Healing Methods in Indian Villages

[TTCUSM]

Paul G. Hiebert has an article which provides a good summary of healing techniques used in Indian villages.

[Lije]

There are no healing techniques mentioned in that article. It's just superstition and pseudoscience.

[TTCUSM]

(11-Sep-2010, 07:33 PM)Lije Wrote: There are no healing techniques mentioned in that article. It's just superstition and pseudoscience.

There's an interesting quote on page 5 of the article:

Quote:But what of the plagues that the magician cured? What about spirit possession, or curses, or witchcraft or black magic? What was the Christian answer to these?

Neither the missionary evangelist or doctor had an answer. These did not really exist, they said. But to people for whom these were very real experiences in their lives, there had to be an answer. It is not surprising, therefore, that many of them returned to the magician for cures.

Apparently, telling the villagers that it's all just pseudoscience isn't working.

[Lije]

(11-Sep-2010, 09:48 PM)TTCUSM Wrote:

Quote:But what of the plagues that the magician cured? What about spirit possession, or curses, or witchcraft or black magic? What was the Christian answer to these?

Neither the missionary evangelist or doctor had an answer. These did not really exist, they said. But to people for whom these were very real experiences in their lives, there had to be an answer. It is not surprising, therefore, that many of them returned to the magician for cures.

Apparently, telling the villagers that it's all just pseudoscience isn't working.

The villagers were being told by missionaries who have their own set of irrational beliefs to shove down the villagers throats. A rationalist approach would be to explain why it is superstition and also show experimentally that the belief is wrong.

[unsorted]

"Hot diseases like smallpox"
"Cold diseases like malaria"

I've never heard these hot/cold descriptions before - what does it mean?!

The article is interesting w.r. to analysing fallacies. He claims that most people commit the fallacy of the excluded middle (aka false dilemma or false choice) - the middle ground being some sort of faith-science combo. The thing is, I don't think this choice is false at all - science-based medicine is the right one. The two choices are mutually exclusive. The middle-ground is only invoked to appeal to thinking-theologian types - people who are educated and rational but also believe in magic remedies. It's a intellectual dodge.

[Lije]

(11-Sep-2010, 10:31 PM)unsorted Wrote: "Hot diseases like smallpox"
"Cold diseases like malaria"

I've never heard these hot/cold descriptions before - what does it mean?!

I think it is something from Ayurveda. Hot/cold refer to how you feel. Hot things are cured by taking cold things (i.e eat a salad if you feel feverish) and vice versa.

Quote:The article is interesting w.r. to analysing fallacies. He claims that most people commit the fallacy of the excluded middle (aka false dilemma or false choice) - the middle ground being some sort of faith-science combo. The thing is, I don't think this choice is false at all - science-based medicine is the right one. The two choices are mutually exclusive. The middle-ground is only invoked to appeal to thinking-theologian types - people who are educated and rational but also believe in magic remedies. It's a intellectual dodge.

[TTCUSM]

(11-Sep-2010, 10:31 PM)unsorted Wrote: The article is interesting w.r. to analysing fallacies.

This article is also interesting w.r.t. the religious beliefs that are described. On page 2, the author mentions villagers sacrificing buffaloes to Maisamma, the Goddess of Smallpox. On page 3, the author talks about mantrakars chanting spells and using yantras.

Both mantras and yantras are part of a set of theistic philosophies known as Tantrism, where goddess worship plays a significant role...

[Sajit]

(15-Sep-2010, 06:27 AM)TTCUSM Wrote:

(11-Sep-2010, 10:31 PM)unsorted Wrote: The article is interesting w.r. to analysing fallacies.

This article is also interesting w.r.t. the religious beliefs that are described. On page 2, the author mentions villagers sacrificing buffaloes to Maisamma, the Goddess of Smallpox. On page 3, the author talks about mantrakars chanting spells and using yantras.

Both mantras and yantras are part of a set of theistic philosophies known as Tantrism, where goddess worship plays a significant role...

Animal sacrifice and god or goddess worship is still superstitious belief. The title 'healing methods' is misleading. These are primitive practices and healing will not take place for serious illness. And that article you linked is written by a religious person and is full of false beliefs. We need to go by evidence not this christian missionary's idea that there exists an excluded middle in this case. And if you have not noticed, we don't think anything of mantras and tantras and other primitive crap.

[unsorted]

TTCUSM,

You could make your position clearer. Being cryptic and expecting people to work out what you mean doesn't make for productive discussion. When you said it was "interesting", I took it to be in the way Harry Potter (for example) is interesting. Now I'm not so sure!

[Sajit]

(15-Sep-2010, 10:08 AM)unsorted Wrote: TTCUSM,

You could make your position clearer. Being cryptic and expecting people to work out what you mean doesn't make for productive discussion. When you said it was "interesting", I took it to be in the way Harry Potter (for example) is interesting. Now I'm not so sure!

I agree unsorted. I think TTCUSM is using sneaky tactics.