Growing 13, May 1996
What’s faith got to do with it?

Featured Writer: R. Cotton Fite, Ph.D., Licensed Clinical Psychologist

I don’t honestly know what faith “has to do with it,” but I do know that faith has something to do with how we heal and how we stay well, as well as how we become and remain sick.

By faith I mean the process by which we make meaning of the experience of being ourselves. And by being ourselves, I mean the whole thing, mind and body—thinking, feeling, remembering, sensing, wondering. It includes the joys and the disappointments, the rewards and the frustrations, the hopes and the fears.

I have come to believe that human beings are fundamentally religious creatures. It’s nothing we choose; we just are religious. In one way or another we work out a framework of meaning, of why we are here and what it means to be here. Science and empirical data inform it, but it’s more than what we can touch and feel. Some parts of it are rational, but much of it exists at another, non-rational level that sometimes feels like a deep yearning. It’s more accurately described as faith. And we live by that faith.

In some cases—as with Christians and Jews, Muslims and Buddhists—faith is informed by organized religious experience and thought. It has a transcendent dimension. It believes in or experiences something or someone beyond human experience, described as sacred or holy. In other cases faith may deny or even negate larger meaning. In extreme cases of young ghetto men and women, meaning is limited to gang loyalties and violence. In equally extreme cases, meaning is limited to the accumulation of financial wealth and personal status. Biblical writers call it idolatry. It’s all a way of making meaning and being religious—for good or for ill.

From these examples, it is clear that faith may be constructive and life-enhancing or destructive and life-constricting. No one’s faith is entirely one or the other; most of us have healthy as well as unhealthy parts of us. A frequent difficulty is that faith development gets stuck, sometimes at a seventh grade level (with lots of guilt and shame), sometimes at a late adolescent level (with a heavy dose of cynicism). Faith needs to keep growing throughout our lives. Shaped by new experience, new information and new relationships, it can develop into a rich resource for healing emotional wounds, supporting physical health, enhancing the quality of our lives and enriching the communities in which we live.

There is a growing body of evidence that supports the conviction that our physical bodies, including our brains, are affected by what we think and feel and how we experience personal and communal meaning. We all know of anecdotal evidence supporting this conviction. Persons with fatal illnesses delay death until after a holiday with their family. People who are isolated and lonely become clinically depressed and sometimes delusional. Persons with strong and hopeful beliefs bounce back better from tragedy and severe illness. During the horrors of the German concentration camps, Victor Frankl noted and later wrote about the place that hope played in the survival of many Jews. (Man’s Search for Meaning)

There is also mounting scientific evidence that our minds and our bodies are not separate but are closely related entities. For some years we have known that contemplative practices (quieting the mind, regulating the breathing) dramatically alters heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature. We respond far more adaptively and less defensively to challenges when the parasympathetic rather than the sympathetic nervous system is engaged. We are literally wired to defend ourselves (fight or flight). But we can learn to deflect that response and train ourselves to respond more adaptively. The placebo effect in scientific research is in itself evidence that, at least in a percentage of cases, what we believe affects how our bodies respond.

The point is that faith—the way we create and nurture meaning in our lives—has a lot to do with healing and wellness. Here are some things you can do to grow your faith and, perhaps, your wellness at the same time:

	Build in regular quiet times during your day. With the pace of contemporary society, this is a challenge, but its benefits may surprise you. Practice closing your eyes, quieting your mind, breathing slowly and evenly from your diaphragm. 10-12 minutes of relaxing silence several times a day can help you feel refreshed and centered.
	Identify one or two friends you trust and consider wise and ask to spend some time with them, talking about what is most meaningful in your lives.
	If you are not part of a faith community, look around to see if there is one you might visit. If it interests you, seek out some people there and ask them to tell you what they find meaningful about being part of that community.
	There are many books written today about spirituality, values and faith journeys. Not all of them are worthwhile; some may speak to you better than others. Browse through your library or bookstore and commit yourself to reading and, perhaps, discussing one with family or friends.
	If, as you try some of these suggestions, you find yourself troubled by what you discover, take your concerns to a family member or friend, rabbi or pastor, or seek out a therapist who takes religious faith seriously. You may have uncovered a new opportunity for healing and growth.

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