Literatus: Unseen among the seeing

Zosimo T. Literatus, R.M.T.
Breakthroughs

MARY Crowley, the late founder of the Home Interiors & Gifts Inc., once shared her own faith in God: “Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He’s going to be up all night anyway.”

Many believe that faith in God and science, even health science, are naturally incompatible. Religion believes in what cannot be seen; while science insists on believing what can only be seen.

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Lately, however, the world of the unseen has made its presence felt in the world of the seeing. Two psychologists—G. Ironson and H. Kremer—investigated the impact of the spiritual in the lives of those who were likely to lose it in the not so distant future: human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-diagnosed patients.

While it is generally accepted that spiritual transformation has expected impact to psychological well-being and general health, there is a gap existing on how it can improve patient survival.

In study published in the International Journal of Psychiatry Medication late last year, the duo reported that spiritual transformation resulted to better treatment success (such as disappearance from usual detection of HIV infection and high lymphocyte activator counts), better medication adherence, and fewer symptoms. In addition, they also listed other results: less distress, more positive coping, different life attitudes (that is, transcending issues of existence, finding purpose or meaning in life, optimism, and acceptance of possible death) and most notably, a survival of up to five years increased more than five-fold than otherwise.

A lymphocyte activator increases the number of small defensive blood cells in the body that are capable of destroying HIV while fighting secondary conditions.

Does it indicate a psychosomatic mechanism instead of being a result of divine grace? Maybe and maybe not. But one thing sure is that there is limit to what the mind can do, no matter how much man pushes it to accomplish.

And that one sure thing is: The mind can never will its body to immortality. Even if the mind stays sharp and strong, which does not always happen, when the body dies, the mind cannot do anything about it.

And yet, the mind as well as the man can choose to be wiser. Jean de La Fontaine, the most famous French fable-maker, observed: “Death never takes the wise man by surprise; He is always ready to go.”