OK, once again, this is for Maria–only this time, I’m not going to tell you the remedy like I did in Tidbits 61, this time you have to tell me! (But actually, the answer is at the bottom.) Here’s the video—I should say “videos”—because to get something to stay on youtube, you have to break it up into 3 short episodes, apparently, or it will get yanked:
The title of the episode is “Keg! Max!”
“The Gilmore Girls” is a serial story, a “soap opera”, as they say, but not in the usual sense; because this one is written for people who aren’t brain-dead! Your job is to find the remedy of the character pictured below, Jess:
He looks like a real “smart-ass” does he not, a real “wise-guy”! Well, here’s the story with Jess, he’s living with his uncle Luke because his mother, Luke’s sister, can’t handle him. He doesn’t follow rules, he doesn’t do what he’s told, he’s averse to discipline; so, his mother thought, “Maybe my brother Luke can handle him.”
Luke
Luke owns a diner that The Gilmore Girls (Rory and her mother) eat at every day. Unbeknownst to Luke, Jess has been cutting school and working at Walmart so he can buy a car! He–Jess– is also the boyfriend of Rory Gilmore, a very sweet girl– and yes, they are truly opposites!
Rory Gilmore
Rory’s mother, Lorelai
(that’s pronounced Lor-uh-lie), can’t stand Jess and really preferred Rory’s first boyfriend, Dean:
Lorelai manages an Inn, The Independence Inn, in this small New England town called Stars Hollow, where Jess is like a fish out of water.
So now that you’ve met everyone, the video starts out with Jess and Rory at band rehearsal. Rory’s best friend Lane is in the band, she’s the drummer, and Jess and Rory are just there to watch. In video-2, Jess finds out that he’s flunked out of school and can’t take Rory to the prom. In the last video, Rory and Jess are at Kyle’s house where Lane’s band is providing the music for a party—an unauthorized beer party as Kyle’s parents are out of town for the weekend. Due to Jess behaving in a sullen manner because he hasn’t told Rory he can’t take her to the prom, he winds up in a fight with Dean, they wreck Kyle’s house, someone calls the police and well…the party ends abruptly.
Now! I’m glad you stuck with me through all this because it’s about to get interesting! You may have already seen this part in the video but I have to write it out in case the videos get yanked—which could happen at any time—and also because not all of our readers speak English (though they can READ it). So as I was saying, Jess tried to buy prom tickets but gets sent to the principal’s office instead, and here’s what happened:
Knock-knock.
Principal: Come in. Well, well; Jess Mariano, what a pleasure, sit down.
Jess: I was trying to buy prom tickets and they told me to see you.
Principal: Sit down. So… The prom, huh? I wouldn’t have taken you for someone who wanted to go to the prom.
Jess: My girl friend wants to go.
Principal: That’s too bad.
Jess: What? Why?
Principal: Because you FLUNKED OUT!
Jess: What?
Principal: You’re not graduating, Jess! Prom tickets are for graduating seniors only. Guess your girl friend is outta luck!
Jess: Wait a minute, I’m just a little behind, I can catch up, no sweat!
Principal: You can’t, you missed too much.
Jess: It hasn’t been that much!
Principal: Thirty-one days you’ve been out, the cut-off is 20!
Jess: So that’s it? Just like that?
Principal: That’s it.
Jess: Thanks for the warning!
Principal: You mean the nine warnings we gave you weren’t enough? All the meetings I tried to set up with your guidance counselor…between you and me, that you blew off–that wasn’t warning enough?
Jess: I can catch up, I’m smarter than anyone here!
Principal: And humble too….
Jess: I can catch up, you’ll see!
Principal: There’s nothing to see, you’re out.
Jess: Fine! I’ll take summer school if that’s what you want!
Principal: It’s good, but not enough. You have to take the whole year over.
Jess: The whole year? No way!
Principal: Then no diploma.
Jess: At least let me go to the prom, what’s the big deal?
Principal: We’re done here.
Jess: Come on!
Principal: You wanna talk about coming next year? My door’s open.
Jess leaves, saying, “Not gonna miss this place!”
“Vice-versa”, the principal says.
***
So now Jess is very sullen as I said above; he never tells Rory what happened! All Rory can see is that his mood has changed, she has no idea why. They’re now at the party–Kyle’s beer party. Funny, but Dean is there too with his new girl friend, but, he’s never really gotten over Rory. Jess is being uncivil to everyone. Eventually he disappears. Rory finds him sitting alone in Kyle’s parents’ bedroom:
Rory: Are we allowed to be up here? Kyle was discouraging it. You were looking forward to this party, something happened; tell me.
Jess doesn’t tell her, instead he kisses her and moves her toward the bed. He gets on top of her. Rory tries to get his attention but can’t, finally she has to throw him off and jumps up. Jess says, “Geez!”
Rory says, “Not here, not now.”
Jess says, “Fine!”
Rory: What’s wrong with you?
Jess: Nothing is wrong with me!
Rory: Someone could have walked in that door!
Jess: And Santa Claus could have come down the chimney! Whatever!
Rory: You didn’t think it [sex] was gonna happen like this, did you?
Jess: I don’t know what I think anymore.
Rory: Jess!
Jess: Rory, just stop, just stop! I did not invite you up here! You came up here on your own!
Rory starts to cry. “I don’t know what I did….” She leaves the room hurriedly, crying, but trying not to cry. Jess feels bad; he says, “You didn’t do anything,” but no one was there to hear him. He goes after her, but Dean has found her first. Dean says, “Rory, are you OK?” She says, “No, I don’t know.” “What happened?” Dean asks. Jess sees her. “Rory,” he says. But he sees her with Dean. “Figures!” he says, and keeps on walking. That so enrages Dean that he charges after him, spins him around and punches him right in the face!
All heck breaks loose! Dean and Jess are fighting, punching, toppling over furniture, breaking things… people are yelling, “Stop!” and “No!” They tumble out the front door onto the lawn, still swinging when the cops show up! (A neighbor has apparently called the police.) The party is busted, Kyle’s parents are called. Jess shoots Rory an angry look and walks off into the night.
This is where the episode ends. Now! What do I always tell you to do? Make a list of the elements of the case and then try to find rubrics for them.
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OK, we’re back! What were the elements of this case? There were many! I’ll list what I found and in parentheses, I’ll put the Repertory rubrics that go with them:
- Lying. He lies. He’s not going to school, he’s working at Walmart. That’s quite a big lie. (Mind: lies, inclination to tell)
- Aversion to responsibility. He’s not doing anything he’s supposed to do. (Mind: responsibility, aversion to)
- Aversion to school. (Mind: school, aversion to)
- Rudeness–he’s very rude to the principal (Mind: rudeness) and because of that, I also chose…
- Shamelessness (Mind: shameless behavior)
- Fighting, disposed to get into fights (Mind: fight, wants to)
- Hatred–(Mind: hatred) he hates school, he hates the principal and…
- He hates to study (Mind: study, aversion to)
- He has a high opinion of himself (Mind: egotism)
- Selfish (Mind: selfishness)
- Cruel (Mind: cruelty)
- Sensitive to criticism (Mind: sensitive, oversensitive, emotional, reprimands, to)
- Doesn’t think the rules apply to him (Mind: libertinism)
- Sexually aggressive (Mind: sexuality, lasciviousness, lustful)
As you can see, the remedy is Medorrhinum. To me, the most characteristic symptom or element of the case was: “The rules don’t apply to me”–and the rubric for that is “Mind: Libertinism”. It means a person totally disregards what’s expected of him, what convention says is proper and normal, and just literally lives for himself, making his own rules, going his own way, doing what he wants, without caring what teachers or parents, etc. might think or have to say. This is so peculiar, so out of the ordinary, that if you see this in a patient, you’d almost have to think of Medorrhinum right away. In fact, Medorrhinum is in BOLD for Libertinism, and the only remedy that is!
Now, if you’re only using Kent’s Repertory, you’ve got a problem because Medorrhinum isn’t listed there anywhere. I’m using Murphy’s Repertory.
So, let’s continue with our discussion of Medorrhinum. Some of you may not even know what it is. Medorrhinum is homeopathic gonorrhea, a remedy made from a gonorrheal discharge; so, you might say, “If gonorrhea could be a person…. who or what would it be?” So, let’s think about gonorrhea, then, and imagine what it’s all about.
It’s a sexually transmitted disease that you get from promiscuous, reckless, thoughtless behavior involving multiple sex partners…and if you have multiple sex partners, what does that mean? Well, it suggests that you’re easily bored and crave stimulation; and you’re probably a liar, a cheat, pretending to be true to each one of them, telling many lies to get through the day, covering up your misdeeds, being secretive, living only for yourself…. In fact, here are some of the keywords Sankaran has listed for the Sycotic Miasm, of which Medorrhinum is the chief representative: Fixed, Covered-up, Guilt, Hide, Secretive, Gonorrhea, Fixed weakness, Avoidance. (Sankaran’s Schema, p. 7)
So, it’s easy to surmise, without even knowing much, that we have an individual who is deceitful, dishonest, scheming, taking advantage of others, putting himself first, and therefore, undependable, unreliable, unable to make a commitment, always taking from others and never giving.
What else can we say about Medorrhinum? According to Liz Lalor in her book Homeopathic Psychiatry, Medorrhinum’s core delusion is that he has committed an unpardonable crime (p. 657) and so, not surprisingly, is quite touchy and defensive! In fact, it’s in the Repertory, and Medorrhinum is the only remedy listed under: “Mind: delusions, hell, is, going to, because he has committed an unpardonable crime”.
Medorrhinum is also in the delusion rubric, “Doomed”. And knowing the kind of person Medorrhinum is, and the kind of life-style he’s involved with, he probably has committed a crime!
From this you begin to understand the other delusion rubrics Medorrhinum is in: Delusions, persecuted; Delusions, people, behind him, someone is; Delusions, people, sees; Delusions, watched; Delusions, present, someone is. What do all these rubrics have in common? They’re what you’d be thinking if you thought the police were after you! (They’re just behind you, watching you, could be in the room with you, you’re not safe); so, how will this affect your behavior? You may have to flee at any moment! So you’re restless, fidgety, can’t sit still, unpredictable, erratic (Medorrhinum is in bold under “Mind: erratic behavior”.) Here Jess is working at Walmart instead of going to school; and why? So he can buy a car. Why does he want a car? He may need to flee from the police at a moment’s notice, or maybe an irate parent, or the boyfriend of the girl he’s having an affair with! A car is a symbol of independence, it enables you to escape, to be your own boss. Medorrhinum MUST have his independence, he can’t subjugate himself to anyone, abide by anyone else’s rules.
Mati Fuller writes about this in her book Beyond The Veil of Delusions:
In addition to pickiness, bossiness and arrogant behavior, Medorrhinum’s need for independence can be another source of conflict in relationships. Medorrhinums are naturally independent beings who like doing “their own thing” regardless of who is in charge. They often make decisions quickly and impulsively and they don’t ask for advice…. If someone tries to stop Medorrhinum, he may defend his independence in a harsh, cruel, hardhearted manner regardless of consequences, because his independence is so important to him. (p. 214)
Now, another big issue for Medorrhinum is his inability to accept responsibility. Why? As Sankaran said, there is an inner weakness in the sycotic miasm that must be covered up; so not surprisingly, Medorrhinum is in the rubrics “doomed”, “procrastinates” and “never accomplishes what he undertakes”. Being handed a responsibility might make Medorrhinum so terrified, he might over-react by being harsh, defensive and angry. He knows that any responsibility puts stress on him that he doesn’t have the fortitude to withstand.
Because they have to cover up this weakness, they are often seen as bombastic, bragging, rude, aggressive, bullying, etc.; they are unable to accept even the slightest criticism, suggestion or correction without going to extremes of reaction. (Mind: despair, criticism, from the smallest).
So….I hope we’ve learned to recognize Medorrhinum. Remember, Libertine—“The rules don’t apply to me! I do what I want.” Why? “I have to be independent, do my own thing, be my own boss, so that I can escape at a moment’s notice because I have committed an unpardonable crime for which I will surely burn in hell, and no one can know about it–what I did–I feel very guilty but I won’t show that side to you (I appear to be overly confident) and surely the police are after me! So I can’t be still, can’t stay in one place, can’t be predictable, or they will find me!”
OK?
I have a whole sink full of dirty dishes to do; so….we should probably end here. See you again next time!
________________
Elaine Lewis, DHom, CHom
Elaine takes online cases, write to her at [email protected]
