Great Construction

Is Medical Science a Superstition?

     Let me try to explain in the most comprehensible terms the issue of whether or not medical science is a superstition. What I am talking about is that, apart from the circumstances in foreign countries, in Japan at present what comes under the category of healing therapies, in addition to, as everyone knows, medical science, includes many folk remedies such as prayer, charms, faith cures, and so on. When the number of the practitioners of all healing treatments are totaled, at least in quantity, they probably outnumber medical doctors. Moreover, when the fact that these treatments have shown quite a bit of success is considered, the numbers of non-medical healing practitioners will probably continue to increase. Their number will certainly not decrease. Thus, what this is telling us should be considered carefully.
     To speak to the reality of this phenomenon as it is, medical science has not progressed to the degree that the people of the world believe. If medical science had truly progressed, why is it a fact that for whatever their reasons a great many individuals have thrown aside medical science which has been so highly praised and encouraged by nations and experts, and have run to embrace non-medical science therapies which are so enveloped in clouds of suspicion. Needless to say, when members of the general public become ill, without exception they see a doctor. There are instances when they are healed easily, but there are cases where large amounts of money are spent and the doctor earnestly attends to treatment, but not only do the patients not recover, their conditions deteriorate, and hope of recovery is ultimately lost for which the doctors can only give up in despair. At this point, patients only want to be saved and it is only natural that they will search out and try all kinds of treatments, because for the human being, there is nothing more important than life. It is at such times, however, that that relatives and friends around the patient will inevitably insist that because medical science is so advanced, to trust one’s life to the likes of a new religion which is a topic of rumor and gossip is without doubt superstitious. Brandishing the philosophy of common sense, they forcibly try to stop the patient from seeking help from new religions. But it is only natural that the person most concerned with the matter, the patient, has accepted the conditions, and so does not respond to entreaties. Instances with such particulars can be seen often in the testimonials in our publications.
     In other words, the key to the problem is, if medical treatment could completely cure disease, there should be no possibility of alternatives. But it is just because medical treatment cannot heal these individuals that as a result of desperation, they cannot help but seek out other kinds of treatment, so they certainly deserve sympathy. These obvious facts, though, are ignored, and faith healers, censured and obstructed, thus one can only believe that eyes are deliberately shut to the good results of faith healers. If such is not the cause of this ignorance, one can only think that as captives of the superstition of medical science, critics of faith healers are completely blind. To be sure, doctors, who have given up on the patients who are then saved by us should appreciate our efforts. In the light of these facts, it is futile to attempt to whip up trust in medical science. Patients inevitably head to that where true recovery takes place. In other words, medical science is rather inept. If complete recovery were possible through medical treatment, there would not be anyone who would go without encouragement to non-medical science practitioners. That I have to explain this simple logic to some people who do not comprehend it makes one doubt the very brains of these individuals.
     In this age of so much advancement, not few are those matters that are not at all coherent and consistent, and since this incoherency harms all aspects of society, it is truly a world of indistinctness and dimness. What I have spoken of is what passes for  the common sense of the world and in contrast to this is the Johrei healing of World Messianity. Followers of World Messianity well understand what I will say here, but for those not acquainted with Johrei, I say simply that once liberated from the worry that medical treatment is not only powerless but that it indeed possesses negative consequences, individuals can achieve true peace of mind. Also, there is a very astonishing fact that members of the general public do not perceive. That is, recovery from disease achieved through non-drug treatments, in other words, through treatments such as faith and folk remedies, is not so much due to the efficacy of the particular treatment but because medical treatment which had exacerbated the illness was stopped. It may seem ironical to put it this way, but possible it is to declare from the point of view of results that the success of faith cures and folk remedies owes entirely to medical science.

Eikô, Issue 235, November 18, 1953
 translation by cynndd