There seems to be no definitive evidence that something like faith healing is efficacious but this is another idea which pervades and persists. Many people are convinced that they can influence their own healing by thinking positively. And it has been shown, for example, that patients who have beautiful scenery outside their hospital windows recover faster than those with nothing pleasant to behold. The Alphomist prediction is that it will eventually be demonstrated that healing can be accelerated both by a positive attitude on the part of the sick person and by mental input from others. There is nothing unscientific about this. The probability is that the extremely powerful anti-viral and anti-bacterial mechanisms in the body are inhibited by stress and by a lack of positive attitude. All that self-healing involves is the mental effort to relax as much as possible, a focusing on the perceived site of the ailment and an encouragement of the body to fight off the invader. Where others are involved, as in the laying on of hands or through a form of prayer, there are, no doubt, real forces passing from the healer to the invalid. Probably almost any human can help any other one in this way but it is fairly certain that disbelief in the possibility will act as an ‘off’ switch. Whilst necessarily keeping an open mind on the matter, Alphomism suggests that there is enough evidence to take the risk-free gamble of believing in ‘faith healing’. The important caveat, however, is that the faith is not in a god but in ourselves. BACK