Editorial February 20, 1995 Issue

Prayer and the search for healing

Russ Gerber

To what extent are people seeking healing? Most of us probably know firsthand of individuals who long to be healed of some difficulty. Indeed, we may think of ourselves as one of those individuals. We might also look at the amount of money people are spending on both conventional and alternative methods of treatment. If that's our yardstick, I think we'd agree that the search for healing is enormous. A widely quoted study suggests that Americans are spending $14 billion a year on alternative methods of treatment alone.

The important question is, What will help seekers, all seekers, find what they need, in the deepest sense? A simple and significant answer is prayer. We are helped in our quest for healing when we have an honest, humble desire—which is a form of prayer—to know what it is that produces health. It's a desire, however, that doesn't assume at the outset that the answer has to do with manipulating a physical condition. Nor should we assume that knowing what produces health rests upon expanding our knowledge of biochemistry or psychology, or awaiting the development of some new technology.

Prayer that leads us to the deepest answer includes turning away from—better still, shutting out—man-made, material theories altogether, and turning our thought in a completely different direction. This involves opening our thought to the revelation of Spirit, God.

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