I am exploring the variables associated with psychic breakthrough and spiritual transformation. People find themselves in unbearable circumstances that prompt them to try things that they would otherwise never think of trying. When people seek some kind assistance in a crisis, they might begin with religion. For example, they might turn to something that gives them faith, which we’re told can move mountains. Most religions call for emotional and intellectual investment in their beliefs and practices. Casual adherence to the faith will not do; certainly not if one is hoping for a miracle. But now for a strange illustration of the power of faith.
In the 1950s, a Dr. West was working on a drug called Krebiozen that initially proved promising. When a patient of Dr. West, a Mr. Wright, heard about the new cancer drug, he became excited and begged to receive it. The man was close to death, his body covered with swollen tumors, so the doctor injected the patient, hoping for some helpful results. Amazingly, within a few days, the tumors shrunk and melted away, and the man was released from the hospital, apparently healed and in fine fettle. For a few months Mr. Wright lived his life in good health, until one day he read an article in the newspaper reporting that Krebiozen had proven a failure in major ways. Almost immediately the cancer came back with a vengeance. Dr. West, however, invented a story that a different dosage was needed, and injected a healthy dose of water into Mr. Wright and lo! The placebo worked and once again the cancer melted away and the patient went back to living his life until he read another article about the worthlessness of Krebiozen. Once again the patient’s faith was wrecked, and the cancer promptly returned, and this time killed him.[1] The placebo and its miraculous effect demonstrates the causal power of the mind. It also demonstrates the vulnerability of the mind. In the case of Mr. Wright, the healing was caused not by the object believed in but by the act of believing, or, we might say, by his pistis, the New Testament word for trust, confidence, terms I prefer to faith that seems more related to doctrine and dogma. The trouble with Mr. Wright’s faith is that it was based, rigidly, on one thing—which in fact was a useless horse serum.
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