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Where Have All The Warts Gone?

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I remember being worried when planning my wedding that some warts that suddenly appeared on my left hand would be embarrassing during the ring exchange.  Happily, they mysteriously disappeared in the nick of time.

The reason warts appear, then usually disappear without treatment, is that they're caused by a virus.  The virus can remain inactive in the body for months before the warts appear.  Warts disappear by themselves because the body's immune system fights the wart virus and builds up an immunity to it.  This is why as people age they have less warts.

There's a lot of interesting folklore associated with warts.  Much of it's stimulated by the fact that hypnosis seems effective against warts and warts almost always vanish by themselves within two years.  But the credit is usually given to the folk belief invoked in removing them.

One of the more colourful folklore aspects of warts is the belief that touching a frog or toad may give you warts.  However, kissing a frog might turn it into a prince.  Actually, there may be some scientific grounds for the legends about frogs.  High amounts of a chemical called bufotenin are found in the skin of many frogs and toads and bufotenin produces hallucinations and may even have aphrodisiac effects.

So next time you kiss a frog, you won't get a prince, but you won't get warts either.

MOVING BEYOND MATTER
 by Christopher Shennan

One of the most wonderful of all defence systems is found in the human body.  When sickness or disease threatens, the immune system is set in motion - even when the threat is only a common wart.  

The body, however, is not the only part of us that has a built-in immune system.  The mind, too, is capable of building up psychological defences against grief, shock, and other circumstances that afflict the human condition.

"Defense mechanisms" are automatic psychological processes that protect an individual from anxiety and the awareness of internal or external threats or stressors.  People are often unaware of these processes as they operate.

Here are a few examples:

•  Humor involves dealing with stress by emphasizing the amusing or ironic aspects of the situation.

•  Denial involves dealing with stress by refusing to acknowledge some painful aspect of reality or experience that is apparent to others.

•  Rationalization involves dealing with stress by concealing the true motivations for a thought, action, or feeling by using elaborate, reassuring, and self-serving (but incorrect) explanations.

•   Acting Out involves dealing with stress by using action rather than reflection or feeling. Defensive acting out is often associated with "bad behavior" when there are underlying emotional conflicts."

Some of the defence mechanisms we employ are constructive, while others can be destructive.  They are constructive when they protect us from overwhelming stress that may drive us to a mental breakdown.

They are destructive when they drive us into a fortress mentality.  That is, we are so protective of our feelings we choose safety rather than freedom.

Because thoughts of God, Heaven, sin, and eternity, disturb some people, they would rather deny their reality outright, than to examine them objectively.  Can a defence mechanism gone wrong actually keep us from the enjoyment of God, and the hope of Heaven?