Mind over matter?

[TheGoodGuy]

Is that possible?

[Praxius]

Care to elaborate a little?

[Jack]

Mind is matter.

[TheGoodGuy]

curing diseases without any medicine (overcoming illnesses) like HIV/AIDS without any help of medicine, just your mind.

[Jack]

Any credible evidence of this having ever happened?

[TheGoodGuy]

There are some people who had done it. Here is one of them.

HIV Ministries - My Story

edit: He said he did it by prayer, but i still think its mind over matter.

His prayer made his mind believe he is cured, so he got cured.

[TheGoodGuy]

Here is another:

A man who lived for 256 years
Ecumenical Buddhism: 15 November 2007

[Muckraker]

Quote by: TheGoodGuy There are some people who had done it. Here is one of them. HIV Ministries - My Story edit: He said he did it by prayer, but i still think its mind over matter. His prayer made his mind believe he is cured, so he got cured.

Since it is on a website, it must be true.

Let's conveniently ignore the fact that the guy is the Reverend of his own ministry and that the second sentence on the website, on top of everything else, says that donations are tax deductable...

Ever hear the story of the 120 pound old man that happened to be a grand master martial artist of some sort or another? He supposedly could root himself to the ground using the power of his mind and not even ten of the strongest students could budge him an inch.

This sort of thing will always be imagination over reason until experiments performed under scientifically sound standards can prove the existence of something that defies reason. We, as humans, like our stories and our imaginations and we frequently get caught up in them, especially if there is money to be made somewhere along the line.

[Jack]

I don't see any corroborating evidence that suggests the Buddhist actually lived that long, though I could agree with, "The truth about his long life may never be solved."

Right off the bat I'm having trouble with the first story.

I am not a homosexual, I am not a drug user, and I was a virgin when I married, so that narrows the possibilities down quite a bit. In other words, I don’t fit the world’s stereotype. I believe I got it from being sexually abused when I was a child. I was sexually abused from the age of five until I was 12 years old. It is hard to know for sure because the person is dead now. I had buried the abuse so deep I didn’t even remember it until the middle of 2004

There are only so many ways a disease like this can be transmitted. Secondly, no corroboration. No hospital name, no doctor name, nothing that would allow verification. Anyone can tell a good story, especially when there's a good reason to.

[Laurie]

Oh there are a vast number of 'Mind Over Matter' anecdotes sculling around, of which many of them would be hard to dispute. Like this one for example...


Injured woman lifts car to rescue friend

[Osborn F Enready]

Mind over matters exists to a point.

Any good powerlifter will tell you that.

Some days the same body with the same diet, rest, etc can lift "x" amount of weight, but on other days can lift nowhere near "x" because they can't find their mental zone.

I don't think its anything more than tricking the mind however, not tricking the "matter".

I think the mind can be fooled to increase adrenaline, or alter body chemicals a bit, but, not in the power to levitate matter or "cure" disease like some magical mystery.

[Nemiroff]

We only use less then 10% of our brain, perhaps with the rest we wouldn't need to trick but mearely will for more adrenaline, or something like increase our memory (give ourselves photographic memory, or even more amazing things).

Also, I doubt that the aids/cancer can be cured while science is dumbfound trying to fight it, but maybe beat the common cold in a few hours without medicine, or numb a certain area by concentrating on it, perhaps even speeding up digestion and slightly faster weightloss.
None of these things are impossible and for the most part, do not contradict science. Its also probably more training your mind rather then tricking it (wouldn't that just make you stop fighting it, tricking your mind won't make bacteria dissspear!)

[ryanatau]

Quote by: Isherwood Mind is matter.

Are you sure about that...

[nerdvincent]

The placebo effect is quite impressing. It needs further researchs.

[The Bacon Guy]

Quote by: nemiroff We only use less then 10% of our brain

That's a myth.

As for mind over matter, the brain is just another organ, so it's really just matter affecting matter. As such, there's no physical barrier to it being able to affect other organs and systems in the body. Depression for example may be caused by chemical imbalance, but may be cured by cognitive therapy, i.e. mind overcoming matter. This is only the case for some specific examples. It's unlikely that the brain has the biological capacity to overcome things like pathogens and old age.

[ryanatau]

Quote by: The Bacon Guy That's a myth. As for mind over matter, the brain is just another organ, so it's really just matter affecting matter. As such, there's no physical barrier to it being able to affect other organs and systems in the body. Depression for example may be caused by chemical imbalance, but may be cured by cognitive therapy, i.e. mind overcoming matter. This is only the case for some specific examples. It's unlikely that the brain has the biological capacity to overcome things like pathogens and old age.

That is just modern materialist science. Whether the brain is actually the mind or not is not proven. Consciousness is still being explained and even if it is explained through matter it still does not show that the mind is not separate from matter. However faulty Cartesian dualism is it is still valid.

[The Bacon Guy]

Quote by: ryanatau That is just modern materialist science. Whether the brain is actually the mind or not is not proven.

Indeed so. However I think that, when speculating about the ability of the mind, it's more logical to assume that it is physical rather than that there is another mysterious force at work. We know that matter exists, but we would have to assume that this non-material force exists.

[Chaossaber314]

Quote by: Osborn F Enready Mind over matters exists to a point. Any good powerlifter will tell you that. Some days the same body with the same diet, rest, etc can lift "x" amount of weight, but on other days can lift nowhere near "x" because they can't find their mental zone. I don't think its anything more than tricking the mind however, not tricking the "matter". I think the mind can be fooled to increase adrenaline, or alter body chemicals a bit, but, not in the power to levitate matter or "cure" disease like some magical mystery.

While I agree on the telekinesis side, I think there is some truth to the "curing diseases" side. Some mundane things such as laughing, simply being happy, etc have been shown to raise or strengthen the immune system.

I think the existence of the placebo effect occurring in people who are not hypochondriacs (faking) at all is evidence enough that there is some truth to utilizing (or in this case tricking) the mind into working a certain way.

I find it completely fascinating.

[ryanatau]

Quote by: The Bacon Guy Indeed so. However I think that, when speculating about the ability of the mind, it's more logical to assume that it is physical rather than that there is another mysterious force at work. We know that matter exists, but we would have to assume that this non-material force exists.

Well an idealist would say we know mind exists we do not know matter exists. We know our mind exists because we are thinking. We cannot prove matter exists because we only sense matter through mind. So our belief that matter exists only proves that the mind exists (that there is something that thinks matter exists) not that matter actually exists.