I had an interesting conversation with two patients this past week, and it brought up once more the discussion regarding the role of faith in healing.
The husband of the couple I was talking to started:
“I know this back pain is never going to go away.”
“If you know it will never go away, then you are right- it won’t.” she replied.
“How can you even say something like that?” he said.
“When I had my car accident seven years ago, I had faith that my pain was going to get better- and it did.”
This led into a long discussion about faith- in the universe, in God, even in one’s self. How much of a role does faith play in recovery from pain? I posted about the role of prayer in pain relief last year, and the discussion caused some of the most interesting letters I had ever received. Some of them were so glad I brought up the topic- others were downright angry that I would include this in a blog devoted to practical solutions for back & neck pain- they felt there was nothing practical about it.
If you’ve followed my blog this past year, you know my family has gone through a lot of difficulty. For myself, faith (or Faith) helped me to cope. I’ve been asked why I think it did, and the best answer I can give is this: For me, the belief that there is an order to things, helps me to reconcile some of the bad things that may be happening right now- maybe I can’t see it, but I personally believe there is an underlying force to the universe and it generally leans towards good.
I always get flack whenever I talk crunchy like this, but this is the only way I have found to even partially explain the role of faith in my life. Everybody seems to have a different take on it though- and frankly, I don’t think it matters if everyone agrees- or even if everyone has faith.
In the end of the day, one thing becomes clear, and you will hear me harp on this point again and again: Psychology has as much to do with how you feel as your physiology, and if prayer or faith gives you more psychological tools to deal with your pain- then faith matters.
Have a great weekend!
This past week, we had a visit from our good friend, and Buddhist Monk, Thay Jiac Dung.
Tags: Andrew Kirschner, andy kirschner, Back Pain, back together, backtogether, faith, kirschner, Low Back Pain, Neck Pain, pain, prayer