The essence of healing is an openness of the person to the flow of life within him. This life, the gift of the Holy Spirit, is the means whereby damaged tissues are repaired and noxious outside influences neutralized and eliminated. The surgeon may suture the wound, but it is the internal constitution of the patient that ensures that a healthy bridge of living tissue fills the breach permanently. The more we investigate the scientific basis of healing of diseased tissues, the more awe-inspiring is the intricacy of the process, and the more truly miraculous does the natural order show itself. Without faith, in the context of a trusting availability to the demands of the present moment, there is a failure to progress. The stagnation of life in a sentient creature finds its end in death. But if faith is restored in time, life flows into the inert organism and growth proceeds.
Jesus, in many of the healing miracles described in the Gospel, states that it was the afflicted person's faith that made him whole, that delivered him from his present incubus. But what is the full measure of that faith? Is it simply a blind optimism that all will be well in the end? If this were the case the final destination would be a hospital ward crammed with the sick and the dying. Indeed, on the level of earthly expectation, this is our common end - provided we are not killed prematurely in accidents or as victims of violence. But there are various degrees of inner preparation for the final scene of the drama of an earthly life. It is here that faith plays its special part. In the Gospel, the words of Mary, when the archangel Gabriel announces to her the conception of Jesus, are fundamental: "I am the Lord's servant; as you have spoken, so be it" (Luke 1:38). This is a trusting relationship with life, a confidence in the will and the ability of God to protect all those who have their being in him ("in him we live and move and have our existence", Acts 17:28). This relationship may be a directly personal one with the source of all life whom we call God, or else it may be an indirect, circumscribed one with one of his ministers. In this case, however, the faith must transcend the personality of the servant to attain knowledge of the source. In other words, faith finds its completion in silent acceptance of the divine power that creates the universe unceasingly, not merely alone, but in deference to the creatures contributions that vary in nature according to their ability to respond, think and love. Faith in a person alone is very liable to degenerate into infatuation, emotional dependence, and eventually a renunciation of responsibility and will. The agent assumes the nature and function of a private god, and can in turn exert the power of a despot. This is especially liable to happen to those who traffic in the occult scene or who turn to mediums for guidance in the management of their intimate affairs.
The term "faith healer" never fails to arouse intense hostility in me. It seems to contain, in the mind of the person who uses it, a suggestion that the minister of healing exerts a powerful psychic (or emotional) pressure (or attraction) on the personality of the one he tends, so that he demands absolute obedience and claims complete authority over the life of the sufferer. In other words, there has to be absolute trust in the agent, who assumes a masterfully directive role. And yet behind the façade of this imposing assertion of power there is a pervading, distinctly unpleasant aura of charlatanry, an esoteric jargon as well as an impressive display of personal magnetism. In the depths, however, there is nothing of any substance. The entire healing scene, and especially its esoteric faction, is pervaded by this scarcely definable yet distinctly unpleasant aroma of illusion. It is often emanated by the disturbed personalities of those who dominate that world and attain personal power and satisfaction through it. Indeed, they, like the crowd around Jesus' cross, do not know what they are doing. They can as easily destroy as create, raze to the ground as lift up to heaven. They are driven by a force from without that soon harnesses the vital energy within: evil lies close to goodness in the healing world.
It would seem impossible that the healing ministry could have a dark shadow side as well as the radiant warmth of love. But we have to face a universal law that the completely harmless is also certain to be completely ineffective. It is indeed a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, for in his presence nothing can remain concealed any longer. In the same frame of reference we recall that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, does not come simply to bring peace on its own, but first of all a sword (Matthew 10:34). The same consideration of motivation and integrity applies with equal force to those who work within the ambit of the mainstream Christian tradition; their profession of belief is no guarantee of their motivation or even the sanctity of their ministry. We remember once more Jesus' caustic rejection of those who acclaim him but do not perform the Father's will even if they display remarkable charismatic gifts (Matthew 7:21-23). The operative word here is "will": is it God's will or merely the uncleansed human will that is the directing force?
The Antichrist, the power of negation that works towards the annulment of God's creative work by the submergence of the whole cosmos into the darkness of chaos, may well display a benign, if not benevolent, face. I could easily imagine him dispensing bodily healings with profligate abandon to a large assembly of people even in a place of worship, so that the blind could see again, the deaf hear, the lame dance up and down the aisles with joy, and the near-dead rise up to new life to view the present spectacle with a vivid interest. And then he would say, like Jesus himself to the disciples after the resurrection event, "Follow me". Christ leads us to the abundant life of true relationship with ourselves, our neighbour and with God. The Antichrist betrays human relationships, corrupts truth and sullies beauty until his final end has been attained: annihilation into non-existence. The Christ, by contrast, raises up all created forms from the separate identity of the individual to the corporate union of the whole whose source and end is God. In the work of resurrection the ego self that is sacrificed is raised up into the true self that contains within it the spark of God. It is evident that a blind faith in the ministry of a healer can as easily lead to destruction as to wholeness. And, as we have already seen, the religious affiliation of the minister is no guarantee of his soundness.
How then can one discern an unsound healing agent from one that is reliable? We remember in this respect that all healing and power have their original source in God. His Holy Spirit infuses all beings with existence and life. The statement of Jesus to Pilate is extremely relevant here: when Pilate affirms the authority he has to release or to crucify Jesus, he is told by Jesus that he would have no authority over him if it had not been granted from above, and therefore the deeper guilt lies with the ones who handed Jesus over to him (John 19:11). In other words, they had used the power of God quite deliberately to perpetrate a murder, using Pilate's civic authority as their weapon. The power of the Holy Spirit both builds up and casts down. The demonic elements in creation, whose origin is shrouded in mystery but whose existence is ultimately under divine control inasmuch as God is the one supreme Creator of all cosmic forms and powers, are as much infused with the one power as are the agents of healing, reconciliation and light. It may well be that what we quite rightly call evil also has its part to play in the creative process; without it a drowsy complacency might tend to envelop the creature, so that it ventured no movement to spiritual awareness. This could be the way of spiritual evolution; unlike animal evolution, the will of the creature is involved in a free choice. Such an approach at least views evil not as something to be destroyed so much as to be converted and "saved" in the context of being brought into a healing relationship with eternal life. But here silence is more eloquent than discourse: we learn by experience rather than by argument. Whatever may be the answer, it seems that an extended process in time is needed before the creature may know the all-embracing love of eternity. This is the experience of the personal love of God infused into the whole body of creation which now functions as a coherent totality. Evil is shown in divisiveness, whereas the good binds everything together in a union of mutual regard whose essential quality is love.
We should have no truck with evil - on this no morally aware person would disagree. But the question is how best to deal with it. Our very attempts to overcome it may let it attain mastery over us. Indeed, the world is a strange place, and life teaches us many unusual lessons. We have already seen how, in the peak of understanding, Jesus' teaching about non-resistance and co-operation with antagonistic agencies is the very basis of heaven. But for the challenge of evil forces, these final truths would remain hidden, since there would be no living thrust to evince them. But when they are brought out, a new generation of believers is born and a new world of enlightenment established.
It is no coincidence that God and Satan work hand-in-hand in the matter of Job's afflictions. Without these pains he would never have come to a mature self-knowledge (and also a critical appraisal of the traditional teaching that suffering is the inevitable fruit of sin, and a life of religious propriety has its certain worldly reward in prosperity and health). God sees to it that Job's life is preserved, but he does not interfere in any of the agony inflicted on him by the evil one. Only when Job has stood up to his adversity and refused to cower before the face of a traditionally all-powerful God of unquestioned righteousness, hoping thereby to attain a reprieve of his suffering, does God reveal himself directly to him. The experience is such that the shell of security under which Job had previously sheltered is shattered, and he can now confront the world with a confidence that does not depend on pious observances but on an overwhelming awareness of God's prodigal concern for every creature he has made. What he feared most did indeed befall him and without mitigation, but he emerged a person of a completely different stature to that of the wise philanthropist, a role he once so much valued. While in no way uninvolved in the world, he could now see his home in God and not in earthly matters. And so his new family relationships were more secure than the original ones, for there was no longer any clinging to people to provide strength and comfort. This is a hard way, the way in fact of bereavement, but the fruit is sustaining in a way that purely worldly rewards never can be. The fruit of bereavement is a growing intimacy with an ever-increasing number of people. Whereas worldly rewards come to an end, the deeper relationships of suffering fully mastered grow in extent as well as intensity far beyond the limits of this life.
Therefore, an unsound minister of healing is one whose own personality is so far from integration that he needs the assurance of positive results to strengthen his self-confidence. To be sure, he may be a member of a Renewal group and all glory may be given to Jesus, by whose Spirit the healings take place, but in fact it is the ego consciousness of the minister that is in charge and demands obedience. The same principle applies to those who work under a spiritualistic guide or the aegis of a group exploring the occult dimension. Such a person tends to demand absolute loyalty to himself no matter how impeccable the ultimate source may be regarded. The healer usually has scant regard for other healing agencies; medical practice especially is regarded as the dark rival, and every attempt is made to discredit its practitioners. Sometimes the client may be forbidden medical contact altogether.
A typical instance of this exclusiveness concerned a friend of mine with a slowly progressive, ultimately fatal, disease of the central nervous system called motor neurone disease. At one time it was called progressive muscular atrophy, and this is indeed how the condition manifests itself. There is a progressive wasting of the muscles of the upper and lower limbs so that the victim eventually becomes quite helpless. In due course the muscles of respiration also waste away, and the person succumbs to breathing problems. At present there is no effective treatment other than general measures to support the patient as efficiently as possible. It is hardly to be wondered at that the victims seek desperately for alternative means of allaying the relentless progress of their malady.
My friend fell into the hands of a medium who forecast recovery provided she did not seek medical treatment. At the same time someone else prescribed a cranky diet for her. It is noteworthy that non-medical healers, whether spiritualistic or Charismatic, often seem to avoid facing the fact of death. This is a surprising situation, since spiritualists are especially committed to the after-life (which they tend to portray in glowing colours, except for the very evil members of society or those who are spiritually undeveloped), while Charismatics are closely involved in the resurrection of Christ and the succeeding pentecostal downflow of the Holy Spirit. In neither group should death be simply accepted as a sad termination of the present life, but rather welcomed as a time of transition of the person to a new and finer realm of endeavour! Of course, premature death cuts short the person's experience on earth, and so is to be averted as far as possible, but there comes a time for us all to make our departure, a very welcome time, I believe, at least for those of us whose lives have been devoted to our neighbour as well as to ourself. Motor neurone disease attacks the older age group, and my friend was in her early seventies - no great age nowadays, but one in which the major events of life have had time to make their impression on the character of the individual.
Despite the prognostications of the healing medium, her condition deteriorated steadily and eventually she had a frighteningly severe succession of choking attacks at home. Her visitors, aware of the medium's prohibition, were loth to consult the doctor, until someone with common sense realized how culpably ridiculous they all would look if she were to die without medical attention. And so the general practitioner was called in. He helped her through the attack, but, of course, could not influence the progress of the malady. After this event, my friend discharged the medium (who, needless to say, thrived financially from her ministrations), and enjoyed a normal diet once more. A beautiful serenity came over her; she ceased to struggle, and learned to accept each moment of life as it came. She began to know something of the peace of God that passes all understanding. She lived on for about nine months, enveloped in an aura of benediction. She stayed as active as her condition permitted; as is usual in this disease, her mind remained clear to the end. This is another distressing feature of the malady: the patient witnesses with mounting apprehension the deteriorating function of the voluntary movements of the body. But, in my friend's case, the dread had been transmuted into a peaceful co-operation with the forces of nature that were to free her at the right time of the burden of a failing body, so that the true-self could enter a new plane of experience.
It would be as unfair to label all psychic healers as charlatans as to exonerate all Renewal ministers from the charge of ever having misled their flock with false claims. I have known Christian ministers of healing allegedly representing the highest ecclesiastical sources delude the dying ludicrously with assurances of complete physical recovery. Nor is the medical profession exempt from criticism; it too has its share of black sheep who batten on the sufferings of the incurably afflicted with therapies of little proven efficacy. But qualified doctors are members of a learned profession, and their actions are controlled by a general medical council that deals expeditiously with allegations of malpractice and misconduct. At the same time there are defence societies that assist their medical members, both legally and financially, when actions alleging bad or inadequate treatment have been brought against them by patients who have suffered ill-effects while under their care. Medical practitioners, in other words, are under the close scrutiny of the law, and litigation is a nightmare that keeps them fully about their business of treating their patients as efficiently and humanely as possible.
It is unfortunate that spiritual healers as well as those who use alternative therapies of various kinds do not have their own disciplinary bodies. It is also unfortunate that there is still so little dialogue between the medical profession and practitioners of alternative approaches in the vast subject of healing. One observation, however, does strike home: the conscientious doctor remembers his failures with shame, whereas the practitioner of alternative therapies (including spiritual healing) is much more likely to boast about his successes. Those who do not benefit in a tangible way soon dissolve into anonymity. The failure to improve is easily attributed to disobedience or poor faith. Is faith indeed more necessary for spiritual and alternative types of healing than for medical treatment? On one level the answer would appear clearly affirmative: drugs and surgical operations produce their predictable effects on the body (and mind) by virtue of their distinctive properties. But even here the situation is complicated by the placebo effect: even an inert preparation can produce some amelioration of symptoms if the patient believes it to be effective. Hence there is the necessity of double-blind trials to assess the efficacy of any new drug: neither the research worker who administers it nor the person who receives it knows whether the substance is in fact inert or potentially effective, so closely do the two preparations resemble one another. This form of testing allows for the psychic response between the doctor and the patient, both of whom would crave for a successful reaction for personal reasons (of compassion and also the scientific triumph over disease on the part of the doctor; of sheer relief on the part of the patient).
In fact, trust between practitioner and patient is essential in all forms of therapy, whether medical, psychological or alternative. In the last two categories of healing a deep relationship between the two is obviously important, because there must be a close psychic link between the therapist and the client for the free flow of the Holy Spirit, who is the true restorer of function. The same principle applies also to orthodox medical practice, but nowadays the powerful drug or surgical operation tends to interpose itself so categorically that the practitioner is in danger of becoming little more than a skilled diagnostician who can prescribe the appropriate treatment. The "bedside manner" of a past generation of doctors may well be contemptuously dismissed by their successors as a mere substitute for proper treatment, but even the most effective therapy cannot by itself foster the trust built up by a close working relationship between doctor and patient. The drugs prescribed may play an invaluable role in curing the disease, but healing of the person needs something apart from this contribution: an openness of the psyche to the creative power of life which shows itself in growth, maturity and, eventually, like a ripe fruit, termination for another round of existence. These considerations may well lie outside the range of conventional medical thinking - after all, we are not all skilled metaphysicians. But then we need another class of healing ministers to repair this deficiency. It is precisely here that alternative medicine, and especially spiritual healing, may have its unique part to contribute.
The concept of holistic medicine is very topical, but its actual meaning is often blurred by prejudices and enthusiasms on the part of various practitioners. It aims at treating the person as a whole: body, mind and soul are to be integrated into a single unit by various forms of therapy. Often, unfortunately, it is the alternative contribution that dominates the intentions of the therapists, while orthodox medical practitioners stand aloof with derision from what they regard as primitive superstition, if not frank charlatanry. Since the double-blind type of trial is usually impracticable in alternative medicine, its claims to efficacy depend heavily on anecdote. This, while not to be disparaged, is too subjective to be acceptable to a scientifically detached observer. Only personal experience can truly convert him to a more sympathetic attitude. In fact, real holistic healing is more profitably understood as the openhearted collaboration of all the various therapies in humble mutual acceptance for the good of the individual as a member of society. The one therapy does not disparage and try to supplant the other so as to demonstrate its own superiority. On the contrary, the practitioner sees his work achieving the best results when he co-operates most fully with his peers of other skills. The orthodox allopathic discipline must at present necessarily have overall charge and responsibility, because its results are far more predictable than those of other therapies, and it is remarkably effective in a steadily increasing number of bodily disorders. But it should not dominate the healing scene. Chastened by the unpleasant side effects that from time to time mar its efforts, it should willingly take its place as first among equals rather in the fashion of the master washing the disciples' feet. It is humility alone that can bring the various agencies of healing into the union of loving service for the afflicted person and ultimately for divided humanity. Each arm of the healing ministry has its own place, but it can work effectively only in the context of the whole body.
Therefore, we should have faith in no one other than God (or the creative principle of life, for those who cannot accept a personal deity). We may have confidence in the skill of a medical practitioner and his paramedical colleagues, such as nurses, physiotherapists and psychologists, in the same way as we do in the skills of lawyers, accountants and artisans of various trades. In each instance the confidence ripens into trust if we feel a bond of emotional sympathy between them and us. This emotional sympathy deepens into psychic communion as the relationship grows in healing work. In alternative medicine this deeper fellowship is mandatory if a progressive healing is to take place. In the case of Jesus, his ability to attain such a relationship with anyone who was willing to receive him was instantaneous, and then the Holy Spirit flowing from him in unique strength could effect healings that still elude scientific explanation. And these "miracles" occur today also, as in my own healing encounter with Constance Peters which I described earlier. Let it be said at once that this type of event cannot simply be attributed to the influence of the patient's mind on his body - an extension of so-called psychosomatic medicine. The effects are so immediate that the patient's mind is bypassed, later to be transformed as a result of the unexpected healing experience. This does not mean that "miraculous healings" will never be open to a truly scientific explanation, but simply that the tools of science at present available are incapable of coping with these matters. Hence most scientific observers find it easiest to discredit paranormal healings, a prejudice if anything confirmed by the uncritical acclaim afforded them in both spiritualistic and Charismatic circles.
We should remember that the Holy Spirit, that Person of the Godhead who guides us progressively into all truth - such as we are able to assimilate at any one time - enlightens the understanding of the scientific research worker whether he investigates the complex structure of the body in the orthodox medical tradition or the intricacies of the mind in new fields of psychology. He fills the souls of all those who minister healing with compassion. It is only when love and compassion enter into human reckoning that the coldly intellectual thrust of so much scientific research may be deflected from sensational procedures of debatable morality to a warm regard for the sanctity of all life. God has indeed put enormous power into the human mind so that we control our domain of lesser creatures. But the power can as easily be used selfishly, and therefore destructively, as selflessly, and therefore beneficially. The field of healing from down-to-earth medical practice to the rarefied heights of spiritual ministration, illustrates this ambivalence quite starkly. But whereas medical practice can often proceed fairly satisfactorily with only slight spiritual vision, the heights of healing are intimately involved in that vision.
It may well be that humanity is now able once again to continue the healing work of Christ, so long submerged by the momentous developments in physical, chemical and biological science. Certainly a more holistic approach to health becomes increasingly necessary as orthodox medical research threatens to submerge moral considerations in a vast sea of expediency. The well-being of the sick person may in the end reside in a changed outlook rather than a restoration of a previous pattern of existence. The dispensation of spiritual healing peculiar to the apostolic period may quite probably be in the process of renewal in our obsessively materialistic society, to show us that true health lies in the transfiguration of the psyche and the resurrection of the body to spiritual excellence.