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Rick Burnett: This is a question for the both of you - In the first chapter of your book, "Possibility Living" you talk about Possibility Living — Body, Mind, Spirit — what do you mean by that and why is Body, Mind, Spirit a part of this book? (page 5)

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: It’s an important question because if you look at the whole person, you have to address the body, mind and spirit. You cannot dissect the body, mind and spirit. You can look up the history of this, and Dr. DiSiena knows the history as well as anybody — why don’t you tell us Dr. DiSiena about Rene Descartes.

Dr. Douglas DiSiena: The physical body was considered sacred by the Church and so, as a philosopher, Rene Decartes came up with the idea of separating a person’s spiritual being from the physical being. That philosophy continues to today, when modern healthcare confuses and separates the two. The reality is that Jesus heals people of evil spirits, of distress and of physical illness. We cannot in any way, shape or form separate the body, mind and spirit. For us to become whole, we need to look at the whole person.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: So Jesus was our example of body, mind and spirit. And we’re just following that example and addressing the whole person instead of dissecting them into for example: MD’s taking care of the body, Ministers taking care of the spirit and Psychologists taking care of the mind and finding out that there is so much cross-over in every way, that to dissect the body, from the person and the personality is a grave mistake.

Rick Burnett: In this book you talk about prayer and faith. Can you have prayer without faith or vice-versa? (page 9)

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: I believe that prayer will develop faith. It’s kind of like what came first, the chicken or the egg? They go hand-in hand. To put one before the other is a very difficult thing to do. So, if someone is dealing with a situation where they need faith, and they don’t know what to do, you can always pray. Prayer will build your faith. Do you have anything to add to that Doug?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena: I look at it as prayer is a way to exercise faith. If you want to develop faith you need to exercise and prayer is a way to develop the "faith muscle."

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: So how does that work then?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena: Well, if you feel weak in faith, just like if you have a weakness in a muscle, you need to work the muscle. So if you feel weak in faith, you need to pray and through the development of your prayer life, you’ll grow in your faith.

Rick Burnett: So there are actions we must take with our faith. Are there steps besides prayer that we must take? (page 11)

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: I like to quote St. Augustine who said: "Pray like it all depends on God and work like it all depends on you." So, we can’t sit there and pray and pray and pray, and say God, why don’t you help me? It’s like the joke about the man who has been notified that his house is going to be flooded and he needs to get out of the house. He says no I don’t have to, God is going to take care of me. Then the flood starts to rise and a sheriff comes along and tells him to get out. The man says no, God is going to save me. So, the floods continue to rise, and he climbs on top of the house. A boat comes along and he’s told to climb into the boat. He says, no, no , God is going to save me. Finally, a helicopter comes along and they lower the net to rescue him. The man says, no, no, God is going to save me! Well, the man drowns and goes to heaven. When he gets to heaven he says to God, "why didn’t you save me?" God says, "I sent the sheriff, I sent a boat, I sent a helicopter, what more did you want me to do?" There is a point at which we have to take responsibility for our faith. When God sends a helicopter, you have to climb in. So, action is a part of faith and prayer as well.

Dr. Douglas DiSiena: I’ve had people come to me and ask me to pray for them. They may have a lung issue, like a cancer, and then we start talking about lifestyle, and I find out they are smoking cigarettes. They need to take the appropriate action in their life and stop smoking cigarettes. In the book, Possibility Living, one of the basic things we teach is how to take action. We need to do what we can and then God will do what he wills.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: Smoking is one of the leading detriments to health in our society today, wouldn’t you agree, Doug?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena: Absolutely, there is not question about that. You are literally inhaling toxins and carcinogens. For a smoker, it is an exercise in faith to stop smoking.

Rick Burnett: Does our attitude and spirit matter in how we work our actions? (page 12)

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: Our attitude is a clear understanding and expression of our faith. If you have faith that this chair is going to hold us up, your attitude gives you the ability to take the action and you move forward. If you want to go back to the analogy of smoking — if you believe that you can quit and you make a commitment to God, which is what we talk about in the book — saying: "I swear to God, never to smoke again" — and believe it — have faith that God will help you succeed in that, then you will be able to quit. You will not succeed until you are able to do that.

Dr. Douglas DiSiena: We site a study in our book, which talks about nurses who take care of premature babies. They have a loving and caring attitude toward the babies and those babies tend to develop much more rapidly than the babies did not have the care of these nurses. It was the loving intent and the nurses who had the heart and intention is what allowed the babies to develop, it was not the physical action.

Rick Burnett: Can we lose our faith and/or can our faith become stronger the more we use it? Do you have any examples of using faith? (page 14)

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: Well, Doug really alluded to this question earlier by talking about faith as an analogy to a muscle. The more we use it, the stronger it will become.

Dr. Douglas DiSiena: There is a great example in the book about using my faith when my daughter was really sick when her ears flared out into what we call mastoiditis. I was literally getting ready to take her to the hospital to have a very invasive procedure done. Mastoiditis is something that starts with an ear infection. My daughter was extremely sick, her ear was flared out to about a 90-degree angle. That evening I adjusted her and I prayed for her until I fell asleep with exhaustion. It must have been sometime around 4 or 6 a.m. when we woke up, that her ear was flat against her head. The only thing I can tell you is that was a true miracle, because there is no physical explanation why that would have happened. That night was an exercise in my faith.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: When you say it must have been a miracle and there is no physical evidence for that happening, I can’t help but believe that the body constantly wants to seek wellness.

Dr. Douglas DiSiena: There’s no question about that, the body does want to seek wellness.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: So, why wouldn’t it seek wellness under those circumstances, when you remove the blockages, which you were doing all night long?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena: That’s true, however, with mastoiditis the bone tissue breaks down and even with removing the blockages, I don’t know who bone tissue could heal within a matter of a couple hours, unless it was a miracle!

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: So that’s where the spiritual aspect and prayer comes in and God literally performed a miracle. Because from your medical standpoint it doesn’t make any sense. There is not explanation.

Dr. Douglas DiSiena: It’s one of those things where the lesser I am, the more God is. And, I was certainly less that night and God was certainly more. It was a beautiful experience.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: So what was your plan? If you’d woken up in the morning and her ear was still like that — you’d have taken her to the hospital?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena: Yes, I’d have taken her to the hospital. What they literally do is remove a section of the mastoid bone in the neck, which drains the pus. That can then lead to disfigurement and a life-threatening situation.