There’s a lot more to that statement than is realized at first blush.

Take for instance, the effectiveness of various cognitive therapies where patient’s brains have basically been rewired through directed volition on the part of the patient. Stroke victims regain capacities that were thought to be completely lost because the area of the brain usually in control of that function is hopelessly damaged. Yet, the mind apparently can rewire the remaining healthy parts of the brain to take over from the damaged parts . . . even going so far as to switch control of a function to opposite hemispheres of the brain.

Is this a case of the immaterial affecting the material? It sure seems so. The mind and the brain do not appear to be one in the same. Our consciousness . . . our will (aka, “directed volition” in the case of cognitive therapy) . . . might just be of the immaterial. Religion would call this a soul, and Christianity believes it is imprinted with the Imago Dei (that is, the image of God). The soul comes equipped with consciousness (knowing I am me), free will, and intellect. And, best of all, since it is made in the image and likeness of God, it is also immortal. It is spirit as God is spirit. It is immaterial. Science has failed to find it only because it is ill equipped to do so, for science can only operate on that which is material and objective.

“So what,” you say? Mind does seem to have some sway over its own grey matter, but that’s the limit to it, right?

Wrong.

Another well known effect in quantum physics also shows the strange power of mind over matter . . . and in this case, matter not of one’s own body. Subatomic particles only reveal their exact position when we bother to measure them. It turns out that this odd little feature of subatomic particles is not simply a function of too primitive scientific, doo hickey instruments.  Rather, subatomic particles don’t have any location at all until some scientist wills to measure it. The act of measuring, which is an act of human free will, compels the subatomic particle to go from an indeterminate state to an actual position (sort of the physics way of stopping and smiling pretty for the camera). Here we have a strange, but true, example of human free will (aka, “The Mind”) affecting reality at the tiniest of levels, the quantum level. Yep, it’s another case of mind over matter . . . the immaterial operating on the material (no brain matter, after all, leaped out of the scientist’s ear and grabbed hold of that subatomic particle).

So then, we have one case of mind over matter where the matter is completely external to one’s own body. Are there any others?

Well, there’s intercessory prayer, or what the medical community likes to call “distant healing.” There have been several scientifically designed studies over time that incorporated a wide variety of techniques . . . everything from traditional prayer, to healing touch, to sending out good vibes (i.e. visualizing the health of some target patient). The results have been mixed and the jury is still out on solid scientific findings one way or the other. A 2006 study in the American Heart Journal has often been cited as the death knell for intercessory prayer; it showed worst results for a set of patients who knew they were being prayed for. However, there have been other studies that have shown the opposite. For example this systematic review in the Annals of Medicine showed that 57% of the trials the authors examined (from 23 different studies on intercessory prayer) showed positive treatment effects. These authors concluded that there is some there really there which warrants further research.

At the end of the day, however, science may never produce anything conclusive with respect to intercessory prayer. Besides any criticisms about confounds inherent in designed experiments, science must . . . by necessity . . .  ignore a gigantic factor in intercessory prayer. That factor is, of course, God. Intercessory prayer is not a magic elixir produced by our minds (aka, our souls) guaranteed to alter reality. No, an intercessory prayer is merely a request to the real governor of reality, who is God. It is He who does the healing, not us. But, we do have a hand in it . . . after all, God did tell us that where two or more are gathered in His Name, there He shall be. So, at least Biblically speaking, mind over matter sometimes works in intercessory prayer because God wills it to. But, just because God is the one who did the actual healing doesn’t change the fact that we . . . through our prayers . . . which are a product of our minds . . . had a place in that equation.

So, mind over matter . . . from rewiring one’s own brain, to telling subatomic particles to stay still a moment for a picture, to intercessory prayer; what’s any of it got to do with politics and culture in today’s America?

Plenty.

It directly contradicts one of the worst scourges to ever befall a civilization. I’m speaking of reductive materialism. This is the sweet nectar of most atheists’ existence. Reductive materialism is the idea that there is nothing beyond the material of this universe; that we are just a particularly excellent, chance collection of atoms; that your mind and brain are identical; that there is no God, because there is no supernatural. This mindset is taught and promoted in public K-12 education and most especially in college. The reach of reductive materialism is so widespread, that one cannot help but be influenced by it in one way or another.

Reductive materialism is also false. And, like anything that’s false, it can be nothing else but damaging to civilization. It is a poison that leeches hope from man, sows despair, encourages hedonism, diminishes the will to procreate (i.e. to have kids, not just have sex), and opens up a Pandora’s Box of Utilitarian nightmares that make horrors like sanitized eugenics (e.g. abortion in African American communities) possible. Welcome to the brave new world of reductive materialism.

Mind over matter discredits reductive materialism, for it shows that mind is not matter. It shows that there is a part of us that is immaterial . . . our souls (aka, our minds). We are part of something much bigger than just ourselves. There is God, and man is not just a very fortunate, happenstance collection of atoms. Instead, man is a creation of God, endowed with an immortal soul formed in the image and likeness of God. This truth gives man the wonderful gift of hope and it is this great commodity of Heaven that makes for better societies during our sojourn on earth.