The Healing Realm

The abstract from the research article, Medical decision making beyond evidence: Correlates of belief in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and homeopathy says:

“Many people believe in and use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to address health issues or prevent diseases. Empirical evidence for those treatments is either lacking or controversial due to methodological weaknesses. Thus, practitioners and patients primarily rely on subjective references rather than credible empirical evidence from systematic research.”

There seems to be two reasons why people fear alternative medicines, like energy medicine. Many believe it has no scientific basis as the article above says, or they fear it for religious reasons. The article, Energy Medicine: Part Two — The Theology – Catholic Culture, argues that Christians should reject energy medicine because “Any time we have anything that is not pointing to Jesus — that is not rooted in the healing that comes from him — is always an indicator that we are not being authentic, that we are not following the way of the cross.” Yet, Hungarian biochemist, Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937 said, “In every culture and in every medical tradition before ours, healing was accomplished by moving energy.” It can be a confusing topic. No matter what your beliefs about alternative medicine are, you can find articles to support or refute what you believe.

Now I have had people tell me that the energy work is not based in science. I disagree, because it is based in science. Furthermore, science can be wrong and has been many times. The Scientific American, a popular science magazine, has an opinion piece, Sometimes Science Is Wrong agreeing with me. Another Scientific American piece, If You Say ‘Science Is Right,’ You’re Wrong, says science “can’t supply absolute truths about the world…”  In fact, science can actually harm us as explained in the Harvard Medical School article, When Science Can Harm. This article says “research has the potential to hurt people.” To quote Richard Dawkins from his book, The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, “Science doesn’t have all the answers, but it is good at spotting the important questions when they are camouflaged against a background of common sense.” The fact is, science doesn’t have all the answers.

For those who disagree, Energy Medicine is backed by science. The article, Energy healing: The scientific evidence provides five different scientific studies that suggest energy healing works. Medical News Today’s article, Energy therapy: What to know sites six research studies all of which suggest energy therapy works. Another article titled, Energy healing: The scientific evidence (deep dive), sites nine scientific studies that suggest energy healing help humans. Health, a publication focusing on a healthy lifestyle for women, has an article titled, Does Energy Healing Really Work? which talks to experts and investigates the research to find out why Energy medicine has been around for thousands of years. It is a very good article if you want to understand what energy healing is.

The article, What Everyone Should Know About Energy Healing, describes five surprising facts about energy healing. It says:

1. We’ve been studying the body’s energy centers for thousands of years
2. Energy healing is based on scientific principles
3. Anyone can benefit from energy healing
4. There are many types of accessible energy healing modalities.
5. You can maintain your energetic health from home

The article ends with, “All you need to begin your energy healing journey is curiosity and a willingness to learn. Who knows? You might just get hooked!”

I’ll admit, I was a skeptic once. I have a science background and I taught Biology and other sciences for 35 years. In university, I was taught that ‘science was the end all and be all.” I no longer believe that. I now trust my intuition; my gut feelings if you will. I no longer give my power away to “experts.” Don’t get me wrong. I still listen to “experts,” but now I think for myself. I do my best to make informed decisions.

It was Voltaire that said, “Dare to think for yourself.” Henry David Thoreau once said, “Think for yourself, or others will think for you without thinking of you.”  That is what I do. Robert A. Heinlein in his book, Time Enough for Love, says, “Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done, and why. Then do it.” I think that quote says it all.

10 Quotes From Experts Who Were Proved Wrong is a wonderful article showing how experts are often wrong. In 1977, Ken Olsen, founder of the Digital Equipment Corporation, said, “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” Boy was he wrong, as today there are over two billion personal computers used worldwide. Daryl Zanuck, executive producer at 20th Century Fox said, “Television won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.” He was wrong too as today, more than 1.4 billion households across the planet have at least one TV set

“Just because everyone agrees that something is true doesn’t make it so; everyone was in accord for thousands of years, saying the world was flat, the sun revolved around the earth, but everyone was wrong.” Aaron Dennis said that. Just because someone said energy therapy is not science based, doesn’t make it so. I’ll end with the Idiom, “don’t knock it till you try it,” meaning don’t judge something that you have never tried or experienced. Try it, then make your judgement.