14 Discussion Epilogue"Epistemology without contact with science becomes an empty scheme; science without epistemology is, insofar as it is thinkable at all, primitive and muddled" Albert Einstein
Reversal of world view
The view on disease and health in this book is different from the view held in conventional medicine. In a way the view is turned inside out: the psyche is not the result of the body, but the body is the result of the psyche. This view is substantiated by many researches and very well documented by Gabor Maté.
That does not mean that the material science is incorrect as such. It is only limited. Its is limited to the materials objects, but insufficient for living beings. Our science needs to be broadened through psychology and spirituality.
A frequently heard argument against this extension is that it brings back belief, and with that superstition; it is said that spirituality cannot be proven, that one has to believe in it and that it is thus not science. This is understandable historically. Humanity has been fooled for centuries by the Catholic Church, who used deep truths from the beginning of Christianity mixed with nonsensical statements coming from their own agenda to increase their power.
Science implies a search for the truth. Limiting the truth to the material world is not a scientific point of view. On the contrary, it is unscientific. Incorporating the psyche and spirit into science is a necessary step to come to the truth. The point is that they cannot be measured, at least not materially. One has to investigate them via the inside world, with one's own mind. That has been more the eastern, Indian tradition. And it can be objective.
This reversal of worldview is more than necessary, as the material world view is leading to enormous problems, to a toxic world as Gabor Maté points out. The world has become toxic, with pesticides, herbicides and all kinds of other 'cides', killers. With poisoned food, with poisoned air, water and soil, and above all with a poisoned emotional atmosphere. This toxicity is the consequence of the materialistic world view.
ParadigmaBut the reversal of the world view will provoke resistance. That is not new, as it has happened with all paradigm shifts. Copernicus could only talk openly about his heliocentric worldview to a few other scientists. All other scientists said his idea was false. Galileo was ridiculed by his colleagues in astronomy who told him it was not necessary to look at the moons of
Jupiter through his telescope, as
Jupiter could not have moons.
58Gabor Maté describes how many doctors and patients are intensely uncomfortable facing their own hidden sorrows and wounds. Carl Jung called it our shadow self. It would involve going into recovery, changing something. It is incredibly worthwhile, but it is a lot of work. This problem arises from an identification with one's own personalities: a questioning of personalities is experienced as a questioning of oneself. Another reason is that conforming to the materialistic point of view is socially more acceptable. Promoting non-mainstream ideas can be dangerous, as history has shown.
Paradigmas are belief systems that work in the background and cannot be questioned. A nice example is described by the journalist Robert Whitaker. He wrote about psychiatry and believed its ideas to be true. Later he started questioning their ideas and asked where it was found that depression is due to a lack of serotonin and that schizophrenia is due to too much dopamine. The answer was: "Well, we didn't really find that. It's a metaphor." (Maté). The paradigm leads to wishful thinking and speculation, presented as science. And when the paradigm is the reigning one, it leads to the denouncing of other ideas as pseudoscience, religion, nonsense or the like. People promoting those ideas will be denounced as quacks and liars, they will become the victim of character assassination or even physical murder, as with the burning of 'witches' at the stake. This paradigm leads to denial of any facts and experiences that do not fit the model.
VisionThe vision described in this book is that human beings are, in their essence, spiritual beings that are good and wise. All people are good and loving in their essence, their spirit. On the other hand, human beings have many personalities that are talents and strengths, but are also defence mechanisms that may produce difficulties, problems and disasters when their wishes are not fulfilled. Rutger Bregman has written that most people are virtuous and decent. This book shows human beings as perfect, though with a surrounding layer of problematic personalities. In some humans the layer can be very thick though. The human condition is inwardly perfect, and outwardly problematic.
The result of this vision is that one can appreciate every human being, loving them for their humanity, but at the same time being aware of their problematic sides. It generates compassion and empathy for others, and also for oneself. One sees the good and forgives more easily when personalities create problems.
This vision also increases trust: trust in oneself, trust in the universe, trust that negative experiences will have a meaning.
Disease is seen as an expression of an inner imbalance.
Disease becomes a learning process instead of a war against the symptoms. Life can be seen as a learning process, with trial and error, sometimes entering a dead end and turning back. It leads to more consciousness and freedom.
IntegrationScience has a reductionistic quality: the premise is that examining the parts leads to understanding the whole. But often science becomes too reductionistic and fragmented, losing the whole from sight. The opposite is searching for unification and integration. This tendency is well seen in physics, where one tries to find the one formula that explains everything.
The vision in this book integrates many aspects of life. Material illnesses are connected to emotional personalities. Psychotherapy, acupuncture and homeopathy use the same law of paradoxical therapy. The classification of plants and animals is basically the same in biology and homeopathy.
Laws of cure with the benefit of discharge is the same for surgery and homeopathy.
The elements of the
Periodic system are linked to personalities, psychological states. There is much more connection, unification and integration of knowledge.
ExperienceThe vision in this book is the result of many years of searching and experiments, combined with knowledge from many sciences and spiritual leaders. Homeopathic remedies are best seen as personalities, comparable with personalities in humans. Experience shows that it works: many diseases that are seen as incurable in official medicine have been cured. This gives me trust that this vision must have some truth.