If God did not exist, he would have to be invented.
Voltaire
Psychoanalysts who have studied the role of superstition in our lives cite the eternal human need to believe in "anything." They see certain positive aspects even in prejudices. Many physicians believe superstition is the cheapest sedative available on the drug market.
French psychiatrist Dr. François Laborde, for example, argues that “prejudice gives the individual a sense of power over events and the appearance of being able to control them. This makes it possible to relieve inner tension. So superstition has a real medicinal effect."
In psychoanalysis there is even such a term - "magical thinking". And in fact, sometimes knocking on wood or spitting over your left shoulder is enough to feel better. No wonder Balzac once wrote that “a superstitious person cannot be completely unhappy, because superstition is worth hope …”.
But it would be wrong to blame everything on the "placebo effect". While collecting materials, we discovered intriguing facts that allow us to make the assumption that the thousand-year-old humanity's belief in supernatural forces may have some foundation.
Here is a message from ITAR-TASS from Cairo dated November 29, 2000: “Istiskaa - a prayer for sending rain - will be offered on Friday throughout Syria. As the Syrian news agency SANA reported today, President Hafez Assad made this appeal to all believers in the country.
The reason for this appeal was a severe drought that hit many parts of Syria and caused significant damage to agriculture.
Promotional video:
The leaders of Iraq and Saudi Arabia Saddam Hussein and King Fahd also made this kind of calls to their peoples."
Knowing that the prayer for the sending of rain had been raised before in Jordan and Israel, and that the appeal to God brought precipitation, we followed the result of the prayer "istiska". Would you be surprised if we say they were successful?
Here's another interesting example.
… 1944, December - the American Third Fleet was heading for the Philippines - a massive landing was being prepared, which, according to the plan of strategists from the United States, was supposed to put an end to the war with Japan. The Americans were convinced of success. Japan, it would seem, could not oppose anything to this well-thought-out operation. The last argument was used - magic.
The Cabinet of Ministers called on the entire Japanese people to pray in honor of the sun goddess Amaterasu and urge her to unleash the sacred Kamikaze wind on enemy ships. The appeal said that the simultaneous prayer of 100 million Japanese could create a clot of "spiritual energy" that could ward off the threat of invasion.
The command of the Third Fleet laughed in unison when intelligence reported this act to the Japanese. However, a few days later, the American sailors were not laughing. An unprecedented typhoon struck an armored armada near Lugon Island. Three destroyers turned over and went to the bottom at once. Another 28 ships were seriously damaged. 146 aircraft were washed overboard from aircraft carriers. In the riot of the elements, about 800 people died. The operation was thwarted …
Accident? Coincidence? But the Japanese themselves think differently. The fact is that in the XIII century, in exactly the same way, the Kubla Khan fleet, approaching the shores of Japan, was destroyed twice (!). It was so.
A descendant of the great Genghis Khan, no less legendary Kubla Khan, having conquered Korea, Vietnam (Champa), having established complete control over China in 1276, wanted to add Japan to the list of his victories. Gathering the entire Chinese fleet (1277), Kublakhan brought it down (900 ships and 40,000 soldiers) against Japan. The Japanese army suffered a crushing defeat.
And then the Japanese made a massive appeal to the gods. Gods helped or chance, but fate graciously responded to this popular prayer. An unexpected storm came, scattering the Mongolian fleet. Huge waves carried at least a third of Kubl Khan's ships to the bottom, killing 15,000 soldiers.
Trust in God … The Japanese, guessing that a repetition of the invasion is possible, fortified the shores in Hokkaido Bay (where the battle took place), and on the outskirts of the capital they erected a wall similar to the Great Chinese one.
Can a person's desire initiate a powerful cyclone? The Japanese are confident that this is possible. And they have a reason for it.
It would seem that all these preparations are capable of repelling a new attack. However, no one expected that the Mongolian fleet would grow in 4 years to 4,500 ships, on board which would accommodate 150,000 batyrs - "paratroopers".
It was such a sea armada that approached the island of Kyushu in 1281. It seemed that now nothing could stop the Mongols. In addition, their ships were armed with Chinese powder cannons - the rarest weapon at that time …
Throughout the night in Japanese temples, the gods were prayed to unleash their wrath on the enemy. The whole country, young and old, did not close their eyes. When Kubla Khan's fleet approached the shores and part of the Mongol army had already gone to storm, a terrible typhoon swept over the island.
In a few minutes the "divine wind" Kamikaze (almost without touching the Japanese buildings) raged over the Mongol army. Air gusts of unprecedented strength, as the chronicles testify, almost immediately scattered the gigantic fleet, smashing the ships against each other, and the bottom that had been exposed in places.
Even on land, the Mongols had no mercy. Warriors were beaten by the wind against a high wall. The impulses hardly reached the Japanese who had taken refuge behind it.
For a long time, this legend was perceived by historians as a kind of fairy tale. However, relatively recently, she found confirmation. The Japanese archaeologist Torao Mozai discovered the remains of the Mongolian fleet, and even stone cannonballs for their famous cannons. Among the finds was an ancient personal seal of a Mongol warrior with an inscription from which it followed that he led 1000 soldiers and participated in two campaigns of Kubla Khan to the shores of the Land of the Rising Sun. The second trip was clearly fatal for him. However, not only for him. The raging elements that hit the army of Kubl Khan, destroying 4,000 ships and 100,000 elite warriors.
Scholars who have studied this historical phenomenon prefer to talk about coincidence. Like, hurricanes are a fairly common thing for the sea, and there is no need to talk about any miracles … This is not entirely true. Of course, if a storm were destroying 4,000 ships every day off the Japanese coast, then there would be no surprise at the tragedy of Kubla Khan's fleet. However, in reality, such powerful typhoons are very rare. Well, the triple coincidence of the link "public prayer - hurricane - death of the enemy fleet" does make these events very, very unlikely. Of course, “unlikely” does not mean “impossible”.
The real power of prayer - research by scientists
It would seem that it is possible to calm down on this. But when you “press the button” three times and after that every time “the light comes on”, thoughts involuntarily creep in that this is not just a coincidence. And a healthy curiosity made some of the scientists try to check: is there at least some real physical basis in some magical techniques, is there a real power of prayer?
Based (first of all) on the historical example of the "mass prayer of the Japanese", scientists tried to investigate the phenomenon of the impact of human consciousness on natural processes and events. The results were very ambiguous, in the sense that some of the phenomena observed during the experiments could hardly be attributed to mere chance. As a result, even a term appeared - "social energy".
There are publications of experimental reports by the famous American researcher, Professor John Hegellin. The purpose of the experiments was as follows: a group of specially trained people with the help of collective meditation was supposed to influence the course of hostilities in Lebanon. The results showed that the number of killed and wounded during the days of the experiments decreased by 30%.
Working with random number generators looks no less interesting. These devices, as you know, produce an arbitrary sequence of numbers, consisting of, say, 1, 2, 3, 4. The operator's task was to mentally increase the frequency of occurrence of a particular number, for example, a three. It's hard to believe that a person is capable of such a thing. But experiments showed that the troika began to appear more often.
The first these experiments were carried out by the famous researcher from the USA Helmut Schmidt. Then they were repeated and successfully repeated in various countries.
Recall that the practice of addressing higher powers is one of the most important spiritual components of our civilization. For thousands of years man has turned his prayers to the gods.
The appearance of the gods changed with the development of mankind, because each of the religions is a cultural and historical phenomenon. But the most important thing is that religious feelings, belief in supernatural forces, regardless of religion, is an important component of our worldview.
Even the most ardent atheists turn to God in difficult times. For example, what Academician N. Moiseev wrote in his book of memoirs, who considered himself more atheists than believers: “My desire to believe in God all my life was very sincere. But nothing came of it. And at the front, I also, unlike many, did not pray in times of danger and did not call on God for help. Perhaps, after all, this happened to me once.
Due to absolutely ridiculous circumstances, I, together with a technician from the airfield service battalion, Lieutenant Benenson, a funny little Jew from Belarus, ended up in a minefield. We were moving with him through a snow-covered meadow, and suddenly a mine exploded. We survived, only a splinter pierced my felt boot and slightly scratched the bone. Not dangerous, although there was a lot of blood. When we looked closely, we saw that there were mines all around. Somehow it happened that we walked about 10 or 20 meters without hitting a single mine. More precisely, hitting only one. Also amazing luck.
We froze, any step forward or backward threatened with death. The felt boot was numb with blood, his eyes rippled. Benenson kept repeating: "Just don't lose consciousness, eat snow." Here for the first time I said to myself: "Lord, help …"
And then I really should have thanked God, but for something else, for the fact that at my faculty of aviation weapons I was taught some rudiments of mine work. I knelt down, shoveled the snow and made sure that these were the same Russian mines of the model of either the tenth or the fifth year, on which we were taught what a mine is, how to place and remove it. Another amazing luck and another Thanksgiving!
In general, after a certain number of minutes, which Benenson and I seemed like hours, we got out of the ill-fated meadow. I was sent to the medical unit, where I was immediately vaccinated against tetanus and changed my underwear, and dear, funny and very homely Benenson, who was so afraid that I would not lose consciousness, died the next day, either hit by an accidental shell, which, no- no, yes, and they flew to us, either under accidental bombardment, which happened quite often and not by accident."
In his memoirs, Academician Moiseev also expressed himself in the sense that belief in the supernatural, divine powers is organically inherent in humanity. You can also refer to American scientists, who said relatively recently that faith in God (gods) is inherent in every person genetically. These researchers referred to the experiments carried out, as if they showed the existence of a specific part of the brain responsible for our religiosity.
But any building must have its own foundation in order to stand long enough. What is the foundation of a person's faith in the power of prayer? Could it have existed throughout the entire history of mankind if there were no real confirmation of the effectiveness of such appeals to higher powers?
These questions may seem meaningless to quite a few people. Both believers and atheists know unambiguous answers to them. The trouble is that these answers are diametrically opposite in meaning. But researchers should be happy about this situation. After all, as you know, discoveries often await us exactly where there is an obvious contradiction.
An indicative result in this sense was obtained by authoritative specialists of the Institute of Central America on the problems of cardiovascular diseases. Judging by the results of their research published by them, it is quite possible to consider prayer as a tool that quite effectively helps patients - "heart".
American researchers conducted their experiment at St. Bows in Kansas City, Missouri. About a thousand patients who were admitted to the cardiology department of this medical institution during the year were divided into two groups. And for one of these groups, volunteers began to pray day and night.
After 4 weeks, they received impressive results: among the patients, whose health prayed to the Almighty, there were 10% fewer suffering from various complications (from chest pains to cardiac arrest).
The researchers tried their best to keep the experiment clean. Neither the patients themselves, nor their family members knew about it. And the volunteers knew only the name of the one for whom they prayed, wishing him a speedy and complete recovery.
Thus, the study authors believe, the power of prayer may well be considered an "effective addition" to conventional therapies. (The results are published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, published by the US Medical Association.)
As for the comments, then scientists find themselves in a very difficult position. "There is a potential scientific explanation, which is beyond our understanding," said team leader William Harris vaguely. "Potentially, there is some kind of supernatural mechanism."
He and his colleagues admit that their experiment is not free from flaws. The purity of the study is questioned at least by the fact that other people most likely prayed for the patients of the cardiology department, moreover, belonging to both groups. In addition to specially recruited volunteers, these could be friends, relatives, acquaintances. And among the patients themselves there could be deeply religious people. In the end, the church can also have its say, pointing out the essential difference between prayer "on demand, for scientific purposes" and one that comes from the depths of the heart.
Critics point out that the same shortcomings are characteristic of earlier similar studies, including those conducted more than a decade ago in San Francisco. In some cases, the healing properties of the power of prayer did not appear in any way, and in one the patients for whom they prayed began to feel even worse.
And yet, despite the disagreements, on one issue, American doctors demonstrate unity of opinion: "Numerous facts prove that people who believe in God and the effectiveness of the power of prayer recover better and faster than non-believers."
Is it possible and necessary to explain this phenomenon? For the same believers, there is no riddle here: "All this is God's providence." But a man of a learned mind tries to "take apart everything", even the mechanism of how God's providence can be realized in our world.
In our time there are many versions and hypotheses regarding the possible nature of the mechanism of the power of prayer. Some talk about the real interaction of thought and the material world. But we are closer to a different opinion. Imagine that a thought does not have the energy to cause a hurricane or change the operation of a device. But by his desire, a person is able, as it were, to transfer a certain “arrow”, and the “train of history” will rush into another probabilistic future, where the number three appears on the screen more often or less is killed in war …
That is, our civilization and the events that take place in it, in fact, develop along the total vector of desires of all people living on Earth. It must, however, be borne in mind that, despite the seeming randomness of the individual components of this vector, the resulting direction of development of the living turns out to be far from accidental …
I. Tsarev, M. Sarychev