In a small Midwestern town, a once vibrant 24 year old lies in a fetal position on her sofa. She has been in that position since early morning. It is now 3 o’clock in the afternoon on a sunny day. She, however, is unaware of the passing time. Her anti-depressant doesn’t seem to be working as well as she hoped. She is caught in the grips of severe depression. On the west coast, a high powered marketing executive sits at his desk pouring over the latest sales data on a product line. The stress of an upcoming presentation weights heavily on his mind. At the end of his work day he makes his way, as usual, to a bar around the corner. He orders a couple of drinks hoping to relax. When he arrives at home, he has one more drink before going to bed. In a large city on the east coast, a middle aged woman is experiencing terrible headaches, weight gain, ringing in the ears, and other problems. She has gone from internists to specialists and undergone a battery of invasive tests that reveal nothing. The doctors tell her the problems she is experiencing are in her head. She is developing a mistrust for the modern medical system.
The people in these three scenarios are in either physical, mental, or emotional distress. They are all seeking health and wholeness, which is the restoration in wellness for the body, mind, and spirit. Sometimes traditional healing methods do not alleviate the physical, mental, or emotional conditions, and in these cases it is often remarkably helpful to seek out an alternative healing practice. Spiritual healing is just one of the many alternative healing practices to bring about health and wholeness for the body, mind, and spirit. In fact, I have often found that when conventional therapies do not offer explanations it is because the underlying causes are not physical.
What does it really mean to receive this type of healing, and how is it accomplished? Some of the world’s greatest spiritual healers have been called upon to heal all sorts of complaints including physical, mental, and emotional conditions. Let’s now look at three renowned spiritual healers who have impacted many people.
The Most Amazing Healer of All Time
According to the written records we have, Jesus Christ was perhaps the greatest spiritual healer in history. Most of the narratives we have about him concern the remarkable array of afflictions he was able to alleviate, yet he, himself, said he was not the one actually doing the healing, but the source was God. He said his healing was the touch of the Spirit of God bringing about the transformation. Being in tune with the Divine Source he and his disciples healed many kinds of illnesses and afflictions including lameness, blindness, insanity, leprosy, and deafness.
Healing was generally done through laying on of the hands, the spoken word, or even from a simple touch to his garment. In some cases, he did not even have to be present with the person for healing to take place. In order to receive the healing, the receiver had to want to get well and have faith in Christ’s ability to heal, because it is said that he was not able to do healing in Galilee where the people did not believe he could.
Bringing a Scientific Approach to Christian Healing
Mary Baker Eddy was a modern day spiritual healer and founder of Christian Science. Her journey to healing began when seeking physical healing for her own ailments, and she experimented with alternative remedies and therapies. Mary Baker Eddy was also seeking to understand the relationship between the mind and body, and through her deep and continued study of the Bible she made discoveries on spiritual healing. The basis for her healing came from her perception of life as a manifestation of the Spirit. Spirit and only Spirit is seen as the source and substance of all being. Once that is realized and accepted the body responds by manifesting health. The healing is realized and it flows spontaneously.
A Modern Prophet and Healer
Edgar Cayce was another spiritual healer in modern times. His writings emphasized the spiritual nature of mankind, and he believed because of the demands of our lives, we forget our true nature which leads to a disconnection from our spiritual nature. Besides our physical bodies, our true reality lies with our soul and its connection to our spiritual source. Our minds are what focus our energies on positive or negative expressions through our thinking, beliefs, and emotional reactions. This will eventually lead to expressions on the physical plane. Meditation, diet, exercise, and prayer were a large part of his healing techniques. Cayce believed there had to be a balance between the body, mind, and spirit.
It is clear that all three of these profound spiritual healers believed in healing and wholeness and were able to draw on spiritual resources available to all of us. The discord and disharmony of physical, mental, or emotional illness need not be a part of our lives. In order to become whole, the seeker must connect with something beyond the mind and the five senses. Once this is accomplished, inner peace is achieved, the mind becomes calm and healing begins to take place which results in a shift to higher levels of consciousness as well as alleviating many forms of suffering.
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