On Healing Body, Mind, and Beliefs

There is absolutely no escaping it, any discussion of what medical, medicinal, or natural remedy “works” must begin and end with the individual. The remedy itself is of secondary importance.

Presently, I am reading Gregg Braden’s The Spontaneous Healing of Belief. I met him several months ago when he gave a presentation in Sedona. He’ll be a future guest on my Talk for Food radio podcast.

This is the second Braden book I’ve read, the first one being The Divine Matrix, another must read.

At the time we met, his latest book was fresh off the press, and not even in stores, and I am just now getting to the book itself.

In earlier articles I’ve pointed to the role of the individual when we look at any perceived disease pathology, as it relates to what will prove to be effective or not, and the more I read and understand what Gregg and others, including Bruce Lipton, Ph.D are saying, we need to turn the list upside down.

What follows is an almost two page passage from the chapter, “Programming the Universe” in Braden’s latest book.

As I mentioned in The Divine Matrix, one of the most powerful examples of group feeling and belief affecting a broad geographic area was documented as a daring experiment during the war between Lebanon and Israel that began in 1982. It was during that time that researchers trained a group of people to “feel” peace in their bodies while believing that it was already present within them, rather than simply thinking about it in their minds or praying “for” it to occur. For this particular experiment, those involved used a form of meditation known as TM (Transcendental Meditation) to achieve that feeling.

At appointed times on specific days of the month, these people were positioned throughout the war-torn areas of the Middle East. During the window of time when they were feeling peace, terrorist activities ceased. This study confirmed the earlier findings: When a small percentage of the population achieved peace within themselves, it was reflected in the world around them.

The experiments took into account the days of the week, holidays, and even lunar cycles; and the data was so consistent that the researchers were able to identify how many people were needed to share the experience of peace before it’s mirrored in their world. The number is the square root of one percent of the population. This formula produces figures that are smaller than we might expect. For example, in a city of one million, the number is about 100. In a world of 6 billion people, it’s just under 8,000. This calculation represents only the minimum needed to begin the process. The more people involved in feeling peace, the faster the effect is created. The study became known as the International Peace Project in the Middle East, and the results were eventually published in The Journal of Conflict Resolution in 1988.

While these and similar studies obviously deserve more exploration, they show that there’s an effect here that’s beyond chance. The quality of our innermost beliefs clearly influences that of our outer world. From this perspective, everything from the healing of our bodies to the peace between nations; from our success in business, relationships, and careers to the failure of marriages and the breakup of families… all must be considered as reflections of us and of the meaning that we give to the experiences of our lives.

Historically, to suggest that what we believe in our hearts and minds can somehow have any effect on our bodies is a very different way of seeing things, a real s-t-r-e-t-c-h. And even to many of those comfortable with the mind/body relationship, implying that our beliefs can affect the world beyond our physical selves is simply out of the question. For others, however, it’s right up their alley.

For those who have been raised with a holistic view of the world, the universal power of belief is completely aligned with what they have always known. For everyone, however, it offers the ability to change the pain, suffering, war, and lack in life–and to do so by choice.

In what may be one of the greatest–and, to some, perhaps most bizarre–of ironies, there is one condition that must be met before we can unleash the power of belief: We must believe in belief itself for it to have power in our lives. This very condition sometimes makes it difficult to give this subject serious consideration.

While miraculous healings are possible and “synchronicities” abound in our lives, we must be open to them and willing to accept them in order to receive their benefits. In other words, we need a reason to believe in them. That’s where the distinction between, belief, faith, and science comes in.

The book goes on to examine many aspects of belief, so much so that this should whet your appetite for greater understanding, and not simply satisfy it. Much more is revealed. Yet, with this small piece of information, it becomes easier to see why it is unwise to simply question the efficacy of the remedy without considering the person who has the disease.

In a way of speaking seeking “magic bullets” — which could be any pursuit that doesn’t involve self examination and introspection — postpones the understanding needed that would bring about the change that is actually desired.

I don’t doubt that anyone who is in pain or dealing with a chronic disease really wants to continue suffering. More likely, they don’t know… or belief they have time to gain the necessary understanding. They’re looking for a “fix” right now. However, the operating belief is that they can’t know how to change the situation, which simply perpetuates the situation. It perpetuates the postponement of self-discovery. The condition get more acute, and hope fades, because any hope that is not self generated, will eventually dissolve.

So it’s clearly evident that the effectiveness of the “magic bullets” that we seek; whether it is MMS, the Master’s Cleanse, or even chemotherapy, is more so determined by the individual than we have been willing to consider. Yet, now it’s time.

An MMS critic suggested some time ago that the benefits that so many people are experiencing may simply be a placebo effect. I pointed out that instead of being used to dismiss the effects of MMS, the critic had overlooked a greater truth about who, and what we are; that is, people who got well when given a placebo didn’t really need the remedy (generally a drug) that they believed they were getting. However, the did desire to be well, and believed that what they were being given would help them. And so it did
.

Braden also goes on to illustrate the converse of the placebo, which he calls, the nocebo effect. The nocebo effect is an individual’s non-responsiveness to a remedy that is believed to be effective against their particular ailment. He writes:

A number of landmark studies have proven beyond any reasonable doubt that this effect is just as powerful as, but running in the opposite direction of, that of the placebo. According to Arthur Barsky, a psychiatrist at Boston’s Brigham and Woman’s Hospital, it’s the patient’s expectation–the belief that a treatment either won’t work for them or will have harmful side effects–that plays what he calls “a significant role in the outcome of the treatment.”

Even when patients are given a treatment that’s proven useful in the past, if they believe it’s of little or no value for them, that impression can have a powerfully negative effect.

If we’re not looking at, and considering the individuals themselves, then we’re not seeking true solutions. When a solution that is known to work for a preponderance of people are not working for an individual, then that individual should be examined, body, mind, and beliefs.

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