SpuriousMonkey - sorry to ignore your attempt to get back on course but just before leaving the faith/healing thing... About two years ago I saw a news item from a Canadian university where blind tests conducted in a local hospital produced results suggesting that patients who were prayed for recovered better than those who were not, even though none of the patients knew who was being prayed for or who was part of the control group. This sounds unlikely but I tried to check it out. However I cannot find any other reference to the experiment. Anybody here ever come across it?
I once saw a show on the Discovery channel where three religious teachers from around the world prayed for a vial of yeast in a reproduction-inhibiting medium, while a second vial was left un-prayed-for. over the course of a hour (sped-up film), you can watch as the prayed-for vial becomes clouded, then milky-white as the yeast reproduced at a vastly higher rate. The other vial remained clear for the entire hour. It was a fascinating show. I once cut myself to the bone on my left wrist (accident w/ and x-acto knife). I stopped quickly, dropped into meditation, and visualised pulling all of my red blood out of the area, while platelettes and white blood cells flodded the area. After a few minutes, I looked down, and while you could see deep into the cut (you could see bone if the wound was opened w/ your fingers), it did not bleed at all. not even a little red appeared. I did not wash or clean the wound, and it never became infected. 3 days later the area had re-sealed, and a week later, I had a small scar which today is nearly invisable. It's amazing what the mind and body can do when trained in how to do it.
