In homeopathy, philosophy is fundamental to our understanding of health and disease. It revolutionises our perceptions. No longer can a person be segmented into parts, such that their headache has “nothing to do” with their arthritis, their menstrual pain, their constipation or their mental state.
The immediate use of homeopathic philosophy is that we know we are looking at whole and complete beings, functioning with purpose and direction. We are not a senseless collection of atoms!
Symptoms of disease – dis-ease – are an ideosyncratic expression of a person’s condition, their disposition and situation. Their symptoms illustrate “how they are in the world”, how they are balanced, what state their ecomony is in as they attempt to balance the internal and external universes. The vital force animates us, and it is intelligent, active and in control. So our symptoms are an intelligent expression of our dis-ease, our imbalance or attempts at balance. Dis-ease is not seen as senseless suffering, it is a language, a signal from our internal universe for us to listen to, the understand, observe and acknowledge, a pointer to the solution to our symptoms. By acknowledging this signal language from the vital force, the homeopath can identify a similar force, a remedy which will help to correct and answer the signal language from the vital force. By answering the signal language of symptoms from the vital force, balance can be restored, sufficient to tip the economy of the body back in the direction of order and health and wellbeing. Symptoms are the way the vital force comunicates with the carefull observer. It is only polite to reply and give the vital force what it is asking for! If we do not reply, the symptoms will become stronger and stronger as the vital force shouts out to us. If we reply correctly, by administering the correct remedy, the vital force will have expressed the dis-ease sufficiently. When the vital force gets the response it requires from the external universe, it can restore balance in the internal universe.
The Law of Cure was invented by Constantine Hering, and it states that the vital force is a flowing energy with a subtle vibration which reacts to external stimuli, diet, weather, emotion and perception. Hindered in its action by dis-ease, miasmatic inheritance, contagion and toxins, dis-ease would seem to be an inevitable consequence of existence. However, understanding the vital force allows us acccess to a constant, practical guide to the ebb and flow of the vital force of the person. With this observation, we can judge the action of the vital force and the dis-ease and match this to a remedy. The decrease or increase in frequency, form and intensity shows up clearly to an objective observer.
Improvements in health can be assessed objectively by the objective observer. In health, the vital force flows in an outward, centrifugal direction, towards life and the external universe. In dis-ease, the vital force circles back in on itself in a centripetal direction towards ill health and death.
If we see detoxification and the restoration of healthy functioning, we can assess the strength of the vital force, the robustness of the constitution, and the progression of the dis-ease. Interestingly, everyday common sayings reflect this vestige of understanding in our language.. “It’s better to let them sweat it out..” or “It’s better out than in…”
These centrifugal reactions can be seen on every level of functioning, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Physical discharges, anger outbursts, flights of dreams, changes in lifestyle, habits and attitudes show the person reacting to life in new and healthy patterns. Of greatest benefit to the person is an adequate definition of health, giving people a clear goal which is not just vague and arbitary, but obvious and vital.
Dis-ease has been around for a long time, and it has had a lot of practice fighting the vital force. The reverse is also true, of course. Dis-ease has left an indellible stain on the vital force in the form of miasms which results in our individual and collective succeptibility to dis-ease. This is part and parcel of our fate. Unless homeopaths take account of all influences affecting the universe, internal and external, we cannot hope to correct the imbalances created by dis-ease. Of course, the vital force has left an equally indellible impression on dis-ease! When Hahnemann outlined the theory of miasms, he allowed homeopaths entry into the very heart of dis-ease. Our succeptibility, our need to express our dis-ease, is born within every one of us as we strive to achieve balance. If we did not know this, how could we manouvre? How could we heal? How could we survive in this world?
The heirarchy of symptoms is a guiding philosophical factor allowing homeopaths to really see inside the internal universe of people and of remedies. Many people have headaches with heat, for example. So do many remedies. How do we decide which is the correct match? The heirarchy of symptoms indicates the core, the essence of the central disturbance in the vital force, and how this radiates out into the body and the mind. It indicates “what is to be cured” in the person and also what is curative in the remedy. This allows us to order a strategy of action. There are different methods, of course. Eiseyaga recommends lesion prescribing, Kent recommends essence prescribing. It all depends upon the intensity and the frequency of the vital force and the dis-ease and the pattern of symptoms expressed. Sankaran describes the central disturbance allowing us to demonstrate the impact of this battle of forces, and identify the guiding symptoms.
The practical use of philosophy in homeopathy is infinite!