A ray of sun travels millions of miles & lands on a single magnolia leaf. Presto: photosynthesis enables the leaf to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide & oxygen.

   What if "Thoughts & Prayers," (a now-trite phrase) are not distance dependent?  Could regular reader, Sister Maureen McDermott, aim a healing prayer from her Australian home towards Liz Wessel in California & affect Liz's body chemistry?

   "No!" Scientists always said. Now, new evidence from scientists suggests what the faithful believe. "Yes!" Our prayers can help heal…& distance is irrelevant! 

   There is no area where spirituality & science intersect more tantalizingly than in quantum physics. 

   But, if you are a poet, musician or science-hater you probably missed news from the world-renown Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Starting back in 2013 MIT Technology Review wrote: "The ability to control one quantum particle by manipulating another somewhere else sounds like the stuff of science fiction. Now physicists say they know how to do it."

   So can you. Since our thoughts, as brain waves, are quantum particles (including photons or electrons) their travels are not restricted by distance.  Scientists call the transport process "teleportation" & describe it in the article as "one of the more extraordinary phenomena in the quantum world. It, [teleportation] allows a quantum object, such as a photon or electron, to travel from one location to another without passing through the space in between." (Italics added)

   Distance prayers may have been working for millennia!

   Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Healing Words, told me this thirty years ago on my international t.v. show, Life Choices with Erie Chapman. But, I was doubtful & rarely read science journals. My son-in-law, Alberto Pierotti, does & led me to the latest research.  

   The faithful have always used distance prayer. Now faith-doubting scientists may join ministers in weaponizing thoughts to help defeat disease.  

   Perhaps, your prayers will gain new energy. Someone across the ocean will experience new healing…& wonder why. 

-Rev. Erie Chapman

Photograph: "Magnolia" – Erie Chapman