Spiritual healers are people who create or stand as channels of healing between a divine source and a sick person. The belief that certain illnesses are beyond the help of the physical and rooted in the spiritual is a driving force for this means of healing.
Primarily supported by those who believe in the supernatural and the power of these supernatural forces to work on human affairs, these means of healing are regarded in science as alternative healing and have acquired claims of being effective through the years.
History of spiritual healing
Spiritual healers are prominent in the history of various religions and cultures, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and even Hinduism are religions that have strong tales of spiritual healers. While cultures from the African to the South American and even Asian have many traditional tales of the power and effect of a spiritual healer in their communities. These cultures have always had a strong belief in those who can cure sicknesses that affect humans beyond that which science can see.
Here healers were always perceived to be men or women gifted by the divine to grant healing when healing seems impossible to suffering victims. Buddhism, Christianity, as well as Islam, goes further to believe that many are born with the gift of being healers while going further to say that a person not born with the gift can work towards obtaining the healing power if only they live a life that leads them to a state of spiritual maturity.
This belief has stayed with many cultures throughout the years. Irrespective of the level of medical advancement, people still go in search of spiritual healers for solutions to their physical, mental and medical problems.
What do spiritual healers do?
They are perceived to be given the divine authority to rid people of sicknesses that seem incurable. The Christian doctrine has a stronger hold on the production of spiritual healers. Many pastors and priests have been acclaimed healers who have healed people with medically incurable illnesses, with some going as far as claiming that they have brought people back from the brink of death.
Their primary duty in most cultures is to pray or intercede. They become the link that speaks to the heavens on behalf of the sick one. Their prayers are trusted by those who seek them to be more effective in reaching the divine than if they had done it themselves. Their prayers and intercessions can last for as short as a one-time thing to as long as months, depending on the situation of the sick person.
The next major role of a spiritual healer is highly under-recognized but it is a huge part of their healing process. It is words of encouragement. Hope is a strong force for many sick people. The belief that things can be better even when there seems to be no solution because of the words and assurance of a healer is strong medicine. Using past examples and sometimes even hyperbole, they give courage to the sick and their loved ones, that their situation is nothing compared to what has been done.
What illnesses can a spiritual healer heal?
These divine healers have been used for more serious sickness for as long as they have been around. Those who seek them out mostly do when a situation becomes unsolvable by the regular medicines, or when medical help has failed in its ability to understand the issues affecting the sick person.
Cases that have proven difficult are taken to spiritual healers, cases from cancer, brain-related issues, emotional issues like depression, skin diseases and sicknesses related to the internal organs. These healers are almost always the last option for health-related illnesses.
Are spiritual healers supported by medical science?
Pseudo-scientific is a branch of alternative medicine that supports the concept of energy healing. This concept has been inculcated into the body of alternate medication, with medical practitioners recommending it for cases relating to depression as well as in cases related to oncology.
This branch supports the teaching that if the mind can heal then the body also can, through the use of supernatural healing energy which is transferred from the spiritual realm through the healer and then to the patient.
Why are spiritual healers the next best option?
Health is a topic that takes people to great lengths. A sick person or his caregiver will turn to every method there is to ensure that health is returned.
For many around the world, certain medical cases are beyond the scope of medicine, so once they have fulfilled the duties of going to a hospital, they instinctively turn to a spiritual, psychic, intuitive or energy healer.
The concept of the supernatural is a topic that still lingers in the mind of many around the world, and it does not seem to be on the verge of leaving.
Do spiritual healers really heal?
The truth about spiritual healers is not one that anyone can claim to know. The fact is that whether you believe they do or don’t, or whether they really do or don’t isn’t the point of their existence. The human mind wants to believe in something greater than them so that in situations beyond their capacity they can turn to this divine force. And maybe there is a force that truly supersedes us, humans.
For some, the presence of spiritual healers has given hope and joy to fight on in their struggle, they become a source of hope. It pushes them to believe that they can and will survive the ordeal. For others, the presence of spiritual healers is a means to hide from their faults and lay blame to a force greater than their control.
Whatever your position might be, the presence of spiritual healers cannot fade off as long as there are those who still believe in the supernatural or divine and if they can be of help to a patient till the very end then who are we to question what if they are real or not.
