Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 13, No. 1,1974
Editorial
Religion's Contribution to Health We have been privileged over a number of years to have as part of our vocation the task of reading, reflecting upon, making judgments on, and preparing for publication the written work of a wide variety of men and women concerned with the relation of religion to h u m a n health. We have k n o w n personally and talked extensively with m a n y of these people and sat in at m a n y of their seminars and informal gatherings. Some have become wise and faithful friends; some have become people whom we never knew in the flesh, but came to understand, appreciate, and even love through familiarity with their written thoughts; surprisingly few have become critical opponents; all have contributed something to our intellectual and spiritual growth: new knowledge or the support of familiar wisdom, challenge or confirmation o f our ideas, new insights into old truths, provocative questions about potential future discoveries and possibilities. All in all, it has been and remains a stimulating and varied experience, for the Journal is in its very nature a multidisciplinary effort made possible by the contributions of psychiatrists, physicians, psychologists, teachers, sociologists, historians, philosophers, anthropologists, biologists, and people from countless other areas of knowledge and practice. Central to the effort, of course, have been those concerned with religion: clergymen, counselors, people engaged in special ministries, teachers, priests, nuns, persons engaged in the many activities of religious ministry. The field of religion has been broadly interpreted to include Catholic, Protestant, Jew, humanist, secularist, as well as representatives of the great religions of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. We have tried to draw the circle as inclusively as possible, so t h a t n o b o d y with a serious and articulate concern about religion and health would be excluded. The major guideline has been t h a t the contributor should reach o u t beyond his specialty to express its relation to other disciplines concerned with h u m a n health and welfare. In our view all of us must learn to think, speak, and write in these broad terms if our specialized knowledge and skill are to add to h u m a n welfare. It is not only national, racial, and political barriers that are going down, but all the barriers t h a t separate human beings from one another. It cannot be otherwise if the h u m a n race and nature herself are to survive. We have often been tempted, in reflecting on the wealth and variety o f ideas and principles for human health and welfare t h a t have been brought to our attention over the years, to sift o u t a few basic ones t h a t offer wisdom
4
Journal o f Religion and Health
from the past and hopeful guidance for the future. Recently we yielded to t h a t temptation and offer herewith ten basic truths about religion and health. We suppose there could have been nine, eleven, three, or sixteen, but n o t one. Beware of a n y b o d y who offers one insight into all h u m a n knowledge or one answer to all h u m a n questions. Anyway, here they are: ten basic truths about religion and health. 1) What we think and feel has discernible effects on the functioning and material substance of our bodies. A person who loves life and wants to live it to the full has a better chance of doing so than one whose will to live is weak or broken. 2) What happens to our bodies has real effects upon our minds and feelings. Malnutrition, poverty, confinement, disease, injury, drastic interruptions or distortions of bodily processes make it hard if not impossible for people to think clearly and feel confidently and hopefully. The physical components of life, including the world of chemistry, medicine, all the material substances that go into us through air, water, and earth have effects on our minds and feelings. The interaction between mind and b o d y is constant, infinitely complicated, and unending while life lasts. 3) There is some kind of correlation between human health and ethical uprightness. Men have wrestled with this problem, which is essentially the problem of evil, for centuries. There are several different answers to be f o u n d among the world's religions and no inclusive, definitive one. But, as a practical matter, it seems clear that a sense of spiritual values and ethical integrity does help people to live better and even to enjoy life more. We all sleep better, eat better, work better, play better, and worship better when our consciences are clear and at peace. 4) We are all capable of more than we imagine. The unconscious is not only a chamber of repressed horrors, anxieties, fears, and prejudices, but also a reservoir of unrealized hopes, possibilities, and capacities. The work of therapy is not only to help us see and understand the bondage of the past and the power of m e m o r y and the u n k n o w n forces within us, but also to liberate our best impulses, energies, and powers so that we can move out into wider personal freedom and self-understanding. 5) N o b o d y can stand living and working at the top of his form all the time. Hence, as Maslow and others have taught, we should cherish and learn to live by our "peak experiences." We are strengthened, guided, and inspired by the m e m o r y of them. We live most of the time in anticipated or remembered light and glory. 6) Physicians are w o n t to say that the good doctor does n o t heal by anything that he does or medicine that he prescribes, but rather tries to establish conditions in which the healing forces of nature can do their work. This is true, and the corollary is that the expert counselor, minister, psychiatrist, psychologist, or friend does not offer a single prescription for health or wholeness. He tries to help each person, and in Charles Curran's phrase, " t o take counsel with himself," and hence to discover and release his
Religion's Contribution to Health
5
best capacities. He tries to help each individual t o b e c o m e t he best that he can he. 7) No person lives to himself alone. We find ourselves and com e to self-realization and fulfillment as we relate to ot her persons and groups with w h o m we share love, responsibility, work, suffering, laughter, e n j o y m e n t , creation, and discovery of the divine. N o b o d y can isolate himself, no m a t t e r how hard he tries. Each person m us t yield to something outside himself in order to save himself. That is the meaning of Jesus' saying, " H e that will save his life shall lose it, and he t hat will lose his life for m y sake shall save it." Th at is n o t a sectarian teaching, b u t a universal principle. 8) Th e physical side of life--the needs for f o o d , drink, warmth, sex, exercise, cleanliness, relaxation, s l e e F - s h o u l d n o t be despised or repressed any mo r e than the needs for p o e t r y , music, art, meditation, ecstasy, prayer, worship, the spiritual side of life, should be. Both are essential to h u m a n health and wholeness. 9) The best rule for creating sound hum an relationships is t he degree of personal responsibility we are willing to assume and bear for the welfare of the o t h e r or others in each relationship. This is the essential meaning of love--caring and affectionate concern. T o exploit a person or a group for one's own pleasure, satisfaction, or profit is the essence of sin, a violation of love. The right goal in any h u m a n relationship is to help the ot her becom e the best he can be, to take responsibility for one's own self, and, insofar as is consistent with f r eedom , for the ot her self, t oo. 10) Hu man beings are often limited and restrained in their choices by their own weakness, ignorance, or fear, as well as by conditions in the external situation over which t h e y have no cont rol . Yet t here remains to each person some area o f f r e e d o m and possibility where ethical choices can be made. If we cannot choose be t w een the best and the worst, as clear-cut, absolute alternatives, we can choose b e t w e e n what is b e t t e r and what is worse, what is cleaner and what is dirtier, what is brighter and what is darker. He who would help with the cure of bodies or souls must always r e m e m b e r t hat these aspects of personality are inextricably intertwined and t h a t these choices are always present. There is always enough f r e e d o m to make the moral struggle real. Even as we write these ten principles or affirmations, we can think of others. But these seem t o us after long reflection and experience to be reliable and true. L et t he m stand for now. Perhaps t h e y will arouse or provoke others to agree, disagree, or t o make their own lists. If so, t h e y will have served their purpose. It is i m p o r t a n t from time to time to t r y t o express the c o n d u c t of life in some basic essentials. The e f f o r t itself is a stimulating one. And, b y the way, keep y o u r sense of h u m o r . It is the truest mark of health. Harry C. M e s e r v e
Editorial
Religion's Contribution to Health We have been privileged over a number of years to have as part of our vocation the task of reading, reflecting upon, making judgments on, and preparing for publication the written work of a wide variety of men and women concerned with the relation of religion to h u m a n health. We have k n o w n personally and talked extensively with m a n y of these people and sat in at m a n y of their seminars and informal gatherings. Some have become wise and faithful friends; some have become people whom we never knew in the flesh, but came to understand, appreciate, and even love through familiarity with their written thoughts; surprisingly few have become critical opponents; all have contributed something to our intellectual and spiritual growth: new knowledge or the support of familiar wisdom, challenge or confirmation o f our ideas, new insights into old truths, provocative questions about potential future discoveries and possibilities. All in all, it has been and remains a stimulating and varied experience, for the Journal is in its very nature a multidisciplinary effort made possible by the contributions of psychiatrists, physicians, psychologists, teachers, sociologists, historians, philosophers, anthropologists, biologists, and people from countless other areas of knowledge and practice. Central to the effort, of course, have been those concerned with religion: clergymen, counselors, people engaged in special ministries, teachers, priests, nuns, persons engaged in the many activities of religious ministry. The field of religion has been broadly interpreted to include Catholic, Protestant, Jew, humanist, secularist, as well as representatives of the great religions of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. We have tried to draw the circle as inclusively as possible, so t h a t n o b o d y with a serious and articulate concern about religion and health would be excluded. The major guideline has been t h a t the contributor should reach o u t beyond his specialty to express its relation to other disciplines concerned with h u m a n health and welfare. In our view all of us must learn to think, speak, and write in these broad terms if our specialized knowledge and skill are to add to h u m a n welfare. It is not only national, racial, and political barriers that are going down, but all the barriers t h a t separate human beings from one another. It cannot be otherwise if the h u m a n race and nature herself are to survive. We have often been tempted, in reflecting on the wealth and variety o f ideas and principles for human health and welfare t h a t have been brought to our attention over the years, to sift o u t a few basic ones t h a t offer wisdom
4
Journal o f Religion and Health
from the past and hopeful guidance for the future. Recently we yielded to t h a t temptation and offer herewith ten basic truths about religion and health. We suppose there could have been nine, eleven, three, or sixteen, but n o t one. Beware of a n y b o d y who offers one insight into all h u m a n knowledge or one answer to all h u m a n questions. Anyway, here they are: ten basic truths about religion and health. 1) What we think and feel has discernible effects on the functioning and material substance of our bodies. A person who loves life and wants to live it to the full has a better chance of doing so than one whose will to live is weak or broken. 2) What happens to our bodies has real effects upon our minds and feelings. Malnutrition, poverty, confinement, disease, injury, drastic interruptions or distortions of bodily processes make it hard if not impossible for people to think clearly and feel confidently and hopefully. The physical components of life, including the world of chemistry, medicine, all the material substances that go into us through air, water, and earth have effects on our minds and feelings. The interaction between mind and b o d y is constant, infinitely complicated, and unending while life lasts. 3) There is some kind of correlation between human health and ethical uprightness. Men have wrestled with this problem, which is essentially the problem of evil, for centuries. There are several different answers to be f o u n d among the world's religions and no inclusive, definitive one. But, as a practical matter, it seems clear that a sense of spiritual values and ethical integrity does help people to live better and even to enjoy life more. We all sleep better, eat better, work better, play better, and worship better when our consciences are clear and at peace. 4) We are all capable of more than we imagine. The unconscious is not only a chamber of repressed horrors, anxieties, fears, and prejudices, but also a reservoir of unrealized hopes, possibilities, and capacities. The work of therapy is not only to help us see and understand the bondage of the past and the power of m e m o r y and the u n k n o w n forces within us, but also to liberate our best impulses, energies, and powers so that we can move out into wider personal freedom and self-understanding. 5) N o b o d y can stand living and working at the top of his form all the time. Hence, as Maslow and others have taught, we should cherish and learn to live by our "peak experiences." We are strengthened, guided, and inspired by the m e m o r y of them. We live most of the time in anticipated or remembered light and glory. 6) Physicians are w o n t to say that the good doctor does n o t heal by anything that he does or medicine that he prescribes, but rather tries to establish conditions in which the healing forces of nature can do their work. This is true, and the corollary is that the expert counselor, minister, psychiatrist, psychologist, or friend does not offer a single prescription for health or wholeness. He tries to help each person, and in Charles Curran's phrase, " t o take counsel with himself," and hence to discover and release his
Religion's Contribution to Health
5
best capacities. He tries to help each individual t o b e c o m e t he best that he can he. 7) No person lives to himself alone. We find ourselves and com e to self-realization and fulfillment as we relate to ot her persons and groups with w h o m we share love, responsibility, work, suffering, laughter, e n j o y m e n t , creation, and discovery of the divine. N o b o d y can isolate himself, no m a t t e r how hard he tries. Each person m us t yield to something outside himself in order to save himself. That is the meaning of Jesus' saying, " H e that will save his life shall lose it, and he t hat will lose his life for m y sake shall save it." Th at is n o t a sectarian teaching, b u t a universal principle. 8) Th e physical side of life--the needs for f o o d , drink, warmth, sex, exercise, cleanliness, relaxation, s l e e F - s h o u l d n o t be despised or repressed any mo r e than the needs for p o e t r y , music, art, meditation, ecstasy, prayer, worship, the spiritual side of life, should be. Both are essential to h u m a n health and wholeness. 9) The best rule for creating sound hum an relationships is t he degree of personal responsibility we are willing to assume and bear for the welfare of the o t h e r or others in each relationship. This is the essential meaning of love--caring and affectionate concern. T o exploit a person or a group for one's own pleasure, satisfaction, or profit is the essence of sin, a violation of love. The right goal in any h u m a n relationship is to help the ot her becom e the best he can be, to take responsibility for one's own self, and, insofar as is consistent with f r eedom , for the ot her self, t oo. 10) Hu man beings are often limited and restrained in their choices by their own weakness, ignorance, or fear, as well as by conditions in the external situation over which t h e y have no cont rol . Yet t here remains to each person some area o f f r e e d o m and possibility where ethical choices can be made. If we cannot choose be t w een the best and the worst, as clear-cut, absolute alternatives, we can choose b e t w e e n what is b e t t e r and what is worse, what is cleaner and what is dirtier, what is brighter and what is darker. He who would help with the cure of bodies or souls must always r e m e m b e r t hat these aspects of personality are inextricably intertwined and t h a t these choices are always present. There is always enough f r e e d o m to make the moral struggle real. Even as we write these ten principles or affirmations, we can think of others. But these seem t o us after long reflection and experience to be reliable and true. L et t he m stand for now. Perhaps t h e y will arouse or provoke others to agree, disagree, or t o make their own lists. If so, t h e y will have served their purpose. It is i m p o r t a n t from time to time to t r y t o express the c o n d u c t of life in some basic essentials. The e f f o r t itself is a stimulating one. And, b y the way, keep y o u r sense of h u m o r . It is the truest mark of health. Harry C. M e s e r v e
