by Eunice J Minford MA FRCS Ed, Consultant Surgeon, N.Ireland
Evidenced based medicine currently dominates the Western model but who decides what is ‘evidence’? Is it being controlled and limited by academia and /or commercial interests? Is anecdotal evidence of a person’s lived experience a valid form of evidence? If a person reports that their life has changed for the better as a result of an operation, a medication or a complementary healing modality – is that in itself a valid form of evidence? We are trained in medical school that the history of the patient is most important and where the gold lies…….why is it ok to accept this personal testimony when someone is ill but to ignore the same individual’s experience when they report what assisted them to recover? This interview with Serge Benhayon, begins the conversation on these topics.
Disclaimer: The topics covered in this interview go beyond what is accepted in the current paradigm of evidenced based Western Medicine and it is for the viewer to discern if what is shared is true or could possibly be true or not. Eunice Minford is a Consultant General Surgeon who works in the NHS in accordance with the principles of Western Medicine. She has a personal interest in exploring beyond the current paradigm of Western Medicine and has studied Esoteric Philosophy and Sacred Esoteric Healing with Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. Esoteric Medicine understands life, illness and disease at the level of energy.
Medicine and Serge Benhayon 
We know that big corporations are behind a lot of the research that takes place today, and we know that some of the research that has taken place has been biased towards the outcome that the companies wanted.
For example the tobacco industry that spent millions of dollars convincing the public that smoking was not harmful to our bodies. The research that told us that drinking wine was beneficial for our bodies and helped to prevent heart attacks. The Sugar Industry who again spent millions telling us that sugar was also beneficial. I personally feel we are led by the nose by these people that tell us what is and is not. Just like Religion dictated and controlled the masses in the ‘Dark ages’. There seems to me to be an energy that always wants to be in control of the masses, and unfortunately no one dares to question what the status quo is, until Serge Benhayon came along and exposed the dominating force we have all be living under.
Watching this video has opened up how and where research dictates to us in how we live, and yet countless numbers of people have changed their lives because of changing the way they live. And because it is a personal experience, it is considered not of value. The way we conduct research needs to be researched too. Who is to say that research itself is 100% fool proof?
I have been a research assistant and I know that when I was tired, as an example, my ability to perform my duty to the job dropped and I know the research was sabotaged or affected in some way. But there is a way of making the research at times, fit the outcome. This maybe just a small example, but how do we know this hasn’t occurred in other research? Worth pondering over.
There are more and more people experiencing changes/improvements in their lives and these experiences should not be discarded and could be used as a reference point at some point as well.
There is more to research than meets the eye…
It simply doesn’t make sense to me that someone’s direct experience and how they are feeling would be so easily dismissed. When we value the mind much more over the body we are disconnecting from truth. It is from the body that we receive universal intelligence not the mind.
It is a bizarre set up that we can tell a doctor about symptoms and that is considered valid anecdotal evidence, but not in other situations like testimonials for modalities like Universal Medicine therapies. It does feel very imposing on my basic human rights to tell me what is or isn’t evidence. For example, the Australian government recently made changes around complementary therapies and private health rebates claiming there was no evidence for certain therapies, including naturopathy, so they could not be supported by private health funds, which I found outrageous. This apparently came about through the influence of scientists who back this limited idea of evidence. I spend money on what works for me and if I feel something is not supporting me I don’t go back and invest more money. The evidence of how things work is easily felt in my own body and the way I live. Thanks for this great video.
Melinda, I can recall sharing with an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, how my body reacts to cheese and its effects on my ears and I would become more mucousy. He wasn’t receptive to this, however he went on to share that he had a patient who’s ears reacted when they ate eggs, and evidence suggested that this shouldn’t be the case…
I feel there was enough evidence per the body’s personal experience, that’s enough evidence to say I need to support my body differently now. That’s my randomised trial…
I remember being tested twice for Coeliac disease because I could feel how gluten was disrupting my health. The tests showed I didn’t have the disease however I decided that my body didn’t need their confirmation and I trusted that something else was going on and perhaps one day science might catch up to validate what was occurring but I wasn’t going to wait – I eliminated gluten and the results were very beneficial for my body. Everyday is actually a living science.
Anecdotal evidence is ok in some areas but not all others. The why being so simply stated in this conversation, it can’t be controlled. The answers the body gives cannot be controlled by the mind and this causes tension when we try to direct life as per the mind’s demands. It’s so not worth it however it does take a while to not only admit such but to surrender and follow in line with the body.
What I can feel from this is how the so-called intelligence of our brain is the very thing that reduces and limits the vastness our body can appreciate and relate to. It’s like our mind gives up and demands explanation when it cannot compute the wordless intelligence of the body.
It is simple… every human being if they are genuinely open can feel the benefits of something that supports them and what’s more important is that they have every right to have that choice just as every body is listened to by a doctor; it is no different.
There is a big difference between saying something is not true and something has not been tested or even studied or proven. As discussed in this interview often the two are mixed up. There are so many things that we cannot prove beyond a doubt in this world with our current research models but this does not mean they are not true. We need to keep an open mind and not narrow things down when it comes to research, science and medicine.
The truth is a constant terminal. The fact of not having arrived at it doesn’t negate it, it simply means we haven’t arrived at it.
How can we listen to a human being that shares their symptoms of what is going on in their body and yet dismiss that those same symptoms get better by receiving the Esoteric modalities? Could there be something at play here when we choose what we want to hear and dismiss that which we perhaps find uncomfortable and unsettling? – a reflection of truth that brings it back to taking responsibility for our health and wellbeing?
If I tell my GP i’m depressed it’s evidence, but if I tell them i’m feeling amazing with not drugs or stimulants suddenly i’m not impartial enough… the craziness of the system is quite something.
I am living anecdotal evidence thanks to Universal Medicine and the amazing results of the esoteric modalities. My life right now and how I feel is a 1000 x times better than how I used to feel.
That is a great point made here that we value the ‘patient story’ in terms of examination and finding out what the problem or issue is, but when it comes to so called ‘evidence based medicine’ or ‘research’ we devalue the patient experience and consider them untrustworthy or biased sources. But surely someone is going to be an expert on their own life and health as they have lived and breathed every minute of it?
“We are trained in medical school that the history of the patient is most important and where the gold lies… why is it ok to accept this personal testimony when someone is ill but to ignore the same individual’s experience when they report what assisted them to recover?” – great question, and that is so true.
Have we not all at some point questioned a coincidence which really does not seem like a coincidence. We have a dream, or something happens and we think: “my god, this must mean something”. This is us questioning the non-physical, and bringing an awareness to what is not yet accepted as common knowledge within our society.
With this interview, I am beginning to understand that anecdotal evidence is our voice, it is the truth of the lives that we live and as such, it cannot be owned by anyone else.
Exactly Doug… when the energetic interplay of what is actually happening all around us is more understood, anecdotal evidence will take its rightful place.
Simple and cheaper medicines – be they alternative or complementary – don’t get research funding because the money isn’t there to do the research. This doesn’t mean these forms of medicine are not supportive for the public. Indeed many conventional medicines have their roots in natural herbs and spices, but have been tweaked so they can be patented and make money for Big Pharma.
I wonder if the research that Mina Bissell did ever got the funding it deserved
Taken from the Ted Web site – “For decades, researcher Mina Bissell pursued a revolutionary idea — that a cancer cell doesn’t automatically become a tumor, but rather, depends on surrounding cells (its microenvironment) for cues on how to develop. Mina Bissell Shared on the ‘Ted Global 2012’ the two key experiments that proved the prevailing wisdom about cancer growth was wrong.”
Eight years on I wonder if there was any more funding for this research, given that the ‘Big Pharmaceutical’ companies would lose too much money if a cure for cancer was found.
“…. who decides what is ‘evidence’? Is it being controlled and limited by academia and /or commercial interests?” Such a pertinent question as ‘evidence’ is now arising of the bias and funding that some research programmes have together with the non-publication at the time of invested financial interests of the researchers.
The quality of any-thing and everything is determined by the energy that set it up in the first place. Every-thing is either set up by the pranic consciousness, a consciousness that is intent on permanently bolstering the illusion of separation or set up by a divine consciousness that is forever calling us back the the Oneness that we all actually are. Research is no different to anything else, it is either from the All for the All or it’s not.
If we have to wait for science to prove everything we can be waiting a long time as we have seen many times before in history. Often people that have been ridiculed at the time for what their viewpoints of life were have been proven by science to be true long long after the fact and with a lot of harm done in the mean time.
To dismiss someone’s life experience, which includes healing a health condition, just because it hasn’t gone through endless trials, is not only an insult to the person but also denies others who may have a similar condition knowing that the healing they are looking for is actually possible. How can anyone with a degree of common sense insist that a profound healing experience is not evidence-based medicine? But there are those who do, and the whole world misses out.
I absolutely agree Doug, that those with “vested interests do so much damage in this world”, and usually for the sake of profit or in some cases identification and recognition. But it seems to me that in both cases, the agenda of the ‘investor’ totally overrides the care, respect and welfare of others.
The anecdotal evidence of how so many people’s lives have changed as a result of the Esoteric Modalities, is not limited to function alone, as there has been whole life shifts in health, in the true and broadest sense of these words. And this is what makes Universal Medicine so complete, because the person is supported to heal.
That is such a good question – why is a person’s experience only valid in one area – surely if the way we live has got us sick then there is a natural assumption that the way we live could also influence how we get better.
Currently, evidence based medicine appears to dismiss the person that is the basis of the evidence.