Being more of a humanist than a scientist, I often find myself in the uncomfortable position of having to defend the science of homeopathy which I do clumsily and with limited skills. For me the science is not as important as the humanity, but I have found amongst my teachers and colleagues a more balanced respect for both, which is what drew me to homeopathy in the first place after a friend gave me a copy of, The Science of Homeopathy, by George Vithoulkas. I had no background in science, but I understood that his training as an engineer allowed him to deconstruct the mechanism of homeopathy using scientific methodology and this I found fascinating. It validated healing modalities that I was drawn to both naturally and in nature; the idea that like cures like, the doctrine of signatures and presence, as tools for healing. It had enormous integrity. And that was all I needed.
The International Academy of Classical Homeopathy - Alonissos
But still I had to contend with the scientists and the pragmatists in my life, of whom there were many. Skeptical nephews studying programming, science and physics and scientifically minded friends who were often much smarter than I. Interestingly those of my friends who are doctors seemed less judgmental. Perhaps they simply dismissed the whole thing as nonsense, or perhaps they had seen enough uncertain truths in modern medicine to remain open.
I once sat next to an anesthesiologist, in a homeopathy conference at the Vithoulkas Academy in Alonissos, who confessed to me that science still does not understand the exact mechanism of anesthesia and yet it is something we all trust and do. But homeopathy is held to a higher standard with claims of placebo and Avogadro number - the highest dilution at which the original substance can still be found. I am always pleased to remind those who shout loudest, that up to sixty percent of the success rate of pharmaceutical drugs is accounted for by the placebo effect too and that it was not so long ago that we couldn’t measure nano-particles.
Recently a benchmark study was published in Science Direct, entitled, Ultra-high dilutions analysis: Exploring the Effects of Potentization by Electron Microscopy, Raman Spectroscopy and Deep Learning (AI). In the study, clear and reproduceable data shows that the homeopathic processes of dilution and sucussions known as potentisation, is measurable in different values such as 12c, 30c and 200c. Any skeptic who has relied on scientific measurement alone as proof that homeopathy is a psudoscience must now admit defeat. It is a study worth reading for the science geeks and the mathematicians. Senior author of the study, Professor Vithoulkas has dedicated his life to bringing homeopathy to the scientific community, training mostly medical doctors and receiving honorary titles from medical schools all over the world. But science alone in homeopathy is little without humanity, a point he reminds his students often.
Before I qualified as a homeopath, I had studied counselling at the Australian School of Applied Psychology. The humanistic curriculum resonated with me more than the rats and stats I encountered in first year psychology at university. And it was here that I was introduced to the person-centered psychotherapeutic work of Carl Rogers whose approach was simply to be completely present to the other, without judgement. The ability to be completely present allows resolution and integration of the experience as it unfolds to both the practitioner and the one seeking counsel.
I recently saw a reel discussing how by hovering a hologram of a diseased cell over a healthy cell, the diseased cell starts changing to become healthy. I was reminded of the words of the Luboviche Rebbe, who said, words that come from the heart penetrate the heart. Perhaps we only ever need a gentle reminder of our potential wholeness. Carl Rodgers analytical mind was grounded in humanistic presence. The creator of homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann had this quality too as everyone who studies homeopathy knows. The old school doctors were of this breed as are many modern-day homeopaths.
The therapeutic process is in many ways a confession of the dis-eased or disowned parts of the self, or in Jungian terms, shadow aspects. So too is it with homeopathy. George Vithoulkas says the disease is in the secrets and the symptoms of the disease are its confession. The practitioner needs only to be fully present and the symptoms, the confessions will be revealed, leading the practitioner to the remedy that best resonates.
This week marks the birthday of the founder of Homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann. While the forces that be have done everything in their power to restrict and discredit homeopathy, the numbers of people using it regularly across the globe continues to grow with an estimated user base of two hundred million. And the number of published studdies by scientists and academics continues to prove that homeopathy is a valid therapeutic healing modality.
Dr. Zac Bush is another of these highly intelligent and conscious beings. When asked about bringing the agriculture pesticide corporations to account, he suggests instead we focus on building a better system. For the last few hundred years, homeopaths all over the world have been doing this. From strength to strength to them all. May homeopath continue to become an integrated part of healing for all of humanity.