On the need for scientists and healers to have an open mind

Barry Mapp — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:43:00 +0000

On the need for scientists and healers to have an open mind(adapted from an article “The Science of Healing and the Healing of Science” published in Resource Magazine September 2005, Author: Barry Mapp) Continuing to set the scene on Science and HealingWe don’t realise how much existing theories and beliefs prevent us from seeing new things clearly.A doctor who can suspend existing judgement about healers long enough to search the world’s literature will find plenty of published material (but not in the Lancet or the British Medical Journal) demonstrating that healing has “medical” effects worthy of further investigation.Equally “healers” are often unaware how their own theories and beliefs can prevent them from seeing things clearly and they too must be prepared to change their pet theories if they want to be accepted by the scientific community .So scientists and healers suffer from the same problem. They both use outdated concepts or “out-of-context” theories to explain how things happen. Healers are often using theories and explanations which go back thousands of years, whilst openly criticising the scientists who cling to Newton’s ideas that are much more recent.We need a pragmatic view of theory. No explanation or model is ever complete or “true” (see here). What is important therefore, is not to argue over who or what is “right”, but to find explanations or metaphors that are useful, that most people can accept, and that allows predictions to be made and theory to be tested.For example, some healers say that the cause of illness is “evil spirits”. A few hundred years ago or more this may have been a reasonable theory. However today this metaphor is outdated.Other healers invoke their religion, reincarnation, or their “spirit guides” as integral to their healing but none of these are essential to what they do. Such theories simply provide a stream of potential red herrings (and an uncomfortable feeling) for the scientist. If healers want their form of healing to become mainstream, and thus part of everyday medical practice, they have to conceive explanations that are aligned with present day context and knowledge (even if some of that present day knowledge is “wrong”).As Newton’s Thinking is still predominant in science, the healer must speak with metaphors that the scientist understands (rather than jumping on the Quantum Theory bandwagon as most are doing – a bandwagon that has yet to starting rolling in the corridors of power). In a later blog I will be sharing a Newtonian metaphor for healing.

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On the need for scientists and healers to have an open mind