Distant healing revisited: time for a new epistemology

As distant healing becomes a valid object of scientific scrutiny, state-of-the-art statistical techniques point to outcomes clearly outside the realm of chance. Accordingly, a variety of experimental designs have come into play that highlight the many challenges and hazards of trying to objectify conscious intention. Our survey pinpoints some landmark studies geared toward relatively modest, short-term healing through the application of multiple modalities. In view of the transient and modest results of the distant healing reported, we suggest that the full range of its potential and its longitudinal effects have yet to be uncovered. To this end, we believe that broader, nonlinear thought processes would better serve us in fathoming the mysterious leap from mind to living matter.