From Stage LEFT, a bear wanders onto the stage and speaks:

SRS: If we mystics WERE to build a bridge; the skeptics would not have the courage to walk across it.

Two Bears, you never have gotten it. Simply your argumentative tone alone is enough to convince me that your "healing" techniques are preaching to the choir and not seeking converts. You would rather argue, and you would rather lump instead of sort and filter the contrary attitudes that you are faced with. Your life as text is no doubt as you report it. Self-reporting is a selective process and allows too many loopholes for those who want quantified proof from more than one source. Science asks for the ability to repeat the experiment. There are medical practitioners who are attempting to build those bridges, who have incorporated other non-medical healing programs and more informal reporting into their research and practices. Christiane Northrup is a name that comes to mind by way of illustration.

That bridge as you describe it is one of blind faith, and is built all on your say-so. The article that started this thread was clear in that a meeting of the parties in question is necessary and that chasm must be bridged by people building from both sides. Your bridge would, I fear, miss that shared middle ground altogether and wander off toward the opposite shore without enough support for anyone's weight.

I happen to think a great deal of idiopathic healing takes places when people with illnesses have a positive outlook and have managed to channel their energy constructively. This may be with or without the help of healers. This crosses many cultures, with or without formalized religion involved.

I'll leave it at that. Now you can cut and paste and pepper the thread with item by item rebuttals. Keep in mind, however, that you're posting the perfect illustrations for what the McLaren article was saying. Reiterating one of her remarks: "I know firsthand that the skeptical viewpoint cannot be heard or assimilated in the New Age and metaphysical community; it is anathema, and that's a shame for every single one of us. It is a shame because the search for the truth, the concern for the welfare of others, the need to be treated with respect, and the need to be welcomed in a culture - are all things my people share with yours."

It is a shame.

SRS