Science and Prayer

[sharingwisdom]

From Dr. Larry Dossey:

I used to believe that we must choose between science and reason on one hand ,and spirituality on the other in how we lead our lives.Now i consider this is a false choice.We can recover the sense of sacredness,not just in science but in perhaps every area of life.

many of us pray in various ways,when facing serious illness or injury .Even more of us pray,as sincerely as we can,when our loved ones encounter major health issues in life .But does prayer actually help in healing ?

Prayer is back.----
After sitting on the sidelines for most of this century prayer is moving toward center stage in modern medicine. Doctors are taking prayer not just into their office clinics, and hospitals, but into experimental laboratories as well. Medical journals are more willing than ever publish studies on the healing effects of prayer and faith. Cover stories on prayer have appeared in several nation news magazines, and talks shows buzz with accounts healing and prayer. Even the conservative Wall Street Journal recently devoted a major article in its "Marketplace" section to the scientific studies of prayer that are currently in progress.

Most of you would probably say, it’s about time. Recent surveys show that 75 percent of patients believe their physicians should address spiritual issues as part of medical care, and 50 percent want their doctor to pray not just for them but with them. We doctors appear to be listening. You may be surprised to know that the majority of us actually pray for our patients.

In December 1995 a conference entitled "Spirituality and Healing in Medicine" was held at Harvard Medical School in Boston, one of our best medical institutions. As of this writing, about one-third of the medical schools in the United States have developed courses in alternative/complementary medicine, many of which emphasize spiritual issues in health care, including prayer. Five medical schools have developed programs explicitly dedicated to exploring the relationship between faith and health.

Are we falling into fantasy? Hardly. "Statistically, God is good for you," says David B. Larson, M.D., of the National Institute for Healthcare Research in Rockville, Maryland, which studies the relationship between spirituality and health. Larson, a former senior researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health, says, "I was told by my [medical school] professors that religion is harmful. Then I looked at the research, and religion is actually highly beneficial.

If you go to church or pray regularly, it’s very beneficial in terms of preventing illness, mental and physical, and you cope with illness much more effectively. If you look at the research, in area after area, its 80 percent beneficial. I was shocked."--

The Power of Prayer

Human beings have always prayed for themselves and their loved ones. Every major faith has recommended prayer for health.

Nowadays, a growing number of studies are adding scientific weight to intuitive knowledge. Studies have shown prayer, distant healing or ‘distant intentions’ can positively affect the outcomes of everything from heart disease and AIDS to infertility, anxiety and depression.

For example, in a 1988 study, Dr. Randolph Byrd of the San Francisco General Medical Centre randomly assigned 393 patients of the coronary care unit to two groups: the intercessory prayer group (192 patients) and to a control group (201 patients). While hospitalized, the first group received prayer and the control group did not. Amazingly, patients of the prayer group left the hospital earlier than the control group, and needed one-fifth the amount of antibiotics. Complications recurred in just one third of the cases.

A 1996 Time/CNN poll found that 82% of Americans believe that prayer can cure serious illness, 73% believe that praying for others can cure illness, and 64% want their physicians to pray with them. A 1995 survey by the Journal of American Medical Association found that 43% of American doctors personally prayed for their patients. Prayer has been included in the curriculum of 50 medical schools across USA.


The Quantum Compassionate Resonance Field

Collective consciousness makes group healing or prayer is even more effective. According to Dr. Walter Weston, group healing is exponentially more effective than individual healing. That is, the effectiveness of group healing is equivalent to the effectiveness of the square of the number of members in the group healing individually. For example,

The effectiveness of:

2 people praying together is equivalent to 2* 2 = 4 people praying alone
10 people praying together is equivalent to 10*10= 100 people praying alone
100 people praying together is equivalent to 100*100= 10,000 people praying alone
1000 people praying together is equivalent to 1000*1000= 1000000 people praying alone

The Quantum Compassionate Resonance Field increases this power ten fold:

2 is equivalent to (2*2*10) = 40
10 is equivalent to (10*10*10) = 1,000
100 is equivalent to (100*100*10)= 100,000

So when a 100 people perform Healing together, it is similar to a hundred thousand people praying together.

Dr. Dossey is the former Executive Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, the most widely subscribed-to journal in its field and the author of nine books and numerous articles, . The primary quality of all of Dr. Dossey's work is scientific legitimacy, with an insistent focus on "what the data show." As a result, his colleagues in medical schools and hospitals all over the country trust him, honor his message, and continually invite him to share his insights with them. He has lectured all over the world, including major medical schools and hospitals in the United States --Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, the Universities of Pennsylvania, California, Washington, Texas, Florida, Minnesota, and the Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Larry Dossey's Official Website

[American Shaman]

So pyramid schemes work for prayer also?

I never could get into Amway, but I can pray, maybe this is a good comprimise..

[AllorrahBe]

Pyramid schemes for prayer? What did I miss? I read Daily Digest almost every day but I missed this thread... someone please send it to me?
Thanks, Waccos!
Rev. Allorrah Be
Mobile Minister
Circles of Light Ministries
[email protected]

So pyramid schemes work for prayer also?

I never could get into Amway, but I can pray, maybe this is a good comprimise..

[AllorrahBe]

What a great article! Thanks, sharingwisdom!
Rev. Allorrah Be
Mobile Minister
Circles of Light Ministries

From Dr. Larry Dossey:

I used to believe that we must choose between science and reason on one hand ,and spirituality on the other in how we lead our lives.Now i consider this is a false choice.We can recover the sense of sacredness,not just in science but in perhaps every area of life.

many of us pray in various ways,when facing serious illness or injury .Even more of us pray,as sincerely as we can,when our loved ones encounter major health issues in life .But does prayer actually help in healing ?

Prayer is back.----
After sitting on the sidelines for most of this century prayer is moving toward center stage in modern medicine. Doctors are taking prayer not just into their office clinics, and hospitals, but into experimental laboratories as well. Medical journals are more willing than ever publish studies on the healing effects of prayer and faith. Cover stories on prayer have appeared in several nation news magazines, and talks shows buzz with accounts healing and prayer. Even the conservative Wall Street Journal recently devoted a major article in its "Marketplace" section to the scientific studies of prayer that are currently in progress.

Most of you would probably say, it’s about time. Recent surveys show that 75 percent of patients believe their physicians should address spiritual issues as part of medical care, and 50 percent want their doctor to pray not just for them but with them. We doctors appear to be listening. You may be surprised to know that the majority of us actually pray for our patients.

In December 1995 a conference entitled "Spirituality and Healing in Medicine" was held at Harvard Medical School in Boston, one of our best medical institutions. As of this writing, about one-third of the medical schools in the United States have developed courses in alternative/complementary medicine, many of which emphasize spiritual issues in health care, including prayer. Five medical schools have developed programs explicitly dedicated to exploring the relationship between faith and health.

Are we falling into fantasy? Hardly. "Statistically, God is good for you," says David B. Larson, M.D., of the National Institute for Healthcare Research in Rockville, Maryland, which studies the relationship between spirituality and health. Larson, a former senior researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health, says, "I was told by my [medical school] professors that religion is harmful. Then I looked at the research, and religion is actually highly beneficial.

If you go to church or pray regularly, it’s very beneficial in terms of preventing illness, mental and physical, and you cope with illness much more effectively. If you look at the research, in area after area, its 80 percent beneficial. I was shocked."--

The Power of Prayer

Human beings have always prayed for themselves and their loved ones. Every major faith has recommended prayer for health.

Nowadays, a growing number of studies are adding scientific weight to intuitive knowledge. Studies have shown prayer, distant healing or ‘distant intentions’ can positively affect the outcomes of everything from heart disease and AIDS to infertility, anxiety and depression.

For example, in a 1988 study, Dr. Randolph Byrd of the San Francisco General Medical Centre randomly assigned 393 patients of the coronary care unit to two groups: the intercessory prayer group (192 patients) and to a control group (201 patients). While hospitalized, the first group received prayer and the control group did not. Amazingly, patients of the prayer group left the hospital earlier than the control group, and needed one-fifth the amount of antibiotics. Complications recurred in just one third of the cases.

A 1996 Time/CNN poll found that 82% of Americans believe that prayer can cure serious illness, 73% believe that praying for others can cure illness, and 64% want their physicians to pray with them. A 1995 survey by the Journal of American Medical Association found that 43% of American doctors personally prayed for their patients. Prayer has been included in the curriculum of 50 medical schools across USA.


The Quantum Compassionate Resonance Field

Collective consciousness makes group healing or prayer is even more effective. According to Dr. Walter Weston, group healing is exponentially more effective than individual healing. That is, the effectiveness of group healing is equivalent to the effectiveness of the square of the number of members in the group healing individually. For example,

The effectiveness of:

2 people praying together is equivalent to 2* 2 = 4 people praying alone
10 people praying together is equivalent to 10*10= 100 people praying alone
100 people praying together is equivalent to 100*100= 10,000 people praying alone
1000 people praying together is equivalent to 1000*1000= 1000000 people praying alone

The Quantum Compassionate Resonance Field increases this power ten fold:

2 is equivalent to (2*2*10) = 40
10 is equivalent to (10*10*10) = 1,000
100 is equivalent to (100*100*10)= 100,000

So when a 100 people perform Healing together, it is similar to a hundred thousand people praying together.

Dr. Dossey is the former Executive Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, the most widely subscribed-to journal in its field and the author of nine books and numerous articles, . The primary quality of all of Dr. Dossey's work is scientific legitimacy, with an insistent focus on "what the data show." As a result, his colleagues in medical schools and hospitals all over the country trust him, honor his message, and continually invite him to share his insights with them. He has lectured all over the world, including major medical schools and hospitals in the United States --Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, the Universities of Pennsylvania, California, Washington, Texas, Florida, Minnesota, and the Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Larry Dossey's Official Website

[Barry]

Pyramid schemes for prayer? What did I miss? I read Daily Digest almost every day but I missed this thread... someone please send it to me?
Thanks, Waccos!

Like all posts on WaccoBB.net, the new posts for that day are sent out in the Daily Digest. The full thread of conversation is always available on the website. The button on the bottom of the post in Digest will take you to that thread on the website.

[American Shaman]

What I was trying to point out the giant leaps of logic that have occured in this article. I am not debating that prayer isn't powerful, but that somehow the power of prayer is multiplied with more people. it gets more powerful, but there is no way to validate this.

I would also like to point out the dark side of prayer. There is no safety net keeping us away from destroying lives with our prayers. There is the Karma that one has to pay for doing such a thing, but this is not the same as a safety net keeping us away from praying things the cause harm to others.

I have felt the prayers of my mormon family. I have also contacted my Aunt to remove me from their prayer list. I could feel the inexplicable pull towards the religion. This was against my wishes, and it did affect my life and family.

I have also prayed for tragedy in my own brothers life. I paid dearly for this, and for 10 years we did not talk.

Prayer works, and we have a responsibility to question whether they are malicious or self serving.

I am all for the self serving, praying for the slot to pay off, but the casino usually prays harder than me.