It appears to me like the homeopathic community is moving little by little towards consensus on the main outlines of the profession. To sum them up:
- There is a time and a place for all approaches (prophylactic, acute, clinical, epidemic, emotional, miasmatic, vital).
To make my point clear I use this very simple scheme
But other schemes or representations that depict the different levels in a patient will do just as well. The basic idea it should convey is that, although the levels are necessary enveloping and influencing each other, therapies tend to target one rather than another.(though mainly unaware they do)
Generalizing one could state that allopathics, supplements and diets aim at level 1, the Physical body. Many of the ‘natural’ approaches among them will influence level 2, the Energy body.
These include organic food, tinctures, herbal treatment and other therapies like acupuncture, osteopathy, body work massage, breathing and immune therapies, all kind of exercises etc.
On the Emotional level 3 Bach flowers are effective aids as well as psychotherapy and body work, and on the Mental level 4 many psychotherapeutic approaches are helpful.
All these levels can be targeted as well with homeopathic remedies.
The exception here might be the Vital level 5: as far as I know homeopathy is the only medicine that works in a conscious way with what Hahnemann called the ‘Dynamis’. Homoepathy’s basic philosophy is that a disturbed Dynamis expresses itself with signs and symptoms on mind and body. As we spot these expressions on different levels at the same time we are careful not to suppress what the Dynamis tries to show.
Nevertheless one can imagine countless ailments that are not coming forth from a disturbed Dynamis, for instance: Inherited constitutional weaknesses, life style, environmental and other toxins, accidents and injuries, allopathic treatment, inner and outer stresses, collective influences just to name a few.
That means that the first thing we need to do in case taking is investigating where the problem originates, and then apply the appropriate treatment. How sensible this all sounds, unfortunately this has not trickled down in most of the homeopathic schools. Training program tend to adhere to a particular approach, sometimes not aware of or familiar with other systems. In the past we’ve seen that not being informed well or having only a vague notion of other approaches led to ridicule or condemnation. To me it seems that this ignorance belongs to the past and we passed this marker.
2. The one and the many.
The point made in 1. closes the discussion whether similimum prescription is desirable or even possible. When and if the patient needs an similimum, we will try to find it and give it, whereas if the symptoms appear to spring from another level we will give him a match accordingly. Many remedies will have an effect or do a patient good and indeed are often indispensable. That doesn’t change the fact that there is one similimum for a person based on his uniqueness.
One of the arguments against the fact whether something like a similimum even exists is that sheer logic obliges when individualization is taken literally, to give everybody a different remedy. That clearly can not be a workable premise; we already approximate the boundaries of the possible in homeopathic prescription. The solution for similimum prescribers is that our core remedy needs to be ‘close enough’ to cause resonance. And we can’t but admit we have no idea what ‘close’ means in that sense and how close it needs to be. Some argue that the similimum contains the ‘information’ the person needs to restore harmony in his system.
(I think entrainment is the best explanation so far and the intuitive feeling homeopathy works with laws and rules we haven’t discovered yet).
Let’s imagine the essence of a person as a nexus point: his individual point of view, his reference to experience himself and the world (what as a matter of fact is the definition of a similimum). From this center hive off many possible reactions, explorations, impressions, actions, like fingers on a hand. (or branches on a tree). All of these can experience discomfort and one can treat them separately. If the finger is crushed between the door, obviously the nexus point is not the cause, same for instance when becoming blue of the cold. Many remedies can deal with those ailments.
We have many remedies with innumerous symptoms. As currently there is no way to memorize them, software programs are essential. The lower the level of prescription, the more useful a repertorisation becomes. As vigorous students we might manage to remember the ‘red thread’ of a number of remedies but this will hardly ever include physical modalities and generalities. We can make quick and accurate prescriptions for acutes and epidemics with generalities, modalities and a solid repertorisation. If in more rare cases the overall posture and behavior of our patient is very prominent we usually don’t (need to) go into the details to make an accurate prescription. (it might not be co-incidental that precisely those prescriptions where the uniqueness of the acutely ill patients was spotted and the cure likewise impressive, make it to our seminars as great examples).
The higher up the scale of levels the less helpful repertorisation will be, because then the context plays a more prominent role in the analysis. The implicit information; the body language, the impression the patient makes, his behavior, the information between the lines so to say, becomes so important as to determine the Dimension if not the Kingdom right away/from the start.
3. Homeopathy might be supported by detox programs or other therapeutic measures
I’m not sure how far we came concerning consensus on this point but let me add it anyway. Our ‘modern diseases’ challenge us in that we find ourselves often powerless to liberate the patient permanently from his suffering with our remedies. Some turn to diet, give life-style advice or recommend supplements and the like. Being an extensive topic for another article I think we’ll all benefit from combining forces.
Now I want to take it one step further.
