The Placebo Effect

From the doctor philosopher’s line of thought

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The placebo effect 

The philosopher doctor had a story to share 
She has a patient in Malaysia 
Who she sent capsules to heal an ailment 
When she had sent the medicines 

The lady came back and given her a tough time 
Turns out
The capsules she has sent 
had not been filled with the meds

And as a result 
The Malaysian patient’s sickness has not been healed 

Since the capsules had felt rather light
The patient had taken the liberty to check inside 
and had found out the costly mistake 
And hence had taken her to task 

The doctor narrated this story 
And another—
A man had gone to a new island 
Where he had seen the locals 
Feasting on all its natural plants 

He had found all the plants 
Except for the banana plant

So the man 
in order to show the islanders 
how a banana looked 
He had taken some wood 
Shaped it into a banana 
painted it yellow 
and shown it to the locals

Some years later, they had had a famine 
Hunger had led them to the man’s home
where they had seen the banana made of wood 

Assuming that it was the fruit he had talked about 
They had scraped a portion of it
And tried to eat it

When that didn’t work 
They had ground it into a fine powder 
Mixed it in water 
And drank it 

Feeling and telling themselves 
What the man had said to them
That the banana satisfies hunger 

So they had believed that this banana 
which they had ground into powder 
Had taken away their hunger 

The doctor narrated these stories 
To ask her listeners an important question— 
You believe that God exists inside of a temple 
Where you go to worship him 
Does he really exist there?
We already discussed that those buildings were created for one purpose 
To remind people that God existed within us 
Just like he was shown to exist inside of that pyramid-shaped temple structure 

So, since you don’t know if God really existed inside those structures 
Just like the banana story 
You assume he does

And assume that you have been fed
With peace and sanctity 
On visiting the structures 
And worshipping the man-made stone sculptures within them 

Just like the empty capsule couldn’t heal the Malaysian patient’s ailments 
Would your ardent worship of a sculpture 
Yield the results
Bring you the healing or answers you are praying for?

I wanted to go one step further in light of JK’s reasoning that we saw yesterday 
Does that God which you are unsure of if He exists in that structure 
Is that God worthy of fighting for with your life?

Would He expect that from you if He really did?
And if He really did exist 
Within temples and churches and mosques among others 
Would that God expect you to tear and rip each other apart in His name? 

When you tear little children from their parents in the name of deportation 
Would your God be delighted 
to see the ones he created 
being torn apart from their loved ones 
in His name?

Think about this 
Peace ✌🏽 

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