Religion and Healing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Religion and Healing - Essay Example Religious healing causes a healing of the person as a whole as opposed to physical healing only and some people have even abandoned the medical doctors in search for religious healers. In this paper, a critical analysis of three religions would be conducted so as to identify the practices involved in comparison to common practice and Christianity. The three religions include Buddhism, Sikhism and Bahaism. There have been major conflicts between faith healing and biomedical practice in the modern era due to diverse perspectives by the two as much as there are coinciding views. Barnes and Seres note that there were dramatic changes in the 1990s that caused religious healing to become a common feature in the American society (2004). The number of synagogues and churches conducting healing services increased and the use of alternative therapies increased. Similarly, there were amendments on immigration laws that saw America flock with various cultural communities bringing in their approaches to healing. Some of these included the Buddhist priests from Cambodia, herbalist acupuncturists from China, Hmong shamans and the santeros from Cuba. Buddhism has been described by many scholars as a religion that focuses more on philosophic principles as opposed to beliefs like Christianity (Pilgrimage India, 2009). Buddhists believe that in his early life, Buddha, also referred to as the great physi cian, learnt medicine and gained knowledge on the nature of diseases and the cure which enabled him guide the other people into healthy living. Buddhism would not delve so much into the meaning of sickness but rather on what a patient needs to do to be whole. In this religion, suffering would be a consequence of anger, greed, lust or passion of hatred. In Christianity, these would be considered as sin which eventually cause suffering according to Exodus 17 (New King James Version). Buddhism argues that physical and mental wellness would be achieved through developing a centered and unified personal approach to life. The well being of the body would come through the synthesis of the body and mind where the psychological, physical and spiritual dimensions form a continuum and an active interrelation. While the common perception has been that the body and flesh; spirit and matter; and soul and body are distinct, Buddhists see all these as a process where these features are interdepende nt and one. The mind influences how the body would be. Therefore, hospitals should provide appropriate environment for people to be trained on meditative awareness no matter the religious principles upheld in the institution. The inner resources could be optimized for healing and for personal health responsibility. Buddhism does not involve miracle cures such as those conducted by Jesus in the New Testament (Kajitani, 2005). Instead, it deals with methods that involve one’s emotional elements which accompany pain and at times intensify it. Dalai Lama observes that happiness is not a result of feeling, but rightful thinking, which involves transformation of a person’s understanding of existent nature (Bryson, 2009). All problems are a result of negative thinking. Naikan therapy helps one appreciate their independence with others resulting to a positive force that offsets personal problems which induce negativity. Morita therapy on the other hand tries to close the gap b etween the world as it is and the world as thought to be by filling it with positivity. Buddhists uphold inner healing which would then translate to the physiological healing. Therefore, it would be important to respect their religion when treating them if the physician is from a

Can Technology Improve Our Quality Of Life Essay

Can Technology Improve Our Quality Of Life - Essay Example For example, when I was in high school for the second year, my teacher told me that she has to go to another country for her higher studies. I was worried about that because if I am going to study with another teacher, I will have to learn their style again to start with. So I told my teacher that I don’t want to study with another teacher. In the beginning, we don’t know what to do because we were very far away from each other and she could not just leave me even for one year. So we decide to use a webcam to have a lesson. It was very easy to have lessons online because I just need to put the webcam in a right place and we could start the talk. My teacher could see me studying and I could see my teacher too. We did this for one year and didn’t have any problem, and I got a very high grade for my final exam too. If I had to change my teacher, I will have to start to learn different style again under a new teacher. Moreover, my teacher was very much expert in music and the new teacher may not be so and that will cause difficulties for me to learn more about music in my high school. That will make me less expert than my other friends and classmates. Moreover, if I change my teacher, her styles and way of teaching may not fit my requirements. Technology helped me in retaining my teacher even if she had to leave my country. Such things may not be imaginable in 18 th or 19 th centuries. Thus the technology helped me in keeping the quality of my life. Technology can improve our communication too.