A new client asked me recently where was a good place to get a basic theoretical understanding of homeopathy. He was asking about online resources, and for a minute I was stumped. Several books came to mind, but all the websites I thought of were either designed for the homeopathic student, the home prescriber or the anti-medical enthusiast.
People often say the theory of homeopathy is confusing to them, and I think this is because society teaches us to oppose the things we disagree with. If you want your body to stop doing something unpleasant, you must oppose your body with a forceful dose of medicine. On the other hand, we are rarely taught that we already have what we need and that the way to find it again is to be quiet for a minute. In the words of Toots: “Don’t you struggle, man.”
The Minimum Dose
Homeopathy uses immeasurably small doses of substances that, in large doses, would cause symptoms. We use those doses to remove the same symptoms. Basically, we prod the body and allow it to react in the direction of better health. Most people were healthy before they got sick. They already had health and health still resides within them.
The Body Does the Work
We often forget that it’s the body that restores health in all cases and that if the body is unable to do so, we do not get healthy. Medicine may help, but it is never fully responsible for a return to health. The body does the actual work. So, good homeopathy, like any good medicine, helps us find our higher health.
There are plenty of places to go online if you want to look up a certain homeopathic remedy or find a list of remedies for a symptom. There are plenty of places to go if you want to debate and argue about homeopathy.
One Place for Homeopathic Theory
But there’s really only one place to start for homeopathic theory, and that’s Dr. Samuel Hahnemann’s Organon of Medicine, the treatise that founded homeopathy. My personal preference is the Kunzli-translated English version of the Organon.
I think this is a great challenge for a blog: To communicate as clearly as Jost Kunzli and Samuel Hahnemann the essence of the homeopathic system of healing. Maybe I can come close now and then.
Because I also have a certification exam and 150 remedies to review, I intend to mix the theory of homeopathy with writings on specific remedies, trying to bring together some of the many different approaches I use in studying a remedy.
Until next time, two quotes I enjoy, one from a bumper sticker, one from Facebook:
– “Those who say it can’t be done should get out of the way of those doing it.”
– “Calling something impossible is just an excuse not to try.”
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