Healing is a natural and often deeply personal process that can encompass the entire spectrum of our lives – physical, mental, emotional and even spiritual. For some it is a return to wholeness or a return of hope – to others it is a sense that “I will be all right, no matter what happens.” It can be a return of a long lost sense of joy in life or a renewed sense of purpose despite difficult circumstances. For others a new or renewed sense of belonging in the world, or of a sense that somehow everything makes sense.
There is an important dialogue that is taking place in contemporary biomedicine about the distinction between curing and healing. We want both. Curing is successful medical treatment. It is what the physician hopes to bring to the patient. Healing is broader, and comes from within. It is the inner process through which a person becomes whole. Curing affects the illness, while healing affects the experience of the illness. A person engaged in healing work can make a significant transformation in their quality of life. And that itself can sometimes have a positive affect on outcome.
Our work at Smith Center is to help ‘create the conditions for healing’ through support, community, and providing tools and techniques that promote healing. We believe that everyone harbors innate capacities for healing. We believe that healing is always possible even when curing is not.
Watch the video below in which our Co-Founder, Michael Lerner, PhD, draws the distinction between curing and healing, speaking specifically about the cancer experience.
“Curing is what a physician seeks to offer you. Healing comes from within us. It’s what we bring to the table. And healing can be described as the emotional, the mental, and the spiritual process of becoming whole.” – Michael Lerner, PhD
