Maine Coon
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
1659
Posted : May 25, 2010 20:28
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Moki and Meat Battery, you presented two polar views. Truth is somewhere in the middle (as it often happens): we need both scientific evidence-based medicine and “alternative” holistic approaches. In fact, there is a lot of work being done right now on treatments that are both holistic and evidence-based. NIH even gives grants for research in this area. And osteopathic medical schools have been teaching this approach for a long time. Allopathic (“regular”) medical schools used to espouse the “treat the patient, not the disease” ideology, but all the stress on high-tech stuff changed that (in the US at least). MDs nowadays are mostly glorified overeducated mechanics, out to “fix what’s broken”, rather than to treat a patient; they deal with treatment algorithm charts and diagnostic computer printouts instead of patients. But anyway, lately there is a bit of a reversal in this trend. For example, the Cleveland Clinic has a German shepherd on staff. It has a standard Clinic ID with a magnetic strip, the dog’s name and its job title: “Pet Therapist”. I am not joking. The dog goes to terminal cancer patients and spends time with them every day. In some cases it relieves patients’ pain, nausea, anxiety and depression. The same department has a music therapy program too. It works!
About “healers”. Some of them are real. Most are charlatans. But in either case – it takes two to tango. Your own belief is just as important (or even more important) as a healer’s technique. I have a very unfortunate cousin, who was born with cerebral palsy. They tried to treat him when he was a baby and they overdid some medication. The poor guy got stuck in his mental development at the stage of a 2-year-old. My aunt was devastated. She went to all kinds of super-duper doctors, switched to all kinds of folk healers (including those with documented success) – nothing! After she retired, she got deeper into religious studies. She’s a Russian Orthodox, so she started studying her church’s history and traveling to historical landmarks. Of course, she had to drag my cousin with her most of the time, which was a real challenge. On one of the tours, my cousin suddenly calmed down and became very easy to talk to. He was like a new person for days after that. So, my aunt took him to the same monastery on the same tour again – the same result. She thinks this monastery is a holy place and the Holy Spirit heals my cousin. I think the place just affected her deeply – and the change in her affected her son. But the truth does not have to be binary. What if it’s both?
In any case, what I want to say is that one can go to a famous shaman with a proven track of success – and get nothing out of it. Or one can watch a sunset from Oregon dunes – and get cured. There is a temple and a priest out there for each one of us. It’s just that they don’t have to have traditional forms and shapes. Your temple could be a lounge chair in your back yard. And your priest could be a stray cat that comes to share your lunch.
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