Brain Healing – Meditation or Normal process?

I promise you the following story is true. I changed the names because all too many people (not to mention companies) still react badly to any sort of seizure disorder.

I would like to say at the start that I do not recommend “Anne’s” rationale regarding not taking her medication – that’s a dangerous course of action at best and the fact that it didn’t have a bad result in her case is mostly luck.

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Anne is eighteen and planning to start college in the fall. She is nervous and excited, both for the same reason – this is the first time she will be away for home for an extended time. She planned it that way by only applying to out-of-town colleges. It’s not that she doesn’t love her family. It’s just that the time to leave has come.

In addition to all of the usual stresses of starting college, she has an extra one. She has a secret – something she rarely talks about. As an infant, she was diagnosed with petit mal epilepsy and she must take drugs daily because of it. Since barbiturates and alcohol don’t mix well, she isn’t supposed to drink. Inside, she’s not sure that’s really necessary. After all, she hasn’t had a seizure in years – not since grade school – and even then it wasn’t anything the average person would notice. Unlike grand mal seizures, the kind where people fall down and go into convulsions, her seizures are just a sort of quiet blanking out in which she just stares into space.

Petit mal epilepsy diagnosed in infants often disappears naturally as the child grows older, disappearing during the teenage years. That didn’t happen in Anne’s case. In fact, she was changed to a stronger medication a few years ago. The doctors say that the chances of it healing itself now are slim. She only has electroencephalograms (EEGs) every few years now. This part pleases her because the test takes hours, mostly because it requires attaching a large number of electrodes to her head.

As a result of this secret, Anne does not have a driver’s license. She went through all the training but it’s difficult to get a license if you’re epileptic – it requires periodic certifications from a doctor that it is under control – so she didn’t bother. She also hasn’t had many boyfriends, but that’s mostly because her mother insists on telling any dates about her condition and what to do for a grand mal seizure – it’s so embarrassing, especially since she’s never had a grand mal seizure.

College. She’s finally here. She wants to fit in. That means, among other things, going to parties. She knows she’s not supposed to drink but reasons that if she only drinks occasionally and doesn’t take her medication when she does things should be OK. As far as she knows, there is no ill effect to this practice. Then again, given the nature of petit mal seizures, would she really know if one happened and nobody noticed it or told her? She’s not sure but decides not to worry about it.

This is the 1970s and the Transcendental Meditation followers are all around campus. She is interested and decides to try it. The cost is small and the idea is intriguing so she goes through their initiation. Anne considers the people running the program a bit weird but nice enough and the meditation feels good – relaxing – so she goes to some of their meetings and to the periodic “checking” sessions. She meditates twice a day – most of the time, anyway – but otherwise her life doesn’t change. She still socializes with friends and goes to parties every now and again. The meditation is relaxing, a way to reduce the stress of her college program.

Summer comes. It’s time for another EEG. Groan. Anne decides to try something a bit different. She’s bored with the whole process so she decides to “play with it” a bit by meditating while they do the test. When it is finally over, the technician tells her she fell asleep during the procedure. She tries to tell him she didn’t sleep but he shows the graph to her, pointing out the part that he says indicates sleep. She knows better but doesn’t argue further.

The test results arrive – there is no sign of epilepsy. Anne’s brain looks perfectly normal.

—

Anne believes that the meditation resulted in the healing of her brain – the ending of her epilepsy. On the other hand, it may just have been the end of the natural progression of the ailment. As I mentioned earlier, children often outgrow petit mal epilepsy. That could have simply happened later than expected.

Was it mystical healing or just the normal process of the human brain. What do you think?

 

I am a writer of fantasy, science fiction, and poetry. If you are interested in learning more about me or my work, check out my website at http://www.leomaretan.com.

 

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Shy Samaritan or genuine miracle?- Updated

Earlier this week, I wrote about the man, apparently a priest, who prayed with the workers trying to free Katie Lentz from a crashed car in Missouri and asked the question about whether the priest was an angel, as some suggested, or just a good person not interested in the publicity.

That question was answered earlier this week when the good Samaritan, Father Patrick Dowling of the Jefferson City Diocese came forward (reported by Fox News).  Father Dowling was in the area to celebrate a Mass in Ewing, MO, where the regular priest was ill.  He came upon the site of the crash and drove closer when it was safe to do so, according to a posting he made on the National Catholic Register last Friday night.  He only approached the car after obtaining permission from the Sheriff in charge of the scene.

In his words:

“I absolved and anointed Katie, and, at her request, prayed that her leg would not hurt. Then I stepped aside to where some rescue personnel and the (rescue helicopter) pilot were waiting, and prayed the rosary silently.

I left when the helicopter was about to take off …”

Clearly the identity of the ‘mystery man’ is resolved but the other question I previously asked still remains.

The fact is that Father Dowling prayed with Katie and the rescue crew.  Shortly after that, new equipment arrived and, unlike the earlier equipment, it was sufficient to complete the rescue successfully.  Was that just a coincidence or was it an answer to the prayers?

What do you think?

 

I am a writer of fantasy, science fiction, and poetry.  The themes I blog about run through my work.  If you are interested in learning more about me or my work, check out my website at http://www.leomaretan.com.

 

Defining Magic

Ask twenty people what there definition of magic is and you are likely to get twenty different answers – from ‘it’s all trickery and illusion’ to ‘the mystic forces in the earth are the source of all magic’ to allegations that it comes from god or the devil.  Personally, I believe there are two sorts of true magic (as opposed to stage magic).

The first sort encompasses phenomena such as out-of-body experiences as well as the abilities that generally are lumped together as psychic.  For the purpose of this discussion, I will ignore that many of the people claiming these abilities are charlatans and con artists.  I have experiences that are sufficient to me to believe that in some cases such phenomena do exist.  Where I depart from a many people is in my interpretation of these. Simply put –  I don’t believe there is anything particularly mystical about these abilities when they are real.  I believe they are the result of science we don’t yet understand.

The third ‘law’ espoused by Arthur C Clarke states: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”  I agree with him on that point.  Consider this – If you could take one of the new Ubuntu, solar-powered computers back a thousand years, how would it be viewed by the average person?  My guess is that, as in Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court”, it would be viewed as magic.

The other sort of ‘magic’ is more difficult to explain.  These are events that require some outside power, whether god or some other, for explanation unless you believe they are all just random chance (which I don’t).  It is the realm of miracles and of ‘callings’.  Miracles might sometimes be put in the first category – for instance in the case of people being healed of supposedly incurable diseases.

What about the case where someone feels a specific calling to do something, though?  I have specific insight into this because I believe I was ‘called’ in that way once, some years ago.  At that time, I found myself in a group of people that I had little in common with and would not normally have socialized with.  The end result of it is that I convinced a young girl not to take her own life.  I believe that was a calling from god.  Others might believe it came from some other great power or even that it was random chance.  I have no problem with people who believe it was a higher power by some other name but have difficulty believing that it was mere chance, largely because of the circumstances surrounding the whole event.

These are my personal views on magic.  I’d love to hear comments and alternative explanations from others.

If you are interested in learning more about me or my work, check out my website at http://www.leomaretan.com.

Mystic or High Technology?

Many people have a firm belief in things that are normally lumped under the title of “mystic” – mind reading, telekinesis, ghosts, out-of-body experiences…  The list seems endless.  Often the things people think they see are really the work of charlatans – sleight-of-hand and other trickery.

I have seen things, though, or heard of them from people I deeply trust, that are not so easily explained.  I believe that most people have experienced such things at least, though they may not admit it.  The question I raise is this:  When occurrences can’t be explained as trickery or random chance, what are we really experiencing?

Is it simply science that we don’t understand?  In many cases I think this may be the case.  For instance, the close connection that often occurs between twins might be explained this way.

Or is it something more?  What about miracles?

If you are interested in learning more about me or my work, check out my website at http://www.leomaretan.com.