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Intercessory prayer, unlike hands-on healing, does not
involve some conventional form of energy (i.e.
electromagnetic) that is sent or received, but relies on
a mind-to-mind connection which is not dependent on
distance. Whether intercessory prayer or distant healing
is done from the next room or from the other side of the
globe, its effects are effective and immediate. Distant
healing has strong correlations to what is referred to
in quantum physics as non-local events.
Quantum physics experiments have revealed the existence
of what are called “non-local” events. Experiments have
shown that if two subatomic particles that have been in
contact are separated, a change in one is correlated
with a change in the other, instantly and to the same
degree, no matter how far apart they may be. Non-local
events have three common characteristics. They are
unmediated, meaning distant changes do not depend on the
transmission of energy. They are unmitigated, which
means the strength of the change does not become weaker
with increasing distance. Thirdly, the effects are
immediate, taking place simultaneously.
Research on Distant Healing and Prayer
In 1998, forty scientists from universities and research
laboratories around the U.S. gathered at Harvard
University to examine and evaluate the data on distant
healing. Preliminary data presented at this conference
suggested that we are on the verge of an explosion of
evidence to support the efficacy of distant healing. For
more than thirty years there have been scores of studies
conducted and documented in excellent peer reviewed
publications that show high quality, well replicated
laboratory evidence of the existence of a mind-to-mind
connection. These studies demonstrate that focused
mental attention and intention can influence both the
physical and mental processes of another person from a
distance.
In 1993, psychiatrist, Dr. Daniel Benor, brought
together a compilation of over 150 controlled studies of
psychic, mental and spiritual healing in his book
Healing Research. In it, studies on organisms as diverse
as enzymes, cell cultures, bacteria, yeasts, plants,
animals and humans show that
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at least
1/2 to 2/3 of them demonstrate statistically significant
results.
One of the most famous studies on prayer at a distant
was conducted in 1988 by Dr. Randolph Byrd. This was a
double-blind study involving 393 patients in the
coronary care unit of San Francisco General Hospital. In
a double-blind study, neither the patient nor the
researcher knows who are in which experimental group.
The results of this study showed that the prayed-for
patients did significantly better on several outcomes.
It also showed the efficacy of prayer was the same from
great distances as it was close to the hospital. While
the prayed-for patients showed some improvement over the
control group, many see the Byrd experiment as
suggestive but inconclusive and ambiguous because of a
variety of variables that cannot be controlled:
variables such as the control patients praying for
themselves or being prayed for by their family or
friends.
In view of the potential for the attitude of the subject
interfering with the tests results, it has been found
easier for researchers to study the effects of intention
and prayer in plants, animals and cells of blood,
bacteria and yeast. With these subjects, one can rule
out the placebo effect as they presumably are not
healing due to their belief in the healer or the
effectiveness of the treatment; nor are they likely
praying for themselves to get better. Several studies
have been conducted showing that prayer can affect the
germination and growth rate of seeds. Experiments with
renowned healer Olga Worrall showed that she could
stimulate the growth rate of rye seedlings by 840% from
a distance of 600 miles away. She said that she did this
during her prayer time, by visualizing the plants filled
with light and energy. In another experiment with seeds,
Reverend Goodfellow of Guttenberg, Iowa found that when
his congregation started praying for seeds, farmers
reported higher yields in areas where the seeds and
crops had been blessed. Researcher William Braud of the
Mind Science Foundation in San Antonio, Texas, found
that subjects could influence the rate of hemolysis
(bursting of red blood cells) at a distance to a degree
unexplainable by chance. Other researchers like Leonard
Laskow have
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