In Search of the Vital Force
September 18, 2009 by
David Little
Filed under Organon & Philosophy | Hpathy Ezine, September, 2009
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Homeopathy did not appear out of a vacuum. The seeds of this noble healing art go back 1000’s of years to the Bronze Age and [...]
Homeopathy did not appear out of a vacuum. The seeds of this noble healing art go back 1000’s of years to the Bronze Age and beyond. In the Western tradition the origins of the healing arts are found in the works of the lineage of Hermes, Asclepius, Pythagoras and Hippocrates and are linked to works of the ancient Egyptians, Pelasgians and Indo-Aryans of South Asia. In around 2000BC to 1800BC tribes of Indo-Aryans migrated to Greece and brought with them their ancient traditions. They intermingle with the indigenous Pelasgians-Egyptian lineages and established the Bronze Age European lineage of philosophy, psychology and healing. These are the seeds.
The gains of the Bronze Age period of integration came to close with the Dorian invasion of Greece and the area. The art of writing and recording history was almost lost but the bards and scribes who had memorized all the important data saved the older knowledge from being completely lost. This led to the Greek Renaissance in around 500BC, which was led by a Pelasgian named Pythagoras. Pythagoras travelled around the entire Mediterranian area, Egypt and India tracing the teachings to their origins and collecting information. This led to the rise of the Pythagorean school of metaphysics and healing.
Pythagoras taught about the music of the spheres and life, as different frequencies that may be harmonious and dissonant. This “music” has its “scales and tones” that make up different frequencies of vibration in the cosmic pneuma, the universal vital force. He founded the western tradition of classical music, the 7 note scale, as well as the Pythagorean-Hippocratic lineage of the healing arts. It was he who spoke of health as harmonious tone of the pneumatic vital forces and disease as a mistuning of this life power. That is why we still speak of the nervous or muscular system as having “tone” and use statements like “feeling in and out of tune” when speaking of feeling good or bad.
All of these images are part of an ancient archetypal language that goes back 1000s of years. These definitions are linked to the German words Stimmung (tone, tuning, atmosphere, aura, good vibrations, etc) and Virstimmung (dissonance, mistuning, derangement, bad atmosphere, bad vibration, etc.) found in the Organon of the Healing Art. These terms have their origin in the Pythagorean-Hippocratic lineage and have been part of western medicine for 2,500 years.
Pythagoras also elucidated the teaching of the primordial homoeomeries, which are the essential patterns and forces that are the building blocks of the macrocosmic and microcosmic universe. The ancients called these powers the 3 vital forces (+/0/-) and the five elements, the ether, air, fire, water and earth. In the macrocosm the 3 forces manifest as the neutral, positive and negative poles and in the living organisms the psychic force (0), the life force (+) and the natural force (-).
These three forces are witnessed in the atom as the neutron, proton and neutron and in the human body as vital wind, heat and cold. The five elements (earth, water, fire, air, ether) are considered different frequencies of pneuma in the form of solids, liquids, incandescence, gases and space. These powers are witnessed in the macrocosm as gravity, weak nuclear forces, strong nuclear forces, electromagnetic and space. In the human being they are found in life energy and the four chemicals that make up the human genes. In the human body they are also witnessed in the energy centers and pathways found in the spine, organs, systems and tissues.
The primordial homoeomeries and the elements make up the four classical temperaments and their 12 mixtures. Hahnemann was very well aware of this system and one finds references to the classical temperament and diathetic constitutions in his writings and casebooks. In his day this knowledge was taken for granted but today few homoeopaths understand the system. This is because we have forgotten our roots and lost important parts of our heritage.
These teachings are very similar to the Aryur Veda and Yoga because they share a common origin and share images known throughout all the Indo-Aryan peoples from South Asia to Europe. Remember the English language I am using right now is an Indo-Aryan based language that goes back to the same ancient Mother tongue in prehistory. Wisdom from this beginning is still stored in the Collective Unconscious and is coded in history, mythology, religion, fables and stories.
These archetypal powers were called the primordial homomeries by Pythagoras, which means the similars from which all things are composed. The three forces and 5 elements are a symbolic patterns used to catagorize all phenomena. This was an ancient language that sprang from the Collective Unconscious in the form of visions, altered states, dreams and intuition and guided the ancient seers in their investigation of the outer realms of the universe and the inner realms of consciousness. Much of this knowledge was lost during the Dark Ages but during the European Renaissance it reappeared.
Portions of the established Church resisted these changes, so inquisition was begun to purge culture of “pagan ideas”. At this time the ancient wisdom was driven underground in secret societies and into alchemical language. This ancient wisdom again went into decline “during” as the industrial revolution was on the horizon but the Deists of Europe and America rebelled against the materialistic scientific paradigm because they wished to integrate the best of the ancient classical wisdom with the new sciences. Samuel Hahnemann was one of these individuals as he was a Deist, Mason and Universalist. He was a master of ancient as well as modern languages and was a great student of history, metaphysics, philosophy, psychology and medicine. His studies in all these fields formed the basis for the development of Homoeopathy.
There is no wonder that many homoeopaths wish to study the seeds, roots and branches of human thought. It is no surprise that they wish investigate deeper than the surface and peer into Collective Unconscious so they can re-enter a world where archetypes function and images of wisdom appear in the twilight of consciousness. These impulses to go deeper come from the Self and are part of the process of Individuation. In this way, they are only walking in the footsteps of Hermes, Asclepius, Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Paracelsus, Hahnemann, Goethe and Jung.
MIASMS IN HAHNEMANNIAN HOMOEOPATHY
Hahnemann is the Founder of modern epidemiology. He was very well aware that infectious diseases are caused by microorganisms and he called these disease causing powers “miasms”. This word was used by Hippocrates to described epidemic diseases. The ancient Greeks also used the word “psora” to stand for a host of skin complaints and their concomitant symptoms. Hahnemann did not invent these words but he did bring them up to date for his time. We must do the same.
Hahnemann was the first to introduce a coherent study of infectious diseases which included constitution, temperament, heredity, predisposition, susceptibility, the moment of infection, the prodrome, the primary stage, latent stage, secondary stage and the suppression syndrome. He also noted that the congenital constitution and environmental factors are strong conditioning factors in the development of the pathological symptoms. He once suggested that some skin disorders were caused by “miasmatic animalcula”, i.e. microorganisms. On the spread of Asian cholera to Europe, Hahnemann wrote:
“On board ships-in those confined spaces filled with moldy, water vapors the cholera miasm finds a favorable element for its multiplication and grows into an enormously increased brood of these EXCESSIVELY MINUTE, INVISIBLE LIVING CREATURES so inimical to human life of which the contagious matter of the cholera most probably consists.“
Hahnemann introduced the terms acute, half-acute and chronic miasms and recorded the differences of these infections most accurately. On this basis he introduced the collective case taking method so that he could discover specific genus remedies that had the power to prevent, abort and treat the affects of these infectious complaints. On this foundation Hering introduced the nosodes, which are potentized miasms. He made his own nosodes for several acute miasms as well as half acute miasms like rabies and chronic miasms like psora, tuberculous, sycosis, and syphilis. These remedies also play a great role in preventing, aborting and treating infectious diseases and their affects.
Hahnemann’s early study of infectious diseases and their sequelae is based on observations of how epidemic diseases affect the human psyche and soma. Acute miasms are self limiting infections like cholera that reach their crisis quickly and end in death, recovery or feeling never-well-since the attack. Half acute miasms are infections that have a longer incubation period like rabies and reach crisis after a short to medium period depending on the circumstances. Chronic miasms are life long infections like syphilis that are not self limiting and do no naturally resolve over time. Toward the end of his career Hahnemann noted that the affects of a chronic miasma like psora could be passed by heredity. These ideas completed the system. All of this has proved valid by modern science.
On the basis of this information one can say with all certainty that Hahnemann’s definition of the miasma is microorganisms and miasmic diseases are the negative effects of unresolved infections on the human organism. This is an early study of acquired infections, auto-immune states and immuno-deficiency disorders that goes far beyond the understanding of modern medicine. This may have been hard to understand in 1828 but in 2005 Hahnemann’s teachings have come of age. It is very surprising that some homoeopaths still don’t realize this! To some the miasms have become everything BUT the affects of infections on the vital force, the human organism, and the immune system.
Next Article: The Dynamis of the Homeopathic Art
I read this article immediately after reading “Rationality and Homeopathy – Taking stock in stormy times” by Ralf Jeutter. I hate Allopathy due to the over-scientific approach. I am an Astrologer, Pranic Healer and Tantrik. Recently I had to take a homeopathy treatment to cure loss of voice. This was after one of the most reputed ENT specialist in India advised immediate laser treatment with general anesthesia. The homeopathy doctor restored my voice in a week! This rekindled my interest in Homeopathy and was doing searches on the internet and registered in hpathy. When I saw that vital force is one of the three fundamentals according to Hahnemann I was amused as a pranic healer and Tantric. It was interesting to read an earlier article on chakras and homeopathy.
When I concluded reading the article by Ralf, I was wondering why something has to be scientific. There is a blind faith in Science these days, as if everything has to be scientific to be effective, efficient and respected. But once I concluded reading this article by David, I am convinced that Homeopathy does not need to prove it is scientific and there is nothing derogatory in it!