You don’t care much about the Easter message except for the chocolate bunnies and the four-day holiday weekend? Or does Easter make you fixate on the difficulties of life and the troubles in this world, despite what you know about Jesus’ resurrection?
It’s worth considering Easter and Jesus’ resurrection from the dead after his crucifixion in relation to what recent health research is telling us, because it may lead to your better health here and now.
Instead of viewing this event in history with sadness or disbelief, it should be a beacon of hope that we need not fear the change called death … that there really is such a thing as life after death … maybe even life instead of death.
A 19th century thought-leader and researcher into how our thoughts affect our health, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote in Science and Health, “The universal belief in death is of no advantage.”
She suggested that our expectation about our ultimate future has a very real impact on what’s happening here and now in terms of both mind and body.
The evidence today is adding weight to her stance that our beliefs about death influence our health. Fear of the future can affect everything from blood pressure, to heart rate, to mental stability. By some estimates, the stress underlying these conditions accounts for more than 60% of all doctor visits.
However, growing numbers of thinkers understand that we are not just material organisms. There is new recognition across the sciences of our mental and spiritual nature.
Many also have a much better appreciation of our relation to the divine these days …. that we are spiritual beings, all equal(-ly loved) and unfettered by religious differences.
Jesus said, and significantly demonstrated, that it was love and forgiveness that brought peace, health and joy in societies and individuals, and that led to change for the better, both here and hereafter.
He also showed us the most health-effective way to think and act, and he demonstrated the illusory nature of death, raising several individuals as well as himself from the dead.
Have you considered that if everyone understood that their spiritual self or consciousness lives forever that that alone would destroy most fears, raise our standard of health and make us less competitive? Eddy thought so and fully explained the “how-to” in her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
It’s likely that considering the possibilities of eternal life may challenge your assumptions about Easter’s significance. However, the potential payoff of better mental and physical health, here and now, could be profound and enduring.
This article was published in the Lismore Northern Star, Mackay Daily Mercury, Sunshine Coast Daily, Rockhampton Morning Bulletin, BuzzFeed and LinkedIn.