A Visit From the Healer

One day the great healer Malesh came to the town of Bethel. The people came to him, some to be healed, others to observe him at work, some. to question him and learn from him. It was known to all the people in these parts that Malesh was a great teacher; he was fond of saying that his knowledge was of no use unless shared.
One man came to him with a complaint of a stomach ache. Malesh spoke quietly with him for a few moments, then said to him: “You must trust in God. He will provide for you, and He shall relieve your pain.” Malesh placed his hand on the man’s abdomen, and together they shouted “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” The man smiled, said he felt much better, and left.
A woman came to him with the complaint of a backache. After a few questions and a brief examination, Malesh caused her to lie on a padded table. For a few moments he massaged her back, then he bent her. There was a loud “pop”, then another. The woman smiled, thanked Malesh, and departed.
One of those who came to observe and question Malesh said: “I observe that you are a man of God, and heal by faith. This is certainly good. I also have a strong faith. It fills me with awe that the power of the Lord thus flows through you to produce a cure. In spite of my faith, however, I have failed. I am cut and would be healed. Will you help me?”
He showed to Malesh a cut on his arm which was long and deep, but clean. Malesh washed it with clean water and soap, put a plaster of ground root onto it and bound it with clean bandages. He said:
“Some things the Lord has made your body to do for you without his assistance. This is one. He gives us the root and our hands with which to heal such things. Keep the bandage clean and dry – in seven days you shall be healed.”
The man looked puzzled by this, but thanked Malesh and sat back down in the circle to observe and learn more. Another man rose and limped to where Malesh stood.
“Malesh, healer, you are a user of the natural healing methods, much as I am. I have known of the ground root which you used on this other man, but it has not healed my wound. What herb would you use for this?”
The man rolled up his pant leg and showed a large, red, raised area with pus draining from it down his leg. Malesh looked upon it and spoke thus:
“My friend, herbs have limits to their effectiveness. They will not heal all things. Man himself makes some stronger medicines which suffice where nature’s remedies fail. I give you these tablets to take one with each meal and one at bedtime until they are gone. This is a powerful medicine which will travel through your bloodstream to fight this infection. You will find yourself healed in ten days.”
This man also looked puzzled, but thanked Malesh and resumed his place. A woman who had been sitting quietly now led forward her father. He was an old man who was bent forward and breathed with difficulty.
“Malesh,” said the woman, “You are very wise and know all the answers to our problems. Please will you heal my poor father who cannot breathe?”
Malesh began to examine the old man, listening to his breathing and making tests on his lungs. As he did so, he answered the woman:
“You are mistaken to think I have all the answers. To no one person is it given to know all the answers. Anyone who thinks he or she knows them has yet to ask the important questions. I have come to know that I don’t even know all the questions – each new answer I learn leads me to many new questions I could never have known before. To think you know all the answers or all the questions is a self-delusion born of a closed mind. It is better to keep the mind open to all questions, all information, for there is no one so simple that he or she cannot teach us something.”
He finished his examination of the old man, and told him and his daughter that the old man had a lung disease which was not susceptible to cure with Malesh’s present knowledge, but which would be made more tolerable by life in a clear atmosphere nearer sea level. The two departed.
Another man came forward, telling of a pain in his right side. Malesh examined him briefly and inserted three long needles into the man’s left ear. The man smiled. Malesh bade him wait for a few minutes.
An old woman came forward with a large lump in front of her left ear. She requested Malesh to cure it. He spoke briefly with her, then washed the lump and used a syringe and needle to inject a clear fluid beneath it. He washed his hands carefully, then took several tools from his kit. He made a cut around the lump with a knife and removed the lump, then used a needle and thread to close the cut. As he did this, the man whose arm he had bandaged said to him: “But Malesh, you do not maintain the purity of your healing. You must not cut, but should use the divine powers you possess to heal by faith.”
“My friend,” answered Malesh as he worked, “you fail to see the importance of what I have told the lady a few moments ago. Just as no man may have all the answers, so may no single philosophy of healing answer all of man’s needs. The need of my art is not to maintain its philosophic purity, but to heal the sickness of the body, to promote the health of both the body and the mind. If one philosophical school teaches me better than another to cope with the problem at hand, should I not use that knowledge? If my mind is open and my healer’s heart pure, how can I bypass an effective remedy, regardless whence it came or who spoke it?”
“But,” rejoined the man, “our church teaches that the only path to salvation is by faith in our Lord and savior. Our church teaches that it is the very pathway which is of importance, that to lack in faith is the ultimate sin!”
To this Malesh answered: “Are not the religious leaders trying to elevate the soul of man? Can any among them claim all the answers, to know all the mysteries and secrets of the universe? Only if they close their minds to the truth before them! To elevate the soul may require quite different things for different people with different problems at different places and times. For some, the impediment may be an unsound body or mind, in others the problem is how to purify the soul. Any technique which helps the soul approach perfection is valid, regardless whether it fits anyone philosophical construct.”
Malesh turned, and with one of his surgical tools pointed to the nearby mountain. “When you wish to climb to the top of the mountain, is it not reaching the top which is the goal? One route may be easier and another harder, but are not all routes which lead to the top valid? To dwell too much on the pathway is to lose sight of the goal. Your faith did not heal your arm, but the Naturopath’s herbs shall do so – would you rather have the cut or the healing? The Naturopath’s art would not heal his leg, so he is taking the physician’s medication to accomplish the purification his art could not do. Is it not the healing which is important?”
The lady’s cut was by this time repaired, and she listened to Malesh before leaving him. Malesh removed the needles from the man’s ear; he thanked Malesh for the relief of his pain, and walked away.
At this. point a small child was carried to Malesh by her father. “She is ill, Malesh. Last night she could keep no food in her stomach. Today she has no hunger, and her belly hurts her. Please help her.”
Malesh showed the man to lay her on the padded table. His hands rested on her briefly. He moved her legs a little, then said:
“Your daughter is seriously ill. It is important that we take her to the hospital and operate soon. Please come with me.”
Leading the father, who was again carrying his little daughter, Malesh left.