When people recover from a serious disease, they sometimes go public. If they're persons of faith, they often thank God for the healing. This has stirred some pretty lively discussion in the media about the contributions of science and faith. Why do some people credit God for healing?
In August, for example, there was a lot of buzz about Kent Brantly. He's the American doctor who credits God and the compassionate care of medical staff and friends for his recovery from the Ebola virus. He and his family moved to Liberia in 2013 because he felt called to serve the people there.
One columnist asserts that “Science, not God, saved Dr. Brantly from Ebola. Yet Brantly's written statement suggests that his daily communion with God through prayer, as well as the prayers of many others, brought a sense of support and purpose which he feels was important to his recovery.
Some commentators in the debate have described belief in a divine healing power as "a miracle" or "supernatural." It may seem so to some people. But to others, a transcendent or enlightening presence may feel like a natural thing. Sort of like a sunrise on a mountaintop. One moment all is dark, and the next moment a magnificent ball of fire rises up from the horizon and illuminates the whole landscape with pristine light and clarity. Pretty wonderful. But not magic.
One important question that sometimes arises in this discussion, is why God would save some people and not others. This actually raises some other questions: What can we learn from people who have experienced physical healing through prayer, or through what they believe is a divine presence? Has it happened more than once -- i.e. is it consistent, repeatable? What is their conception of God? How do they approach prayer? It could be really interesting to ask them more about their spiritual practice.
An inspired spiritual thinker, Mary Baker Eddy, pondered these questions deeply. She spent many years investigating how Jesus healed through prayer, replicating it and teaching others to do the same.Through her contemplative life, she came to experience God as divine Love or Mind, and she viewed each person as the expression or reflection of this divine Being. She found it wasn’t really about asking God to fix something but rather it was cultivating this spiritual consciousness that brought physical healing to herself and to others whom she embraced in her prayers. In her book entitled Unity of Good, she wrote, “God is harmony’s selfhood.” (p. 13)
Many people describe spiritual experience as something that’s actually quite natural if you take time daily to quiet the mind and open thought to a sense of peace, beauty, and harmony that is wholly apart from the usual perceptions of the physical senses. It may be precisely within this transcendent sense of harmony and peace that people find their connection to Spirit, and new pathways to healing.
Perhaps this kind of spiritual practice could actually be considered to be a type of science, if we understand science to be a form of knowledge or consistent practice that brings tangible results. Jesus' healings, as recorded, were certainly consistent and tangible.
So, rather than the polarizing question “Is it science or God that heals?”, some people are asking, “Is a spiritual approach to life actually something we can better understand and cultivate to improve health?”
It’s definitely a topic worth exploring as our increasingly connected world struggles with illnesses like Ebola and reaches out for healing and wholeness.
Monica Karal writes about the link between thought, spirituality, and health. Previously a counsellor in women's shelters, she is now a practitioner of Christian Science healing. Contact: [email protected]
You can read more about our interfaith blog, Spiritually Speaking HERE
