Frailty

	As a result of our apparent physical susceptibility, that “anything can 
happen”, we are aware of the frailty of human life, of the vulnerability of our 
flesh, and the threat of disease which at any moment may strike us down.  But 
it is only because we believe we are frail and susceptible that we are such.  
Again, we reflect that which we believe.  	
	Consider the Hindu holy man who lies on nails with no pain and no 
scars.  Consider those that are able to walk on hot coals, and have transcended 
their physical indoctrination that they will be burned by that fire.  They have 
changed their belief systems that they will not be hurt, cut or burned, and they 
aren’t.  We know that these phenomenon can happen but do not necessarily 
believe we can do these things or that that law impacts our lives.  In fact it is 
merely another application of the principal that our Universe, our reality, is a 
reflection of ourselves and our beliefs.
	I saw only yesterday on television (the Universe is reflecting my 
writing of this book in amazing, synchronistic ways) a demonstration of the 
power of the mind over our bodies (and belief systems) by a “Master” 
wherein he showed, without any tricks, by close-up cameras, that he pierced 
his skin (the flesh in both arms), without bleeding, stood upon razor sharp 
swords with weights hanging from the spikes piercing his arms and weights in 
his teeth.  There were no cuts, no bleeding from the holes that you could 
actually see through in his arms.  The stated purpose of this Master was to 
show the power of the mind, and it was indeed an awesome example of 
transcending our conditioning, pain and belief systems.  
	There are those who believe our process of aging is partly a result of 
our collective consciousness that we age and die, a doctrine passed on through 
the millennia.  Our cells, at their very genetic level, receive these signals and 
deteriorate impacted by our belief system.  There are many factors that go 
into aging and disease.  One is that our souls have become bored with this 
plane of existence and merely want to go on to another life, so we “oxidize” 
and die (Note the abundance of anti-oxidant formulas on the market today to 
reverse and stop the process.  More important than the formula is the mental 
attitude that we do not, will not and need not grow feeble as we age).  
	Doctors know mental attitude is essential to health and elimination of 
disease.  Persons with identical illnesses or injuries may survive, or not, 
depending on their attitude, their will to live.  
	A few findings from studies may be of interest:  
	A Dartmouth Medical School study found heart patients were 14 times 
more likely to die following surgery if they did not find comfort in religion.  
Within 6 months of surgery 21 patients had died, but there were no deaths 
among the 37 people who said they were “deeply religious”.
	Dr. Harold Koenig at Duke University School of Medicine, and his 
team, have researched thousands of Americans since 1984, and concluded 
“By praying (the subjects) acquired an indirect form of control over their 
illness.”  In a study of 455 elderly hospital patients, people who worshipped 
more than once a week averaged about four days in the hospital.  People who 
never or rarely worshipped spent about 10 to 12 days hospitalized.
	Researchers in Israel studied 3900 people living on kibbutzim over a 16 
year period and found the “religious” had 40 percent lower death rate from 
cardiovascular disease and cancer than their secular peers.
	A Yale University study of 2812 elderly people found that those who 
never or rarely worshipped had nearly twice the stroke rate of weekly 
worshippers. 
	Lastly, Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Herbert Benson has 
shown repetitive prayer slows a person’s heart and breathing rates, lowers 
blood pressure and even slows brain waves, thus reducing the impact of stress 
hormones and helping to relieve hypertension, infertility, insomnia and 
cardiovascular disease.  

	To entertain the belief that we need not age and die is probably beyond 
the physical capacity of the human psyche though it would be interesting to 
change that belief system.  But do we even desire to live longer, or forever, or 
when we die have we “had enough”, and are we ready to be recycled to 
another lifetime or another plane of existence? 
	We have been taught “survival of the fittest” (if that were the case there 
would be only one very fit being living on this planet) not that “we are all fit, 
magnificent and worthy”.  	
	This fear for our physical vessel is another element of our belief system 
that, if changed, would result in us being more safe, more strong, more 
healthy and, maybe God only knows, how impervious to harm.