I received a phone call recently inviting me to discuss healing with a group of health professionals at a local hospital. My first question was, “Healing what? An illness? Or a life? Are you referring to physical healing? Mental healing? Or healing spiritually and in relationships?”
“Just healing,” was the reply. I thought this was a very astute answer, because healing in one of those arenas usually affects the others very significantly.
So, what is healing? A popular dictionary defines it as “to make whole that which is separated or out of harmony.” Usually this means something more than simply returning to the former condition. The two parts of severed skin that have been separated and healed are usually more strongly adherent than before the separation. In the larger sense, healing involves becoming more fully alive, enlarging the circle of our being to include more that is loved and understood.
Healing has to do with:
- A bringing together: a state of oneness
- A never-ending process
- Empowerment:
- Creating an atmosphere that allows for:
- changing limiting beliefs, or
- expanding beyond them
- Drawing out a person’s own wisdom and providing the means to actualize it
- It is a though we have two minds:
- Our operating mind: where we create thoughts by which to function in the world.
- Our core, wise mind: The source of our core values and wisdom.
- Creating an atmosphere that allows for:
This wise mind seems to be that to which inspiration comes.
Many times, the greatest source of our distress (which frequently affects our health) comes from these two minds being separated, that is, we operate by thoughts that are not in harmony with our core values. When this is the case, the key to healing lies in discovering how to bring the two minds together, that is, transforming the operating mind to be one with the core, wise mind. This involves drawing out of ourselves what we already know within: wisdom drawn from many inspired sources-wisdom to respond in a way we would deeply admire. When we can respond from such wholeness, we may feel a greatness of soul and look back upon those moments with deep gratitude for the strength to have acted in that way. When this happens, distress transforms into eustress, the kind of stress that helps us rise to the occasion, often drawing us closer to those going through the stressor together with us. All of this turns us to our higher selves.
Jesus, the master healer, had a magnificent way of doing just what was described above: telling stories that bypassed head thoughts to draw out inner wisdom. Then, mostly through his remarkable love, he gave people in need of healing the means (“grace”) to have the strength to transform old ways and habits that were out of harmony with their deeper wisdom and hopes. And all of this showed up in his capacity to heal them physically as well.
This connection between spiritual / mental healing and physical healing in New Testament times has not always been fully appreciated. Jesus said his ability to heal physically revealed that he was able to heal spiritually. There is significance in the fact that Jesus declared his physical healing of the palsied man was accompanied by forgiveness for his sins. Knowing he was forgiven certainly played a part in his healing. (Luke 5:24.) That is quite a remarkable statement. The connection between forgiveness and healing is further proven by the fact that forgiveness and integrity to one’s deep values are the keys to feeling a sense of control over one’s life.
Forgiveness and Health
Forgiveness is refusing to blame any longer what someone else has done for making us feel and act in ways we would never choose. It provides the means to be and act the way we want to regardless of what someone else has done, thus taking back control of our lives. Such an inner sense of personal control has been strongly linked with better physical and mental health outcomes in a number of studies1. Forgiveness heals. To attain healing in the varied dimensions of our own lives involves learning to forgive, and to receive forgiveness. Jesus showed us how to do this. Of no small importance is the fact that Jesus frequently began his healing ritual with his words, “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” (This same forgiveness is suggested-but frequently forgotten-in the biblical passage about calling for the elders to anoint the sick: James 5:14-15.) Feeling forgiven allows one to give up the often mistaken notion that illness is a punishment for some behavior, and to believe that what God really wants most for his child is to become healed and well. Sometimes suffering an illness can be the means to larger healing of soul.
The importance of refusing to blame, and thus take back control of our lives, is illustrated in Jesus’ manner of dealing with the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:2-9). The pool had become a healing shrine, since the cultural belief held that when the waters became “troubled,” the first person to step in would be healed. (And it apparently worked, since the diseased continued to come.) For years, the crippled man in question had been full of blame because he had no help and was pushed aside by others in their rush for the pool. Thus he was doomed to continue in his crippled state. Perceiving that his victimization itself was crippling, or that (subconsciously) this man may not actually want to be healed, with kind sincerity the Savior asked, “Wilt thou be made whole?” Then, disregarding his excuses, and making him face up to the central issues and take personal control, the Lord commanded, “Rise, take up thy bed and walk.” And immediately he was enabled to do so.
Many studies demonstrate the incapacitating effect and emotional destruction caused by feeling that oneís life and behavior are out of his or her control. A low sense of control leads to all of the negative emotions, including fear, anger, guilt and helplessness. (If prolonged, each of these in turn can have significantly destructive physical effects.) On the other hand, a high sense of personal control brings all the positive feelings such as high esteem, confidence and strength, love, patience and hope. Note here that we are not talking about controlling others or the world out there, but rather being in control of ourselves in responding well, with great wisdom, to what is there. Feeling personal control, for example, one can respond to provocation with equanimity, kindness and mature confidence. On the other hand, feeling ” I have to be upset when they do that,” is as if another person or the situation externally had reached into one’s inner mechanism, and taken control of his behavior and feelings, causing these to be totally different than what he would have chosen.
When a person is able to give up blaming and victimization, and thus regain a sense of personal control, great things begin to happen (in all dimensions of his being: mentally, physically and spiritually.) The key to this happening is genuine forgiveness. The power of this concept to bring total well-being (health) may well be the reason the Lord said that not forgiving is worse than whatever the other did to us (D&C 64:8-10).
Scriptural Definitions of Health
It is important to realize how central the concepts of “health” and “healing” were to Jesus’ purposes.
We tend to connote health in physical terms today. This was not so anciently, and in fact, words for purely physical health are hard to find in biblical Hebrew and Greek. Even in our own time, the World Health Organization has defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not just the absence of disease.” It has been elsewhere broadly defined as “that quality of existence when man is at peace within himself and in concord with his environment.” There may be meaning in the fact that the closest word for “health” in biblical Hebrew is shalom (peace, completeness, well being, soundness). It becomes quickly evident that these are precisely the ends toward which the Master-“the Prince of Peace (Shalom)” was striving.
He came to bring “salvation” to mankind. It is of no small significance that the Greek word “soteria”, translated as “salvation” in the New Testament, was not a theological term originally, but rather meant “health, safety and security in general.” Thus the “Lord of Salvation” is precisely the Lord of Good Health and Well-being in its fullest sense, and all its dimensions as defined above. While we usually think of health in physiological terms (e.g. the ability of the body to withstand environmental assaults), such resilience extends to all dimensions of human experience. The difference between removing disease alone and real healing may be illustrated in the episode where Jesus cleansed ten “lepers” (Luke 17:11-19), but only the Samaritan who returned with profound gratitude to God was pronounced healed (vs.15) and whole (vs.19). Similarly, the Greek word sozo is translated in the New Testament as either “heal” or “save”. So when Jesus came as the Savior, he came as the great Healer, that is, the one who brings wholeness, and oneness, and peace. When he healed the bleeding woman (Mark 5:25-34), he told her, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace and be whole””
Love, the great healer
Nearly half of people coming to their physician with physical problems have significant anxiety. Some of this is situational and some is biochemical. Nevertheless, love has a biology to it: a shift in neurotransmitters in the brain that can heal. Many studies show a striking association being better physical health outcomes and loving relationships. Also, relieving anxiety and fear results in less illness. John wrote, There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear-“He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” (1John 4:18) And he that creates fear is not either. Being judgmental (even with the best intentions) disconnects us-the opposite of healing. That which brings oneness heals, and that which divides us is in need of healing. Love brings hope, which also itself heals.
So what then is the essence of healing? It has much to do with:
. Loving-(both giving and receiving) just as we are
. Empowerment-Giving and receiving a sense of personal control
. Forgiveness-Reconnecting and taking back a sense of personal control
. Transforming and deepening life-in harmony with one’s deepest values
. Hope-Creating positive expectation for something of value coming out of each of life’s situations
Each of these has been clearly proven in good studies to be associated with better health. If one would be a healer, as the Master was, or if one is in need of healing, these five listed principles are the essentials.
