Tag Archives: spirituality

Can human beings really live to be 1,000?

By Health, Notes from Bob Cummings, , , , , , ,

A study published in 2000 by the American Psychological Association found that “religious involvement was significantly associated with lower mortality.” Similarly, a study published in The American Journal of Public Health in 1997 found that frequent religious attendance reduced mortality.

Researchers suspect some of this comes from healthier behaviors and more social interaction characteristic of those with religious involvement. But, to their credit, they accept that the research results show a connection between religious involvement and reduced mortality and indicate that more research is needed to understand why.

I recently read an interesting book entitled, “Long For This World – The Strange Science of Immortality” by Jonathan Weiner. Much of the book centers on conversations with Aubrey de Grey who believes that aging is a disease caused by the accumulation of waste at the cellular level, sometimes called the “disposable soma theory”.

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Charles Darwin sees connection between thought and blushing

By Health, Notes from Bob Cummings, , , , , , ,

Blushing provides a great example, I think, of how consciousness can affect health. An emotional response in thought (e.g. feeling embarrassment) has a direct effect on the body – a change in blood flow seen as blushing in the face. I have found that through prayer, a change in thought resulting from feeling a connection to God, or feeling God’s love, can result in physical healing.

Charles Darwin (courtesy of flickr user shehal)

So I was pleasantly surprised to come across some of Charles Darwin’s writings about blushing in Chapter 13 of his book, The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals (see pages 325-326). Now I’m not getting into any debate here between evolution and creationism. I’m just sharing interesting insights from a well-known and respected naturalist.

Darwin wrote (emphasis added by me), “It is not the simple act of reflecting on our own appearance, but the thinking what others think of us, which excites a blush.

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Taming impossibility

By Health, Notes from Bob Cummings, , , , , , , , ,

“What is now proved, was once only imagined.” – William Blake

Earlier this month Israeli scientist Daniel Shechtman was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his discovery of a new chemical structure called quasicrystals that researchers considered to be impossible. Initially the scientific community was reluctant to accept his discovery, to the point where he endured mockery and even expulsion from his research team. The Academy said that his discovery “fundamentally altered how chemists conceive of solid matter”. This recognition came with a $1.5 million award.

This news item got me to thinking about “possible” and “impossible”. It seems that we deem things to be impossible until we have evidence to the contrary. Man couldn’t fly, until of course, the Wright brothers proved that we could. It is impossible to run a mile in under 4 minutes – or so we thought, until Roger Bannister did this.

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Thought affects movement

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“Athletes themselves have long insisted that mental factors are paramount“. Recently I read this in an interesting 09/19/2011 article in The New York Times by Gina Kolata entitled, “A Little Deception Helps Push Athletes to the Limit”.

Two cyclists training for the Tour De France courtesy of Flickr user Guus Krol

She shares an experiment conducted by Dr. Kevin Thompson, Head of Sport and Exercise Science at Northumbrian University in England, and his assistant Mark Stone. They had cyclists ride stationary bicycles for 4,000 meters (about 2.5 miles). As they cycled they observed a display of themselves next to an avatar (computer-generated rider) that they were told was moving at the pace of their own best time. But the avatars were actually going 1 percent faster than that – faster than the cyclists had ever achieved.

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Prayer changes the brain?

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Does praying change the brain? Does prayer change the brain?

A study conducted in Michigan a few years ago by Brigid Waldron-Perrine, Ph.D. at Wayne State University and recently published in Rehabilitation Psychology found that patients with traumatic brain injuries who “felt a connection with a higher power” experienced better rehabilitation. Waldron-Perrine said, “among healthy adults, religion and spirituality have shown strong association with improved life satisfaction and physical and mental health outcomes.” And her research showed that this is also true for those with brain injuries. 

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Science and spirituality

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“The choice between science and spirituality appears increasingly artificial today, even from a scientific perspective.” writes Larry Dossey M.D.¹

It does seem difficult for thought entrenched in the material to consider something quite different. But all that is needed really is a change in thought.

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Spiritual evidence-based healing

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Andew Weil, M.D. courtesy of greenlagirl

Andrew Weil, M.D., in “Why Our Health Matters” (page 43) writes, “Many doctors have told me about cases of spontaneous healing that they have witnessed in patients, some correlated with mental or emotional changes“.

So, how can we account for experiences like that? Or how can we explain healing accomplished in Christian Science through spiritual means alone?

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