The Sceptre of Hermes – Part Four
Following his research into psychic healing and working with noted healers, the psychologist Lawrence LeShan found that he could not only perform healing of a psychic nature himself, but that he was able to teach students who attended his seminars to do so as well.
Yet as accomplished as he had become in the art of healing, he was hardly prepared for one incident which came to his attention.
“The most dramatic single result I had occurred when a man I knew asked me to do a distance healing for an extremely painful condition requiring immediate and intensive surgery. I promised to do the healing that night, and the next morning when he awoke a “miraculous cure” had occurred.
“The medical specialist was astounded, and offered to send me pre- and post-healing X-rays and to sponsor publication in a scientific journal. It would have been the psychic healing case of the century except for one small detail. In the press of overwork, I had forgotten to do the healing!” 1
In reporting this episode, LeShan clearly missed the crucial significance of this “miraculous” event. The fact was that the man, who had been suffering from a serious pathological condition requiring immediate surgery, was completely healed overnight. This fact was confirmed by his specialist.
Although LeShan was no doubt disappointed at being unable to claim the glory for this cure, he failed to recognise that this event was an even more potent example of psychic healing than it would have been if he had actually undertaken a distance healing himself.
In this case it was not LeShan’s power that produced the cure, but unmistakably the belief of the patient in the efficacy of LeShan’s powers. The patient literally cured himself!
It was unfortunate that the specialist, who was in possession of corroborating evidence of the patient’s pre- and post-condition, did not see fit to proceed with publication in a scientific journal. Armed with the evidence of the X-rays, he would have been able to report a case that was even more remarkable than either he or LeShan had anticipated.
Perhaps the most enduring evidence of the influence of the mind on the physical health of an individual, lies in the phenomenon of the placebo. The word placebo, refers to any inactive substance or technique which is able to promote an active medical response.
It is this medical effect which has come to be known as the “placebo effect”. The placebo can take many different forms. It may be a harmless pill which is able to achieve a medical “cure”, by overcoming the prevailing symptoms. It may also be a diagnostic procedure which leads to similar relief.
Medical anecdotes abound of patients who have undergone routine diagnostic tests, and who have then thanked the white-coated technicians for some dramatic relief of pain which they had just experienced.
The placebo effect is an acknowledged fact of medicine, although physicians have grappled to find a way of explaining this effect within the framework of their accepted medical paradigm. Because it is recognised to be psychological in nature, many people have tended to be scornful of those who have experienced this effect. As G.S.Claridge notes.
“What is the popular notion of someone who is gullible enough to be taken in by a sugar pill and react to it as though given some potently active chemical? Probably that he (or more likely she!) is a weak minded hysteric, an unstable character over-concerned with bodily health.” 2
Yet, as Claridge has pointed out, a thorough investigation of the placebo effect has not shown a prevalence of neurotic individuals.
“The truth is that extensive research has failed to identify any particular “placebo-type” who will respond to placebos consistently under all conditions.” 2
Research has shown that the placebo effect can be experienced by almost anyone when suitable circumstances permit. It is also able to influence a wide variety of medical conditions.
In a research project involving over a thousand subjects in fifteen separate studies, it was found that the prescription of harmless substances led to significant improvements in the following areas: wound pain, the pain of angina pectoris, headaches, nausea, anxiety, tension, and the common cold.
It was found that this placebo effect was most pronounced where the stress was greatest. Given the facility of the mind for influencing the physical body, it is hardly surprising that those subjects whose need for relief was greatest, should have experienced the greatest reduction in pain.
It is worth noting that the patients who experienced this effect all believed that what was prescribed for them did, in fact, contain a medically active ingredient that was capable of overcoming their distress.
The researchers found, furthermore, that the placebo was not only able to generate beneficial effects, but detrimental results as well. The subjects who were told that they had received medication which contained harmful ingredients, actually manifested deleterious effects, even though the substances given to them were inert.
Since the results showed such consistency over so many different circumstances involving so many different people, the researchers concluded that some fundamental mechanism must be operating in all these cases. 3
The Sages and mystics of the world have pointed out that this common characteristic is the fundamental mechanism of belief.
It is the confident expectation that a certain outcome will occur that is responsible for the occurrence of that outcome. That is not to say that every expectation immediately produces evidence to support it. Yet wherever a personal need is great, and the desire for a certain result is strong, the anticipated result does, in time, occur.
This result is in direct proportion to the intensity with which it is desired. Belief does not need to be based on a foundation that is consistent with past results. Any belief, if held with sufficient conviction, is capable of generating a confirmatory result, whether this result is harmful or beneficial to the believer. The belief may even be illogical.
For example, an experiment was conducted in 1965 with fourteen anxious and neurotic patients, who were given pills to take for their condition. Although all of these outpatients were expressly told that the pills were completely inert, each one of them reported at the end of a seven day period, that they had experienced a marked improvement in their condition.
This improvement was confirmed by their physicians. The primary conclusion of this experiment was that the placebo effect continued to operate, even though the subjects were aware of the inert nature of the pills that had been given to them.
In this case, although the patients knew that the pills were impotent, they clearly operated under the belief that they really were effective, and so experienced a confirmatory result. 4
The placebo phenomenon continues to provide proof of the ability of the mind to influence the physical body for good or ill. As Michael Jospe, author of The Placebo Effect in Healing, concludes:
“The power of the placebo cannot fail to impress. This power is only mysterious insofar as the mysteriousness of human action can inspire a sense of wonder. The placebo effect attests to the power people can have, not in the sense of political might or coercion, but in the sense of overcoming personal adversity.” 5
In his research into the placebo phenomenon, Jospe also noted the importance of the role of the doctor in influencing patient reactions, saying:
“We have also seen how important an influence the person of the doctor can be in the placebo effect, and how situational factors can be important determinants of the magnitude of the effect placebos can have.” 6
The status of physicians in western society, together with the environments in which they practise, contribute to an aura of confidence and authority. This confidence is enhanced by the outward decor of the physician’s chambers, replete with framed qualifications, uniformed staff, and an impressive array of equipment.
Given the conviction which most patients possess regarding the ability of the physician to overcome their suffering, it is little wonder that inert substances prescribed within such a powerful milieu should achieve such positive results. The power of suggestion is extremely potent under such conditions.
What is perhaps unfortunate about this situation is that, while many doctors readily acknowledge the power of positive suggestion and the efficacy of belief in overcoming various problems, they frequently fail to realise the impact with which their negative pronouncements are received.
All too often, a pessimistic prognosis is received by the patient with all the authority of a divine decree. They are convinced that their condition is irremediable, and so easily fall victim to their fears.
Yet, again and again, we find instances of people who confound medical opinion. There is the athlete who makes a triumphant return from crippling injury, or the quadriplegic who ultimately learns to walk again. These people do these “miraculous” things by their power of dogged determination, allied to an iron will.
Doctors should thus be cautioned before pontificating on what can or cannot be done. The human mind is always capable, as we have seen, of transcending physical limitations, even of the most traumatic nature. What is possible in life is determined by the mind, and not by the prevailing physiological condition of the body.
The mind dominates the body in all of its physical functions. Perhaps nowhere is this more true than in the matter of diet. Throughout history, the types and varieties of human nourishment have varied, not only between one society and another, but as fashions within particular societies.
Under the impetus of the scientific method, the study of nutrition has become a discipline of science. Scientists have sought to establish which nutrients are vital to the operation of the human body, and what diet may best represent the path to organic health.
As a result of its investigations, the discipline of dietetics has produced recommended daily allowances of a host of different nutrients, involving such things as proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins.
Yet despite the vast number of experiments that have been conducted within the current scientific paradigm, there seems little reason to support the view that there exists one pattern of diet that is ideal for the human body, or that there are any specific nutritional ingredients which are mandatory for survival.
Mankind seems, in fact, far more resilient in the matter of diet than most dieticians would allow. People have managed to survive and thrive on an amazing range of foodstuffs, or even on no food at all.
Societies that live in harsh and isolated areas, such as the Eskimos of the Arctic or the Tuaregs of the Sahara, live on extremely restricted diets which are totally diverse. They certainly do not enjoy a well balanced diet. Yet these people live healthy, robust lives.
They demonstrate that it is not food which makes bodies healthy, but the minds which animate them. For just as Jesus pointed out that it was not what was ingested which defiled a man, so the corollary is also true, that it is not what goes into his mouth that makes him healthy.
One of the curious features of the modern cultural paradigm has been the notion of “health foods”. This idea has grown out of a groundswell of opinion which has striven to eliminate unnatural ingredients from the diet, and replace them with food sources which are derived directly from nature.
As attractive as this idea may sound in theory, the quest for organic food has tended to be counterproductive, and numerous people have now become ensnared by their twisted thinking on the subject of diet.
In their search for ideal food sources, many people have sought out specially marketed “health” products, and fortified their diets with selected vitamins, tonics and other beneficial bonanzas.
Nourished by such pure and worthy diets, adherents to such practices should rapidly be expected to become powerhouses of fitness, strength and vitality. What generally seems to occur, however, is quite the reverse. These people do not become measurably stronger in health, but demonstrably more vulnerable to disease.
No sooner do they eat or drink something that falls outside of the narrow range of their accepted dietary orbit, than they fall prey to a host of ailments and disease. Far from enhancing their health, these people have actually become victims of their own thinking.
Their downfall stems from the fact that the underlying motive which prompts this concern for the purity of food, is invariably fear – the fear of physical disease. The very idea that health should be a product of diet is itself an illustration of this fear.
It is those who are most vulnerable to disease who are quickest to seek ways of shoring up their physical defences. The truly healthy person eats heartily without any sense of impending doom, and manifests as a result enormous powers of stamina and endurance.
If such people happen to suffer injury, they recover swiftly without side-effects. Unfortunately, few westerners have strong and healthy minds. Despite the sophistication of their knowledge, they live timorous lives, surrounded by a company of fears. Few westerners today die in their beds of natural causes.
The fact that food is considered to be necessary for physical survival, is itself a product of societal conditioning. Food is not an essential requirement to healthy living. There are certain people who have shown that it is possible to live healthy lives, despite a complete lack of physical food.
St Theresa of Lisieux, for example, survived on a daily ration of one small consecrated wafer. Even this was a concession to her faith. For as she explained to Sri Paramahansa Yogananda on the occasion of his visit, “I take it for sacramental reasons; if it is unconsecrated, I am unable to swallow it.” 7 When Yogananda asked her how she had been able to live for so many years on so frail a diet, she remarked simply, “I live by God’s light.” 8
Western allopathic medicine appears today to stand unrivalled as the supreme medical paradigm of the planet. The practitioners of this form of medicine operate in the conviction that they, and they alone, manifest a true understanding of the nature of disease.
So strong is this conviction, that allopathic physicians are in many countries the only doctors who are allowed to practise under law. Those practitioners who choose to operate under alternate paradigms of medicine are thus obliged to be unlicensed, and as such, are subject to prosecution.
The allopathic medical profession, in its attempts to maintain a monopoly over health, has striven to ostracise all other forms of medicine, branding their practitioners as charlatans and quacks.
There is growing recognition, however, particularly among the young, that other forms of medicine are equally capable of conquering disease. They have intuitively grasped the truth that the symptoms of disease may be defined in terms of any number of different paradigms, and treated in ways which are appropriate to those paradigms.
A number of alternate forms of medicine are therefore increasingly being practised. A recent healing seminar held in Victoria, Canada, provides an indication of the novel forms of medicine which are now finding expression.
This seminar included lectures on healing by means of colour, vibrational healing, creative visualisation, reflexology, iridology, body-mind acupressure, healing with chants, and healing with the essences of flowers.
To the traditional practitioners of allopathic medicine, these new ways of dealing with disease will seem patently absurd. Since they do not define disease in terms of the overriding paradigm of pathological agents, they are regarded as anathema.
The problem which the traditional view of medicine faces, is that these new forms of medicine actually do work, particularly for those who have placed their trust in them. And because they work, more and more people are turning to them for relief from their symptoms.
The tragedy for many developing nations around the world, is that the growing allure of Western allopathic medicine comes at a heavy cost. Not only do these countries frequently lack the resources to invest in expensive equipment needed to undertake sophisticated diagnostic tests, but the drugs necessary to treat disease according to the Western way usually have to be imported, often at inflated prices determined by international pharmaceutical companies.
The very cost of obtaining treatment then conspires to place this form of medicine beyond the reach of the very people it is designed to serve. What makes this situation sadder, is that the allopathic system of medicine introduced at great cost, is often no better than the traditional forms of medicine that have served these countries well in the past.
The art of healing can never be limited to a single mould of thought. There will always be those who are inspired to interpret disease according to different frameworks of belief, and who treat its symptoms in unusual ways.
The art of healing is not conferred by academic blessing. A university degree is not a guarantee of competence, nor is its absence evidence of fraud. The art of healing is a resource that exists within each one of us. Each person has the power to be his or her own physician, once they have learned the secret of the true nature of disease.
In a more enlightened age, the treatment of disease will not be monopolised by a coterie of doctors who are wedded to one single paradigm of thought. Instead, disease will be regarded as a state of mental disequilibrium which can be diagnosed and treated in a number of different ways, according to the free choice of those who are afflicted.
At that time we will all become potential physicians, able to draw on that power which lies resident in our own minds. In doing so, we will discover a truth that has been taught by Sages down the millennia.
The universe is a self-fulfilling theatre of belief.
As the Tripura Rahasya states, “The world becomes for one whatever one is accustomed to think of it.” 9 Or as John Lilly has remarked, “In the province of the mind, what is believed to be true is true or becomes true, within limits to be found experientially and experimentally.” 10
In spite of the evidence which constantly supports this fact, we find it impossible to believe that the universe can be so capricious a place as to be capable of responding to the thoughts of each and every individual.
We have been taught to believe that the universe exists as a vast, consistent cosmos, created by nature’s law. It seems incredible, even blasphemous, to consider that the universe might actually be an evanescent construct of our own minds, capable of being cajoled in such a frivolous fashion.
Yet that is the evidence of our experience. It is also the testimony of the Sages. This revelation is as old as the ancient of days. It is a truth which has been told anew to every generation, as the Tripura Rahasya reveals:
“One starts by imagining something; then contemplates it; and by continuous or repeated association resolves that it is true unless contradicted. In that way, the world appears real in the manner one is used to it.” 11
In the Devikalottara of the ancient Hindu Agamas, we find this same truth repeated:
“The universe has no external support, nor is it cognised from without, but as you make it so it becomes.” 12
It has been revealed again in the 20th century in the words of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj:
“Fundamentally, all happens in the mind only. When you work for something wholeheartedly and steadily, it happens, for it is the function of the mind to make things happen.” 13
References
1 Lawrence LeShan, “The Medium, The Mystic and The Physicist“, Ballantine, New York, 1975, p. 123.
2 Quoted in “The Placebo Effect in Healing“, by Michael Jospe, Lexington, Toronto, 1978, p. 60.
3 Henry Beecher, “The Powerful Placebo“, American Medical Association Journal, 159:1602-1606, 1955.
4 Lee Park and Lino Covi,”Non Blind Placebo Trial“, Archives of General Psychiatry, 12:336-345, 1965.
5 Michael Jospe, op.cit., p. 148.
6 Ibid, p. 147.
7 Paramahansa Yogananda, “Autobiography of a Yogi“, Self Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, 1977, pp. 421-422.
8 Ibid, p. 422.
9 “Tripura Rahasya“, translated by Swami Saraswathi, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1962, p. 88.
10 John Lilly, “The Center of the Cyclone“, Bantam, New York, 1973, p.xv.
11 “Tripura Rahasya“, op.cit., p. 100.
12 “The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi“, edited by Arthur Osborne, Rider, London, p. 113.
13 “I Am That“, Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, translated by Maurice Frydman, Book I, Chetana, Bombay, 1973, p. 233.
