CHAPTER 1
§ 1
The physician's high and only mission is to restore the sick to health, to cure, as it is termed. 1foot note
foot note 1 His mission is not, however, to construct so-called systems, by interweaving empty speculations and hypotheses concerning the internal essential nature of the vital processes and the mode in which diseases originate in the interior of the organism, (whereon so many physicians have hitherto ambitiously wasted their talents and their time); nor is it to attempt to give countless explanations regarding the phenomena in diseases and their proximate cause (which must ever remain concealed), wrapped in unintelligible words and an inflated abstract mode of expression, which should sound very learned in order to astonish the ignorant - whilst sick humanity sighs in vain for aid. Of such learned reveries (to which the name of theoretic medicine is given, and for which special professorships are instituted) we have had quite enough, and it is now high time that all who call themselves physicians should at length cease to deceive suffering mankind with mere talk, and begin now, instead, for once to act, that is, really to help and to cure.
commentary: Each of the term in the aphorism 1 needs explanation.
THE PHYSICIAN: Here the term physician refers to Homeopathic physician. Homeopathic physician is one who is qualified or is the one who has formal education in the field of Homoeopathy. The physician should not be quack. By just studying materia medica or organon one cannot become physician. Physician's formal education should include all the subjects related to health and disease- Anatomy, physiology, bio- chemistry, pathology, forensic medicine, surgery, practice of medicine, gynecology, social and preventive medicine etc and homoeopathic subjects such as materia medica, organon, repertory, and pharmacy. He should get registration for practicing Homoeopathic education. A person who has under gone formal education in homoeopathy and should get registration certificate to practice Homoeopathy or legal permission to practice homoeopathy which varies from country to country is a PHYSICIAN -Homoeopathic physicians
PHYSICIANS MISSION: such a registered medical practitioner has his mission. He has to follow fixed laws, principles during treatment. These laws are fixed. All country has its own laws. It should be followed by people sincerely. If the law is not followed there is an anarchy. Homoeopathy has laws, principles. Every physician should follow these laws and principles. Anarchy is alien to homoeopathy because it has fixed laws, principles. Here the opponents of Homoeopathy is old school or allopathy. Old school constantly criticize Homoeopathy.
When they criticize Homoeopathy they don't know that they themselves do not have laws and principles,- they are in perfect state of anarchy. Their theories are constantly changing. They discover one thing and then abandon them. They name numerous diseases with numerous classification and alas ! old school deals with tissue changes and they forget the man who is sick. They see the pathology and treat the pathology. Not the individual. They deal with only ultimate, tissue changes and not the cause. They ask the patients for thorough medical check ups including lab report, x-ray findings ,CT scan. If the disease is in initial stage all reports would be negative. They dismiss the patient as healthy even though he has pages of symptoms to tell. They believe only disease is pathology. Only if there is any pathological changes that can be felt with fingers, seen with eyes, or other wise observed with sense, aided by sophisticated instrument can alone be treated. They deal with result and not cause.
SICK: Most of Homeopaths after their curriculum in homoeopathy forget what is sick. They often have to deal with various medical subjects Anatomy, physiology, bio- chemistry, pathology, forensic medicine, surgery, practice of medicine, gynecology, social and preventive medicine etc and get confused. Knowledge of all these subject are essential .But knowledge of organon should be above all other subjects. When one first establish a clinic after completion of his curriculum keep aside pathology and learn what is sick and learn what constitute the sick, learn Organon apply Organon in practice. Follow the philosophy in your practice.
One Upanishad called Kato-Upanishad ,an Indian philosophy, says "to follow the truth is like walking over a sword. Either the sword will go deep inside your feet or you may fall on either sides." Truth is difficult but practice it.
Instead of "sick" Hahnemann could have used the word "disease". When you say disease it refers to numerous names of disease .There may be thousands of disease by various names. Newer and newer disease is added to the already existing thousands of diseases. Disease is not sick. You may suffer from cancer or AIDS or any multitudes of nomenclature to the disease you are suffering from. But sick is different from disease. It is the man that is sick. Sick refers to whole man not his part.
Sick is individual. Disease refers to part that is affected or suffered. Let me refer an acute condition. Example refer this statement "I have pain in abdomen." Here the disease is in the part that is abdomen. Allopathic doctor can give a pain killer to suppress the disease. So disease is not broad or elaborative, but sick is broad and elaborative. Disease is a final outcome. Real sick man is anterior to sick body. Here in the above example sick man already came to existence before diseased body. Sick man must have craved for food, or an alcoholic who have taken excess of drink. Disease is the final stage. Allopathy treat the ultimate. Homoeopathic physician treat the sick. Kent in his LECTURES ON HOMOEOPATHIC PHILOSOPHY says "It is a man that is sick and to be restored to health, not his body, not the tissues. You will find many people who will say, "I am sick." They will enumerate pages of symptoms, pages of suffering. They look sick. But they tell you :"I have been to the most eminent physicians. I have had my chest examined. I have been to the neurologist. I have been to the cardiac specialist and have had my heart examined. The eye specialist has examined my eyes. I have been to the gynecologist and have had my uterus examined", says the woman. I have been physically examined from head to foot, and they tell me I am not sick, I have no disease. "Many a time have I heard this story after getting three or four pages of symptoms. What does it mean ? It is true if that state progresses there will be evidences of disease, i.e., evidences which the pathologist may discover by his physical examination. But at present the patient is not sick, says the learned doctor, "But what do all these symptoms mean ? I do not sleep at night, I have pains and aches. My bowels do not move. ""Oh, well, you have constipation." That is the first thing that has been diagnosed. But do all these things exist without a cause ?It would seem from one opinion that the "constipation" is the disease per se, but from another opinion it would appear to be the cause of disease ; the "diagnosis" is made to apply to one as much as to the other. But this is the character of vagaries so common to Old School whims. These symptoms are but the language of nature, talking out as it were, and showing as clearly as the daylight the internal nature of the sick man or woman. If this state progresses the lungs break down. The doctor says, "Oh, now you have consumption; " or a great change appears in the liver, and he says, "Oh, now you have fatty degeneration of the liver; " or albumen appears in the urine, and he tells the patient.. ".Now I am able to name your disease. You have some one of the forms of Bright's disease." It is nonsense to say that prior to the localization of disease, the patient is not sick. Does it not seem clear that this patient has been sick, and very sick, even from childhood ?Under traditional methods it is necessary that a diagnosis be made before the treatment can be settled, but in most cases the diagnosis cannot be made until the results of disease have rendered the patient incurable."
After comparison it is clear that sick is affection as a whole. Sick is broad, elaborative. Now you may argue allopathic school has cause for various disease, they discover viruses, bacteria etc as the cause of the disease. But reality is contrary. The bacteria are results of disease. The microscopical bacteria, viruses are not the disease cause, but that they come after, that they are magpies accompanying the disease. Every one of us has bacteria and viruses in our body. But there must be conditions for them to act on the body to become sick. So this condition is dynamic, it precedent the pathology. This dynamic condition according to Richard huges 'precedes, underlies, evolves, determines, embraces, transcends, and rules anatomical states"
For there to be smoke there must be fire, for fire there must be fire sticks. so smoke is an ultimate . In order to remove the smoke we have to put out the fire which is the cause. Allopaths put out the smoke which is only ultimate, which is the result, which is the pathology. But the fire may burn again. Homeopathy puts out the cause (fire) that is beyond the bacteria, viruses or pathological changes, called dynamic. Bacteria and viruses are the result of the disease, are present wherever the disease is, and by the microscope it has been discovered that every pathological result has its corresponding bacteria. The Old School consider these as the cause, but we will be able to show that disease cause is much more subtle than anything that can be shown by a microscope. That which is subtle is dynamic - dynamic inside called vital force and dynamic outside called dynamic influence
THE DYNAMIC INFLUENCE
We will be dealing with dynamic inside or vital force little more detail in principles of vital force. Here I will give only sketch of dynamic influence.
There seem to be a harmony in earth. Sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Seasons seem to perfect. Autumn, winter, spring ,summer and rainy season is very perfect. There is a harmony. This harmony is present within human organisms also. The system is made in such away that there exist a harmony between the human organism and environment. Humans are superior to other organism since human is highly intelligent one. Naturally human race should contribute much to keep everything in harmony in the environment. When equilibrium is lost there is destruction to the humans as well as environment in which he lives.
With ultra modern era and technological advancement has drastic effect on environment. Our earth is destroyed .Water is polluted. Factories has added impurities in air. Socially competitions, war, terrorism contribute to actual destructions in the environment and may wipe human race. This may contribute to decline in health.
There is mutuality- human beings are affecting our environment and also vice versa. So an external factors may influence individual in different ways. Some people will be hardly influenced by external disturbances (pollution, stress etc). They are in perfect harmony which is maintained in minimal effort. Others experience varying grade of unequilibrium ranging from severe to mild, which is called disease in general. Each of them experience in highly individualistic manner. Inability to cope with external (environment) and internal (vital force) influence will result in disease. Such disease is not just on physical level alone as assumed by allopathy. If we have fever its not just fever, we may become tired ,some time we may have delirium. Considering only physical level is the main draw back of allopathy. Actually all levels are affected-physical, mental and emotional.
Disturbances are varying. Some people are hardly affected by environmental influence. They have capability to sustain high levels of creative life despite minimal hours of sleep, erroneous diet, heavy work pressure, family problems, and also major sorrow in their life. Many cannot cope even with minimum stress, cannot tolerate small deviation from normal diet, if he don't get minimum sleep he will develop symptoms. Some cannot tolerate cold ,some people cannot tolerate heat. I had patient from England. He could not tolerate extreme heat in India which is a equatorial region.
What makes some people cope with external influence while others are least disturbed ?
There is intrinsic defense mechanism known as vital force which help our body from both external and internal stimuli and keep the body in perfect health. Here after the term vital force is not used until we learn what is vital force. For time being it is defence mechanism. It is the this defence mechanism of our body that maintain equilibrium between the process inclining to disease and process inclining to perfect health. When our defence mechanism is perfect then he is in perfect health. But this is not always perfect and we develop symptoms. sometime external influence called dynamic influence is so strong that our defense mechanism is not able to cope resulting in symptoms. This symptoms affect him in all levels -mental ,physical and emotional levels.
RESTORATION BACK TO HEALTH
Now you have learnt that when ever one is sick it affects him in three levels mental, physical, and emotional levels. some are affected in mental level others are affected in physical level and some others are affected by two or more levels. Treatment involves not just removal of the physical symptoms alone, as in allopathy, but we must consider the other layers affected during the treatment. When all the symptoms of all the affected layer are removed by treatment then and only then can we say that health is restored. Only system of medicine that consider all the affected layers in treating the sick is Homoeopathy.