The Mystery of Healing (Lumen Editions) [Paperback]

Brookline Books/Lumen Editions (Author)

Book Description

Series: Lumen Editions | Publication Date: January 7, 1999

Applebaum set out on an odyssey to understand the mystery of healing with a focus on healing outside the context of Western Medicine. Healers have included Jesus, kings such as Edward the Confessor and Charles II who were said to possess a healing touch, and countless others, including grandmothers from many cultures brewing herbal concoctions to cure ills.

Applebaum explores healings by way of a spiritualist medium (also known a psychic healing), the laying on of hands, healing through prayer, voodoo, folk medicine in Belize, and reflexology. He experiments with LSD in what he calls a "safe house". He travels to Oral Roberts University to witness members of an audience being healed through faith healing.

By making himself the subject of these healers, he personally experiences each therapy, with varying degrees of success. Controversial, even illegal treatments that are not universally recognized prove to be, in the very least, fascinating and mind-expanding. Applebaum's central concern is whether or not these techniques work, and if so, how.

Chapters include: The Spirit is Willing: Meetings with a Medium The Magical Mystery Tour: Bare Hand Surgery The Laying on of Hands: Healing by Touch Voodoo That Old Black Magic: Healing in Haiti It’s all in the Reflexes: Amazing Reflexology Tripping the Light Fantastic: The Possibilities of LSD Beating the Bushes: Folk Medicine in Belize and Beyond

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Psychoanalyst Appelbaum (Out in Inner Space) visits healers as disparate as voodoo practitioners, psychics, kinesiologists, faith healers and LSD researchers in these largely anecdotal journeys through alternative medicine. Bringing both an open mind and a healthy dose of skepticism to the practices he witnesses, Appelbaum attempts to determine whether and why healing did or did not occur in specific cases. Though his descriptions of healing rituals boast concrete detail, his conclusions are often frustratingly overgeneralized, and he provides little supporting evidence (life expectancy, disease rates) for views that favor folk remedies. Few would argue with Appelbaum's assertion that "we cannot afford to be close-minded about healing unorthodoxy when healing orthodoxy has failed us in many ways," but beyond the general (and commonsensical) point that mind influences body and that healing is a complex process involving both healer and patient, he offers little useful information. He is reluctant either to dismiss or to endorse any particular approach. In addition to describing encounters with healers, Appelbaum emphasizes the importance of love in the healing process, leading him to call for new methods of selecting those who enter the healing professions. These ideas are worthy of consideration, but this less than rigorous analysis isn't the best argument in their favor.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Practicing psychoanalyst Appelbaum chronicles his personal investigation into controversial healing techniques, describing his encounters with spiritual mediums, Christian faith healers, voodoo practitioners, energy manipulation, biogenics, and kinesiology, among others. In each instance, he undergoes the treatment himself, evaluating the healers as well as their techniques. He applies fair and critical judgment, using (or reporting) scientific principles to test healing outcomes. But more often than not these practices defy scientific inquiry, and the text is more a personal narrative than a scholarly work. Unfortunately, Appelbaum provides no contact information on the people he meets or organizations affiliated with the practices he describes. Intriguing and at times entertaining, his book fails to promote further investigation.?Andy Wickens, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Lib. of the Health Sciences
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Brookline Books/Lumen Editions (January 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571290621
• ISBN-13: 978-1571290625
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,179,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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