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| Hpathy Ezine - Sept., 2005 | |||||
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David Little<-- Interviewed by Dr. Leela D'Souza |
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| Leela: David we are delighted to have you in our Hotseat! All of us who know you, admire
your work for homeopathy and many have established a strong foundation
in their homeopathic journey participating in your course and receiving
guidance from you. Please tell us a little about yourself and how
you chose homeopathy as your life mission. David: I am very happy to be in the hotseat as I am in good company! I am an American who was born in 1948 and my upbringing was nothing out of the ordinary. At a very young age I saw an old black and while documentary on TV about India and yoga and from that time I had an interest in comparative religion and philosophy. As a young man in the late 1960s my interest in yoga and health grew into an active involvement with the healing arts. My first teacher was Manning von Strahl, who was a master of the manual arts, acupuncture, homeopathy and Mesmerism. He was in China in the 1930s and was a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda in California. Manning was at the center of the health and consciousness revolution
in the 1950s and was a close friend of Aldous Huxley. By the time
I met him in the late 1960s he was an elderly gentleman of vast
experience and I was a young fool just starting to walk the path.
Manning took me in as his apprentice and trained me in the healing
sciences. He was truly a great man, and by the end of his life,
a very powerful spiritual healer who could perform miracles at times.
I spent several years under his guidance and I owe everything I
am today to him. Leela: You must have had an experience
of using various methods of healing with Manning. I tried to google
and find out if there was any more information on him, but there
wasn’t much on the net. So this is a good chance to have it available.
The fact that homeopathy was practiced effectively in America in the 1960's is very interesting. Could you
tell us what his homeopathic practice was like? David: Manning Strahl practiced before the resurgence in Homeopathy took place in the USA. Manning began practicing right after World War II, when he returned from serving in the Army in Europe. When he was running his clinic in Los Angeles, California he was using homoeopathy so well that the veterinarians in the neighborhood were all bringing their most difficult animal cases to him for treatment. By the time, I met Manning he was in semi-retirement. He practiced old style American Homoeopathy as this was before George Vithoulkas was invited to the USA and his students began the early Essence and constitutional movement. These practitioners were very good with treating the diseases they saw, and although they paid careful attention to the mental symptoms, they did not over emphasize the mind like many modern practitioners. They were more grounded in medicine and practiced more like Hering, Lippe, Raue, Lilienthal, Kent and Boger. They worked with the mentals, generals and particulars and were very good with keynotes, redline symptoms, and the golden characteristics. I always wondered what it would have been like to study with Manning when I was a little older and more experienced. He was so advanced, and I was such a beginner, that I could only access a small percentage of his knowledge. Nevertheless, he opened the door to the healing arts and placed me on the proper path. I am very grateful to him. After Manning passed away in the early 1970s I moved to Maui,
Hawaii where I tried to put into practice what Manning had taught
me and then in 1978 I finally came to India to study yoga and Homeopathy.
Since that time, India has been my home. I live in the far northern
region of Himalayas with my wife and children in an old British
house at around 8000 feet. Over the years I have run many free clinics
but in the last few years I have reduced my practice as I am focusing
on finishing my literary legacy as I feel that will benefit more
people in the end. After this project is finished I intend to reassess
my life and enter new pastures. Leela: Indian Spirituality and world
view has been inspirational for so many people! It’s astounding
how homeopathy (of European Origin) has come to be so closely
associated with it. Please share with us a little more on how your
decision to come & live in India impacted your practice of homeopathy and life mission. David: India, like most countries,
has two faces. On one side there is rampant superstition, Casteism
and rigid dogmatism and on the other side there is a very scientific,
open and universal view that transcends limitations. I find that
the yogas are more of a science of life than a religion although
it certainly has elements of both. Yoga depends more on personal
experience than belief systems because it works directly with the
vital forces that constitutes a human being. One can be of any religion,
class or racial background and still practice yoga. India has been
studying the vital force for millennia in a fashion that is unheard
of in Europe and America. That a European named Samuel Hahnemann
developed a system of medicine that works with the vital force was
easily embraced by South Asians. Leela: Yes we in India have seen
the basic methods of yoga-therapy helpful to people of all religious
backgrounds. In what way in your observation have the Indians
studied the "vital force" more extensively? How would
you advise anyone wanting to make yoga helpful in their homeopathic
treatment? David: When it comes to the study of medical powers on the vital force no one has looked at the subject quite as extensively as Samuel Hahnemann. His study of primary and secondary actions, accessory symptoms and antagonistic counter actions of the vital force is unparalleled. His understanding of how nature cures with similars and the way dissimilar diseases can produce layers of illnesses in the vital force are unique. He also excelled at understanding how medicines affect the mind and spirit. One will not find as detailed information on the actions of remedies on the vital force in India or China. Where India and China excelled is in detailed knowledge of the centers and channels of the vital force and how they interface with different levels of consciousness. Hahnemann taught the vital force was instinctive, automatic and unintelligent and was as much of a problem as help in the process of disease. On one level this is quite true. Nevertheless, the Orientals discovered how to harness the power of the instinctive vital force and bring it under the control of the conscious mind. They learned how to control the autonomic processes of the vital force through the powers of the awareness and breathing. This opens the door to transforming the instinctive vital force from an unconscious, unintelligent energy into a conscious spiritual power directed by insight. Although the Mesmer's of the West like Hahnemann understood how to balance and transfer the vital force through the power of will they did not apply this energy in a full spiritual way for the attainment of higher consciousness in themselves. This is what the Orient has to offer the Occident. Hahnemann taught that a philosophical attitude, good diet, proper breathing and exercise were very important in the healing processes and to maintain health. His personal letters to patients are full of such advice. Yoga is a very advanced life science that teaches all these subjects
in an extremely effective manner that unifies logic and intuition.
Yoga can be practiced as a way of life by anyone regardless of the
personal religion or the cultural background in which they were
brought up. Leela: Yes, our professors advocated yoga therapy while on homeopathic treatment. So we do advise our patients who are open to it, to take advantage of opportunities available around them and learn at least the various techniques of relaxation and meditation. I see most people benefiting from this. Do tell us some of your early experiences
with practicing homeopathy. David: I was originally trained in
the tradition of James Kent and American Homoeopathy and I was used
to 1 to 2 hour appointments in a one-on-one situation in the West.
When I came to India all this was to change radically! At this time,
my emphasis in case taking was on the psychology rather than the
physical diseases as many of my patients in the USA were suffering
from emotional difficulties related to dysfunctional relationships.
I was using high potency Cs in the single dry dose and waiting and
watching for a relapse of symptoms before contemplating any repetition.
In these years everything was very dramatic. The cures were dramatic.
The aggravations were dramatic. The successes were dramatic and
the failures were dramatic. TOO dramatic! I was led to believe that
in many cases the idea was "no pain - no gain".
I remember telling patients that aggravations were a good sign but
I was never really comfortable with the idea. Leela: Ahh, this reminds me a lot of my own early homeopathic days as well. My first experience of homeopathic aggravation was of my own, very sensitive dad, aggravating badly after 2 doses of Bryonia 200C. He was in agony, which initially due to my ignorance, I did not take seriously! It was only once he was given Nux Vomica 30 (which thankfully antidoted in a few minutes), did I realize what agony he was going through. I was really upset that these 2 doses could cause him so much of pain. Since then I have had this deeply uncomfortable feeling about anyone going through aggravations especially the sensitive ones. So you were saying …. David: Yes, when I first came to India I
remember treating a few patients successfully and then suddenly
a long line of patients appeared in the mornings. How was I going
to treat all these people? I was used to seeing 4 or 5 patients
in a day not 15 or 20. At the same time, I had to treat the most
virulent acute miasms and the most chronic degenerative diseases
I had ever seen. This was the first time I treated typhoid, malaria
or tuberculosis and those near death. In the West most seriously
ill persons are in the hospitals under the care of the allopathic
doctors, but in India they were all on my front porch! I realized
immediately that the methods I was using were not going to
be appropriate for these cases under these conditions. Leela: Isn’t
this really exciting to see? That homeopathy is a system of medicine
with “teeth”? It fascinates me how gently we can heal even serious
disease conditions with homeopathy. It does take a leap of
faith and courage with a good background of learning and experience
though. But it is well worth the leap! Especially if one has committed
support and team work. David: Right, so I knew I had to make some changes and I had to make them fast. I realized that the diseases I was seeing, and the conditions in which I was seeing them, was very similar to what Hahnemann, Boenninghausen and Hering experienced in the 19th century. For this reason, I decided it would be best for me to start my studies all over again and return to the basics. This, of course, brought me back to the Organon and Chronic Diseases as well as introduced me to Hahnemann's Lesser Writings. At the same time, I started studying modern pathology books so I could understand the nature of the diseases I was now seeing. I thought that I best return to "beginner's mind" but with the advantage of my years of experience. I knew I had to open up to new possibilities as well as old little known realities. I began to study the repertory and materia medica day and night so that I knew exactly where to find information on the most proven 300 remedies. More knowledge was the only way I could treat so many patients in a day. I was going to have to get to the most similar remedy much faster than I had in the past. |
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