Bouncing Forward by Michaela Haas PhD

Author:Michaela Haas, PhD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Enliven Books/Atria

Align with the divine

Strong faith can influence the positive outcome of an illness. For instance, in a four-year study with HIV patients, 45 percent showed an increase of spirituality after the diagnosis, while 13 percent decreased. 12 The striking conclusion of the study is that increased spirituality predicted a measurably slower disease progression, and the religious patients had a significantly greater preservation of healthy blood cells. The HIV patients who lost faith or experienced their God as punishing stunted their recovery. In other words, faith can have a tremendous impact on our health if the faith carries us through the crisis. However, we cannot force nor forge such a connection.

If we can connect with a compassionate force greater than ourselves, we have found a powerful ally in healing. Alain is convinced: “Faith can move mountains.”

In the Buddhist faith, the notion of karma simply means “cause and effect.” Anything we think or do has an effect, and anything that happens has a cause, even if we can’t see it. Alain understood the Buddhist faith to say, “You are very much responsible for yourself. The past is the past, you will reap what you have sown, but you are entirely responsible for what you do now.” When he mentioned this at a workshop, a woman raised her hand and shouted angrily, “So, you’re saying it’s my own fault that I have cancer?” Alain was taken aback. “I can only speak about myself. How astonishing that we can use absolutely anything to make ourselves feel bad. What I am talking about is an empowering message of responsibility, not blaming anyone or anything.”

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