It seems to me as though my mom has become more religious ever since her mother and aunt died. During her mother’s funeral, she mentioned a study on mothers whose children were dying of leukemia that tried to evaluate different kinds of coping assistance; according to her, the only thing that actually worked (as measured by the level of stress hormones) was sending the mothers to religious services. The cynic in me wants to respond that, yes, if you fool someone who’s dying into believing that they’re perfectly healthy, of course they’re going to feel happier than someone who is dying and knows it...
(Incidentally, when describing her religious beliefs, she’s referred me to the works of Teilhard de Chardin several times...)
It seems to me as though my mom has become more religious ever since her mother and aunt died. During her mother’s funeral, she mentioned a study on mothers whose children were dying of leukemia that tried to evaluate different kinds of coping assistance; according to her, the only thing that actually worked (as measured by the level of stress hormones) was sending the mothers to religious services. The cynic in me wants to respond that, yes, if you fool someone who’s dying into believing that they’re perfectly healthy, of course they’re going to feel happier than someone who is dying and knows it...
(Incidentally, when describing her religious beliefs, she’s referred me to the works of Teilhard de Chardin several times...)