Which Do We Heal: Body or Mind?

Healing has been a favorite topic of mine for many years. I've seen people who claim psychic powers to heal, people who claim Spiritual powers to heal, people who claim Universal powers to heal, people who claim Ancient Wisdom of Healing Arts, people who claim Channels for healing, and people who just claim to heal. I've seen movies on true life stories about healing. I've read books on the subject. I've experimented with every form and facet of healing. I've been at the effect of it on occasion. I've even been somewhat surprised when some of my own mumbo jumbo worked on others. I still can't tell you exactly how it works when it works. My theories are totally useless even on myself, and every year I seem to update them. I've come to the conclusion I'm trying to fine tune a perfect pitch tuning fork. I don't even have an ear for it.

Two people fascinate me the most. The Biblical Jesus and the contemporary Sathya Sai Baba. The Sufis studied Jesus, probably like no other, to the point that they claim to have discovered that inner something which one can aspire to and be just like Jesus. Books have been written about Sai Baba. Videos show his 'special' abilities. From all outward appearances, Sai Baba is another Jesus. But the only two people who really know that are Jesus and Sai Baba. Just like only a Sufi master knows the powers of a Sufi master.

Powers? The word conjures up ego gratification to the max. Is healing a power or a gift? And which kind of healing is greater, the healing of the body or the healing of the mind?

For the body there are two modes of healing: medical attention and the equivalent of laying on of hands, in whatever form it comes. I am not one to say never resort to medical attention. In fact, when afflicted, I run hastily to the doctor - for his/her opinion and possible quick fix with non-intrusive first aid. I learned of my hiatal hernia through intensive examinations with radium and prodding and poking. Quite fascinating, actually. Then I read what Dr. Andrew Weil had to say about the matter and turned to Peppermint Tea. The 'healing' was instant, satisfying, and non-intrusive. Quite different than the very expensive alternative - surgery and an inhuman diet. I can't say that Peppermint tea will work for everyone the way it did for me, nor do I endorse it globally over a doctor's insistent and qualified recommendations. Each case is different. But how long does it take to make a cup of tea and drink it? Do you suppose surgery can wait that long? Of course, if you actually have a hole in your esophagus with acids leaking out, maybe surgery isn't a bad idea. Still, tea seems like a reasonable post surgery treatment to me.

Polio was virtually eradicated with the Salk vaccine. Smallpox is no longer a death threat thanks to science. The Black Plague will never wipe out entire populations again, thanks to science. Rickets, tuberculosis, and many, many other diseases have been reduced to noise level. I don't doubt that in the near future we will see such advances for cancer, AIDS, and the common cold. The best first aid in my book is common sense. The best proactive heath care is more common sense. See a doctor when you don't know, consult your alternative health remedies when you do, protect your investment in life by hedging your bets on both sides, resort to whatever you believe in. But if you really want to be healthy in mind and body, find out what it is you're doing and thinking that leads you into poor health, unfit bodies, and dysfunctional behavior. From my own experience, you're never going to get out of the doctors' office if your lifestyle and belief systems paint a straight line to his/her door.

My lifestyle, as I found out, is not based on my genes any more than it is based on my childhood experiences. Those are factors, yes. But not the determining factors. My whim and my resolve have been the determining factors. How I make decisions is seemingly influenced by my experiences (with a gun to my head I'll say anything - but that doesn't change my beliefs). If I'm strapped to a fo'csle (sailor talk for 'forecastle', the forward-most part of a ship) mast in inclement weather right after eating a delicious spaghetti dinner, and wretching violently from the heaving seas, I might come to the conclusion to never eat spaghetti again (a true life story of someone else.) Another decision might have been to never let myself out on the open seas, or get near another fo'csle mast, or any number of decisions. We make up our decisions, they don't choose for us.

For the mind there is one kind of healing. Decision. Choice.

Life is a choice. And so is 'death'. Somewhere in-between is our health and peace of mind.