Eric Nelson’s article Redefining the mind-body connection in the March 23 Community Digital News ties closely to the goal of this blog – to promote thought and conversation in Kansas about the effect of thought on health. While the connection between qualities of thought and health are being recognized by many, is there something foundational that is often overlooked? Please consider the ideas in the excerpt below and follow the link at the end to read the full article.
As trailblazing as it may seem, the field of mind-body medicine may actually be stuck in the mud, trying in vain to extract itself from the idea that matter is the be-all and end-all of existence.
Even as it acknowledges decidedly non-matter-based factors like compassion, companionship and an absence of stress as essential to our health, the approach is still pretty much centered on the idea of a largely matter-based brain generating matter-based chemicals that help to improve a matter-based body.
No doubt this is a huge improvement over the days when the body was seen as little more than a biomechanical construct, altogether separate from the mind. But until we’re willing to consider an entirely different basis of being – one that’s not in the least bit matter-based – it’s doubtful we’ll be able to make it much further down the road.
“The question is, when is that? Is that next Tuesday or is that 500 years from now? I don’t think it’s next Tuesday,” says Dean Radin, chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. “The investments in medicine and science have a huge amount of inertia built into them, and so it’s not likely to change any time soon.”