How Homeopathy is Different
There are lots of sources on the Internet to answer the question What is Homeopathy? So I will not attempt to re-iterate all that here. What I would like to talk about instead is how homeopathy is different. Like all complementary and alternative medicine, homeopathy has a very different philosophy than conventional medicine. The most basic thing that sets alternative medicine apart first and foremost are the answers to the following questions (i) What causes disease? (ii) What is disease? and for that matter, (iii) What is health?
To know what causes disease, you must first ask yourself, what is disease? Your answer to this question will determine how you view everything from the common cold to cancer.
Conventional (western) medicine will have you believe that the definition of disease is:
“A pathological condition of a body part, an organ, or a system resulting from various causes, such as infection, genetic defect, or environmental stress, and characterized by an identifiable group of signs or symptoms.”
Homeopathy says there is much more to it than just that. A homeopath sees pathological tissue change as the end-result of disease and not all that defines it. What comes before any of that is a disturbance in the force….the vital force that is. You see, the vital force is the dynamic energy that animates and regulates the body, and when it is unable to maintain balance (or homeostasis) then the result is dis-ease.
Normally the body is able to return to balance as it was created to be self-regulating and self-repairing. However, sometimes, due to factors like individual susceptibility, the strength of the disturbing influence or the level of vitality of the person, this ability to return to balance becomes reduced or impaired. This is the beginning of disease. The pathology comes later, after months or years.
Health is this ability of the body to maintain balance to allow full functioning of the human being, in all aspects – mental, emotional and physical. Freedom to express the full range of human emotions, freedom to express one’s will and have use of one’s mental capacity, as well as freedom of motion and functioning of one’s body.
So you see, if you recognize that germs don’t cause disease, but instead the susceptibility to the germ does, then you will view your world differently. Most disease is due to compromised vitality and immune system function. The importance of proper nutrition and exercise for the physical body; meditation and spirituality for the emotional body; new experiences and continued learning for the mental body – these things become more apparent when you see that health and disease starts on the inside.
Homeopathy can play an important role in the mental, emotional and physical health of the body by correcting small imbalances before pathology begins. Make homeopathy part of your healthy lifestyle today.