What is homeopathy?
It is a treatment method using energy messages from a variety of substances, stimulating the natural healing ability of the body to cure diseases, relieve symptoms and achieve health benefits. ‘Homeo’ means similar and ‘pathy’ means suffering, a term coined by Samuel Hahnemann, its founder.
Homeopathy is based on the “Law of Similars” which states:
“A substance that produces a set of symptoms (resembling a disease) in a healthy person will, (if given in minute doses), cure a similar set of symptoms occurring as a manifestation of disease in a sick person (thereby eliminating the disease).”
How does homeopathy work?
A substance in its energy form given to a sick person artificially produces symptoms resembling to the disease of that person, stimulating the healing force in the body to oppose it, and in the process, eliminate the original disease condition. The more “similar” this artificially produced image of the disease is to that of the sick person, the stronger is the healing response. Research is underway proving the effect of such ‘non-substance’ messages on human body. See Water Memory (2014 Documentary about Nobel Prize laureate Luc Montagnier)
https://youtu.be/R8VyUsVOic0)
(To understand how it works, one must learn the basic philosophy of homeopathy as formulated by Hahnemann:
- When a person is alive, the human body is governed by a central ‘life force’. This life force is intelligent, dynamic and self-regulating, being programmed over millions of years, to defend life and maintain normal functioning of the body and mind. The presence or absence of this life force is what differentiates an alive and a ‘lifeless’ or dead person.
- Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This also holds true regarding the reaction of the life force to effects of a substance on it. In order to maintain normal functioning, the life force opposes it by producing certain symptoms. More toxic the substance, more vigorous are the symptoms produced.
- Every substance, be it a plant, a mineral, a metal, or a poison, has certain definite effects on the human body, ranging from extremely toxic to nearly inert when introduced into the body.
When a substance is given to a healthy person in extremely small doses, their body produces a set of symptoms varying in intensity depending on the qualities of that substance. These set of symptoms, often resembling known disease conditions, are not real and are artificially simulated. These are called ‘proving symptoms’ in homeopathy (and books describing these are called Materia Medica). When a diseased person is given a remedy whose proving symptoms are very similar to those of the diseased person, it simulates a disease similar to the already existing disease, provoking the life force to oppose it and eliminate the original disease in the process. For a homeopathic remedy to be of any use, the symptoms of a diseased person must be very similar to the proving symptoms of the remedy.
- It is the person that becomes sick, or ‘dis’ ‘eased’, not only a part or organ of the body. Some organs might suffer more because of the person becoming sick. Conversely, to recover from a disease, a person has to heal, not just a part of the body.
- It is not a pathogenic organism like bacteria or a virus that is the sole cause of an infection. To infect, it also needs a weak immune system. A planted seed cannot grow if the soil is unsuitable.)
Origin & History of Homeopathy
Let me introduce you to
Dr Samuel Hahnemann, a physician from Germany who is perhaps the most underappreciated characters in the history of medicine despite being decades ahead of his time. He was an ardent researcher, a staunch critic of the unscientific methods of treatment and a humane physician who genuinely empathized with the suffering of fellow humans. He stumbled upon homeopathic effects of substances by accident but tirelessly refined it over 40 years to make it usable as it is since. He was a conventionally trained physician and found the medical practices of his time quite inhuman and mostly harmful to patients. He thus stopped practicing medicine and being fluent in 7 languages, began translating medical texts to make a living.
(It was while translating a book called
Materia Medica by a then well known author Cullen that he came across a description of Cinchona, (Peruvian bark from which the malaria medicine Quinine is extracted), mentioned as being curative of malaria due to its bitter astringent taste. Being a skeptic and a keen experimenter, he reasoned that if this was true, all bitter substances should be curative of malaria. He decided to ingest Cinchona and see what effect it would have on his body. To his surprise, he developed some of the classic symptoms of malaria each time he took it. This led him to conclude that it was not due to the bitter taste but the ability of cinchona to artificially produce a malaria-like state that makes it an anti-malarial drug. This germinated in him the idea of ‘like cures like’ and he started his experiments by consuming various substances himself and to a group of friends to verify the effects. Since many of these substances were toxic in large quantities, he started diluting them to avoid poisoning. But surprisingly, he observed that even extremely diluted forms of substances produced a clear set of symptoms in a healthy person, often resembling disease states. A collection of these symptoms form the first homeopathic ‘provings’ of drugs. See a sample of proving of Natrum muriaticum, common salt
here.
Philosophy and contributions of Hahnemann: Hyperlink
Similar to the current medical practices, large and toxic doses of various substances were given to patients to oppose symptoms and achieve relief of their symptoms. The toxic side effects were often stronger than the relief these drugs offered. Hahnemann started employing substances that he had proved in experiments in their diluted form and found them to be safer, non-toxic and curative in effect.
A few examples of substances that produce symptoms resembling real disease conditions and were extensively used by Hahnemann in diluted form are:
Aconite:
Belladonna: A poisonous plant that produces symptoms resembling scarlet fever, a condition caused by Streptococcus bacterial infection.
Mercury: A highly toxic metal, still used in vaccines and dental fillings, produces symptoms resembling syphilis. Read more about mercury toxicity here)
Philosophy and contributions of Hahnemann:
- The high and only mission of a physician is to cure the sick in the most gentle, speedy and permanent way.
- Lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, and emotional state of a person play a a vital role in causing as well as curing diseases. Even more so than medicines.
- When a person is alive, the human body is governed by a central life force which he termed ‘vital force’. This vital force is intelligent, dynamic and self-regulating, being programmed over millions of years, to defend life and maintain normal functioning of the body and mind. The presence or absence of this vital force differentiates an alive person from dead.
- Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This also holds true regarding the reaction of the life force to effects of a substance on it. In order to maintain normal functioning, the life force opposes it by producing certain symptoms. More toxic the substance, more vigorous are the symptoms produced.
- Every substance, be it a plant, a mineral, a metal, or a poison, has certain definite effects on the human body, ranging from extremely toxic to nearly inert when introduced into the body.
When a substance is given to a healthy person in extremely small doses, their body produces a set of symptoms varying in intensity depending on the qualities of that substance. These set of symptoms, often resembling known disease conditions, are not real and are artificially simulated. These are called ‘proving symptoms’ in homeopathy (and books describing these are called Materia Medica);
When a diseased person is given a remedy whose proving symptoms are very similar to those of the diseased person, it simulates a disease similar to the already existing disease, provoking the life force to oppose it and eliminate the original disease in the process. For a homeopathic remedy to be of any use, the symptoms of a diseased person must be very similar to the proving symptoms of the remedy.
- It is the person that becomes sick, or ‘dis-eased’, not only a part or organ of the body. Some organs might suffer more because of the person becoming sick. Conversely, to recover from a disease, a person has to heal, not just a part of the body.
- It is not a pathogenic organism like bacteria or a virus that is the cause of an infection, but a weak immune system that allows the organism to infect. A seed cannot thrive if the soil is unsuitable. )
How are homeopathic remedies prepared?
Homeopathic remedies are prepared by diluting various substances to the point that no original substance remains in remedies. What remains is the energy ‘imprint’ or ‘image’ of the substance, that works by stimulating the body to heal. Here is a video by one of the leading homeopathic manufacturers Boiron in France.
(Substances are converted to their energy form by a process called “potentization”. It involves serially diluting and shaking of the substance in alcohol or water. With each successive dilution and shaking, the resulting mixture contains progressively less of the original substance and more of the energy image of it. After only 13 cycles of this serial dilution process, there is no measurable original substance that remains in the homeopathic “dilution”. Marking the beginning of all controversy about homeopathy, nothing physically measurable is ever found in a homeopathic dilution since there is none! What remains is the energy ‘imprint’ or ‘image’ of that substance in the dilution. (And we cannot see what we are not looking for). It is this energy imprint that produces an artificial disease, similar to that of the sick person, and stimulates the body to oppose it.)
To use an example of a proving, a cup of coffee given to a healthy person produces different degrees of improved alertness and wakefulness, depending on the person’s sensitivity. When consumed in excess, it might cause tremors, palpitations and nausea. Imagine a person who did not consume any coffee, but suffers from insomnia, a state of hyper alertness, nausea, palpitation and tremors, as if he has had a lot of coffee. His symptoms are similar to what coffee produces in a healthy person. In such a case, coffee, given in extremely diluted homeopathic dose will simulate the effects of coffee poisoning, provoking and directing the body to oppose it, and relieve this hyper stimulated and sleepless state. This state of that person might have been caused by exciting events in life, like being in a natural disaster, or winning a lottery. Learn more about homeopathic coffee here.
Where does information about homeopathic remedies come from?
Information about homeopathic remedies comes from Homeopathy Provings conducted on humans contained in books called Materia Medica. It lists all the effects a substance has on humans including on the mind, emotions and physical body. (Testing on animals is not conducted since animals are unable to express their feelings and emotions.) A group of healthy human volunteers are given a substance in small doses over a period of time, and all the effects including changes in mood, emotions and feelings are carefully noted. When certain symptoms are consistently experienced by a majority of volunteers with a particular substance, it forms the remedy picture of that substance. As you would notice, a single remedy has an influence on the whole person, including the mind, emotions and body. This is why with homeopathy, a person is treated and not a part of the body.
Controversies about Homeopathy
There are many reasons why homeopathy has been riddled with controversy nearly since its birth more than 200 years ago.
- (Scientific understanding depends on progressive research, one feeding the progress of another, leading to a gradual reshaping of old ideas to new ones. Not enough research is being conducted to build on the current theories and principles of this science. Also, any new idea that does not fit into the scientific beliefs of the time tends to be vehemently opposed. There is a general reluctance in the scientific community about accepting revolutionary new ideas, especially those that challenge established scientific principles.
- Conflict of interest: The major beneficiaries of the current medical system like pharmaceutical, medical, and research industries stand to lose massive amounts of money if any progress is made in the field of natural healing methods like homeopathy. A good amount of funding is in fact directed at maligning and maliciously attacking all ‘alternative’ healing methods. Credible scientific findings proving the effectiveness of homeopathy are discarded citing one reason or another in the same way as drug research studies are routinely tweaked to prove worthless chemicals as useful.
- Currently there is no scientific understanding of how homeopathy could possibly work, due to which, most scientists question whether it works at all. Trials are conducted using double blind placebo controlled method. The flaw in this testing methodology is not obvious at first. It is only with a deeper understanding of the homeopathic methodology; one can see that these trials are only suitable to test crude material drugs that affect only a certain part of the body or physiological function. Whereas most homeopathic remedies influence the whole person at the same time. It is the person who is “dis-eased”, causing symptoms to appear in some parts of the body. The healing force of the person decides where to begin the healing process.
To elaborate this point, imagine a 52 year old woman recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, who also suffers from chronic depression, recurrent migraine headaches, and has begun to experience menopausal syndrome symptoms. A homeopathic remedy being tested for effectiveness in treating rheumatoid arthritis, for example, initially might not show any change with her arthritis. Changes might occur first with the depression, menopausal symptoms and her energy levels. By the time changes start to take place in the immune system, or the joints, the trial might be over with a conclusion that homeopathic treatment of arthritis is no better than a placebo effect.
- There is nothing in it!
Homeopaths not only admit that there is no measurable substance in homeopathic remedies, but also take pride in them being free of crude drugs and chemicals. But this fact is used ad nauseum against homeopathy citing the current scientific view that nothing can possibly be effective as a medicine unless it has measurable amount of chemical substance in it. Since current scientific beliefs do not support the idea of self healing or energy medicine, they proclaim, without any doubt, that it is impossible that homeopathy can be effective. We trust the doctors and the scientists. Do we have options? People trusted doctors and this was published. Not many years ago!)
Who is homeopathy suitable for?
Homeopathic treatment is suitable for all age groups and disease conditions.
Since homeopathy works by stimulating the natural healing ability of the body, it can only help conditions that the body is capable of reversing. It is unsuitable in cases requiring surgery or emergency medical aid.
Let me introduce you to Dr Samuel Hahnemann, a physician from Germany who is perhaps the most underappreciated characters in the history of medicine despite being decades ahead of his time. He was an ardent researcher, a staunch critic of the unscientific methods of treatment and a humane physician who genuinely empathized with the suffering of fellow humans. He stumbled upon homeopathic effects of substances by accident but tirelessly refined it over 40 years to make it usable as it is since. He was a conventionally trained physician and found the medical practices of his time quite inhuman and mostly harmful to patients. He thus stopped practicing medicine and being fluent in 7 languages, began translating medical texts to make a living.
