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By Rome Jorge, Lifestyle Editor
Who can we trust to heal us? Now that there are books left and
right on all sorts of treatments and self-help approaches, it is
best to think critically. Those who swallow any sort of medicine
with their eyes closed might just be hoodwinked into taking in snake
oil.
Holistic and traditional
New Age advocates a holistic approach to
healing. Holistic medicine considers the total physical, mental and
spiritual well being of a patient. Often, holistic healing also
propagates traditional and new age practices in their entirety
without separating spiritual and cultural aspects from purely
pharmacological and therapeutic components.
This is the anti-thesis of the established
pharmaceutical processes that are by nature
reductionist—isolating, identifying and synthesizing only the
active ingredients into tested, standardized and saleable medicines
with proper dosages and usage.
An example of the holistic and traditional
approach is Ayurvedic medicine. Ayurveda advocates claim their
practices directly originate from 5000-year-old traditions. However,
since these practices were largely undocumented and passed down
orally; much of what is practiced today was formalized by the
controversial Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1980s. Many of the
allegedly traditional or ancient cures have this same problem of
veracity.
‘Quantum Healing’ and
the ‘Law of Attraction’
Author Deepak Chopra, MD labels his own beliefs
as “Quantum Healing.” Derived from the term quantum
mechanics—a branch of physics that explains how subatomic
particles acquire or give off energy as packets or levels
(“quanta” as defined by physicist Max Planck) and states that it
is impossible to pinpoint the location of a subatomic particle with
infinite precision and that the very method we of observation
determines their behavior (as stated by Nobel laureate Werner
Heisenberg in his Uncertainty Principle)—the term “Quantum
Healing” as defined by Chopra describes the nebulous principle of
the mind correcting the body—or simply put “mind over matter.”
Chopra, in his book Boundless Energy, and Rhonda
Byrne, author of The Secret, also advocate the “Law of
Attraction”—the belief that we attract the kind of energy that
we put out attracts a similar energy. Think negatively and bad
things happen to you. Think positively and good things happen to
you. Chopra and Byrne’s books echo previous authors assertions on
the power of positive thinking such as the Silva Mind Control Method
by Jose Silva in 1977 and The Mental Cure by Warren Felt Evans in
1869. The so-called Human Potential Movement encompasses all these
similar beliefs.
Scientific studies as well as common sense and
experience affirm that self-belief makes our actions surer, a will
to live boosts our immune system and optimism allows us to notice
opportunities.
However, the “Law of Attraction” and other
Human Potential beliefs claim that our very thoughts have the
ability to directly influence physical reality and make things
happen and this is what many scientists dispute.
Critics such as biologist Paul Zachary Myers
allege that quasi-scientific teachings such as “Quantum Healing”
and “Law of Attraction” misrepresent and misapply proven
scientific principles such as quantum physics—which only applies
to subatomic particles—to bolster their own beliefs. While
brainwaves do have an electrical signal, it has yet to be verifiably
proven that these can influence physical reality on command. The
very label is a misnomer; “law” implies that it has a scientific
foundation when no such basis exists.
Journalist Stephanie Whittaker notes that the
testimonials and anecdotes mentioned to support the so-called “Law
of Attraction” are from people who live in affluent cultures that
allow them to change their lives for the better and none were
mentioned that came from truly oppressive circumstances. Even the
no-nonsense television host Larry King, in an interview about the
book The Secret and the “Law of Attraction,” inadvertently
debunks its assertion with his common sense comment: “The young
girl who was killed in Florida, her killer was found guilty
yesterday, did she attract that?” Experience shows that bad things
do happen to good people, even optimistic ones, despite their best
wishes and those of their loved ones.
Furthermore, critics contend that such
quasi-scientific assertions such as the “Quantum Healing” and
“Law of Attraction” are engineered to lack falsifiability—the
possibility that they can be refuted or proven beyond a shadow of a
doubt by observation or physical experiment. Instead, their
proponents misappropriate Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle to
protect their contentions. Personal anecdotes and interpretations of
the lives of famous people are offered as proof instead.
In contrast, scientific process and rational
thinking demands that any theory must be proven and that we must
consider all evidence, whether they support our claims or not.
Logically, despite a numerous anecdotal support and personal
testimonials, a theory can be disproven by even a single logical or
physical experiment. Only what survives skepticism and trial can be
considered truth.
A way of thinking
Philosophers and theologians also worry of the
logical implications of applying the “Law of Attractions” to
ones life: relying on wishful thinking instead of action; blaming
victims of natural calamities, accidents and crimes for their
suffering; shunning disturbing and unpalatable social issues instead
of confronting them for fear of their “negative energies;”
assuming an egocentric view and attitude; and wasting time and money
on such beliefs instead of taking approved medicines and therapies.
Many proponents of New Age thinking also have
vested economic interests in defending and perpetuating these
beliefs that support merchandise such as books, videos, clothing and
paraphernalia as well as the livelihoods of counselors, instructors
and lecturers.
As noted by Whittaker, though many of these
philosophies allege oriental origins, the outlook many of these
espouse as well as their application is often thoroughly western and
consumerist.
For their part, alternative medicine advocates
note that the large multinational pharmaceutical firms that
currently possess a very profitable stranglehold on approved
medicines have their own vested interest is attempting to discredit
alternative healing.
As the buying public, we can only use our head
to ascertain what is fact or fiction, cure or snake oil. Even for
the skeptic, it’s all in the mind.
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