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SUE Speaks Podcast

Initiated & organized by Suzanne Taylor

11

Episode

The Power of Prayer to Affect the Physical World

with Larry Dossey, Physician and New York Times Best-Selling Author — M.D.

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About this episode.

Dr. Larry Dossey is a physician of internal medicine and former Chief of Staff of Medical City Dallas Hospital, who lectures around the world. He received his M. D. degree from Southwestern Medical School (Dallas), and trained in internal medicine at Parkland and the VA hospitals in Dallas. Dossey has lectured at medical schools and hospitals throughout the United States and abroad. In 1988, he delivered the annual Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Lecture in New Delhi, India, the only physician ever invited to do so. He is the author of twelve books dealing with consciousness, spirituality, and healing, including The New York Times bestseller, HEALING WORDS: THE POWER OF PRAYER AND THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE, and, most recently, ONE MIND: HOW OUR INDIVIDUAL MIND IS PART OF A GREATER CONSCIOUSNESS AND WHY IT MATTERS. His books have been translated into many languages. Dr. Dossey is the former co-chairman of the Panel on Mind/Body Interventions, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health. He is the executive editor of the peer-reviewed journal, EXPLORE: The Journal of Science and Healing. He is a member, as Suzanne is, of the prestigious Scientific & Medical Network (SMN), where he sometimes speaks at their events. SMN is a worldwide professional community and membership organization for open-minded, rigorous and evidence-based enquiry into themes bridging science, spirituality and consciousness. Dr. Dossey gave a moving talk at an event I was producing for TED a few years ago. And, his interview by Oprah, that we talk about in our podcast episode, was revelatory in authenticating the power of prayer to heal people. Dr. Dossey lives in Santa Fe with his wife, Barbara, a nurse-consultant and the author of several award-winning books.

Larry Dossey's website

Larry's mission: "My mission is to tell the truth and not shade the truth."

Larry's one-line message to the world: "Pay Attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." - Mary Oliver

The SUE Speaks Blog Post about Larry Dossey, M.D.

  • Larry's startled by discovering statistics on the healing power of prayer
  • amasses prayer findings in The New York Times best selling book, Healing Words
  • personal experience of healing power
  • main interest is the role of consciousness and healing
  • Larry's personal prayer ritual
  • distance doesn't matter
  • non-locality
  • prayer working backwards in time
  • ancient traditions were tuned into non-locality: Akashic records, cosmic consciousness, allumination, awakening, enlightenment, Christ consciousness, Zen Samadhi, yoga
  • EST in 1972: praying for strangers
  • Werner Erhard
  • the power of thought beyond prayer that affects the material world
  • prayer strategies
  • materialism and capitalism have overshadowed our sense of connection
  • origins of greed and selfishness
  • a case to be made for compassion and love for all creation
  • understanding our interconnection would dissolve our oppositional reality
  • Greta Thunberg and the promise from the younger generation
  • David Bohm
  • Physicians Untold Stories by Scott Kolbaba
  • mind-boggling miracle healing of Barbara Cummiskey
  • the significance of prayer coming from love
  • we don't need to know how prayer works for it to work
  • twins' experience as a "telesomatic" event
  • Twin Telepathy by Guy Lyon Playfair
  • "twin stuff" between Larry and his identical twin brother
  • a doctor's fear about writing up a miracle cure
  • Larry's praying for his patients
  • contribution that spirituality and spiritual practices make to human health
  • Larry talked about prayer on Oprah's SuperSoul Conversation. Watch it on YouTube
  • Pulitzer Prize winner Mary Oliver's poem, "Sometimes"

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[ 03 ] The Discussion

Comments · 8

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Sasha

Thank you Suzanne for another wonderful interview! The power of prayer is incredible to say the least! It’s hard to find words to describe my feelings about it. I will wrap my mind around it for a while! God bless!

suzanne· Host

I really learned that listening to Larry. He is such a voice of authority from his work in medicine that he can open people's eyes to how genuinely powerful prayer can be. If that were common knowledge, we'd be employing it seriously. A project I'm actually working on is to get everyone to pray together, with making people kinder as the thing to pray for. A kinder humanity could change our worldview from being based in self-interest to where we care about each other as much as we care about ourselves!

Sasha

I agree with that idea about collective praying for kindness in the world! We can start to think when to pray .... perhaps it can be a special day in the week or month! How often and how long ..... We need to reach as many people of goodwill as possible! I’m sure you already have some ideas ..... You are such a great organizer. Count me in! ?

suzanne· Host

The idea is a minute a day with masses doing it all over the world. We created a Facebook group that describes it, that people can join where we collect kindness articles and examples as we develop this idea: https://www.facebook.com/groups/focusforhumanity. We were looking for something quantifiable so that if it was effective we'd see some verifiable result, but now that we are in the state we are in we're thinking focusing on kindness could have an impressive impact even though it wouldn't get a measurable result.

Victoria Moran

When I hear someone wise and solid and connected to the wisdom of the universe -- in this case, Dr. Dossey -- I can't help fantasizing that more of his kind would go into politics. What an amazing human being! And there's no better interviewer for someone who's in on the Big Picture than Suzanne Taylor, since she's in on It, too.

suzanne· Host

He really is the voice of wisdom -- who speaks so clearly that you get it. I hoped I did him justice in our interview and it's good to get the kudos from you! Other's might like to listen to us from when you were my podcast guest . A spiritual teacher once pointed out that in all the categories of endeavor -- business, agriculture, health, education -- all categories are further along on the way to enlightenment than politics. Politics is so solidly in the old paradigm, of serving self-interests and functioning by power-over, that it's unattractive to people with consciousness leanings. Here's a 2-cents of mine about politics and Brian Swimme, another podcast guest. What do you think? I have a brilliant idea. If there is a brokered convention I suggest Brian Swimme get nominated for President. He's never run for any office and he wouldn't want to, but he's the person with the best understanding of what we all are doing here. So, the idea would be that he would be calling the shots of what makes most sense to carry us along into the kind of world we would most like to be in, and that's all we really need from him. Just guide this ship. The very best experts in all categories would be installed to oversee the policies that would be put into play. Another thing to call attention to about Brian Swimme is his humanity. He is the man every woman would like to marry. Not only is he honest and kind and all that sort of thing, but he's classy and funny and charming, where to be in his company is to adore him. A sort of Barack Obama older white guy. Just think of those qualities in our next President. Why not?

Loren Lewis

This talk is so timely in that so many of us know individuals or families that are in need of prayer at this time! I was taken by the fact that many doctors won't share stories about spontaneous healing because it wouldn't advance their career, and I'm glad to learn about the book, Physician's Untold Stories . I love his personal story about waking from surgery in so much pain and being totally comforted (and have the pain cease) when a kind nurse took his hand and assured him all was well. I also appreciated the fact that people with a spiritual practice tend to live 7-14 years longer; I'm on it! And so pleased that his research has lead to 80 medical schools incorporating this information into their curriculums. And, finally, to "...break the hypnotic spell of the cult of the individual." Boy, do we need that now more than ever. Thank you for this inspiring conversation!

suzanne· Host

What a gift he is in getting prayer into the med schools to where they teach it. It was so nice to hear those points he made echoed back, a testimonial to how cogent and clear he is about things that are going on that could change everything. If the powers that be heard Larry, I think the world would change!

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