The Power of Mind Cures Terminal Disorders

I was reading the story of David Seidler, 73-year-old movie script writer, who won the Oscar award last Sunday for writing the best script for the movie “The King’s Speech”. He was booked to undergo surgery for his bladder cancer in two weeks time. During the gap of two weeks he used very diligently the power of his imagination to visualize that he had a “lovely, clean and healthy bladder”. On the day of surgery his doctor was surprised to find that there was no trace of cancer. In Seidler’s own words: “I spent hours visualizing a nice, cream-colored unblemished bladder lining, and then I went in for the operation, and a week later the doctor called me and his voice was very strange, “Seidler remembers. “He said, ‘I don’t know how to explain it, but there’s no cancer there.’ He says the doctor was so confounded he sent the tissue from the pre-surgical biopsy to four different labs, and all confirmed they were cancerous”. (Excerpt from CNN report).

The report includes the comments of various medical and health experts working in this area. Most of them agree that the power of mind does help in healing terminal disorders except Dr. Marcia Angell, former Editor-in-Chief of The New England Journal of Medicine. She is of the opinion that this is just one case on the basis of which a generalization cannot be made. She has also pointed out another characteristic about bladder cancer: that it recurs after a certain gap of time. Therefore, it is too soon to say that imagination has cured the bladder cancer. Angell also has reservations regarding the power of imagination to bring about material changes.

While I do not refute totally the comments of Dr. Angell, I would like to point towards uncountable evidences which testify the effectiveness of imagination in bringing about physical changes. Uri Geller, demonstrated the power of his mind to bend spoons. There are innumerable evidences of telekinesis where people demonstrate the skill of moving objects.

 

Everybody knows the effectiveness of “placebo”. A simple pill made of chalk or sugar will bring physical relief to the patient provided there is an element of faith and belief. The history of medical science is replete with studies on the effectiveness of placebo. Hypnosis, known as magic or psychic medicine, has now become an integral part of medical science. It is used very effectively for the cure and relief of pain in several diseases.

Currently, health experts are carrying out loads of studies on the neural changes that take place in the brain during imagination and visualization. It has been found that not only that new neural connections develop due to meditational practices involving imagination and visualization but the brain centers release certain chemicals which bring about positive and healthy changes in the body.

Additionally, it is a well-known fact since ancient times that negative thoughts involving fear, worry and grief have profound negative effect on health. Doctors and psychiatrists always advise the patients to keep themselves free of fear and worry. Stress and depression are the most poisonous and annihilating disorders challenging health experts of the modern age. Blood pressure, heart disorders, cancer, diabetes and several other diseases are the result of stress and pressures of the present day industrial and electronic life. Take the modern human being out of this turmoil and you will find him/her free of all health problems. There is the famous case of a US marine who suffered from cancer. Doctors informed him that he had only six months to live. He left US, went back to his native village, his home-town in Greece. He started living happily with his old buddies, worked on his farm growing vegetables and fruits. He drank the home-made wine and played his native games with his village mates. He enjoyed life in a perfect relaxed way. He lived for 102 years. He came back to US to show himself to his doctors but, alas, they had all died and left the world. This is the miracle of joy and happiness. If we, using the power of our mind, keep ourselves happy and joyful, if we keep ourselves free of fears and worries, we shall be able to live a healthy and joyful life.

By Mumtaz Shah