Practical uses of the concept of vitality.
INTRODUCTION
In the 14th century the Church had developed
such a stranglehold on the intellectual and cultural life of Europe that
any ideas of a progressive nature were stifled. As subversive hybrids such
as alchemy began to crack the monolithic facade of the church, the renaissance
of the l5OO's broke with the paternalistic authoritarian attitude of religion
. [2] In order to be and feel completely independent the sciences became
increasingly materialistic. So that where the alchemist had been seeking
to transmute the leaden soul into the golden spirit using various material
substances he gradually came to the point where he tried literally to transmute
lead into gold, and so gave rise to the science of chemistry.
At roughly the same time Vesalius was cutting
up cadavers and creating the basis of the
science of anatomy, which Pare used to advance
the science of surgery, also Frascatorio was working on the science of
epidemiology.[10] All of this wave of innovators felt that to acknowledge
the role of a spirit or a vital force would throw them back into the arms
of a restrictive authoritarian church. So they denied the existence of
any impalpable, unquantifiable force such as the vitality. In time the
pendulum has swung to the other extreme so that today atomic physicists
acknowledge the erratic and unscientific behaviour of particles which interchange
with energy forms, by giving them such names as Bosons and Quarks, which
are described as having 'Flavours' such as 'Charmed', 'Strange', 'Top'
and 'Bottom'. 26 A sure sign that at the frontiers of science there is
a need for modification and renovation.
The fact that, as Albert Einstein clearly saw, both the observer and the
fact of observation influence events shows that an unscientific principle
is at work.
The unscientific can be put to work by the
pragmatist. For example, in the United States of America telephone company
employees were reported to be tested for dowsing ability. Those who showed
talent were issued with dowsing rods, and used to pinpoint lost pipes and
cables. Dowsing can be employed at great distances. I have spoken to a
dowser who uses his talents on maps. He is in the U.K. and he dowses on
a map of Australia to direct his client in that country, to where he should
drill for water. His level of success makes his services in demand world
wide.
An early pioneer, Abbe Mermet dowsed over
maps of Africa for water and minerals while seated at his desk in France.
[24] These phenomena have been under investigation since the 1940s when
Dr J. Rhine of Duke University set up his data gathering operation in the
field of extra sensory perception (ESP). [29] The legitimate field of such
investigation is into such phenomena as poltergeists', now generally acknowledged
to be associated with pubescent girls. In this phenomenon tables are lifted
and transported, doors slam, and china flies across the room. These events
are called telekinesis, meaning that objects are transported simply by
the force of conscious, or unconscious, will. There is also the ability
to foretell events, known as precognition, which is tested by forecasting
the order of cards with abstract symbols printed on them. It may be noteworthy
that one of the indications for Medorrhinum, in the Materia Medica of Nosodes
is the correct prediction of personal events. Dr. H. Burr of Yale
has detected the body at a distance of several feet using the personal
lectro magnetic fielder Huxley had a concept that all life from mollusc
to man was 'inter-related, interdependent and inter-responsive'.[15]
In 1974 Pathoff and Targ published in Nature
a paper on 'Information transmission under conditions of sensory shielding'.
[28] In this, one subject was set to guess when a random strobe light was
flashed in the eye of a distant isolated subject. The guesses were consistent
with mathematical chance, but an EEG record of the alpha waves of the guesser
gave an accurate record of the strobe light activity. An instance of information
being available in the body but not to the conscious mind.
Dr W. G. Walter in 1969 demonstrated that a
TV set could be operated on an intentional basis by amplified brain waves.
[l2] A. Dubrov in Biogravitation and Psychotronics points to mitosis and
shows that cell division produces HF waves and other forms of energy incompatible
with any known force except gravitation. All apparently due to the activity
of the genetic material. [22] T. C. Lethbridge states that there are now
many thinkers who hold that the brain is only a mechanism for censoring
sensation.
This idea is certainly gaining strength at
the expense of those who think the brain and the mind are one and the same
thing. [l l] I do not intend to go into these matters in depth, but even
a little research will unearth endless cases of non scientific data being
ignored because it does not fit in
with the preconceived framework of scientific
theory. Here I should like to distance my conception of the 'vitality'
or 'life force' from that of scientists who have found some of the materialistic
concepts of science unsatisfactory and, going from one extreme to another
have embraced mysticism in the form of religion. The bleak failure of reason
represented by the attitude that if science fails us we should throw ourselves
into the arms of one god or another seems to me a sign of immaturity. The
life force is not equatable with the religious concept of a soul. The moral
judgment implicit in a soul, with overtones of right and wrong has no place
in the logical and reasonable behavior of the vitality or life force. So
let us separate once and for all the soul and the life force. Let us define
the essential difference by saying that if the various gods to whom the
soul is dedicated were to die and be laid to rest with the rites appropriate
to their respective religions, the life force would proceed calmly about
its business without being affected in any way. I should like to quote
here a fragment of the Chuang Tzu. [35] The emperor of the South Sea was
called Shu and the emperor of the North Sea was called Hu, while the emperor
of the central region was called Ham Tun. Shu and Hu came together from
time to time in the territory of Ham Tun, and Ham Tun treated them very
kindly. Shu and Hu debated how they should repay this generosity. 'All
men' they said, 'have seven openings so they can see, hear, eat and breathe;
but Ham Tun has no openings at all. Let us try boring him some'. Every
day they bored a new hole and on the seventh day Ham Tun died. One
can think of numerous parallels to this tale in many fields of human activity.
ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES AND THE LIFE FORCE
It is from allopathy, and only from allopathy,
that the vitality or life force has been eliminated. This has been done
in the name of science which banishes the unquantifiable- able so that
all its equations may work out. Anything that does not fit the framework
is rejected as unscientific. This is a formula for narrow blinkered thinking,
and one that takes up the religious authoritarian tradition that medicine
was at great pains to cast off 500 years ago. I propose to examine, briefly,
the therapies outside of allopathy to see if we can agree that they are
to a greater or lesser extent based in the vitality or life force.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture originated at the time of the Yellow
Emperor, about 2700 B.C. Yellow is the color of the middle way. About 500
B.C. the principles were written down in the I ching and at that time bronze
needles were used. It defines chi as the vital life force in man, being
derived from two sources, heredity and food and air. It proposes the opposing,
but complementary forces Yin (water) which sinks, and Yang (fire) which
rises. It is holistic in its idea of an indivisible combination of mind,
body and spirit. Its philosophy anticipates the early detection of potential
illness and treats it before it causes any great damage. Its recognition
of many types of pulse as a diagnostic technique
displays great subtlety.
After treatment its function is to support
continued good health. [27] Current western orientated uses that do not
comply with the original unhurried concept, include the cure of symptoms
in an allopathic fashion while leaving the cause of disease to create further
inner disruption. There is also the control of pain as an anaesthesia for
operations. Operations which often represent the rapid relief of chronic
conditions, but are detrimental to the long term health of the patient,
as they remove a natural vent for internal hereditary ills.
Anthroposophical medicine
This follows concepts of etheric and astral forces, being dearly an energy-based medicine. It is close to homeopathy while lacking its conceptual depths. It uses homeopathic and herbal remedies on the practical level and its metabolic concept of catabolism (breaking down) and anabolism (building up) may be compared to the concepts of Yin and Yang. [3]
Aromatherapy [32]
The massage of oils into the skin presents a multiple therapy in that homeopathic doses are administered through the skin and the respiratory organs while there is a joining of the two life force fields as the massage takes place. Thus the aromatherapist may be said to have much in common with both the homeopath and the acupuncturist who by the insertion and manipulation of the needles also joins the two life force fields. This of course is my reason for being critical of the use of electro- stimulation of the needles in acupuncture. It is a western orientated innovation designed to placate science and thus undermines the true nature of the therapy. It may also be noteworthy that a prime indication for the homeopathic remedy Phosphorous is the desire to be rubbed. [33]
Ayurveda medicine
This goes back to the same period as chinese acupuncture. Its origins are lost in the mists of time, before 2000 B.C. But its framework was laid down in the two sets of writing, the Susruta Samhita (500 B.C.) and the Chakra Samhita (200 B.C.). This branch of medicine was aware of bacterial action and established hygienic procedures 2000 years before the microscope made bacteria visible. It has a successful record of treating arthritis going back over 1000 years. It aim is to balance internal and external energies. It has twin principles one called Rajas, which is active and comparable to the chinese Yang, and the other called Tamas which is passive and comparable to the chinese Yin. X 6 In its dietary rules it is related to Naturopathy, and the conifer resin used, Gogul, is probably similar to Thuja used in the western homeopathic repertory as an anti sycotic.
Biomagnetics
The origins of biomagnetics lie in the 18th century. It was developed at the same time as mesmerism or hypnosis. [20] I have not given the matter any deep study, but I believe that treatment is related to magnetic affects on the energy meridians of acupuncture. In any event is must be accepted as an energy medicine in the same way that Vithoulkas [34] describes homeopathy as an energy medicine. It manipulates the internal energy field to improve general health, and raise the vitality. It will be of interest to homeopaths that the remedy phosphorous has among its indicators the desire to be magnetised.
Healing [ laying on of hands]
This is defined by Fulder [8] as ' . . . the
transmission of some form of energy from the healer to the patient'. In
this therapy the internal energy of the healer acts directly on the patient's
life force or vitality. Fulder also points to Kirlian photography showing
flares of energy from the hands of the healer together with changes in
the aura of the patients body. Consideration must be granted to experiments
with healers demonstrating that they have had effects upon enzymes comparable
with a strong magnetic field, both being compared to the random effect
of an untreated control. [30] This shows a relationship to the use of biomagnetics
and the work in low power electrical- biological fields now in hand by
Dr J. Kenyon using the vegatester and similar detectors. [20] Herbalism
According to prominent herbalist S. Mills, herbalism works on the assumption
that '. . . there is a vitality in the human frame and this vitality can
be seen as a purposeful self correcting resistant force transcending the
abrasions of life. . . [8] A clearer statement of the evolving and ancient
self repairing facility of the human body would be hard to find. It is
noteworthy that the homeopath R. T. Cooper originated the arborivital method
of drawing on the energy of sunlight in preparing the tinctures he used
to cure many apparently hopeless cancers, as detailed in his book Cancer
and Cancer Symptoms. [7]
Homeopathy
This originated in the extensive use of poisons
by the Greeks. Hemlock was used as a merciful and civilized form of execution.
The homeopathic use of hemlock, or Conium maculatum, is in cases of ascending
paralysis, starting at the feet and working upwards. Obviously the use
of the raw poison allows the condemned man to lie down and thus die quickly
and more mercifully. In the course of this widespread use of poisons it
was noticed that very small doses, possibly used to cause a short indisposition,
caused an abrupt betterment of health. This principle was largely lost
sight of during the Dark Ages and was only recorded as being in use again
when T. von Hohenheim (or Paracelsus) disinterred it in the 15th century.
However it was S. Hahnemann [3] in the late 18th
century who put the whole thing on a systematic
and logical basis with the principle that 'like cures like'.
Briefly, this means that if raw sulphur
is regularly administered to a person they will in time display the signs
of eczema. The homeopathic derivative of sulphur is therefore used to treat
eczema. Hahnemann says in paragraph 16 of his 'Organon'... 'The physician
can remove these pathological untunements or diseases by acting on the
spiritlike vital forces with medicines having an equally spiritlike dynamic
effect that are perceived by the nervous sensitivity that is everywhere
present in the organism.'
Hahnemann also states in his nature of Chronic
Diseases that the physician 'has not only to combat the disease before
his eyes, and must not treat it as if it were a well defined disease to
be permanently destroyed with homeopathic remedies, but has always to encounter
some separate
fragment of a deep-seated original disease.
He must not hope to permanently heal the separate manifestations of this
kind. The original malady sought for must also be of the miasmatic chronic
nature. It can never be removed by the strength of a robust constitution,
it can never be overcome by the most wholesome diet and order of life,
nor will it die out by itself'. These words of Hahnemann show a clear vision
of the homeopathic concept of a vital force and the constitutional and
hereditary nature of the miasmatic power of chronic disease. This form
of disease is normally kept in check and asymptomatic by the vital force.
Hypnosis Experiments in the New York
Academy of Science demonstrated that in pain relief, hypnosis can be as
effective as morphine. [31] This can only be due to the vitality of the
hypnotist affecting the vitality of the subject, as nothing material passes
between them. Whilst this may be compared to the laying on of hands its
uses are at present crude when compared to the subtle manipulation and
distinctions of acupuncture or homeopathy. In the 18th century Mesmer introduced
hypnosis in France, but its therapeutic use was first applied by De Puysagur
in 1780. There can be no doubt of its effectiveness or of its firm footing
in the vitalist sphere.
Massage, reflexology and shaitzu
These are all therapies that involve the touch
and laying on of hands. There is in all these techniques a strong element
of the life force of the therapist affecting the life force of the patient
in a corrective and therapeutic manner. The reflexologists Kaye and Marchant
[8] state that it is also 'able to stimulate the healing forces present
in the body and thus increase the body's ability to heal itself'. Naturopathy
This is as stated in the manifesto of the British Osteopathic and Naturopathic
Association 'A system of treating human ailments which recognises that
healing depends on the vital curative force within the human organism'.
Iridology This is a diagnostic technique of naturopaths and others, which
illustrates the essential wholeness of the body. It was originated by the
German, Von Psczey, who noted that a pet owls broken leg gave rise to a
blemish in its iris, one that changed as the leg healed.
The American naturopath doctor. H. Lindlahr
[21] wrote 'Health is the normal and harmonious vibration of the elements
and forces comprising the human entity . . . disease is the result of .
. . an inharmonious vibration of those same elements and forces'. Psychotherapy
This is a therapy of the psyche and was frowned on by the allopathic establishment
for many years after its discovery and mapping out by Freud, Adler and
Jung. It is NOW accepted on a grudging basis as it has played down its
non-scientific nature, and emphasized the logical scientific aspects. This
has of course crippled it. It is assumed that as we have not yet located
the psyche or ego it is at present concealed in some unexplored pocket
of cells, that it will eventually be located and geographically plotted
somewhere in the human brain.
At this point discussion ceases and speculation
is discouraged. Instead elaborate abstract formulae are produced and investigation
is all down the path of how drugs can affect behavior and modify psychosis.
If one considers that hereditary traits are transmitted down the generations
by the genetic material it seems obvious that health and vitality are ultimately
traceable to the genes. It is a difficult but not very large step from
there to regard the conscious mind with its intelligence as the
tip of an iceberg. In other words it also
is the creation of the genes, developed as an autopilot, a convenient device
that allows a large loosely federated group of cells and organs to navigate
on an independent basis.
A philosophical question that may clarify
the above, is to query what can be dispensed with, and the answer is clear.
The deathless genetic material can evolve into some other form, can mutate
but survive. On the other hand man cannot dispense with the genetic material.
It then follows that humanity is an experimental mode of the genetic material
and will, if considered to be a failure, be abandoned in the same way that
the dinosaurs became extinct. Bearing the above in mind, it is not impossible
to see the psychological model of a conscious mind as an Ego, with a subconscious
layer more or less equal to Freud's Id.
Underlying that, and common to all genetic
materiaL is the collective unconscious of Jung. [17] If this model is accepted
it would account for many of the phenomenon currently classed as ESP or
PSI forces. It could certainly throw a new light on holism; telepathy and
precognition would be shown to operate through the individual subconscious,
but to draw on, and be connected across, infinite distance through the
collective unconscious via the genetic material. This would account for
the fact that in scientific research it is impossible to keep a secret.
Spying becomes an infantile activity operating outside reality. This is
because any new discovery originates in the collective unconscious and
is available to any genetic listening post that is tuned in. This model
would also account, without any necessity for physical contact, for the
similarity between the Egyptian, Maya and Inca civilizations, on almost
opposite sides of the globe, in separate continents.
On the principle of Occams Razor, this
model accounts for more phenomena than any other model I have encountered
Including such things as Kirlian photography. Anyone who considers that
mankind has reached a peak not previously attained should ponder the 63rd
hexagram of the 1. Ching [.37] Radiaesthetic healing T. C. Lethbridge [11]
' states that this appears to work through the repulsion of some kind of
force from the channel in which it had been accustomed to flow. . . One
can pull it out between one's fingers and see it faintly, like a spark
between the two terminals of an arc lamp. I call it the life force. It
is a force which makes all nature work. It is not nature, but it is the
life force of all nature.
THE OPERATIONAL LAWS OF THE VITALITY
1. The direction of disease is in and up. The direction of cure is down and out.
2. By tracing the path of disease from exterior to interior; from below upwards, the latent genetic class is revealed.
3. The vitality is the immunological system
plus 'x', and anything that weakens the vitality tends to destroy the
immunological system.
4. The body has a limited response to any infection.
When that limit is reached no further damage will be done and
the invader will defend the body against fresh
invasion.
5. If some direct intervention is made by drugs
then the body regains its vulnerability and reinfection will
progressively damage the immunological system.
6. If the vitality is put into working order
it will then put its own house (i.e. the body) in order, eliminating unwanted
growths and all elements of disease.
7. A healthy vitality will easily control one
or possibly two classes of hereditary ills. If attacked by a third class;
or
subject to trauma then the outermost or surface
presentation will be the class that is most dangerous to the body
and its processes. Suppression or driving
inwards of these symptoms may lead to a succession of disorders and a
shorter life expectancy.
8. The vitality acts as a harmonies and integrator,
accepting a symbiotic relationship with organisms that confer
benefits, domesticating threatening organisms,
and destroying lethal organisms. Any disturbance of this hard won
balance is a threat to life.
9. The vitality operates on a conservation
of energy basis. At any given moment part of its energy will be engaged
in holding hereditary ills below the surface
and out of conscious appreciation. The spare energy is free for Joie de
vivre. If symptoms are suppressed then they
soak up the 'free' energy. Where there is no free energy for the
retention of symptoms below the surface, then
they will be driven to the surface to act as a vent. Thus eruptions
and discharges should always be treated with
caution.
10. The consideration of individual cases should
give due weight to the instinctual behavior of the patient. Taking
into account the million years experience
span as against the short experience span the conscious intellect can
claim.
11. A refusal to realize psychological potential
creates an internal vacuum. This causes addiction as attempts are
made to fill psychological gaps with material
substances.
I do not claim any great originality in proposing these laws as they merely codify the thoughts of many great men that have followed the path of homeopathy and its modern originator Samuel Hahnemann since the late 18th century. Obviously each law could be expanded to occupy a separate lecture, but I will briefly indicate the source for each of them. 1. This should need no introduction to homeopaths as it is a restatement of the law first proposed by Constantine Hering, who also gave us the widely used remedy Lachesis.
2. This is the product of various comments on embryology in the works of Compton Burnett [4] and the more specific elucidation by Vithoulkas [34] in his work the Science of Homoeopathy. Where he points to the endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm, and following Compton Burnett's contention that cells close to each other in the early stages of the embryo's development, keep an affinity for each other, no matter where they may end up in the final shape of the body, Vithoulkas proposed that 'There exist predictable pathways, with intermediate stations of defense along which symptoms progress as the general health deteriorates'.
3. A dose study of Mollinson's book Blood Transfusion in Clinical Medicine [23] will convince anyone that the complexity of blood factors represents an infinity of possible combinations. To them combine the blood factors of all donors, so that a single transfer of Factor Eight can contain contributions from 3000 donors must represent a gross assault on the immunological system and demands a return to the more tolerable one donor, one receiver system.
4. On p. 947 of his book Kent states that 'The
frequency of repetition by which one is exposed would not increase the
gonorrhoea itself because the susceptibility is satisfied'. [l9] Von Grauvogl
states in his Constitutional Medicine [6] 'It depends on the constitution
of the individual in question which disease follows from one and the same
exposure. From the same source on the same day, one may get a syphilitic
ulcer, one a sycotic ulcer and one escape without any infection'. So receptivity
has as much to do with disease transmission as simple infection. If we
then turn to the work of consultant venereologists Willcox and Willcox,
we find in their handbook Venereological Medicine [38] confirmation of
the empirical beliefs of eminent early homeopaths. On endemic treponematoses
they
show that there is no morphological or antigenic
difference between pinta, yaws, endemic syphilis and venereal syphilis.
When yaws is wiped out by antibiotics venereal syphilis becomes rampant.
The historical names for endemic syphilis include 'Sibbens' in Scotland,
'Button Scurvy' in Ireland, 'Radesynge' in Norway and 'Bejel' and 'Njovera'
in the African deserts. Endemic syphilis is shown to revert to venereal
syphilis under conditions of squalor and deprivation in urban conditions.
The similarity between T. microdentium and T. pallidum (or syphilis) could
possibly lead to the saprophytic and innocuous T. microdentium becoming
virulent in response to abysmal social conditions, or where it is under
attack by antibiotics and antimicrobials. Then the body would display all
the signs known to homeopaths as tertiary syphilis.
The same thinking may be applied to the many
varieties of Neisseria. Willcox and Willcox state that 'The diagnosis of
gonorrhoea on clinical grounds is unreliable in males and impossible in
females. N. gonorrhea cannot be distinguished from other Neisseria by smear,
and positive microscopic findings only allow a presumptive diagnosis'.
In connection with the vitality it must be noted that the Cephalosporins
are listed for the treatment of uncomplicated gonorrhea. The Cephalosporins
are also used as immunosuppressants in cases of organ transplants.
Thus it seems reasonable to view drugs such
as antibiotics and antimicrobials as working by suppressing the natural
reaction of the immunological system. Cysts, ulceration and inflammation
may be seen as signs of the immunological system coming to terms with the
external attack and the internal susceptibility. Given a lack of external
intervention and enough time the body makes the adjustments that are required
for survival. Supportive treatment is always required, but intervention
should be a last desperate resort.
5. Willcox and Willcox confirm the above by
stating that 30% of cases of latent syphilis show apparent spontaneous
cure and the disease appears to burn itself out. In a further 30% of cases
no signs develop, but serological tests remain positive; the patient dying
of causes other than syphilis. Of the remainder, 15% develop ulcerating
necrosis and 25% develop cardiovascular or neuro-syphilis. T. pallidum
that are avirulent, or of low virulence, have been found in the lymph nodes,
aqueous humour and cerebrospinal fluid of patients whose treatment was
delayed past the state of initial infection. Patients with late-treated
syphilis may be peppered with organisms that are both avirulent and protected
in some way from antibiotics, possibly by a much slower rate of multiplication.
Humans have an apparent relative immunity against a second infection with
syphilis or yaws if treatment is delayed for three months. How far this
immunity results from the persistence of avirulent treponemas is not clear,
but if antibiotics are given in the early infection no such immunity develops
and immediate reinfection is possible'. This bears out Kent's statement
made nearly 100 years ago.[9] (sec 4. above)
6. Healing is an art whose best efforts are applied to reducing the internal pressures and stresses that block the self repair function. Kent says 'The doctor who prescribes correctly turns the vital state into order. He cures the patient and the patient, being in a state of order commences to repair his body and the tissues go through a general house cleaning and such things as are not needed are dispensed with'. Compton Burnett [4] and Allen [2] also saw clearly that any growth or ulceration was produced by the body to relieve an internal disorder. If the growth was removed by surgery the vent was sealed up, but the dynamics or pressure that produced the growth remained and was left to find another and possibly more dangerous way to express itself They saw that what the allopaths call a spontaneous cure was an event that decreases internal stress and pressure, allowing the body to reabsorb the now redundant growth or heal the now redundant ulceration. These men saw the true function of the physician as the relief of internal stress which allows the body to self repair.
7. J. H. Allen was the first to give any attention
to the rotational nature of inherited genetic disorders, showing that the
vitality will, at any given moment, present disorders that fall into one
of the three genetic classes, first proposed by Hahnemann. Ortega [25]
has also pointed to these
disorders and their blendings, using an ingenious
system of colour notation with the primary colours red, yellow and blue.
- Under normal conditions and without stresss the body will display on the
surface minor and harmless symptoms of all the inherited genetic groupings
that are present in any individual. Under threat or stress the most prominent
symptoms will be those the body sees as the most dangerous to its existence
and thus throws as far out to the surface as it can, keeping the core clear
and unharmed. In general these fall into the class whose most active symptom
is inflammation. At one level deeper is the class whose most active symptom
is the ulcer. At the deepest level is the most self-effacing class whose
symptoms are eczema, psoriasis and mental disorders. The rotational nature
of the vitality can be seen where inflammation is suppressed and driven
into the body's interior by antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs that
have recently been developed. The finite nature of the vitality compels
it to release its control of other genetic disorders that it had integrated
and held in suspension. It needs that energy to cope with the stress now
thrust in upon it. The symptoms that now emerge may be of the ulcerative
class, or if the stress has penetrated deep enough, it will call out the
most self-effacing class and give rise to eczema, psoriasis, mental disorder,
motor neuron disease and Alzheimer disease.
8. It has been shown that newborn babies arrive
with a relatively sterile gut, and that in the first few weeks external
flora move in and take up a symbiotic role in a natural evolutionary niche.
36 The vitality, or immunological system is less complex This adjustment
is only limited by the amount of energy that is tied up with internal intruders
to the benefit of all concerned. Also at this point most organisms are
'user-friendly' and will cooperate with the immunological system in defense
of the body that provides food warmth and shelter. Allen [2] points out
that at any given time the body will make whatever adjustments are required
to ensure its survival. This adjustment is only limited by the amount of
energy that is tied up with internal stress and genetic ills. It is now
generally agreed that virulent outbreaks of thrush or Candida albicans
are caused by antibiotics
upsetting the balance achieved by the vitality
or the immunological system. It is but a short step from this to the Jarisch-
Herxheimer reaction where after the first or second dose of any antibiotic
that is treponemicidal there is a danger of cardiovascular crisis due to
toxins released by dead
Treponema. [38] A word may be appropriate
here regarding the 'magic bullet' syndrome affecting medicine at the moment.
The philosophy of this approach is to push aside the immunological system,
or vitality, and achieve the elimination of a small unwanted area of inimical
symptoms.
While this limited objective may be achieved
it is obvious that the responsive ability of the immunological system will
be impaired by this usurpation of function.
9. Allen was one of the first to point to the
menstrual function as a gateway for the elimination of toxins. He thought
of it as a compensation for the comparatively easy external-internal access
to the abdominal interior in the female as compared to the male. He also
saw the diagnostic
importance of the menstrual function and the
clear cause of abdominal problems when the menopause arrived. This is a
clear cut case of eruptions and discharges acting as vents for the relief
of deep internal stresses. Kent also puts this point of view in his lectures,
where in his lecture on Rumex he says 'I would caution you also about the
diarrhoea that occurs in most cases of tuberculosis. You had better let
such conditions alone. If it is exhausting use Rumex to slacken it up.
But the TB patient is better with a little diarrhoea, it is the same with
high sweats, if he does not have them he will have something more violent.
The allopath stops the night sweats and diarrhoea and has to feed the patient
morphine because of the consequent sufferings. The more you undertake to
relieve these outward conditions, these vents, the more harm you will do
to the
patient'.
10. By definition, the instinct does not arise
in, nor is it under the control of, the conscious mind or intellect. Yet
instinctive behavior often displays activity that has logic, and ethic
that does not lack intelligence. Where does the instinct then reside. On
the intelligence level one is driven towards the Jungian concepts of individual
and universal unconscious. This does demote the Ego to a peripheral role,
and points medicine in the same direction as astronomy which abandoned
geocentricism centuries ago. The sun no longer goes round the earth. Similarly,
one hopes, we can
look forward to the time when the ego will
acknowledge its fallibility and finally take up a role as mediator at the
interface where physical and abstract meet. Just as traits, shapes and
hereditary ills, pass down the generations, where the only means of transmission
is the genetic material, so must the instincts have a physical location.
Only the genes can carry information for periods like forty million years.
In view of the wide and proven range of psycho-somatic phenomena, the most
prominent and well documented being the Christian stigmata, it seems likely
that the unconscious mind exists not only in the brain but also in the
total genetic material in the body at any given time.
11. Allen points out that 'the desires and
cravings for narcotics and stimulants often have their , which weaken the
organism and lower its vitality. Hence the call for things to force ,the
central impulse to increased activity. When the reaction comes the stimuli
have to be increased and a new stimulant selected'. Which is why the least
difficult road out of
addiction is the use of alternative therapies
to supplement the reserves of vitality, while the personal psychological
development is increased to solve problems that were previously insoluble.
The initial cravings of Psora are for sugars and sweets, while those of
Pseudo-psora are for meat and potatoes.
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