The idea that illness has any connection to the mind or spirit has seemed absurd and unscientific in the medical community. In fact this separation occurred during the 17th century. The father’s of modern science, Galileo Galilei and Rene Descartes, removed metaphysics from physics, and psyche (mind, spirit) from soma (body). The reason for this is due to both the reductionistic ideology of science and the dogma of the church at that time. The church felt that this new science deviated from the belief in God. While scientists, such as Descartes, believed all natural phenomenon can be explained by science. This of course is another topic for a long discussion. To a degree we are still fighting this 17th century mentality, but there is a paradigm shift occurring. The scientific community is beginning to recognize the value in the unity of the psyche-soma. Perhaps we needed the concept of duality to grasp the value that the sum of the parts equals the whole. Scientific research now shows that emotions can derive from fluctuations in biochemistry, which can affect visceral systems and immunity. This occurs through neuropeptide receptors which can be found in many areas such as the spinal cord, brain, other vital organs, even on white blood cells. What this is saying, for example, is that organs can initiate an emotional response. Holistic medicine, such as Acupuncture and Homeopathy all identify emotional states with a corresponding organ (eg. Liver and anger, fear and Kidney’s). Furthermore, quantum physicists have demonstrated that entanglement exists in all particles. What occurs in one, occurs in the other no matter the distance of separation. This brings to mind a military study I read about, where they took saliva samples from participants, placed it in a distant area, while subjecting the participants to emotion-eliciting images. What they found was that salivary reactions that took place in the individuals also took place in the distant saliva samples. We have also learned, that our heart appears to receive information moments before the brain. Dr. Rollin McCraty, director of research for the Institute of HeartMath, discovered that the forebodings of good and bad news, defined as our intuition, showed variations in the electromagnetic waves of the brain and the heart. These waves registered in the heart prior to that of the brain. As science and spirit unite in our understanding of the world, we must also recognize that there may be things we still won't be able to explain.The fact is we are complex beings, entangled with the heavens. Let us evolve with technology and always ask questions. Isn’t it better to have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned?
Photo by Jorge Reyna (Unsplash.com)