"Designed to Heal" (Jennie A. McLaurin and Cymbeline Tancongco Culiat)

TITLE: Designed to Heal: What the Body Shows Us about Healing Wounds, Repairing Relationships, and Restoring Community
AUTHOR: Jennie A. McLaurin and Cymbeline Tancongco Culiat
PUBLISHER: Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2021, (272 pages).
 

There is much we can learn from the workings of the human body. There is also much that we do not yet know. This does not mean we cannot benefit from the knowledge available to us, the interconnectedness of the body systems as well as how we can use this knowledge to apply to human relationships. Learning about how the body heals gives us profound insights into healing human relationships all around. At the same time, their shared Christian beliefs enable them to relate to healing far beyond the physical domain, especially pertaining to the repair of relationships in a community. McLaurin begins with a dramatic retelling of a serious that happened during a family ski trip. Her husband Andrew was badly wounded and had to be rushed to the hospital. It so happened that the physical wounds coincided with emotional hurts arising from Andrew's work situation. That was a significant moment that motivated McLaurin to apply what she knew about healing to a societal level. Co-author Bem also had her traumatic moments when her husband Julio developed polycythemia. In the midst of her family struggles, many friends and fellow believers flooded them with multiple acts of care and love, creating an environment that facilitates healing and recovery. Going through the four stages of physical healing, a physician and a geneticist share their expertise and knowledge about how the human body functions before and after a wound, and how it heals. The four stages (overlapping but distinct) of healing are:

1. Hemostasis (clotting)
2. Inflammation
3. New Tissue Formation
4. Remodeling

Calling these essential signposts for proper healing, if any of the steps are missed out or didn't follow the correct order, more serious complications may occur. With Bem's intricate knowledge of cells recovery in molecular genetics, we can learn to apply what we know about science into the larger world of people relationships. The authors also gave readers a powerful spiritual meditation practice for us to pray as we go. Called RAIN, this practice is about:

1. Recognizing what is happening
2. Allowing the experience to sink in
3. Investigating it gently
4. Nurturing the wound

Each chapter starts off with a Bible passage or spiritual insight to prepare the way for what is ahead. Closely following the four stages of healing, we read about several anecdotal experiences about wounds incurred during the course of normal living. There are instances of how Covid-19 harms the body and disrupts the body's natural immune and inflammatory systems, leading to hyperinflammatory responses. Stress too contributes to such disordered behavior. Recognizing the importance of managed inflammation, we learn of how controlling our emotions can lead to overall emotional health. More importantly, we learn of several spiritual practices that we can adopt toward holistic healing. St Ignatius of Loyola's Examen helps us address our inner being much better than some of the popular positivistic apps out there. The imaginary technique called "Table of Significant Others" (TOSO) creates "cultural humility" and openness. There are also instructions on overcoming racism that is beyond protests and pronouncements, something that requires new hearts rather than new movements. From ancient practices of the spiritual monastic fathers to modern practitioners like JP Moreland, we have a powerful resource to aid the healing and restoration of our souls and our relationships.

My Thoughts

There is so much good stuff in this book that I find it hard to decide which to highlight. There is basic medical knowledge on how the body functions and what the healing process looks like. Learning the four phases of healing in itself is worth the price of the book. Not only does it clarify the healing process, but it also enables us to marvel at the amazing design of the human body. The body in itself is an intelligent organism. Learning about how it works instructs us in many other ways. The authors use this basic standpoint to spring toward other areas of applications pertaining to healing in the mental, physical, emotional, social, relational, spiritual, and other domains. 

Then there is the direct parallel to our relational healing, how we need time, focus, and intentionality to create an environment that promotes healing. Healthy responses are needed in the face of mounting challenges. Prompt actions will promote healthy recovery instead of simply brushing over deep wounds. Extending a hand of reconciliation is like fibrin strands that promptly form over a cut to enable healthy tissues to form. On top of these, we get some brief descriptions of basic spiritual practices that had been used through the centuries. 

There are also lots of things that we have yet to learn about this fascinating physiology of the human being. This is a fantastic book filled with medical know-how and spiritual reflections about healing and restoration of the human body and spirit. As more people engage online via social media, the potential for even more wounds increases. This makes books like this even more crucial to keep in check the negative effects of the ills of society. The American author, Helen Keller once said: "Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it." This book aids us in the latter.

Thank you, Jennie and Bem!

Jennie Anderson McLaurin is a public health pediatrician with degrees in medicine, public health, and theology.  She writes, speaks, and teaches on topics of public health, bioethics, health disparities, faithful medicine, intersections of science and faith, and issues of childhood.

Cymbeline (Bem) Tancongco Culiat is a scientist, entrepreneur, and educator. She is an expert in the genetic and molecular basis of mammalian development, diseases, and disorders.

Rating: 4.75 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book has been provided courtesy of Tyndale House Publishers and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.