Rubbing Aladdins Magic Lamp: “Finding the Genie in the Genius of Homeopathy”

Dr. Luc de Schepper is the President – European Congress of Homeopathy

I remember in my early childhood, reading “Aladdin and his Magic Lamp,” and dreaming what three wishes I would make if I could ask the genie. I can’t remember my answers beyond three ice creams a day, but, I have no trouble rubbing the lamp to ask the genie to grant my three present wishes.

My first wish is to be able to sculpt the Persona and constitution of the homeopath. The homeopath’s first “miracle” prescription is not the remedy, but the creating of a bond between him and the patient, an atmosphere of understanding, support and non-judgment. The energy of the healer always is a significant part of the healing process. His intention, his life-force, compassion and attitude, without any doubt, influence the energy of the patient. And therefore, the physician himself must be the first one to examine his good and especially his bad sides (shadow side). The therapist has to reach the heart of the patient and then the head. This quality of encounter is essential for true cure to take place. The allopathic physician has increasingly become a specialized technologically oriented individual, leading to a depersonalization between doctor and patient. As Carl Jung formulated: “Psychotherapy has taught us that in the final reckoning it is not knowledge, not technical skill, that has a curative effect, but the personality of the doctor. There are besides the gifts of the head, also those of the heart, which are no less important.” To really sense the suffering of a patient, one needs a good deal of experience and sensitivity and what one calls “empathy.”

The concept and symbolic image of the divine healer express a particular field dynamic that arises between healer and patient, by virtue of their mutual encounter. As Jung expressed, “The true healer quite literally takes over the sufferings of his patient and shares them with him. For this reason he runs a risk—and must run it in the nature of things.” It is widely accepted that the patient’s emotions and thought processes can promote or hinder healing. But it also has become widely accepted that the therapist’s emotions and thought processes have similar potent effects.

The concept of the symbol of the hero, symbolizes a man who dares to become an individual. He is the person who dares to risk his whole existence by independence, and who leaves certainty, and risks uncertainty. The willingness to become a homeopath requires courage and faith. Courage to let go of certainties; courage to be different and to stand in isolation, to leave one’s own land of conventional medicine and to go to a land yet unknown; courage to be concerned with nothing but the truth. The truth not only in thought, but in one’s feelings as well. This courage is possible only on the basis of faith. Faith not in the sense of the word, as a belief in some idea that cannot be proven scientifically or rationally, but faith meaning certainty of the Laws and Principles of true Classical Homeopathy, and being able to trust them and to rely on them. That is faith.

This brings me to my second wish: that the Organon would be the most cherished book of homeopaths. Our first duty is not to the patient but to the truth, which when loyally served, best enables us to do the greatest good to the sick. Our need is not to prove anything to other people. Our job is to do the work and apply the principles, so that the proof can be seen by all. The time has come that our schools must enforce a closer study of the Organon. I never saw a practitioner who had thoroughly acquainted himself with the Organon become lost as to what to do and how to move in an emergency, and whosoever denies this, knows not the length and breadth of this wonderful book. Many claim to know the Organon, but when pushed for answers they are blind. The rules that are in the Organon will lead any man to a pure, successful homeopathic practice and such man will retain forever the enthusiasm of the true student.

Books can be divided into meteors, moving stars and fixed stars. The first kind, meteors, produce a momentary effect: you gaze up, cry: “Look!” and then it vanishes forever. The second kind, moving stars, endure somewhat longer, but soon they must vacate their place as they shine only on borrowed light, and their sphere of influence is limited to their own fellow travelers or contemporaries. But the third kind, fixed stars, to which the Organon belongs, is unchanging, and shine by their own light, influencing all ages equally, as they belong to the Universe and mankind. But it is precisely because they are so high, that their light usually takes so many years to reach the eyes of man on earth. The Organon reached such height simply because it was written, not for gain, but for what Hahnemann in his wisdom had to say to provide humankind with a true natural healing method that united the body and mind.

Throughout the years I heard the proclamation: “I tried classical homeopathy, but it does not work. But now I try this “advanced” method, this esoteric approach and I have great success. Times have changed and so have diseases.” Since when? Does such a homeopath forget that homeopathy is based on laws of nature and do these laws change over time? Would such a person claim that because of the last fifty years of study, research and practice, the law of gravity has changed and now an apple could be made to fall faster? We have studied more remedies than before and our verifications are more complete, but the law has not, and never will change!

My third wish: to be able to sculpt the persona of the patient. We all have been in a kind of honeymoon mood in the beginning of our career and think, “Homeopathy can cure everything.” Success with our patients does not only depend on our skills. As mentioned before, there are other factors which make for success and failure. One factor is also whether a patient has really reached the bottom of his suffering. The patient often comes to the office of the homeopath and says, “I am sick. I am unhappy. You are the professional who promises to cure sick people, so here I am.” If I would put anything on the wall of my office, it would be: “Being here is not enough.” And second, “You are not in the presence of God”, and “No, I don’t have a bottle with a genie in it granting you three wishes.” The patient’s three wishes would be: 1. One make my spouse more attentive to me (and depending who says this, man or woman, the meaning is very different. 2. I need more money (but I never win the lottery) 3. My son should become president of the United States. The point I want to stress here most, is the ACTIVE PARTICIPATION of the patient, and I don’t mean just taking the remedy, as nobody achieves anything of importance without making a great effort and without making sacrifice, without risking, without going through the many tunnels which one has to pass through in the course of life. Here the personality of the homeopath is very important, namely whether he is able to do what a good mountain guide does, who does not carry his client up the mountain but sometimes tells him, “This is a better road” and even gives him a little push by means of advice and the simillimum.

Albert Schweitzer was my idol as a young child. I quote his word that have a bearing on all of us who have worked tirelessly for humankind: “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy, are those who have sought and found how to serve.” As a tennis player I found my own motto in life…. “Just like in tennis it is better to serve than to receive!”