Medicine’s Great Secret: The Placebo and Nocebo Effects
By Tom Taffel
* Photo – Animal Magnetism Unmasked
Emergence International Conference, Seattle, Washington – 10/5/12
The word “medicine” comes from Latin meaning “to cure – it’s the art of healing.” Notice, it is not healing per sé, but the “art” of healing. Its purpose is the prevention and alleviation of disease.
There is no doubt that matter can change matter, but matter cannot heal matter because healing is spiritual regeneration, a change of thought; resulting naturally in a changed body. If all disease is caused by fear, ignorance or sin, than disease must be cured by healing its cause: fear, ignorance and sin as we actively reflect divine intelligence.
Medicine exchanges one belief for another belief. Take aspirin for example. The Bayer pharmaceutical company added caffeine to its aspirin as a catalyst to make it work faster. Many people were exchanging their headaches for insomnia due to the caffeine. Bayer now makes caffeine-free aspirin
Many drugs (especially pain-killers) are highly addictive, so you may alleviate the pain, but could potentially induce a life-long addiction to an expensive, illegal, constipating drug.
Many medications are deadly poisons, or are derived from deadly poisons….such as snake anti-venom.
Is modern medicine an effectual remedy or cure? Have you ever listened to the disclaimers and side effects of advertised drugs on television? Surely you have heard of snake-oil, elixirs, bogus tonics, and medicine dances with their magical spells. Those with rather expensive taste might have sprinkled gold dust on their food. I am not sure what gold dust does, other than put a hole in your pocket.
Just about everything you eat or drink can be considered medicine. I love European horse radish, licorice and blood oranges. Every time I eat them, I am curing something. But what about water? Do you consider water to be a medicine? Well, if you were dying of dehydration in the desert, wouldn’t water be life-saving and be considered medicine? That is why I cannot tell you what medicine is or what it is not, I just know that it is dependence on something other than God.
I was once given a taste of my own medicine … but I don’t remember what it tasted like!
No one would doubt that a pill can change a physical condition. The issue is why a non-medicated placebo pill, intended to change the same condition, works … in many cases … equally well?
Let’s take a good look at the placebo.
Having no medicinal ingredients, a placebo is a sham; typically a dummy pill or an un-medicated sugar pill, known in the medical profession as the “lie that heals.” In a word, it is deception, plain and simple … it is simply deception.”
Did you know that 30% of those receiving a placebo or a dummy pill will experience an improvement of their symptoms? Some studies place the efficacy of the placebo phenomenon as high as 75% and yes, there are accounts of the placebo outperforming its medicated counterpart! To put it another way, three quarters of the benefit derived from the drug was actually from the placebo effect. Studies have found sham surgery more effective than real surgery, as embarrassing as that might be to practitioners of material medicine – but for me, the most amazing aspect of placebo usage is that it works …. even when the patient knows they are receiving a placebo …. they still get the placebo effect! Yes, knowing they are getting a placebo … they still get better sometimes – due to a response expectation in which their brain chemistry is changed without any chemical assistance.
In essence, if a patient believes a drug will cure him, it will – and if he does not believe it will cure him, then it will not cure him. You could say that the placebo is a form of self-hypnosis.
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, August 25, 1977 was this arresting statement from Proceedings of the Mayo Clinic, “From antiquity to this era of medical enlightenment, (the) placebo has been the single most potent and versatile tool for relieving the sufferings that man is heir to.
Changed matter does not necessarily result in a healed condition or a permanent cure; whereas spiritual healing always involves spiritual regeneration of thought, the result of drawing closer to God; growing into the awareness of our true identity – as spiritual beings – not material bodies.
We should not limit placebos to medicine alone as there are sugar-coated words and sugar-coated deeds, as well. Deception is deception and the truth is the truth.
In her many writings, especially in the Christian Science textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” Mary Baker Eddy gives us ample examples of the placebo effect, something she had studied and administered herself as a young student of homeopathy. [See page 33 of “Retrospection and Introspection” under “Medical Experiments”].
(On page 152): “It is related that Sir Humphry Davy once apparently cured a case of paralysis simply by introducing a thermometer into the patient’s mouth. This he did merely to ascertain the temperature of the patient’s body; but the sick man supposed this ceremony was intended to heal him, and he recovered accordingly.”
Four pages later, on page 156, Mrs. Eddy tells how, (when practicing homeopathy, herself), she administered a placebo, (“unmedicated pellets” she called them), to a woman suffering from dropsy and witnessed the woman’s cure from the placebo.
The very origin of the word is revealing. From Latin: “placebo” means “I will please.” Its purpose is to satisfy. If you think about it, up until fairly recently, medicine was mostly well-intended guess work and magic, and for the most-part, placebos. The history of medicine is the history of the placebo.
So what makes the placebo work?
Although based on pure deception, the Placebo Effect is all about the expectation of healing. It is all about hope and hope is not merely positive desire or wishful thinking; hope is desire coupled with the expectation of fulfillment. Hope is the power behind the placebo and it is hope that gives a pill the power we want it to have to change matter, but placing our precious hope in persons, places or things is not the hope which is infused with God’s healing power.
True hope carries with it the confidence that our desires are possible. If our desires weren’t possible, they would be false hope. As we read in Psalms, God gives us the desires of our heart. He does not give us false desire or false hope.
Why is there so little difference between a placebo and an antidepressant drug for most people? Because material medicine’s cures are always based on the interplay of mind and matter. Chemical ingredients, injections, lotions and potions do not change thought, but changed thought changes the body – whereas uplifted, spiritualized thought – establishes our perfection, our atonement with God and this right identification instantly heals the body, permanently.
In answer to the question: “are the results lasting?” – I would pose another question: “Why do they sell aspirin in quantities of 100 pills?”
The doctor called a patient: “Mrs. Cohen, your check came back.” Mrs. Cohen replied, “So did my arthritis.”
Mortal mind is fickle and at times, quite convoluted. For example:
Why are placebo capsules more effective than placebo pills?
Why are placebo injections more effective than placebo capsules?
Why is placebo or fake surgery more powerful than capsules, pills or injections?
Why are placebo brand names more effective than generic?
Why are higher price placebos more effective than lower price placebos?
Why are blue placebo pills more effective for sedating, calming and relaxing patients, and
Why are white placebo pills more effective for blocking pain – in fact, more stimulating than any other color?
The placebo effect is based on hope. Hope is not just desire – but the expectation that our wishes and aspirations will be fulfilled. Spiritual healing, on the other hand, is the natural (inevitable) result of transformed thought. Prayer, as taught in Christian Science is based on positive expectation as it naturally negates the negative.
The “Negative Placebo” or the “Nocebo”
The “negative placebo” or “nocebo” – (again coming from Latin), “nocebo” means “I will harm.” We know about the nocebo in Christian Science as “aggressive mental suggestion” with the operative word being “suggestion.”
The nocebo, or dark side of the placebo, is the very opposite of the placebo, making people worse rather than better – based simply on their expectations. The nocebo promotes fear, anxiety and suffering but rest assured, it is only a negative suggestion.
Have you ever thought about all the possible side effects of advertised drugs? Their warnings are alarming, as recommended use can sometimes result in death, making the cure worse than the ailment. With that mental set-up, it is no wonder these so-called miracle drugs sometimes have less than miraculous results with people dying in the process of getting well. Sometimes I think a miracle drug is one that still has the same price as it did last year.
Under whose laws do you subject yourself? Do you subject yourself to the laws of the medical establishment, the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry and their modern chemical compounds, or, under the ageless laws of Divine Mind, Life, Truth and Love?
Aging and the Nocebo Effect
Aging and the nocebo effect go hand-in-hand and carries with it a whole host of anticipated problems, ailments and conditions. So what are your expectations? Do you intend to lose your eyesight, your hearing and your hair? If so it is just a matter of time and your expectations will be realized because you will into your life the very feelings and goals you ask for. And speaking of wills…..
A patient shook his doctor’s hand in gratitude and said: “Since we are the best of friends, I would not want to insult you by offering payment. But I would like for you to know that I have mentioned you in my will.”
“That’s very kind of you,” said the doctor emotionally, and then added, “Can I see that prescription I just gave you? I’d like to make a little change.”
We are constantly bombarded with false suggestions designed to be accepted as our own thinking. I would say that 90% of all commercials are nocebo messages, that is, false suggestions which would subtlety implant personal or impersonal, present or future – images of sickness and error in our consciousness. Recent research has revealed that the placebo and nocebo effects are not dependent on conscious awareness. The unconscious mind can be just as powerful an influence on the body as the conscious mind!
Never under estimate the harm a harmless suggestion can have! Throughout human history, the nocebo message has brought about contagions and mass hysteria. Just because everyone believes it – does not make it true or trustworthy. There was a time when everyone believed that the world was flat? Mortal mind is not in an objective position to cure what it has just created. Perpetuating a lie is much easier than stopping it, and correcting it with the truth.
Mrs. Eddy was so far ahead of her time and has given us wonderful examples in “Science and Health” (154:10) of the nocebo effect. “A man was made to believe that he occupied a bed where a cholera patient had died. Immediately the symptoms of this disease appeared and the man died. The fact was, that he had not caught the cholera by material contact, because no cholera patient had been in that bed.”
And again on page 379:9 “A felon, on whom certain English students experimented, fancied himself bleeding to death, and died because of that belief, when only a stream of warm water was trickling over his arm. Had he known his sense of bleeding was an illusion, he would have risen above the false belief.”
A placebo need not be a pill. It can be a person, a place such as Lourdes, France, or a thing such as medication. Miss-placed faith in Saints or practitioners of healing is all too common. Mrs. Eddy wrote a clergyman in “The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany,” Page 118. “A saving faith comes not of a person, but of Truth’s presence and power.”
Our good friend, Bible scholar and former Key Note speaker Laura Moliter, C.S. reminded me of II Kings chapter 5; the story of a great man, (and leper), Naaman. Elisha told Naaman he could be healed of leprosy by dipping in the river Jordan. He was “wroth” when he was reminded that just because this wasn’t a “great thing” to do, it was still the prophet’s simple request. He then set aside his reservations and believed in the “remedy.” One might say that his healing – after the seven dips in the Jordan River – was not because of the waters of the river, but because of his faith in the one giving the “prescription.”
The Profit’s direction to Naaman to wash in the (very unimpressive) Jordan River did not imply a miraculous quality in the water of the river, but was intended to test his faith and expectation.
Let me give you a firsthand account of how the nocebo effect works. As I recall, back in the fall of 1968, the New York City Police Department had a legitimate complaint which was not being addressed, and being city employees, were unable walk out on strike; so every day, the officers called in sick. To give their cause more public traction, they agreed to call in with a specific illness. The Hong Kong flu was chosen as the “illness du jour.” No cases of the Hong Kong flu had yet been reported in the United States. Each night the evening news broadcast the cumulative number of stricken officers. Local newspapers began announcing the statistics on their front page. Within weeks, New York City was overcome with the “Hong Kong Influenza Pandemic.”
From the textbook “Science and Health,” page 196:31-5, “The press unwittingly sends forth many sorrows and diseases among the human family. It does this by giving names to diseases and by printing long descriptions which mirror images of disease distinctly in thought. A new name for an ailment affects people like a Parisian name for a novel garment. Every one hastens to get it. ”
I find the names for drugs very clever with their imbedded subliminal messages: “Celebrex” – “Effexor” – “Gardasil” – “Lunesta” – “Singulair” – “Zoloft” – “Fixodent” and for older men with prostate enlargement and difficulty urinating – “Flomax” – for asthma – “Advair” for diarrhea – “Lomotil” and do not not forget the ever-growing king of virility and vitality – “Viagra.” Do you remember the television show “Marcus Welby” back in the 70’s. Do you know what the “Marcus Welby” subliminal message is? “Make Us Well.”
And speaking of doctors: A man told his doctor that he wasn’t able to do all the things around the house that he used to do.
When the examination was complete, he said, “Now, Doc, I can take it. Tell me in plain English what is wrong with me?”
“Well, in plain English,” the doctor replied, “you’re just lazy.”
“OK, now can you give me the medical term so I can tell my wife?”
… just one more doctor story …
A man goes to the eye doctor.
The receptionist asks him why he is there.
The man complains, “I keep seeing spots in front of my eyes.”
The receptionist asks: “Have you ever seen a doctor?”
The man replied, “No, just spots.
What is our best defense against nocebo messages and how can we prevent these negative thoughts from taking root in our consciousness in the first place? From the “Church Manual” page 42:4 “Alertness to Duty” – “It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily, against aggressive mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind.” We can all handle (or “de-handle”) nocebos simply and easily, daily, as they arise.
Error wears many masks. Sometimes it comes to us as a mild annoyance, and other times it appears as a giant fire-breathing dragon, but error is error; a lie, a false belief, a hypnotized state of thought — and weather it is a big or a small problem, it is still nothing. I know that is easy to say, and far more difficult when it happens to be our (big) problem, but 200 + 200 = 500 is not one hundred times more difficult to correct than 2 + 2 = 5. The difference lies in a few zero’s or in the fear factor. But why be afraid of zeros – it is just another way of saying “nothing.” And yet, the presence of zeros or the lack of zeros on a financial statement can grab your attention rather quickly. A 100-watt light bulb can completely dispel the most dense darkness with the flick of a switch, and if that is not sufficient, the next light switch is even easier to find – in less darkness.
Sometimes we encounter error on a big scale which requires our complete confidence and “radical reliance” on the power of the truth to adjust and heal. Getting back to our 100-watt light bulb illustration, the bulb does not need to gather the facts, the history of the darkness, survey the gravity of the situation and contemplate the degree or density of the darkness it must dispel. It simply does its thing, naturally, effortlessly and without hesitation. Looking back, we need not ask: “Where did the darkness go?” because it was nothing to begin with. Darkness is only the absence of the light and sickness is only the apparent absence of the Truth.
When the teacher asked: “How can you prevent diseases caused by biting insects?” Suzie replied: “Don’t bite any!”
When tempted to bite off a little more than we can chew, (metaphysically), Mrs. Eddy admonishes: (S&H 329:14) “One should not tarry in the storm if the body is freezing, nor should he remain in the devouring flames. Until one is able to prevent bad results, he should avoid their occasion.”
Now, I don’t mess around with poison ivy, rattle snakes, tarantulas and crocodiles. I don’t light cherry bombs on the Fourth of July and I don’t jump out of airplanes … because I am not yet able to prevent their “bad results.” I think parachutes have their place and I respect the fact that – you don’t need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice. But why jump out of a perfectly good airplane?
My fiancée’s father, a great CSB, (and father-in-law, to be), gave me wonderful, fatherly advice. He said: “Tom, don’t over-steer your spiritual headlights.” Mrs. Eddy states on page 444 of S&H “If Christian Scientists ever fail to receive aid from other Scientists, – their brethren upon whom they may call, – God will still guide them into the right use of temporary and eternal means.” God always meets us where we are. He never abandons us.
Nocebo messages can be subtle or overt, future or present – negative suggestions, which have no power until they enter thought and find lodging in our consciousness. The nocebo suggestion or animal magnetism is nothing; it is not real and it has no power, because it does not exist in reality. It has no more cause, substance, law or power than the false belief that 2 + 2 = 5. What does it take to correct a mathematical mistake? Understanding and applying the truth – and it need not take a long time, involve a process or require growth and study.
In a nutshell, animal magnetism is simply a term used to describe the supposed absence of the Christ; the denial that God is all.
Like the nocebo suggestion, animal magnetism hides out, (and seems to exist), in human consciousness. That is where it resides; in our own thinking…no one else’s thinking — in our thinking. That is why we do not need to correct anyone else’s thinking. Trying to change another person’s thinking is as futile as trying to fix 2 + 2 = 5. The problem is only our perception, and that’s what needs to be fixed.
Some college students took three lambs and spray painted them with the numbers: 1, 2 and 4 and released them on their college campus. For days, the campus security tried to find lamb number 3.
Speaking of college students, during my teaching days, I never failed to explain to my students the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Why is it wise, if not vital to begin every Christian Science treatment by nullifying the apparent effects of the nocebo or animal magnetism? … Because animal magnetism is what impedes healing. It would have us believe that all problems, (disease, poor relationships, lack of supply, lack of harmony, aging, our national debt, et cetéra), are real. Remember, animal magnetism always takes the form of a person, a place or a thing as its identity in order for us to believe it to be something, true and real. When unmasked, we see it is not a person, place or thing, but only a false belief or suggestion in our consciousness – not the other guy’s thinking, but in ours alone. That is why we do not need to change a problem, only our thinking about it. In the example of 2 + 2 = 5, we are not responsible for making “2” larger or “5” smaller in order to fix the problem. Fussing around with matter, manipulating and trying to improve matter is never the solution whereas knowing the truth – knowing that which is true about any situation – leaves no room for error – when consciousness is filled with the all-ness of truth.
Like the nocebo effect, animal magnetism disguises itself as someone else, somewhere else or something else and hides out as our own thoughts. Trying to define animal magnetism is like trying to define darkness. It is not something – it is the absence of something, in this case, the absence of Truth; the absence of light. So we need to stop making something out of nothing and stop fussing around with matter and turn on the light. Then watch the darkness vanish quickly, effortlessly and without argument – because in the presence of light, darkness eliminates itself. There is no hesitation in truth. 2 + 2 = 4, instantaneously. There is no hesitation, shades of gray, or a partial – almost right answer. What comes from God is true now, yesterday and always.
When we understandingly declare that God is all, all-power, all-presence, we have destroyed the belief that animal magnetism is real or has any power over us. Living as children of light may on occasion have its dark days and sometimes feel like we’re walking through “the valley of the shadow of death.” If that is what’s before us at the moment, we know we have our “impervious armor” … so just do it and be done with it. You do not need to stop and pitch a tent! Keep it moving, keep on growing. God is the world through which you walk, and you make of it, what you will. As you walk through His world – following the shepherd and not the sheep – you will bring into your world, light, joy, love, peace, even your own parking place!
You are responsible for what you see – the feelings you experience, even your goals in life. Your expectations will result in what you experience, so expect good, and you will bring abundant good into your life. We accept into our lives the happiness, freedom, health, liberty and prosperity we think we deserve, so if you think you deserve more health, happiness freedom and prosperity – change your expectations and that is exactly what you will experience. Mrs. Eddy states: “Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.” (S&H 261:4)
If you understandingly believe that God is the world through which you walk, then you take with you – your dominion over the pernicious false belief that animal magnetism or any nocebo is real, has power and that it can supplant Life, Truth and Love. The truth of God nullifies both the placebo and the nocebo effects as it promotes true, lasting healing – (unlike those harsh laxatives) – in a gentle, comforting manner.
Does Christian Science treatment work in combination with medical treatment?
To answer that question, let me give you an illustration. It will be a somewhat exaggerated hypothetical approach to solving a theoretical problem.
For the next few minutes I would like you to think about the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, but instead of those monumental figures of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln, I want you to erase these powerful figures in your thought and replace them with new, imaginary numeric figures of equal size. Visualize, if you will, 60 foot high granite numerals displaying … (in their place) … the equation: 2 + 2 = 5. Imagine this new imposing work of art – to be seen by students of art as a work of great beauty, by some as a statement of the vulnerable state of the human condition while others will see your creation as functional, non-representational art. Now hold that thought for a moment as we analyze how a material approach to healing might possibly work.
But we must stop at this point, because underlying this new grand artistic creation of functional art which you have just imagined is a fundamental flaw: 2 + 2 does not equal 5. So now we need to change or heal the physical problem. Which comes first…the healing, (or correction of mistaken thought), or physically changing the stone around? Healing must come first. Recognizing the error enables us to correct it. With healed thought comes physical healing – as the two coincide and become one. If we reverse the process and start with physical change rather than its causation, we might very well make any number of further mistakes. By changing the problem before correcting the error behind the problem, you could actually end up exchanging the mistaken “5” for a more conservative “3” or perhaps a kinder, more gentle number “6.” Mortal mind offers endless erroneous possibilities.
Now that the error has been uncovered and the truth which the error was trying to hide has been revealed, we may proceed to change the “5.” Now it is time to call in the very best team of expert stone masons and sculptors from around the world who specialize in granite – to operate on our imagined problem. They first study the photo images, (aerial X-rays), and then thoughtfully examine and discuss, hash and re-hash the physical problem. They need to re-think, re-design, reconstruct and restore the work. Some suggest a radical approach – amputate the “5” and reattach it after making modifications, while others want to repair the “5” with new high-tech composite granite. From an esthetic standpoint, it is even proposed to radically change the Arabic numeral into a Roman numeral for more impact, but that idea is quickly dismissed as being too risky. The august team of physicians is divided. Some say fix it. Some say replace it, while some want to start completely from scratch. They each have a different approach to the problem. They are not of one mind and are all going in different directions, based on: their personal preferences, their past experience, background, training, cost considerations, insurance issues, natural temperature fluctuations, history, the age and strength of the carved stone as well as the latest studies and advancements on the nature of granite reconstruction. So it is advised that a special ad hoc committee be formed – introducing a psychologist and a media expert to try and reduce the interference and come to a consensus. Well, I think you know where I am going with this analogy. Mixing medical treatment with Christian Science treatment is not a healing combination because they are antagonistic.
Christian Science treatment starts and concludes with one Mind, God and never departs from the principal that God is supreme. Everything God made is good. His law supersedes mortal law and is always present and is always in operation – whereas medicine is matter changing matter. So, when tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.
Just as there are “minds many” there are lots of human opinions and remedies to fix a problem, but does that heal the underlying cause of the problem? You cannot amputate a bad thought. You can easily change the error from 2 + 2 = 5, to 2 + 2 = 3, but that only exchanges one erroneous belief for another erroneous belief, and yet, as well intentioned and beneficial as that change might seem under certain circumstances, the underlying error remains un-healed.
The primary motivation and motive of the pharmaceutical industry is simply to make money; in fact, to make a great deal of money; so curing people is anti-productive. That is like shooting yourself in the foot. Offering a cure is good business. Curing disease is bad for business.
Unlike material medicine, spiritual prayer is not expensive. It’s available to everyone, rich, poor, young and old. It is warm and inviting and has no side effects. The only after effects are transformed thought, happiness and healing … “the manifestation of grace and spiritual understanding.” (MBE)
One of my favorite lines in the text book is in the Preface: (xi 16-17) where Mrs. Eddy refers to “… a divine influence ever present in human consciousness.” I love the assurance of that statement. Isn’t that a powerful, healing thought? Just think, in each of us there is a divine influence ever present in our consciousness. Are you aware of that “ever present,” – “divine influence” in your consciousness? Your thoughts are part of God’s thoughts, and He is the Mind with which you think.
Do you recognize the power of your holiness? When Mrs. Eddy speaks of that “gentle presence, peace and joy and power” – that is your holiness. Do you allow your holiness to bless the world and everything you see? Let us all make a resolution to tap into that “divine influence” in our thinking and bless the world through our individual holiness. Entertain those angel thoughts, guides and guidance, and let it envelope and bless our world. That is why we’re here; that is our true function: to save the world through our holiness. Just think, there are no limits, no pain, no lack, no guilt or man-made laws of restriction, only God’s boundless good. Recognizing that everything God made is holy, (including you and the word through which you walk), is spiritual regeneration; the essence of healing. Our holiness is blessed by God and is unlimited; it is our salvation. But here is the key: you do have to listen … really listen. And while you’re listening, SMILE! Smile every day. It’s healthy.
Seven days without a smile – makes one weak.
The truth is always simple and it only takes a single moment of your time. In “Science and Health” page 14, Mrs. Eddy makes this powerful declaration:
“Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, – neither in nor of matter, – and the body will then utter no complaints. If suffering from a belief of sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well. Sorrow is turned into joy when the body is controlled by spiritual Life, Truth, and Love.”
Do you have a “single moment” to become conscious of the fact that your intelligence is not influenced by matter, placebos or nocebos – but by God alone?
James 4:8 tells us “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” So have fun, crawl right up into God’s big arms with your deepest spiritual thoughts and desires, and get comfortable; get acquainted, get on a first-name basis. He won’t bite, and just so you know, (as a young Sunday School student discovered), God’s name is “Howard.” – Well…of course it’s “Howard!” “Our Father which art in heaven, ‘Howard’ be thy name.”
What a great way to begin every day — and it only takes a single moment, and while you are at it, express your gratitude and do not forget to sincerely thank God for being Life, Truth and Love. You will find that spiritualized thought harmonizes not only our bodies, but the world through which we walk, which is, after-all, the projection of our thinking.
So keep it simple and make that single moment count. Do not waste time by telling God what you think He should know, what He should do, or who He needs to heal, rather, spend your time listening to that still small voice, and while you are in that beautiful state of thought, basking in the light, drawing closer to God, feel that peace, harmony and health his blessings offer. All you need to do is Listen! Listen! Listen!
So keep it simple: God is…Animal magnetism isn’t…And that’s that!
