Overcoming the Fear of Disease and the Theory of the Miracle Pill
by Dr. Landau Lawrence
I believe it was Shakespeare who once wrote that “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” A Christ-like army officer who once led me in some perilous times in Vietnam and appealed to my more courageous and godlike nature put it this way, “Life may indeed put us under, but it should never get us down.” And yet, having lived through a war where facing casualties and death were an everyday occurrence, as willing as I was thereafter to ascend for God, I was still unprepared for a career in medicine where, as it turns out, disease is still more feared than faced, and miracle pills are still more honored than courageous faith. How can we, with a sense of finality, overcome the fear of disease and the subsequent theory of the miracle pill?
STARVE THE FEAR; FEED THE FAITH
In
one of his psalms, David once wrote that God is “the health of my
countenance.” If David was right, then modern medicine is still going
about things backwards when it teams with its patients in the fear and
avoidance of disease. Instead, we must embrace God Who is Health, and
not so much for the sake of health but rather for the eternal
experience of sharing God's presence. In this way, the lower self,
which is fearful and impotent without God's presence, becomes
courageous and fruitful, elevating itself with God's virtues. In The
URANTIA Book,
pages 1437 and 1438, we are told of Jesus' encounter with the young man
who was afraid. Among other things, Jesus told this young man that he
could do great things with his body if he would hasten off to where
great things were waiting to be done.
I think that if Jesus was
with our medical staff today, He would tell us that if our minds feed
on fear rather than God, then our minds will likewise fall into the
trap of offering our bodies pills instead of the right way and means of
functioning in God.
Our real problem is not so much that we are fearful because we have
become faithless, but rather that we have turned our backs on God and
then placed our faith in the wrong places. St. Augustine once put it
this way: “Every disorder of the soul is its own punishment. Thus doth
the soul commit fornication when she turns from Thee, seeking without
Thee, what she findeth not pure and untainted, till she returns to
Thee.” Hence, the causality factor for both fear of disease and belief
in miracle pills is misplaced loyalty.
Our false gods can be wife or husband, friend, family, career, pets,
car, house, education, talents, food, money, physical strength or
beauty, intellect, etc. Jesus offered us the antidote when He told us
that if we put our minds first on the Kingdom of God, then all of these
things would be ours without the asking. For all diseases on earth to
be conquered and therefore our psychological and physical dependence
upon drugs to be overcome, we must each and all de-throne the god of
self-interest and re-instate God, our Father, the First Source of
everything and everyone we will ever need. So, before we are tempted to
give undue power to diseases and their remedies, let us each and
everyone pray: Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy
Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Learning to control our thoughts and emotions is so very important to us all today. Continuing Fifth Epochal Revelation teaches us to think upon things that are pure, that are divine, that are unselfish, kind and generous, and for the good of others. The mind will then influence the bodily functions in such a way that all systems of the body will bristle with higher life. I believe that it is in these higher thinking modes and responses that we can and will overcome the fear of disease and the theory of the miracle pill. And this overcoming will only grow stronger as we regain and embrace our relationships with God and one another, thus renewing our spiritualized minds to help them better adapt to the challenges of a changing world.
IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS...
Modern medicine has achieved much of its strength from organization. But the joy and power of healing is destined to explode into new realms of expression as doctors and patients alike learn to revel in coherence to divine authority and godly virtue. The vicissitudes and uncertainties of life will only become 'sauce for the goose', so to speak, as we all find God on a personal moment-to-moment basis and understand our place in divine purpose, all of us hearing within the divine mind. For the antidote to fear and misappropriation of resources, medical or otherwise, lies in our hearing from God, and responding to and serving God in and through one another. Thus can we complete the Lord's prayer by living it: Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Landau, aka Patrick Lawrence, M.D., is with the Soulistic Medical Institute, based in Sedona, Arizona. (928) 282-1331.