metaphysical Archives - H e a l t h T h o u g h t s

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” – Thomas Aquinas.

I would respectfully disagree with both parts of that statement.

I didn’t use to be a person of faith. I wouldn’t accept anything without being able to understand and agree with it first. That made things difficult for my mother, since I resisted obeying her just because she said so. Even as a child I needed an explanation for everything. Sorry, Mom!

That I have deep faith today could be considered a minor miracle. But it’s partly because of explanations I received. It’s also from inspiration and actual evidence of my relationship with God. It’s not a blind faith.

My faith in God has come through Christian Science. And I gained it in a three-fold way described by the woman who founded the religion, Mary Baker Eddy.

Eddy was on a search for the “science” behind a spiritual healing of physical injury that saved her life. She knew, as she put it, “…that cures were produced in primitive Christian healing by holy, uplifting faith; but I must know the science of this healing and I won my way to absolute conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and demonstration.”

“Revelation, reason, and demonstration” has been the way it happened for me, too.

I’ve been able to reason and think through explanations of metaphysical and theological ideas to have them make sense. I’ve been inspired and had spiritual understanding revealed to me by a higher power. And I’ve also seen my understanding proved or demonstrated in my own experience, in ways that can only be attributed to God.

And the combining of those three modes has brought me to my own inescapable conclusions – to a consistent conviction that, as Jesus says, “…with God all things are possible.”

Rather than a blind faith, I would call mine a living faith, since all three things keep on happening. Day by day I need to reason through explanations, receive revelations in my understanding and witness demonstrations of God in my life.

For me, this winning combination has been a sort of spiritual triangulation that has made it impossible for me not to have faith.

(photo ©Glowimages – model for illustrative purposes only)

© GLOW IMAGES (model used for illustrative purposes only)

Can the caring at the heart of healthcare sometimes seem to get lost?

Many think it does, as classic family physicians have been increasingly replaced by time-constrained, clinical specialists.

Among doctors, such caring used to be called a “good bedside manner”. And after more than a generation of specialized training focused on medical knowledge and technical acumen, the value of empathy is being re-discovered and taught as an essential skill.

It improves the experience of both patients and doctors when medical professionals express clinical empathy, according to the Kaiser Health news service. The patient feels understood and cared about, has a better outcome and is more satisfied. The doctor in turn gets a better rating, faces less risk of malpractice suits and experiences decreased burnout. The whole system is benefited. (See “Efforts to Instill Empathy Among Doctors are Paying Dividends.”)

I too have learned how powerful empathy can be, in my journey as a practitioner of Christian Science healing. But I view it from a slightly different angle. To me, empathy for patients is not just a technique to show you understand another person’s emotions and share their feelings. Rather, it’s at the core of our desire to help one another. As children of a loving Creator, the capacity to care for each other is innate in all of us.

Trying to explain my faith

Empathy: crucial for effective healthcare