Letters, Jul. 15, 1996

FAITH AND HEALING

“It is reassuring that spiritual health seems to be related to physical well-being, but let us be wary of the so-called spiritual healers of today.” ERIC F. JOHNSON Houston

Bravo for your articles exploring the role of spirituality in healing [MEDICINE, June 24]! For thousands of years, mystics have been saying the mind and body are one. We can surgically remove a symptom or illness, but if it remains in the mind, it will return to the body. According to physician and spiritual healer Deepak Chopra, the whole system needs to be treated. I hope that more of the medical community will take the opportunity to bridge the mind-body connection, looking to Chopra as the leader, the spokesman helping to bring medicine and mysticism closer together. JAMES SMALLWOOD Santa Barbara, California

There is no doubt that prayer relieves illness for some. However, since many of the most frequent causes of premature death are avoidable, the more prudent individual will prefer prevention to prayer. PAUL D. GEIGER Cumming, Georgia

Who is this anemic woman wrapped in feathers on your cover? Is this TIME’s idea of faith? Surely this is not a healthy female. Why didn’t you put Chopra on the cover? TORRE P. TAGGART Ojai, California

Before you get too carried away with the importance of faith and healing, let me remind you that a good, positive-minded atheist is just as likely to be healthy and to heal quickly as the person who chooses to dwell in the bubble of religious fantasy. GEORGE CROSTA Ocean Park, Washington

As a practicing physician and Buddhist, I find Chopra’s metaphors to be flowery, vague and frothy. We have witnessed the phenomenon of Indian gurus many times before. It is just another scheme to tap into the thirst for spiritual values felt by the American middle and upper classes. It will be interesting to see how long Chopra and his disciples last. HUNG T. VU Fremont, California

If my anonymous prayers can heal you, then my anonymous curses should be able to make you quite sick. You can’t have this kind of faith healing without opening the door to voodoo. ROB EISENBERG Tryon, North Carolina Via E-mail

Spirituality is not necessarily other-worldly and fey, although it is frequently portrayed as such. As your report suggests, spirituality manifests itself in some enormously practical ways, such as physical healing. But you make it sound as though Christian Scientists consider spiritual engagement merely a “paramount medical technique.” To us, spirituality is the natural outcome of an understanding and loving God, whom we believe to be the Spirit. ENID M. GORMAN New York City

Faith, spirituality and positive thoughts, along with prayers by family members and friends, have helped me cope with my chronic illness. I have been able to turn a lengthy medical treatment with severe side effects into a time of spiritual growth. My dream is for my health insurance to pay for a one-week stay at Chopra’s new healing center in La Jolla, California. JOSEFINA RUIZ Sherman Oaks, California Via E-mail

Your report proves that religion is good for your health. Spirituality is a psychological need, and must be fulfilled. Faith brings hope and imparts meaning to your life and sufferings. Attending services at a religious institution gives you a chance to get social support by relating to others and to God at difficult times. A strong sense of spiritual and social ties would surely eliminate the role of many Dr. Jack Kevorkians from this planet. IRFAN AKBAR Pittsburg, California

I believe that if there is a God, such an entity does not intervene in daily events because of prayers. If I get sick, the Mayo Clinic or Massachusetts General Hospital is a better choice than Chopra’s unprovable theories. THOMAS FILBIN Westwood, Massachusetts

Let’s not get so carried away that we deride medicine’s scientific foundations and create “emperors of the soul.” VISHWANATH AYENGAR Wappingers Falls, New York

MONEY FOR THE CANDIDATES

You did a great service to the American public in tabulating the major contributors to both Bill Clinton’s and Bob Dole’s presidential-campaign chests [NATION, June 24]. I see these two men as Tweedledum and Tweedledee with regard to being backed by major corporations. The most interesting “owner” was AT&T, which gave $300,000 plus to each candidate. STEVEN FENICHEL Ocean City, New Jersey

The title of your article “The Bucks Start Here” should have been “Bribery Starts Here.” While it is illegal in the U.S. to bribe a police officer, influencing a politician by using so-called soft money seems to be perfectly O.K. Why should I bother to vote, knowing that elected officials are like tools bought by giant corporations to manipulate the underclass? On Election Day, I’m going to stay in my small shop, where I make barely enough money to survive. Maybe by working those hours instead of wasting them going to the polls, I will be able to buy a Senator who can get to the White House. BERGE WASSILIAN Los Angeles

Your story included a graphic illustration indicating that President Clinton vetoed the securities-litigation reform bill “four days after his White House dinner with trial-lawyer honcho Bill Lerach.” To set the record straight, the dinner was a White House Christmas party attended by more than 250 people. My contact with the President was limited to 30 seconds of social chitchat. I did not discuss the legislation with him that night. In fact, I have never discussed it personally with the President. WILLIAM S. LERACH San Diego

GRIMY AND TANTALIZING CITY

I was deeply saddened to read “Death of a City” and see the stark photos of Afghanistan’s capital Kabul [WORLD, June 24]. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Afghanistan from June 1970 to September 1972 and did some of my training in Kabul. It was by no stretch of the imagination a beautiful city. In midsummer it was hot, dusty and dirty, and in winter cold, mud-covered and miserable. But I lament the destruction of this backwater capital. For beneath the grime and mud were sharp colors and tantalizing smells. I lament the loss of the shopkeepers who manned the stalls of the bazaars and the women shrouded in mystery who frequented them. I mourn for the children, now maimed or dead, who will never see the wonders of this once vibrant city. PHILIP E. SMITH Lancaster, Pennsylvania

The desolation of Kabul is tragic, but the last paragraph of your article, in which people blame the U.S. for what has happened there, is infuriating. If Afghans believe that the U.S. is responsible for their misery because we supplied them with weapons, do they also believe that we supplied them with the suicidal stupidity to turn those weapons on one another? We can sometimes protect populations from the aggression of invaders, but we can’t protect populations from their own ridiculous brutality. KAREN S. COYLE Deland, Florida

TAMING THE NAUGHTY NET

Your story on the U.S. Federal judges’ decision affirming free speech on the Internet [TECHNOLOGY, June 24] failed to ask what happened to the view that one person’s civil rights extend only to the point at which they interfere with the rights of others. When I studied the Bill of Rights and its implications, that point was stressed. To allow the Net to carry immoral language and art that are frowned on by polite society is not only incorrect but infringes on the rights of others, regardless of what some idiotic judges may say! FRANK WEBSTER Detroit

The internet society is borderless, and the ruling of the federal judges is not only proper but inevitable. MICHIO ARAI Yokohama Via E-mail

SINGING INSTEAD OF TALKING

For virtually all her life, Ella Fitzgerald was a shy figure who never found the sunny and confident love she sang so beautifully about [APPRECIATION, June 24]. Her voice spoke of human understanding and sympathy. Her interpretation of sad-sweet lyrics was so precise it seemed almost incredible that such a succulent sound could come from a modest, dumpy woman. She shunned the spotlight, and unlike many of her musical contemporaries, never made the headlines with extracurricular antics. She rarely made the rounds of talk shows to project a personality, but let her singing speak for her. Her black voice gave depth and beauty to white lyrics at a time when there wasn’t even a pretense of racial justice. She sang these songs, including their little known verses, with feeling and a sensitive comprehension of the articulation and melody of the famous craftsmen who created them. EDWARD W. GAUL Hightstown, New Jersey

VICTOR HUGO’S MUSICAL

When it was announced that Disney planned a singing, dancing Hunchback of Notre Dame [CINEMA, June 24], it seemed like an absurd idea. Having seen the movie, I can only assume the next project will be something along the lines of Anne Frank, the Musical. PHILIP J. SCHACCA West Hempstead, New York