The vital force is not easily conceptualised!
Most people are more familiar with the scientific heritage and an atomic view of causation. Science talks in terms of “primordial chemical brews” animated by lightening and atmospherics.
However, homeopathy talks of the vital force aminating life, the “special ingredient” which causes the mass of inorganic chemicals to form a living organism.
In The Organon, Hahnemann writes: “In the healthy condition of man, the spiritual vital force, the dynamis that animates the material body, rules with unbounded sway and retains all the parts of the organism in admirable, harmonoius, vital operation, as regards both sensations and functions, so that our indwelling, reason-gifted mind can freely employ this living, healthy instrument for the higher purposes of our existence.” Paragrah 9 The Organon.
Kent calls the vital force “simple substance“. He says it is endowed with formative intelligence, that it dominates and controls the body it occupies and keeps all things in order within the body and throughout the whole universe. Simple substance co-ordinates the whole life phenomena within the universe. It adapts to the environment and it is constructive in its management, giving expression to all forms of life, and their ultimate co-operation and functioning. Kent, Lectures on Homeopathy, chapter on Simple Substance.
The ideas of the founders of homeopathy reflect themes which have been present in many societies, even ours (though very camoflauged in our mythology). However, science itself is also beginning to reflect these views.
The new quantum physics may throw some light here. “…the distinction between organic and inorganic is a conceptual prejudice.” It seems that sub atomic particles constantly appear to be making decisions instantaneously with particles in other parts of the universe, in a manner which suggests that particles “…may not be particles at all,” but rather …”tendencies to happen or to exist.” The Dancing Wu Li Masters: an overview of the new physics.
Heisenberg famously demonstrated with his Uncertainty Principle, that particles inside the atom can be seen as both energy and matter, depending upon whether you measure their velocity or their position.
Thus inorganic matter reacts to stimulus because the chemicals which comprise it react to stimulus, or it can be described as imbued with energy, simple substance or vital force, or as we homeopaths would explain it – the vital force permeates the universe and manages the formation and progress of the world of matter.
Using an analgogy, the vital force in the body can be understood as energy. The fluctuation or frequency and the inherited form, wave length; together with its reactions to the environment, represent the condition of the energy within the body. Consequently, the level, form and reactivity, strength of the energy or vital force will have a fundamental effect upon the body on every level of functioning. This encompasses the cognitive or mental state, the emotional and the physical state, and also any potential functioning on any other level (spirit?)
Fluctuations in the energy or vital force within the body reflect what is happening to the body in the environment, plus the inherited nature of the vital force. Genetic and environmental factors determine the physical body we receive from our parents, and this form has its own unique energy level. As with the physical form, it will reflect inherited forms and conditions. So it can be seen that as a child grows, the resilience of the vital force may be influenced by restrictions, either inherited or environmental. Layers of factors may affect the functioning of the energy or vital force and alter its functioning and its form.
The vital force has formative intelligence, so it is always striving towards its ideal form. A leaf always strives to complete its own distinct form, but will deform or discolour according to different nutrient levels or environmental factors, such as too much sun or not enough water. So too, will a river delta adopt a classical form, and in a similar way the blood vessels under our skin will adopt a very similar pattern. Chemicals, of which all matter is formed, obey certain crystalline “rules”. Energy too behaves along physically or energeticaly determined lines, for example, when waves of the same form and frequency meet, they cancel each other out. It can also probably do many other things, but we do not have the complete picture, we only know that energy or the vital force is always trying to achieve homeostasis (balance).
In other words, energy or the vital force will always be striving towards an optimum expression of its form. In the body, we see this expressed as ideal health and functioning. Any deviation from this ideal on any level is seen as disease. Symptoms are physical, mental, emotional or spiritual appearances of fluctuations in the energy or vital force.
Genetic influences on the vital force are present at birth which have been passed on from our ancestors. There are three basic Miasms in homeopathy, which uniquely attempts to chategorise these influences. The three main miasms in homeopathy are psora (the itch), sycosis (gonorrhoea) and syphillis. Cancer and tuberculosis are also treated as miasms, and there are other, more modern miasms eg: AIDS and radiation. Hahnemann believed that everyone has psora, and it is probable that the other miasms are also present in some form. How many of us can guarantee our ancestors were free from the diseases that have always affected mankind?
These miasms affect the form of the body and the form of the vital force at birth. So it is probable that from birth, the vital force is hampered in its expression. Childhood illnesses are seen as attempts by the vital force to throw off these miasmatic influences using the vigorous growth and abundant energy expressed by growing children. This is the main reason why homeopaths are so worried about immunisation. If the expression of the vital force is hampered by immunisation and these inherited influences are not thrown out of the body, then how do we develop the vigorous immune system we are going to need in adulthood? The NHS will not always be around to vaccinate us, so what chance for humanity and our atificually propped up immune systems in the millenia to come?
Childhood illnesses are seen as the healthy reactions of the vital force as it attempts to perfect its form. The skin is a major organ of elimination for the body, and our external boundary, so it is the fastest route out of the body for noxious forms. Childhood illnesses are typically characterised by rashes and skin eruptions. Infantile eczema may also be expressions of the elimination of psora. Other symptoms of childhood illnesses are seen as emblematic of the other miasms pushed out by a strengthening vital force.
The Law of Cure states that disease heals from the top of the body downwards, and from the inside of the body outwards. It also states that symptoms will dissappear in the reverse order in which they first appeared. The flow of energy or vital force in a healthy body is in a centrifugal direction, with the vital force flowing outwards into the world. A sick body will suffer from a blocked, centripetal energy flow, and symptoms will begin to appear in deeper, more vital organs or parts of the body as the vital force fails in its attempt to eliminate the disease from the body and eventually winds in on itself.
These processes operate in the same manner on the higher levels of our functioning. For example, we may have no physical symptoms, but we may express our disease on an emotional level using energy blocked and so diverted from elimination via the body by drugs, immunisations, behavioural or environmental reasons. So we may exhibit inflexibleemotional or mental reactions to life as a result.
Carl Gustav Jung writes “…the psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside as fate.”
Freud defined the mechanism of projection, where a psychological “toxin” is projected out of the person onto the outside world, often onto a scapegoat. Thus the disease in the person has now affected, deformed the vital force which has detoured and is still trying to eliminate disease outside the cognitive perimeter of the person. All sorts of mayhem can result from unrestrained elimination of internal emotional and mental toxins by secondary routes of altered behaviour, which of course cause great misery to the scapegoats and to society as a whole as a result!
So, if the childhood diseases and the skin eruptions are suppressed with external lotions or creams or immunisations, and the psychological expressions are suppressed with antidepressants or negative social attitudes (how useful talking, discussion and counselling would be at this juncture!), the intelligent actions of the vital force is blocked yet again!In such cases, the vital force reacts by finding yet another route out of the body for elimination of disease through non vital organs, so it may try the lungs or the urinary tract which may express symptoms in response. Phobias and fears may also develop as a result of the psychological suppression. Of course the lung disease and the urinary disease is further suppressed by symptomatic treatment from the doctor. Antidepressants and other hypnotics will take care of blocking any mental or emotional expression. As each route of elimination out of the body and out of the mind is blocked, the vital force searches for other sites to eliminate disease conditions. There has to be some way of throwing these noxious influences out of the body and out of the vital force so both can assume their perfect form? The vital force swirls deeper and deeper into the organism, searching out escape routes. Where next? The bowel? The heart? The liver? The mind? The flow of the vital force becomes centripetal, inwards, and chronic ill health is the result.
In the case of a child born with psora, whose eczematous skin reactions are suppressed by steroid creams, who then develops asthma which is suppresed by inhaled steroids, their health is considerably impaired. When this child is then immunised (injected with noxious animal proteins) the vital force now has a whole load of extra stuff to eliminate as well as the original psora! Suppose the child then experiences a bereavement, a sudden change of environment, a behaviour milestone or an incident of sibling rivalry, for example. With the operation of the vital force considerably depressed, there will be an increased susceptibility to any future influences the child now comes into contact with.
This layering of complexity, difficulty, blocking and hinderance of the functioning of a healthy vital force and a healthy body does not bode well for the development of a vigorous immune system in this child! The functioning of both the vital force and the body is impaired, and there is a general lack of resiliance to life and all it can throw at us.
As this imaginary child grows into adulthood, this laboured functioning of the vital force becomes more evident, and the body is working under a greater and greater load as layers of trauma and toxic exposure build up without any means of processing them or eliminating them from the body. Chronic illness looks like an absolute certainty!
The vital force is still striving for its ideal form and expression, and so symptoms will appear chronically as the vital force finds it no longer has any spare energy for acute illness. Far too much like hard work! The vital force has far too many balls in the air to keep the body functioning at full strength! A strong vital force displays strong vital symptoms. Chronic illness suggests that the vital force is no longer able to produce vigorous acute illness. Eventualy, this suppression will lead to one of two outcomes. Either the vital force will break free and all the suppression will go everywhere, or the vital force will collapse and become so centripetal that the energy level or vital force will extinguish itself in death.
As the vital force accomodates and adapts and struggles with miams and toxic medicinal substances it cannot eliminate, suppression it cannot contest, life traumas it cannot react to and illnesses and bacteria it cannot process, the vital force changes in form and in intensity. We have no other way of monitoring or measuring this monumental struggle beyond observing the symptoms and the personality. This information is collected for a purpose in homeopathy. We can match this information against our intelligence of our remedies.
The remedies themselves have “pictures” too! We call them essences. They can be matched against the symptom pictures exhibited by people in the expression of their disease. We obtain information about a remedy by giving it to healthy people and watching to see how it affects them. When many people are given the same remedy, we note the pattern of symptoms and obtain a picture of the remedy. For example, if a person has right sided, violent, hot, throbbing pains in the head which came on suddenly after washing their hair, homeopaths begin to “see” the remedy belladonna because we have studied the effect of this remedy on other people. When we subsequently meet a person who has a similar energy picture, if we give them the right remedy, the two energy forms cancel each other out and the person escapes from their suppressions and the vital force flows within them once more.
In effect, the enegy of the disease, its form, its essence, is seen in the form and essence of the remedy. As we know that energies of the same wave length and frequency cancel each other out when they meet, we intruduce them to each other deliberately! The suppressions collapse, the symptoms dissappear, and the vital force is free once more to find its ideal form. This is why homeopaths warn people that they may get a cold or a discharge after a successful remedy! The damn breaks and the toxins of disease eliminate from the body in a rush! Finally!
Hahnemann says “…the sum of all the symptoms and conditions in each indivudual case of disease must be the sole indication, the sole guide to direct us in the choice of a remedy…” Paragraph 18 The Organon.
He also says “…this spirit like power to alter man’s state of health which lies hidden in the inner nature of medicines, can in itself never be discovered by us by a mere effort of reason…” Paragraph 20 The Organon.
We could never “see” the operation of the remedy or the vital force. We can only see the effects on the person. We can only match the remedy and the disease according to their effect upon the person. The energy from the remedy is stronger than the energy form and frequency of the disease because the remedy is a pure, strong, unadulterated essence, potentised to increase its energy while retaining its form and frequency. Thus it is still an exact match to the essence of the disease, simply a stronger dose of the same thing!
Hahnemann says “…a weaker dynamic affection is permanently extinguished in the living organism by a stronger one, if the latter (whilst differing in kind) is very similar to the former in its manifestations…” Paragraph 26 The Organon.
So, by helping the vital force by administering the remedy, we are taking away the inhibitions containing its functioning. So there is suddently more energy available for the vital force to perform its formative role in co-operation with the rest of matter. As the blocks in the flow of the vital force are removed, the health and potential of the person is released from suppressions and the toxic substances leave the body. Finally!
Thus it can be seen that the role of the vitral force in health and disease is fundamental. The homeopath is primarily concerned with the operation of the vital force within the person. All else is secondary to this consideration, though still of course very important.
If the vital force is flowing freely, the body is healthy and the mind is healthy. This is a close to the perfect form that we can manage, the actual fulfillment of that form must be left to the vital force alone. Our work is done!
ADENDUM
Doctors are always looking for the cause of disease on a more and more microscopic level. It may be that if they look small enough, they may find they are looking at pure energy as Heisenberg discovered. Homeopaths have always looked for the larger picture, we consider the whole person and the whole of the environment, ancestry and society at large as well, and we have found the vital force! The irony of homeopaths and doctors looking at the universe from two different angles, microcosm and macrocosm, is a perfect illustration of the formative intelligence of the vital force, the simple substance in its search for homeostasis, balancing two supposedly contrary aspects of human endeavour to form a whole, our ideal form!
I got 87% for this essay in my first year at homeopathy college in February 1988!
Pearls of Wisdom from my teachers on the vital force:
“The vital force is an umbrella term that may be useless as it prevents understanding because it is so amorphous and may not be defineable!”
“What sort of constitution do you have? A Land Rover or a Mini?”
“People have discovered how to manipulate the valve which directs the flow of vital force and they alter it with stimulants of all kinds. In our culture, we deny the body repair and maintenance, so eventually the vital force will override us and force a compulsory repair (symptoms), but we will then override the vital force with stimulants and sedatives, so a repair debt builds up, often habitually over generations. It all depends what sort of repair debt you inherit. Homeopathy done in pregnancy will therefore rebuild the whole of human evolution and restore health to society. At the moment, people are reaching the level where their survival is threatened, but they are re-aligning their lives using crisis intervention techniques because people simply want to continue what they are doing, which is causing the damage anyway. A few vitamin supplements will only mask the symptoms of a deficient life style. Healthy people can survive on dreadful diets for a very long time. The hierarchy of priorities within the body will protect the brain and higher functions at all costs, but the function of the least important organs will be compromised. The stomach is one of the major absorbers of energy. Humans are the only species on the planet who eat when they are ill!”
Robert Davidson
“Kent gives six qualities to the vital force:
- It has formative intelligence
- It is subject to change
- It pervades and interpenetrates the physical body without disturbing it
- It dominaters and controls the physical body
- It has the capacity for adaption
- It is constructive.”
“All toxins are eliminated from the body by the constant mobility of the vital force, especially mental anger which is very toxic and will come out in whatever way the vital force sees fit.”
“When the Vikings invaded Britain, they did it for a reason – it was a green and fertile land! No creature, bug or virus will go into a body unless the environment for it is good. Anyway, bugs only go where they are invited (by succeptibility)!”
Stella Berg