Interview

Faith Prevents Coronavirus Infections

Department of Medical Science
Chairman of Happy Smile Clinic

Yoichi Chida

Born in 1972 in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. Professor of Medical Science. Psychiatrist and psychosomatic physician. After graduating from the Kyushu University Graduate School, he worked as a researcher in University College London before obtaining his current job. He is conducting collaborative research with Western research facilities and have had many successes in the clinically. He has published many books, including Happy People, Unhappy People.

We asked a doctor who specializes in positive psychology and conducts multiple research overseas about the relationship between faith and immunity.

Q: You point out in your book that good beliefs have the power of strengthening faith.

A: When you have a positive mentality, hormones such as oxytocin are produced, and parasympathetic nerves become more engaged. Western medicine explains that this helps keep immunity up.

However, there are many things in Eastern medicine that anatomy cannot explain, such as a patient’s symptoms improving when certain pressure points are pushed, even though there are no nerves in that area.

Connections With Religious Organizations Increase Immunity

Q: Medically speaking, is it possible that strong faith will make you less prone to coronavirus infections?

A: Many researchers have pointed out that religious beliefs improve the immune system.

The Handbook of Religion and Health, published by Duke University psychiatrist Dr. Harold G. Koenig along with others, explain how the immune system is affected by faith.

Eight years of work and the follow-up investigations of 20,000 people reveal that the death rate from infectious diseases of people who go to church more than twice a week was 1/3 that of people who do not participate in any religious activities. This number does not change even when taking into account factors such as drinking and smoking, so there’s most likely a direct spiritual effect that is coming into play.

Furthermore, people who are connected to others and the society through faith have lower death rates. Being connected to people and the society pushes away infections. From a materialistic perspective, avoiding large social gatherings are key to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but in order to increase immunity I believe that it is important to stay connected through religious activities such as prayer and missionary work.

Also, research performed by a famous Harvard professor on human connections showed that happy people associate and gather with happy people more, while unhappy people spent more time with unhappy people. In addition, it is said that people who are direct friends of happy people become 15% happier and their friend’s friend, 10% happier.

When combined with the idea that the source of happiness comes from God, we can infer that when people who have received direct influence form God gather, their happiness becomes contagious and grows. This is why it is important to have faith and stay connected with God.

However, we must note that there are good religions and bad religions. When you associate with religions that focus solely on worldly benefits and target faith in the wrong places, negative things can also spread. This is something to be wary of.

People Infected By the Coronavirus Are Possessed

Q: Ryuho Okawa, the CEO Of Happy Science, has pointed out that possession is related to infectious diseases.

A: In Western medicine as well, there is a section for dissociative trance when diagnosing patients, and there is already the presumption that personality changes are caused by possessions.

What is interesting is that when someone’s personality changes, the body’s reactions also change as well. According to the book Brain Wars (*1), some patients with dissociative identity disorders, also known as multiple personality disorders, showed different allergic reactions when they had different personalities. One personality might have a cat allergy while the other does not.

Western medicine claims that infectious diseases originate from bacteria and viruses, but it is most likely the case that the disease starts before then, when people’s wavelengths match those of the evil spirits. The spirit, along with the virus, possess the person causing their personalities and their body’s reactions to change.

Q: What can people do individually to strengthen their immunity?

A: Having faith is extremely important. There was a patient who used to get the influenza every year, but after they became a Happy Science devotee and started reciting The Dharma of the Right Minds every day, they rarely got the flu anymore.

According to the Law of Attraction (*2), even when sick, infectious thoughts come your way; however, these will pass by if you don’t produce thoughts with the same wavelengths. Especially in times when negativity floats around everywhere, it is important to hold faith and constantly produce positive images and words.

Depressing news such as increasing cases of COVID-19 are being broadcasted every day and seeing this news repeatedly multiples fear. It may be better to distance yourself from these depressing news stories.

The mindset of giving to others, along with this, is important. Instead of just focusing solely on protecting yourself, having warmer thoughts of helping others will become the most powerful immunity against the coronavirus.

Faith and Altruistic Thoughts Serve As Immunities and Perform Miracles

Mother Teresa, with her strong faith in Jesus Christ, lent a helping hand to those suffering from infectious diseases without hesitation.

It is said that she used to have a frail body, but she seldom suffered from infections during her working years. She got malaria later in her life but was able to recover and spent her long 87 years of life serving the poor.

Emperor Shomu’s consort, Empress Komyo became a devotee of Buddhism and was an active and devoted philanthropist. She started multiple facilities such as Hidain to help save the poor and Yakuin, a medical facility.

The empress vowed to wash off the filth of 1000 people and piously served everyone, ranging from the homeless to those with diseases.

There is a famous anecdote that the 1000th person who arrived was a foul-smelling person with severe leprosy. However, the empress washed his back without hesitation, wiped off his dirt, and even sucked up their pus when begged upon. (Leprosy is a disease that has long been feared for its contagiousness.)

Gratitude Towards God

Humanity, in the past, has tried to overcome various epidemic crises through their advancements in medicine and the sciences. People are raising hope that a vaccine for the coronavirus will be created right now as well.

However, there is something that can be seen in the miracles of Mother Teresa, Empress Komyo, and all the experiences given in this article: a strong will and altruistic thoughts that are backed by faith. The advancement of medicine may have caused us to forget these mindsets.

We should reflect on our arrogance that has erased the existence of God in our mind, and instead should give gratitude to the very Being who continues to watch over and guide us.

If each one of us holds this kind of mindset, the immunity from faith will strengthen, and the day will soon come when the coronavirus faces its end.