Reiki, Prayer, Energy Work: Just Whistling in the Wind?

Been sick the last several days, coughing til my head hurts, blowing my nose raw and so on. No fever, fortunately--so I think I'll live. But this little physical ailment has got me thinking again, which we all know is dangerous.

Several of my friends have said they would send "healing energy" my way (some are Reiki practitioners), or that they would pray for me, or hold me in "the light" or even break out the crystal bowls and tone for my recovery. It's great to have friends--but does any of this shit work? I mean, it's been almost a week and I'm still sick!

Now, this could indicate any number of things. One, I'm impatient. Two, my symptoms would've been much, much worse without all that healing energy. Or three, no, none of that crap works but it makes us puny humans feel like we can make a difference when the big, bad world unleashes itself on us.

Truth is, you can't tell. No way, no how. Maybe things like prayer help, but there isn't any way to know. You gotta take it on faith. And maybe, faith in and of itself, makes a difference and can actually contribute toward you simply feeling better, which is certainly part of any recovery process. There are even people researching the effects of these methods.

But call me skeptical. It was this sort of thing that caused me to wave bye-bye to Christianity about 6 years ago. I had prayed for all kinds of things but realized I could never say for sure if anyone was listening or acting on my behalf. And really, this is the same thing. So yes, you gotta have faith. But having faith still doesn't make something true. Because if faith alone is enough--then WHY hasn't this guy below knocked on my door yet??