FROM THE editors November 10, 2003 Issue

To be a healer

Throughout history, every culture has revered its spiritual healers. In many instances, healing was associated with holy men and women, who often cured without any material aids whatsoever. In the Old Testament, for example, the account of the holy man Elisha restoring the life of a Shunammite woman's son clearly showed that healing and restoration of life could be expected of those who dedicated their lives to God (see II Kings 4:18–37). Elisha was known as just such a man, and when the mother discovered that her son had died, she went immediately to the prophet, apparently without fear or hesitation. She fully expected that he would be capable of restoring her son. And he did.

Being a holy man or holy woman may have been the province of a select few in those early times, but today, being a spiritual healer doesn't depend on ecclesiastical training or even giving up one's career. Desiring to be a healer doesn't mean one has to live a life set apart from family and friends, dedicated to scholasticism or seclusion. In fact, even children, in their ready grasp of God's goodness, have been known to be healers. Being a healer requires only the love and selflessness that come naturally to every child of God—of whatever age. Jesus taught the basic principles of all healing. He said: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matt. 22:37–39). It is that simple, and pure.

To love God supremely and to love others as ourselves are the baseline demands of a healer. And in the simplicity of this teaching lies the freedom and possibility for everyone to become a healer. To see others as God sees them—whole, provided for, able, and beloved, the perfect spiritual beings that God created. And to see themselves that way, too.

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