A reader just sent me a link to a thought provoking article on the distinction to be made between mind and brain.
Reports of Near Death Experiences have been around for decades, but medical scientists have yet to come to terms with what they mean. Dr. Sam Parnia is one scientist who wants to understand and has been conducting extensive studies on the subject.
“What happens when we die?” posted on Yahoo News, tells about some of his discoveries and thoughts about NDEs.
I’ve had patients over the years tell me about their NDE’s. They were genuine and sincere in their stories. They had no reason to make them up. Typically, they keep their experiences very private for fear of what other people think if they were to talk about them. But the evidence is so compelling that life continues after death, and that the mind is separate from the brain, that scientists will inevitably have to deal with this question and resolve the questions it provokes. This appears to be happening with Parnia’s studies.
I especially like Parnia’s observation at the end of the article where he describes how a new science is needed to explain how the mind works independent of the brain.
Could that needed science be divine Science? I think maybe so...
Showing posts with label studies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label studies. Show all posts
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Genes controlled by belief
I came across one of my favorite news clippings today, lifted from the Christian Science Sentinel of January 6, 2003, which reprinted a newswire from the Canadian Press, titled “Perceptions, thoughts, beliefs more important than genes.”
It is a fascinating read...
Researcher says genes controlled by beliefs
“Forget the hype surrounding the Human Genome Project and start realizing that perceptions, thoughts, and beliefs have a bigger impact on people’s health than their genes, says a cellular biologist.
“Bruce Lipton is among a small but growing number of researchers who say people need to take responsibility for their environment instead of believing they are victims of their genes. Lipton, a former researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine, now disagrees with the conventional belief that people are born with a set of genes that control their lives.
“Instead, he says genes adapt on an ongoing basis depending on the needs of cells as they respond to the environment. ‘Our perceptions turn on our genes and turn off our genes and our perceptions can rewrite our genes,’ he said….
“’As you change your perception, as you change your beliefs, you actually will change the biological activation in your own biology,’ Lipton said….”
You can read more about Lipton’s beliefs in his blog, “Uncovering the biology of belief.”
Mary Baker Eddy had the above figured out over one hundred years ago when she wrote, “Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action…God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.”
Not DNA, genes, or chromosomes, have more control than the divine Maker.
Much research is happening today by scientists striving to trace troubles in people’s lives back to a DNA cause. Alcoholism, diseases, character traits, and more, many believe have a root cause in the genetic makeup of an individual. But eventually they will discover this is not true. What microscopes see in genes reflect what thought governing those genes believe. Change belief, and gene makeup changes. Lipton has confirmed this in his own studies, and others are discovering the same.
The better place to focus attention is on the spiritual truth about creation according to divine design. As we discover ourselves in God’s image, created with a perfect blueprint, that discovery will improve the human mind, which in turn improves the human body which is governed by that mind.
We are not helpless victims of mindless genes. We are spiritual creations of an intelligent creator. Through spiritual sense we discover this to be true.
It is a fascinating read...
Researcher says genes controlled by beliefs
“Forget the hype surrounding the Human Genome Project and start realizing that perceptions, thoughts, and beliefs have a bigger impact on people’s health than their genes, says a cellular biologist.
“Bruce Lipton is among a small but growing number of researchers who say people need to take responsibility for their environment instead of believing they are victims of their genes. Lipton, a former researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine, now disagrees with the conventional belief that people are born with a set of genes that control their lives.
“Instead, he says genes adapt on an ongoing basis depending on the needs of cells as they respond to the environment. ‘Our perceptions turn on our genes and turn off our genes and our perceptions can rewrite our genes,’ he said….
“’As you change your perception, as you change your beliefs, you actually will change the biological activation in your own biology,’ Lipton said….”
You can read more about Lipton’s beliefs in his blog, “Uncovering the biology of belief.”
Mary Baker Eddy had the above figured out over one hundred years ago when she wrote, “Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action…God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.”
Not DNA, genes, or chromosomes, have more control than the divine Maker.
Much research is happening today by scientists striving to trace troubles in people’s lives back to a DNA cause. Alcoholism, diseases, character traits, and more, many believe have a root cause in the genetic makeup of an individual. But eventually they will discover this is not true. What microscopes see in genes reflect what thought governing those genes believe. Change belief, and gene makeup changes. Lipton has confirmed this in his own studies, and others are discovering the same.
The better place to focus attention is on the spiritual truth about creation according to divine design. As we discover ourselves in God’s image, created with a perfect blueprint, that discovery will improve the human mind, which in turn improves the human body which is governed by that mind.
We are not helpless victims of mindless genes. We are spiritual creations of an intelligent creator. Through spiritual sense we discover this to be true.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Placebo effect
I had to chuckle when I read in the Christian Science Monitor last Wednesday, March 5, that
Sounds like an incentive for pharmacuetical companies to charge more for their products...
Hmmm...perhaps the medicine of Mind is a better way to go...
Researchers writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association said subjects in their study of the "placebo effect" indicated that a dummy painkiller worked far better if it reportedly cost more.
Sounds like an incentive for pharmacuetical companies to charge more for their products...
Hmmm...perhaps the medicine of Mind is a better way to go...
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
McDonald's advertising and mesmerism
A study just printed confirms the dangerous effect advertising can have on the unguarded thought.
Young children were given identical McDonald’s foods in name-brand and unmarked wrappers. They were then asked to identify which food tasted better. The branded foods always won out.
Why?
Researchers figure the pervasive and pointed marketing strategies of the food maker are the reason for the difference, and use the study to illustrate the powerful influence advertising has on children’s tastes and choices.
“Study author Dr. Tom Robinson said the kids’ perception of taste was ‘physically altered by the branding.’ The Stanford University researcher said it was remarkable how children so young were already so influenced by advertising,” the report indicated.
When I read the report, I dismayed for children, but even more, I wondered how many adults fall victim to the same type of mesmeric influence advertising strives to sway over their thinking.
And I’m not talking about consumer choices like which car to buy, or where to eat out. I’m thinking of deeper issues like choices we make to be healthy or not, depressed or happy, strong or weak, sick or well, poor or wealthy.
For example, the media is filled with images of disease and fear-breeding health reports. It gives the impression that the threat of illness lurks at every corner and we should live in paranoia as to whether we can stay healthy or not.
In light of the food report, how many adults unwittingly chose to live sick and depressed when they could live healthy and joyous? How many adults choose to live a harried, stressed filled life when they could have days filled with peace and buoyancy?
Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science wrote,
God has given each of us a productive, profitable, happy and healthy life to experience. It is eternally ours, but in this human experience we must assiduously protect our thinking from the harmful influence of advertising created to alter our perceptions in a way that causes us to accept premises that are not in our best interests.
Like the children who unwittingly chose the branded food as most desirable because that’s what they learned through advertising to choose, adults too often unwittingly choose to be sick because that’s what they learned through the media to expect out of life.
The lesson from all of this is to stay alert, to vigorously defend one’s mental home from outside influence, and to remain strong in knowing there is only one true influence, the divine Mind influence, over every thought and action.
The child of God, the expression of sound spiritual wisdom, intelligence and reasoning, is solely under the influence of God, and cannot be manipulated by baneful advertising.
Think for yourself—your spiritual self—and stay free of mesmerism.
Young children were given identical McDonald’s foods in name-brand and unmarked wrappers. They were then asked to identify which food tasted better. The branded foods always won out.
Why?
Researchers figure the pervasive and pointed marketing strategies of the food maker are the reason for the difference, and use the study to illustrate the powerful influence advertising has on children’s tastes and choices.
“Study author Dr. Tom Robinson said the kids’ perception of taste was ‘physically altered by the branding.’ The Stanford University researcher said it was remarkable how children so young were already so influenced by advertising,” the report indicated.
When I read the report, I dismayed for children, but even more, I wondered how many adults fall victim to the same type of mesmeric influence advertising strives to sway over their thinking.
And I’m not talking about consumer choices like which car to buy, or where to eat out. I’m thinking of deeper issues like choices we make to be healthy or not, depressed or happy, strong or weak, sick or well, poor or wealthy.
For example, the media is filled with images of disease and fear-breeding health reports. It gives the impression that the threat of illness lurks at every corner and we should live in paranoia as to whether we can stay healthy or not.
In light of the food report, how many adults unwittingly chose to live sick and depressed when they could live healthy and joyous? How many adults choose to live a harried, stressed filled life when they could have days filled with peace and buoyancy?
Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science wrote,
The press unwittingly sends forth many sorrows and diseases among the human family. It does this by giving names to diseases and by printing long descriptions which mirror images of disease distinctly in thought.
God has given each of us a productive, profitable, happy and healthy life to experience. It is eternally ours, but in this human experience we must assiduously protect our thinking from the harmful influence of advertising created to alter our perceptions in a way that causes us to accept premises that are not in our best interests.
Like the children who unwittingly chose the branded food as most desirable because that’s what they learned through advertising to choose, adults too often unwittingly choose to be sick because that’s what they learned through the media to expect out of life.
The lesson from all of this is to stay alert, to vigorously defend one’s mental home from outside influence, and to remain strong in knowing there is only one true influence, the divine Mind influence, over every thought and action.
The child of God, the expression of sound spiritual wisdom, intelligence and reasoning, is solely under the influence of God, and cannot be manipulated by baneful advertising.
Think for yourself—your spiritual self—and stay free of mesmerism.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Medical mistakes run rampant
A new report states:
- A hospitalized patient is subject to at least one medication error per day.
- 1.5 million Americans are injured from medication mistakes every year.
No one is claiming health-care professionals are intentionally making these errors, but alarm bells are heralding a need for reform and fewer blunders.
Perhaps there’s a larger lesson to learn?
Is it time to value the merits of spiritual treatment where there is no opportunity for medication missteps?
Christian Science is the ultimate form of health-care. It doesn’t rely upon drugs. It doesn’t subject one to human opinion and medical guessing. It relies upon the infallible power of Mind to produce a cure, and it’s been proved by countless thousands over the last century to work.
Applying Christian Science is not as simple as popping a pill. It takes study, faith, prayer, commitment to Truth, and growing spiritual mindedness to obtain results. But most things worth having require work. That’s nothing new.
The long term benefit of practicing Christian Science include freedom from bondage to prescriptions, huge medical bills, focus on the body, and fear about health. Christian Science lifts thought to the higher realm of Spirit where Truth is the most powerful medicine and Mind the most effective physician.
Christian Science works. Give it a try.
Learn all about it in Mary Baker Eddy’s book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
You’ll never fear being victimized by a medical mistake again.
Wednesday, May 3, 2006
American healthcare failing
Americans are sicker than the British despite twice the spending on healthcare in the USA as in Britain, a newly published study claims.
“Why isn’t the richest country in the world the healthiest country in the world?” study co-author Dr. Marmot asks.
Doctors and researchers are scrambling to account for the dramatic differences. “It’s a mystery,” some conclude.
No one has yet mentioned the most obvious explanation of all. And that is, increased spending on healthcare does not increase the overall health of our population. Conventional medical practices, which absorb by far the largest share of our healthcare expenditures, are not working.
Why the healthcare system in the US is failing is not a mystery. The US model is based on a premise that largely fails to account for the spiritual individuality of a patient.
People are not mindless robots. They are not mere chemicals and electrical charges. They are spiritual beings with a consciousness that governs their state of health. To improve the body, the mind governing the body needs to be improved. This is done through love, comfort, and understanding, medicine that does not come from a bottle, but from an understanding of God’s tender care for each of us.
Filling thought with truth and love will succeed where pumping bodies full of drugs fails.
It’s time to re-define healthcare from taking more drugs to spiritualizing consciousness. It doesn’t cost near as much to fund and the effect is far better.
“Why isn’t the richest country in the world the healthiest country in the world?” study co-author Dr. Marmot asks.
Doctors and researchers are scrambling to account for the dramatic differences. “It’s a mystery,” some conclude.
No one has yet mentioned the most obvious explanation of all. And that is, increased spending on healthcare does not increase the overall health of our population. Conventional medical practices, which absorb by far the largest share of our healthcare expenditures, are not working.
Why the healthcare system in the US is failing is not a mystery. The US model is based on a premise that largely fails to account for the spiritual individuality of a patient.
People are not mindless robots. They are not mere chemicals and electrical charges. They are spiritual beings with a consciousness that governs their state of health. To improve the body, the mind governing the body needs to be improved. This is done through love, comfort, and understanding, medicine that does not come from a bottle, but from an understanding of God’s tender care for each of us.
Filling thought with truth and love will succeed where pumping bodies full of drugs fails.
It’s time to re-define healthcare from taking more drugs to spiritualizing consciousness. It doesn’t cost near as much to fund and the effect is far better.
Tuesday, April 4, 2006
Prayer and heart patients
Can prayer help people overcome heart problems?
A recent study headed by Dr. Herbert Benson concluded that prayer did not help heart patients recovering from bypass surgery.
From my own experience, I know prayer helps people recover from heart complications.
Over 15 years ago, I was asked to pray for a woman fallen to her kitchen floor because of heart trouble. I spoke over the phone into her ear telling her that God was with her, that God was her Life, and to not be afraid. She calmed down quickly. Her heart resumed normal functions and she recovered totally. In her ninth decade today, she is active and lives independently.
There are many questions the Benson study raises. For instance, what kind of prayer was offered for the patients? Was it a prayer of genuine spiritual understanding, or a formulaic prayer? Was it a prayer of deep and inspired love or an assigned repetition of words? The answers are important.
There will be countless more studies on the effect of prayer, but for millions who see the healing power of God at work everyday, no study is needed to confirm their faith. They know from experience, that prayer heals.
A recent study headed by Dr. Herbert Benson concluded that prayer did not help heart patients recovering from bypass surgery.
From my own experience, I know prayer helps people recover from heart complications.
Over 15 years ago, I was asked to pray for a woman fallen to her kitchen floor because of heart trouble. I spoke over the phone into her ear telling her that God was with her, that God was her Life, and to not be afraid. She calmed down quickly. Her heart resumed normal functions and she recovered totally. In her ninth decade today, she is active and lives independently.
There are many questions the Benson study raises. For instance, what kind of prayer was offered for the patients? Was it a prayer of genuine spiritual understanding, or a formulaic prayer? Was it a prayer of deep and inspired love or an assigned repetition of words? The answers are important.
There will be countless more studies on the effect of prayer, but for millions who see the healing power of God at work everyday, no study is needed to confirm their faith. They know from experience, that prayer heals.
