As my first draft of this article was approaching that of a big novel, I realized I needed to shorten it for an article. I originally intended to discuss 3 of the homeopathic aphorisms in detail—now I will touch on the first and shorten the second to just have the key points. I think you will likely get the idea just the same.
The Homeopathic Aphorisms are guiding principles laid out by the Founder of Homeopathy Dr. Samuel Hahnemann several centuries ago. Dr. Hahnemann was a physician, trained in the medical arts of the time; but when he discovered his patients weren’t actually healing under medical care, he chose to find something different—he discovered homeopathy. He then assigned guiding principles to this form of healing. This is the first aphorism:
“The high and only mission of a physician is to restore the sick to health, to cure as it is termed.”
We aren’t really taught to think of “cure,”or if we think of cure we see it is as the removal of symptoms, that the symptom is the disease itself. But what is cure really, in Hahnemann’s views? Cure is the complete restoration of health; and restoration of health is not only the removal of symptoms but the removal of the ENTIRE disease process.
Not disease management, not remission, not symptom suppression.A complete absence of the disease in its entirety.
The asthmatic would not wheeze or have shortness of breath—not because of taking her meds—but because she no longer has asthma. The man with arthritis wouldn’t have the pain not because he took the pain meds but because the joints were completely healed.
This is cure in the homeopathic sense.
Hahnemann’s second aphorism talks about the best method the physician is to use to provide this “permanent restoration of health:”
“The highest ideal of cure is the rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of health; that is, the lifting and annihilation of the disease in its entire extent in the shortest, most reliable, and least disadvantageous way, according to clearly realized principles.”
The first qualifier is that the cure be rapid, meaning moving, acting or improving with great speed. But what is the ideal time-frame for a cure?
Who is to say how long it will take a person to heal as it is very individualized and based on how long a person has had the illness. It is not up to the physician or the person to decide—the body decides. A person with a recent cold will very likely heal faster than someone who has had degenerative arthritis for the past 5 years.
The point is, though, that the cure should be as rapid as possible but always be moving forward.
The second qualifier is gentle. This puts a limit to the first qualifier. It should not be harsh or damaging in any way. Let’s look at an example: suppose you have to travel 100 miles from point A to point B. There are many methods to get there. You can go by foot; it may take 2-3 days and your joints are going to hurt a lot. You can use a bicycle and get there in a day or more; but it won’t be easy physically for most people to cover the distance without some discomfort. A motorcycle or scooter would get you there in a couple of hours and not cost a lot in gas. You can use a car and get there in a couple of hours; but you have the higher cost of the gas which some would see as not gentle. You can rent a helicopter or plane and get there more rapidly but the cost would be high. You can also strap yourself to a rocket and get there in minutes, but…well, the harm to your body would be extreme to say the least.
So, we see the quickest ways are also the most damaging (to the body or wallet). The slowest method is harmful to the body as well—taxing on the joints. Taking a car is the same speed as the motorcycle but costs more. So it appears the fastest and gentlest method would be the motorcycle or scooter—you can cover the distance in a couple of hours AND it is the most gentle on the wallet.
For healing, if the progress is too slow, the person is suffering too long and it is the physician’s responsibility to relieve the suffering. Conversely, if the remedy is causing too much suffering because it isn’t gentle enough, we aren’t doing a service to our patient either.
So for the healing to be ideal there has to be a balance between the rapidity and the gentleness.
The third qualifier is permanent restoration of health.Permanent—meaning lasting or forever. So once there is restoration of health, there should be no further symptoms. If it comes back, it is not cure, just symptom suppression or palliation.
But what is permanent? Does it mean once you heal the flu that the person would never get the flu again? Does it mean once the depression is healed that the person will never be sad again?
No.
Even after a person is cured, he may get sick with something again. However, it usually is resolved rapidly and without further complication.
Let’s look at “relapse” and “recurrence.” If something comes back soon after care or annuallyit is most likely a recurrence. If it comes back shortly after stopping the remedy, it means the cure has not been complete and is a relapse.
If a person stays healthy for a long time after stopping the remedy, then it is considered a cure.
So why does a person get sick again? An acute infection depends partly on the vitality of the person but also on the virulence of the bug. Chronic stress (physically, mentally or emotionally) can wear on a person, even a person who was restored to health. The person may be cured from the affliction they had. It then becomes the person’s responsibility to maintain that health state. If the person returns to eating poorly or having a high stress level, it will wear on the person’s health to the point where a disease process will again take hold. It may even cause thesame chronic condition the person had before if this is the area of “weakness” for the person.
Suppose you own a nice car and you have an accident because you were driving recklessly (a pre-existing condition) or someone hit you (the virulence of the bug). You now take your car to a mechanic (the homeopath). The mechanic polishes it and fixes the dents (with a remedy). He then hands you the car. Is it his responsibility that you drive safely or stay away from crazy drivers? No. If you drive carelessly or someone else hits you, you can again take your car to the mechanic to help with the damage, but after a while, even with the best repair work, the damage will still show, and the wear on the car will last longer (like age-related problems). If you decide to not use the car, when you go to start it, it won’t start as well (sedentary lifestyle). If you don’t get it serviced regularly with good oil and water (good diet and nutrition) there will be more wear and tear on your car (degeneration).
Ensuring cure is permanent is never the responsibility of the physician; it is the responsibility of the “owner” to ensure that his body, mind and spirit are cared for.
Now let’s look at the annihilation of the disease in its whole extent. Disease is not a thing but a process. Annihilation means the person as a whole gets back to optimum health—not just physical health but also mental, emotional and spiritual health. It is the removal of the ENTIRE disease process.
And the principles must be reliable, trustworthy. It becomes reliable when there is no relapse. It means that it has been proven in numerous clinical trials in numerous cases. Results are reproducible. All science is based on laws and rules. Without these, there is no reliability. Hahnemann wanted it so that everyone could be cured by following these rules. They are easily comprehensible, realizable so that they can help many. If they were too confusing, not everyone could be reached and healed.
The beginning of the aphorism stated: The highest ideal of cure.Ideal means perfect. But in real life, there are some times when a disease is incurable. Not every person with every disease can be cured. Still, the focus is to obtain the best, the highest ideal cure for each person. A person who was born with no kidneys will never have kidneys (which would be the ideal cure), but the highest ideal cure for the patient is to have the least impact from his state.
Homeopathy has the ability to affect great change in people—to heal them. All you need is someone to look at what your body is saying, interpret the symptoms and direct you to the right course of action. My focus is always to help the person attain the best possible health they can; my focus is always that highest ideal of cure, using the fastest, gentlest and most reliable method—I chose homeopathy. And I always say: “When it’s time to heal, choose a Classical Homeopath!”