PLACEBOS, NOSCEBOS, MAGICAL HYPNOTIC TRANCES--powerful and mysterious forces for good and evil--were not common words in Jesus' day. But this does not mean that they did not use and feel the impact of what they mean, which I will talk about, later.

Our ancient ancestors, who knew what it was to feel great pain and suffering, and they were not aware of what they thought of as great mysteries--the invisible, physical, mental and spiritual forces and drives, within and around the human body, mind, spirit, soul and heart, which inspired and motivated them to do that which is good and/or evil.

AIR, WIND AND BREATH, TO ANCIENT PEOPLE WERE MYSTERIOUS FORCES OF NATURE

The more simple folk among the ancients thought of these mysterious forces as powerful gods, or god-like beings, who lived, apart from ordinary humans, on the mountains, or in the skies as sun, moon planets and stars.

The more sophisticated ones among the ancients, who invented writing--the priests, prophets, philosophers (lovers of knowledge and wisdom), the astrologers--were the scientists in embryo. They described these forces metaphorically. Thus was created the words, RUAH, RUH, SPIRITUS, PNEUMA--the Hebrew, Arabic, Latin and Greek words for air, wind and breath.

PNEUMATOLOGY--THE STUDY OF THE NATURE, FUNCTION AND MEANING OF SPIRITUALITY--the greatest human quality. Pneumatology gave birth to psychology

Today, this opens up the great opportunity for thoughtful moderns to have a truly meaningful dialogue about the nature and function of SPIRITUALITY--which I think of as the mother of willpower, which social psychology now calls, "the greatest human power". But keep in mind, like any power, such knowledge without wisdom can be used to do much EVIL. The function of this dialogue is to Generate, Organize and Deliver that which is Good, Orderly and Desirable--for all, and just for the privileged few.

From the above I trust you can see that I love etymology--study of the origin and history of words. I hope others share this love, I also love creating neologisms--new words, when needed.

As noted above, our word 'spirit' comes directly from the Latin, SPIRITUS--which refers to air, wind and breath, including the breath of life. It translates the Greek word, 'pneuma'--from the verb, to breathe.

From it we get pneumatics, pneumonia, pneumothorax, and other medical terms. Check out  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumotherapy, pneumatology (theologically speaking, it is study of the spirit, human and divine), the Hebrew is 'ruach', the Arabic is 'ruh'.

BTW, speaking of 'pneumatology', back awhile, I introduced this word to Wikipedia. But let us not forget to give much credit to Professor Phillipp Melanchthon, who was a great intellect and a reformer See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philipp_Melanchthon (1497-1560).

He was the one who helped Martin Luther translate the Bible into ordinary German. In the process he coined many words, including pneumatology (study of the spirit) and psychology (study of the mind). I like to point out: Thanks to Melanchthon, pneumatology is the mother of psychology. Both are the parents of 'somatology' (study of the soma, the physical body). In 1 Thessalonians 5: 23, Paul wrote about the need for us to whole in soma, psyche and pneuma.

By the way, in the 1970s, to get away from the magic and hocus pocus of the word 'hypnotism, I began using two new words, which I coined: PNEUMATISM and PNEUMATHERAPY--the spiritual use of hypnotic techniques. I designed what I now call META prayers--"prayers" to be said as positive suggestions and affirmations--for example, I used phrases like, "The Lord IS your shepherd..." No more pleading to a reluctant god up there!

THE PRACTICAL VALUE OF KNOWING THIS

See the work of the great psychiatrist, Dr. Karl Menninger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Menninger 

Menninger, a strong supporter of, and elder in, his local Presbyterian church, wrote the book, Whatever Became of Sin? 1973. New York: Hawthorn Books. KM said that much pain and suffering is the result of sin--that is, knowingly doing of that which is immoral and evil and hurts others. He called on all clergy to preach about the need to be aware of this kind of SIN and to help and encourage church members to consciously choose to be moral and human beings, and to help them in the process.

Moral and well-motivated teachers, and preachers can do a great deal to help alleviate much pain and suffering and thus heal many serious physical and mental diseases.