≡ ▼
ABC Homeopathy Forum

 

The ABC Homeopathy Forum

Some Notes on Homoeopathic Philosophy

A SELECTION OF NOTES ON HOMOEOPATHIC CONCEPTS AND PHILOSOPHY

(Aph – aphorism = rules found in Samuel Hahnemann’s Organon of Medicine)



Topic One: CURE

What is the definition of cure?
Aph1: “ The physicians highest and only calling is to make the sick healthy, to cure, as it is called.”

Aph2: “The highest ideal of cure is the rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of health; ...”

What is health?

George Vithoulkas, The Science of Homoeopathy:

“If it were possible to have an absolutely healthy mind, we would see people who live continually in spiritual bliss, daily revealing new creative ideas expressed in a very clear way, always of service to others.”

“On all levels, health is not merely the absence of symptoms referring to particular mental functions. It is a state of being which can be described as having three fundamental qualities, each of which is indispensable for a true state of health. If any one of them is lacking, the mind may be functioning quite well in terms of mere functions but may nevertheless be quite sick. The three indispensable qualities that should accompany the different functions of the mind are:
1. Clarity.
2. Rationality, coherence, and logical sequence.
3. Creative service for the good of others as well as for the good of oneself.”

“The most healthy and emotionally evolved people experience some of the most profound states known to mankind: mystical experiences, ecstasy, pure love, religious devotion, and a wide range of sublime feelings difficult to describe, and in our era limited to only a number of rare beings.
“...the most evolved emotional states tend to involve feelings of Oneness of ourselves with all creation - love, bliss, devotion etc. Thus positive feelings in an individual will always tend to create a sense of unification with the outside world.
“Positive feelings...strengthen the inner emotional state and create positive conditions in the environment which enhance communication with people and thereby serve the community. When someone expresses trust to another, this very act elevates both and creates a greater psychic equilibrium.”
Western education focuses on Physical level (athletics) and on the Mental level (intellect), while ignoring the Emotional level. Primary heroes are sportspeople or businesspeople. Emotional education is handled by Television.

Emotional health includes:
1. Love.
2. Friendship & companionship.
3. Altruism.
4. Sacrifice.
5. Artistic inclinations. Appreciation of natural beauty. Creativity.

“The physical body and its organs constitute the least important plane of the human being; the body also maintains a hierarchy of importance as to its organs and functions.
“The organism will always try to keep disturbance away from important organs.
“A disturbance that progresses during any treatment from less important organs to more important organs signifies a deterioration in general health. An opposite direction of progress indicates progress toward a better state of health.”

1. Brain
2. Heart
3. Pituitary gland
4. Liver
5. Lungs
6. Kidneys
7. Testes/ovaries
8. Vertebrae
9. Muscles
10. Skin

Health in the physical plane is freedom from pain, with a feeling of well-being.

Aph 3: What is the role of the (genuine) physician?

1. To discern what must be cured in diseases.
2. To discern what medicines are able to cure.
3. To use his knowledge of medicines to cure disease.
4. To select the most appropriate medicine according to the case before him.
5. To prepare the medicine exactly as required.
6. To give the medicine in the right dose.
7. To repeat the dose at the proper time.
8. To be aware of obstacles to cure and to clear them away.

Aph 4: Awareness of those things that engender and maintain disease.

Aph 5: Discover the fundamental cause of sickness by examining the entire history of the sickness.

Aph 6: “The unprejudiced observer only perceives the deviations from the former healthy state of the sick patient, which are:

1. felt by the patient themselves.
2. perceived by those around him.
3. observed by the physician.

All these perceptible signs represent the disease in its entire extent, that is, together they form the true and only conceivable gestalt of the disease.”

Aph 7: “...it must be the symptoms alone by which the disease demands and can point to the appropriate medicine for its relief, along with regard for any contingent miasm and with attention to the attendant circumstances.”

Aph 8: “ The totality of the symptoms is the outwardly reflected image of the inner wesen of the disease, that is, of the suffering of the life force.”

“...the totality of the symptoms must be the most important, indeed the only thing in every case of disease, that the medical-art-practitioner has to discern and to clear away...”

Topic Two: TOTALITY OF SYMPTOMS

Herbert Roberts, The Principles and Art of Cure by Homoeopathy:

“...we cover all parts of the man, and can see the picture as a whole. We must leave nothing uncovered.”

“..we must prescribe for the totality of the symptom picture and not for any one symptom alone.”

“In considering the totality we cannot over-emphasise the necessity of getting the complete description of each symptom, as to its location, character, and modalities. The modalities, the aggravations and ameliorations, are the most important. Next in order come the character of the sensations.”

“The most important symptoms, of course, are the general symptoms that pertain to the patient as a whole. The mental symptoms rank very highly for the reason that they point to the man himself, and they may be classed under the generals to a marked degree.”

“... go over again the family history, the personal history, the mental and physical symptoms. Consider the temperament, the habits, the occupation, the personality of the patient...Go over the previous drug treatment and consider that. Remember that the nature and the sensations of the symptoms, the time of day, the positions and circumstances under which the symptoms appear, are the most important modifiers of any given case.”



What are Generals?

1) Aggravations
2) Periodicity
3) Seasonal aggravations
4) Weather aggravations
5) Tendency to develop certain conditions such as sore throats or taking cold
6) Reactions to fresh air
7) Reactions to positions, rest or action
8) Conditions of the appetite
9) Cravings or aversions to food
10) Effects of vaccination or serum treatment
11) Reactions to bathing
12) Effects of altitude or seashore
13) Amount of clothing required
14) Rapidity at which wounds heal
15) Haemorrhagic tendency
16) Reaction to presence of people
17) Sides affected
18) Thermic reaction
19) Perspiration
20) Odours
21) Chills or Fevers
22) Sleep and dreams including the position he sleeps in
23) Condition on waking
24) Abnormality of the sexual urge
25) Irritability
26) Concentration and memory
27) Sadness
28) Fastidiousness
29) Jealousy and Envy
30) Any mental or emotional state.
31) Menstrual symptoms including PMS

“It is only upon the totality of the symptoms that we can base our prescriptions and so we require many individual symptoms as showing the characteristics and personality of the patient; so ...diagnostic symptoms are of very little use to the homoeopathic prescriber in selecting the remedy. In fact, the simillimum is practically never found amond the diagnostic symptoms.”

Totality is like painting a portrait.

Peculiar symptoms vs. Common symptoms.




James Tyler Kent, Lectures on Homoeopathic Philosophy

“It may be considered to be all that is essential of the disease. It is all that is visible and represents the disease in the natural world to the eye, the touch and external understanding of man. It is all that enables the physician to individualize between diseases and between remedies; the entire representation of a disease is the Totality of the Symptoms, and the entire representation of a drug is the Totality of the Symptoms. It does not mean the little independent symptoms, but it means that which will bring to the mind a clear idea of the nature of the sickness. Many of the little symptoms that occur can be left out of the total without marring, but the essence, the characteristics, the image must be there...”

Aph 8: When the symptoms of the disease and the entire complex of perceptible befallments are gone, the interior disease is also gone.

Topic Three: THE VITAL FORCE

What is the difference between the dead and the living?
What is the difference between a stone and a bird?

Aph 11: “When a person falls ill, it is initially only this spirit-like, autonomic life force (life principle), everywhere present in the organism, that is mistuned through the dynamic influence of a morbific agent inimical to life.”

Aph 12: “It is the disease-tuned life force alone that brings forth diseases.”

Aph 13: Disease is not separate from the living organism - it is a part of it.

Aph 14: Signs and symptoms represent the disease and the disturbed vital force.

Aph 15: The malady and the vital force are one and the same.
Aph 16: The vital force can only be affected by dynamic, spirit-like influences.

Aph 17: The only way to lift the external affliction is by lifting the internal one.

Aph 18: The symptoms are the only way to know the disease.

Topic Four: CURATIVE POWER OF MEDICINES

Aph 19-21: Medicines must be able to alter the vital force in a purely dynamic spirit-like way in order to cure.

The only way to know what a medicine is capable of curing, is to conduct experiments (Provings). (hidden power of substances)

By noting the effects of medicine on healthy people, we know what can by cured in the sick.
 
  brisbanehomoeopath on 2009-09-06
This is just a forum. Assume posts are not from medical professionals.

Post ReplyTo post a reply, you must first LOG ON or Register

 

Important
Information given in this forum is given by way of exchange of views only, and those views are not necessarily those of ABC Homeopathy. It is not to be treated as a medical diagnosis or prescription, and should not be used as a substitute for a consultation with a qualified homeopath or physician. It is possible that advice given here may be dangerous, and you should make your own checks that it is safe. If symptoms persist, seek professional medical attention. Bear in mind that even minor symptoms can be a sign of a more serious underlying condition, and a timely diagnosis by your doctor could save your life.