Saturday, February 9, 2008

SCIENCE PROVES PRAYER WORKS

by Irene A. Masiello

Larry Dossey, MD is a tall, warm, down-to-earth Texas internist whose work brings us a powerful, exciting and compelling message: SCIENCE HAS PROVEN THAT PRAYER WORKS!

With our country at war and all of us needing some inSPIRITional© news, it is an especially poignant and profound time to remember that there is "something more" than our physical selves. A healthy life is, after all, a balance of the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of our lives.

Dr. Dossey is the author of nine books on spirituality, consciousness and health including the New York Times bestseller Healing Words: The Power of Prayer. He is also executive editor of EXPLORE: The Journal of Science and Healing, a publication of Elsevier, publisher of 1800 of the world's leading medical journals including JAMA, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, the British Medical Journal, et al.

Prior to the publication of Healing Words only 3 American medical schools devoted course work to the exploration of the role of spiritual beliefs, religion and prayer in health. In 2000, over sixty medical schools had instituted courses addressing such issues with many using Dr. Dossey's works as textbooks.

Dr. Dossey's work has deep implications and because of it, he an internationally known lecturer who has spoken at Johns Hopkins, the Mayo Clinic, Harvard, Cornell, the National Institute of Health, etc. He has been a media favorite for his charm, wit, warmth and profound wisdom and, therefore, has done scores of radio, TV and in-print interviews.

The Starlight Network caught up with Larry Dossey at the Civic Center in Savannah , GA where he was addressing a large group of health care professionals in an event sponsored by Memorial Health Center . We asked him if his work has met with cynicism from the medical establishment. He told us 20 years ago it did but not anymore. Judging by the enthusiasm of the crowd and the incredible numbers pointing the way to some stunning scientific evidence it is easy to see why Dr. Dossey enjoys such popularity.

Dr. Dossey gave amazing statistics that were the result of scientific studies too numerous to mention here. These studies were conducted the way science investigates any illness or medication, that is, with "the double blind" experiment. The results were staggering: 50% to 100% of the time prayer has beneficial, measurable effects on a patient's recovery.

In his talk, Dr. Dossey explained that if this were a result of a pharmacological discovery the drug companies would be singing its praises. However, since no one will grow wealthy in the material sense of the word from this documentation there is less excitement about something quite remarkable and the scientific data says it all: prayer works!

Additionally, according to the scientific studies Dr. Dossey states prayer works no matter what version of God or Goddess one embraces. Whether it is directive prayer, in that one requests a certain outcome, or non-directive prayer, in that one requests the best possible outcome according to God's will prayer works. The religion of those who prayed is not a factor, either. Neither is the religious conviction of the receiver of the prayer or whether the receiver knows they are being prayed for or not.

Dr. Dossey's book, Reinventing Medicine, is yet another profound work pointing the way to the future of medicine where death is not feared or seen as a defeat but simply a natural part of the process of life and being a physical, mental and spiritual being.

Without a doubt, Dr. Dossey has made a monumental contribution in bringing the spiritual component of the body-mind-spirit connection to the forefront of modern medicine.

© Copyright 2000-2007 Irene A. Masiello all rights reserved. Reprinted from HealthWise Magazine. Irene A. Masiello is the author of PARADISE COSTS--A Victim's Daughter Fights Back Against Elder Abuse...the first pro-active, grassroots REALITY WRITING book urging Americans to help STOP ELDER ABUSE NOW / Elder Advocate & Member of the Elder Justice Coalition / Founder: Starlight Network News / Certified: Holistic Counselor, Stress Management Consultant & Adult Educator / NYC-based magazine columnist authoring a holistically based, spiritual self-help & personal empowerment column since 1998.

1 comment:

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