Recently there was a Time Magazine cover article about how spirituality can heal. Studies were conducted, and it was discovered that if a patient knew that other people were praying for them, he or she actually recovered more quickly. Whether this beneficial effect is actually due to prayer or just the placebo effect, however, remains in question. Under the placebo effect, even if a treatment is completely ineffective, if a patient believes that the treatment is working, he or she will show signs of actual improvement.
One very interesting example concerned a man with cancer. He was given an experimental drug that had been seemingly effective with other patients, and his tumors shrunk. His doctor later discovered that the drug was ineffective, and the man's tumors grew again. Then his doctor gave the man distilled water to drink, telling him that the water was a more concentrated and more effective form of the medicine. The tumors shrank again, as the man believed the treatment was working. Finally, the FDA declared publicly that the experimental drug had no effect at all, and the man died.
The placebo effect is quite remarkable. Essentially, if we believe that we are feeling better (an intensional thought), we actually do become better (an extensional result). Hence, mind over matter: can we manipulate, control, or influence our extensional bodies and symptoms with our intensional thoughts and emotions? Can our thoughts affect something very physical (our bodies' biological systems)?
Then again, pain is nothing but a perception. If we believe that there is no pain, then is there any? Is pain extensional, intensional, or a little bit of both?
It's amazing that we can fool ourselves into feeling better. Can we fool ourselves in any other way, using intensional thoughts to affect extensional reality?
-Eric Wei
4 comments:
"Can we fool ourselves in any other way, using intensional thoughts to affect extensional reality?" -- Eric
I certainly think that a person can play a role in his/her physical state by his/her attitude, and I guess that falls into intensional thoughts. We've heard time and time again in so many classes that if you go into a test thinking that you will do poorly, you do. But if you go in with a positive attitude, the result will be better. Now, I realize this isn't the case all of the time, but I certainly think attitude can affect the outcome. Even if the outcome isn't as good as we may have hoped for, certainly a good attitude helps us handle negative results better, as well.
As with Eric's example, attitude can also play a role in how much pain we experience. Those who focus on their pain and complain about it will probably feel it more than those who determine that they will enjoy themselves regardless of the circumstances. This can be applied not only to physical pain, but also to emotional pain. People can be driven to depression by simply focusing too much on the negative aspects of life and only seeing what is going wrong, instead of having a positive outlook and choosing to see the positive aspects.
Emily T.
Do not our extensional experiences determine our intensional thoughts? According to Hayakawa, they do. So what's to stop our intensional thoughts from conversely affecting our physical, extensional being? Think about depression. It begins internally, and spreads to one's entire existence. When you bind an idea in your head, it is bound to have some sort of result. These results manifest themselves differently; some happen to be external.
I completely agree with Emily's speculation of the test-taking situation. Yet, do not assume that the connection between internal and external functions are "magical" (in a loose sense of the word). We, as humans, are unable to mystically learn something without having studied it. I guess everything has its limitations.
(Sam Maliha)
I remember how shocked I was when I had learned that doctors were using this sort of mental therapy for their patients. It actually reminds me of what my dad once told me when talking about his patients.
He said, "You tell the patient the best case scenario and tell the relatives the worst case scenario. That way, the patient is able to still have hope and have a chance to recover and the relatives won't blame you when they found out that their hopes were too high."
I guess to a certain point, your mental state can really affect your physical state. When you are able to think positively, you perform better.
I also think that this mental state can be expanded beyond depression and hope. In general, your emotions control your actions and physical state. For example, when you end up (please don't make fun of me for this example) falling in love with someone, you're mind is filled with that one person, right? Your mind is filled to the point where you make careless mistakes, you aren't aware of your surroundings nor your actions. Isn't this why some parents say that they don't want their children in relationships so that they are able to concentrate on their school work?
"Can we fool ourselves in any other way, using intensional thoughts to affect extensional reality?"
This quote struck a chord with me, because I can vouch for this from my personal experience as a runner.
In a cross country event you are tasked with getting from point A to point B along a proscribed route as fast as possible as with most kinds of races, and in order to do this you need to push your body to and beyond its physical limits. When you're two miles into a race, you are fatigued, exhausted, you just want to fall down and die(ask someone who runs its not as weird as it sounds when I type it). But you still have several kilometers left in the race. If you left it up to your extensional self and let your body govern your actions, you'd most likely just stop where you are and lie on the ground until you can walk again.
But it is at this crucial junction where you need to mentally take over your bodies functions and block out pain, negative thoughts and whatever messages you body is telling you. Unlike other sports, you're out there alone and its up to you to finish the race. No one else can help you or do it for you, so it is imperative you focus completely on your goal. Closing everything out and thinking positively(cliche, yes) is your best option, you allow your mind to detach itself from the bodies troubles and ascend a sort of "transcendent" state, as my coach describes it. You fool your mind into thinking your body is doing fine and you can accomplish the task.
This takes effort as well, and an even better option is to "cease thinking", but that's a whole different technique that doesn't really relate to this discussion.
(Steve Szumski)
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