There are two truths that are in all major religions and spiritualities:
1. There is one God. Please don’t argue that other’s interpretation is wrong about this. It’s like arguing which interpretation of “I am” is, “Je suis” (French), “Soy” (Spanish), “私はある” (Japanese) or “Я” (Russian). It’s not the interpretation, it’s the meaning behind the word.
2. The Golden Rule: ”Treat others as you would want to be treated!”
When we follow those two, everything else is easy!
Here are some of my own philosophies, principles and values I have developed over my 24 years of spiritual study:
1. There is no such thing as “constructive criticism”! People who need to criticize others in an effort to “help” them are just not enlightened enough to find words that actually support the other person with the same suggestion. There is such a thing as “constructive compliments!”
2. Prayer and visualization has a physical effect that can be measured!
“The results demonstrated that patients who were prayed for suffered “less congestive heart failure, required less diuretic and antibiotic therapy, had fewer episodes of pneumonia, had fewer cardiac arrests, and were less frequently intubated and ventilated.” Statistics demonstrated the the prayer group had a statistically significantly lower severity score based upon the hospital course after entry.”
- Hodge, D.R. 2007. A Systematic Review of the Empirical Literature on Intercessory Prayer. Research on Social Work Practice 17: 174-187.
- Byrd, R.C. 1988. Positive Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer in a Coronary Care Unit Population. Southern Medical Journal81: 826-829. [online paper]
In a recent experiment conducted by Roure et al, they found six specific autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses that correlated with mental rehearsal, thereby improving sports performance. The subjects were placed into an imagery group and a control group. The task measured in each group was based on their ability to pass an opponent�s serve to a given teammate, in the sport of volleyball. The experimenters measured the variations of the ANS during the motor skill and during the mental rehearsing sessions. The results of the test revealed a strong correlation between the response in the actual physical tasks (both pre- and post-test volleyball) and during the mental imagery sessions. There existed a difference in the skills between the imagery and the control group, the former being the better. This study showed that mental imagery induces a specific pattern of autonomic response. As a consequence of the ANS, the imagery group was associated with better performance. In light of this experiment, Roure suggested that metal imagery may help in the construction of schema which can be reproduced, without thinking, in actual practice (Roure, 99-108).
Roure, R., et al. (1998). Autonomic Nervous System Responses Correlate with Mental Rehearsal in Volleyball Training. Journal of Applied Physiology, 78(2), 99-108.
