Faith and Healing

A New Book in Progress by Patricia Rain

My experiences with cancer have been transformative in many respects.  The support I have received from my family, many friends and acquaintances has been so gratefully appreciated.   Having people worldwide pray for me was incredibly surprising and also healing.  To know that people who have never met me personally would give their time and energy for my well being is nothing short of a miracle.

In addition to receiving prayers, mantras and love, I also was given advice and even sent items that people believed would heal or even cure me.  This brought forth the anthropologist in me, making me want to explore in depth the ways that we look at healing and whether faith has a primary role in the healing process.  Even the question of what faith represents is, in itself, intriguing as faith has different connotations to each of us.  And so I began my personal exploration as I worked with healers and doctors.

What has come out of this is the beginning of a book on faith and healing.  My hope is that I will be able to visit some of the people worldwide who have prayed for me and to talk with them about their personal beliefs.  I have interviewed healers here, spending time with Dr. Gyatso in discussing the essence of Tibetan medicine, and talking with Mantak Chia, a Chinese Qi Gong master born in Thailand but trained in China.  I have also interviewed energy healers, people who move energy using acupuncture, reiki, and other esoteric methods of healing.  I hope to go to Cuba, spend time in Mexico, visit Master Chia’s healing clinic in Thailand, visit a charismatic pastor and his congregation in Uganda, and meet with a Hindu farmer at the source of the Nile who actually dedicated 63 days of prayers in his local temple for my benefit.

It will take time for me to complete this book, but my hope is that it will provide inspiration and also a greater appreciation of the many ways we treat illness, injury and disease around the world.  If you have someone that you believe I should meet and potentially interview, please write to me to let me know.  If you have suggestions ideas that you trust and wish to share with me, I invite you to let me know. 

We’re all together in our small spaceship and I believe it is our gift to one another to share what we have to give and to have compassion for each other’s joys and struggles. Miracles happen all the time, some big some small, all important.  Please join me in creating more miracles with this book and in our lives.