course, as you have pointed out, as we grow we become more expansive in our perspective and more open to possibilities.