Description
In September 1224 something strange happened to St Francis of Assisi. Deep in contemplation of the crucifixion of Christ, blood suddenly began to pour from his hands, feet and side as if he too had been crucified. And since St Francis's time hundreds of otherwise ordinary individuals have experienced the same sort of bleedings from seemingly spontaneous wounds called stigmata.
That something of this kind genuinely happens seems incontrovertible. During the last century the wounds of many stigmatics were exhaustively photographed and examined medically. But are they really, as many would believe, divinely bestowed replications of the actual wounds of Jesus? Or could they result from a strange mental process yet to be understood?
As lan Wilson argues, stigmata are more significant than other more minor religious freaks. If, by whatever means, the mind really does cause the flesh to change, this could have the profoundest implications for some as yet incurable diseases, including cancer. It could even shed new light on the process of evolution. Never has the case for 'mind over matter' seemed more plausible, or more potentially rewarding.
ISBN:9780586090145
