Today morning I am glad to share yet another important article on ” Mastering The Viewpoint ” by Dr. Hayes, M.D. which is not only relevant but also a source of guidance in developing skills, application & acceptance of Scientific Homoeopathy in the days to come to ensure better prospect.
Courtesy :
Ramakrishna Mission Charitable Dispensary, Bankura, West Bengal, India.
——– Dr.Nirmal kumar Maity.
MASTERING THE VIEWPOINT
ROYAL E. S. HAYES, M. D.
In the conduct of an art which has to do entirely with dynamics and the mastery of which depends almost entirely on cognition and reason, a comprehensive viewpoint from which to put it into practice is the first necessity. It is necessary not only for personal work but for being so aware of what one is doing and what is to be done, that the surety is passed on to patients and to that wider commune, the laity.
That this awareness and surety is generally lacking is apparent, even to many of the laity. Colleges without homeopathic teaching, hospitals without homeopathic medicines, asylums without high potencies, societies hiding homeopathic artistry under the bushel of “modern science”, obstetricians with no conception of the dynamic problems that stare them in the face, specialists hitting with some suppressive club or substance every local head that shows, surgeons, sealing up the vitality that should be brought forward instead of coordinating their mechanics with the law of vitality, journals picturing black bottles and chemical sundries, editors silent concerning truly homeopathic issues, the literature generally-abjectly innocent of the easily comprehensible principles of the Hahnemannian concept certainly a wide awake point of view in a desperate need for the homeopathic membership if not for the presentation of the entire profession of medicine.
It is a ghastly spectacle, and it is not necessary. If all the brains and talent that are exercised with side issues and nonessentials were, even for a few weeks, put to grips with the essentials of homeopathy, the whole field of effort would become illuminated, professional efficiency would become extended a hundredfold, and an assurance established with the laity that would soon react on the old school so that they would come to us in appreciable numbers.
I say it is not necessary, because there are hundreds, probably many hundreds, among us at present, as well as among other schools, who need only to get the point of view and spend a little time and effort, to develop the efficient method. Some of us have thought that a special type of mind is needed for Hahnemannian practice. This is true only to a very limited extent. That would be shaping the student to the study instead of adapting the presentation to the student, an obvious absurdity. The art of homeopathy is something that each student can acquire and to a certain extent use, following his own mind better than with that of another.
What, therefore, is that viewpoint that is so necessary for intelligent homeopathic practice? We may as well emphasize the central truth right here. As a landscape and its content may be best seen from the nearest high point, homeopathy may be best understood through its principles. Homeopathy cannot be understood nor can it be effectively used without becoming familiar with the principles and using them.
There is no certainty of securing permanent results, nor is there any epochal widening of viewpoint without observing the rules. Dabbling with materia medica alone may indeed score a certain number of first hits; but there the certainty, such as it is, ends and failure begins. Our savants have always stressed the advice, “philosophy first”. The reason is simple; it is because it explains what homeopathy is (which, by the way, comparatively few know), outlines its scope, and gives standard directions as to what to do and when and how to do it. All students must take this route and instead of depending on recommendation or supposition, each one must use his perception and reason in the work.
The student approaching homeopathy should understand that however well-grounded he may be in the various branches of medicine, however useful they may have been to him in the past, or should be in the future, the conception of what is to be accomplished and the uses of medicines, therefore, is an entirely different proposition. It is based on a different concept of vitality, on dynamic, though manifest, actualities.
These are, first, the fact of a central living unity, the vital force, present in every normal part of the living body, corresponding in itself to the organism and function in every part and every part to its other parts from center to periphery, acting and reacting to the internal and external forces with which man is in contact and inclosed; and these reactions to be observed with specific therapeutic intent. Second, the potential pow. ers of the individual entities contained in individual substances (medicines), which, being attenuated with certain methods, correspond in their individual qualities to the disturbed vital expressions of individuals.
When the investigator perceives these truths and has sufficiently verified them by actual observation of cause and sequence to be possessed of a rightful conviction, he is then prepared to study the art of managing these forces in practice. This is the first platform of the climb. From there may be seen the farther points of the ascent and something of what may be accomplished in the work. From there, in contrast to physical climbing, the ascent is easier for it is taken step by step on “principles that are at once plain and intelligible” so that the view
becomes clearer and more expansive (and we shall permit ourselves the luxury of saying, more wonderful) with each step. Without the benefit of teaching experience, the writer would say that the following easily comprehensible principles are held
out for the grasp of the student: 1. PROVING. The reasons for provings and their uses; method of execution; interpretation of their significant expressions and adaptations for practical use.
- DISEASE. The vitalistic conception of disease; the direction
of its invasion; its interruptions, latencies, exacerbations,
crises and progress; susceptibility; hereditary relationships; the
the distinction between acute and constitutional conditions, their
relation to each other and relations of remedies to either or both;
the significance of chronic complexities and recognition of latencies
; the relation of drug diseases; the relation of vital force to
surgical and mechanical conditions and medicinal aids in their
correction.
- SYMPTOM RECEPTION. PERCEPTION AND RECEPTION OF SYMPTOMS; ALLOCATION. CAUSE, MEANING, AND USE OF SYMPTOMS. EX pressions of reaction; perverted reaction; classes and grades;
MASTERING THE VIEWPOINT
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analysis or interpretation; finer evaluations; allocation; the personality of symptoms and the symptomatic personality: submerged and partly submerged symptoms: suppressions. 4. REMEDY SELECTION. Basis of selection: consideration of symptoms in relation to certain patients; to individual patients.
Repertory aids. Boenninghausen repertory is an indispensable
aid to the Hahnemannian concept of the practice of similia.
EFFECTS OF THE REMEDY. What to expect; modes and directions of reaction; aggravations; late aggravations: duration of effects of remedy; prognosis. 5. REPETITION. Rules for repetition: observation. 6. CHANGE OF REMEDY. Rules: sequences and complements;
inimical.
- PATHOLOGY. Consideration of pathology and its functional modes; its obstructions; its uses and dangers in prescribing. 8. THE MIASMS. Psora; syphilis; sycosis; lesser miasms.
At first glance, this bill of lading may appear heavy or complicated, but if the direction of vitality in health and disease are kept in mind, all lesser modes fall into line; all other issues and solutions develop naturally so that any question asked concerning the practical application may be answered at once. Homoeo pathic philosophy thus furnishes a good illustration of the advantage of understanding, in comparison with detailed information only.
Homeopathic philosophy is the light that reveals and selects the paths through the symptomatic forest of the materia medica. Is its mastery worthwhile? What momentous consequences depend on an understand
ing of homeopathic principles! For instance, what enormous waste, suffering, disease, and death from not realizing the outward direction of vital energy and not knowing how to utilize it. Not only is relief or cure withheld but that worst and least recognized of all conditions, suppression, is often unwittingly produced. Nonrecognition of this outward direction also mistakes effects for cause, trying to make the tail wag the dog. “It’s your liver,” or “your tonsil,” “your appendix,” etc., instead of recognizing the wholeness of the organism and treating it according to the law of its vital operation. 890
THE HOMEOPATHIC RECORDER.
First of all, as aforementioned, there must be a rightful test and conviction, a sense of truth. Next, there must be decisive action. For if there be only conviction and not sufficient determination to climb the ascent, the ignominy of inefficiency is increased. When the climb is begun there is no need for the least dis encouragement if some find it more difficult than others; this goal is to the strong if not always to the swift. Some who make the slowest beginnings or who have been most opposed become the
most deeply in earnest and the most adept. It signifies the power of the spirit to attain mastery. This attainment is at the top of the profession, the quintessence of medical experience.
WATERBURY, CONN.
DISCUSSION
DR. ALFRED PULFORD: The only way I know of to master the point of view is to divorce ourselves from everything else and go right into homeopathy. We cannot mix it with anything else and get the point of view. Boenninghausen expressed a great truth when he said of homeopathy: “Evermore glorious homeopathy, ever more glorious with its hand in the firmament of fact! Ever more glorious will she show her wonderful power it
she is not decked in any false or borrowed attire or ornaments.
Homeopathy is an independent thing and every foreign admixture is to
her detriment. If we will go to work and divorce ourselves from those things
and go right into homeopathy, we will get the point of view that Dr. Hayes
has so ably expressed.
He has given us a wonderful paper and if we were all to study and
work out that point of view, homeopathy would prosper, and we would all
grow.
CHAIRMAN SPALDING: Dr. Hayes said in starting that he really summed up the things that have been said before but he has, nevertheless, presented it in a new way, and an old, old story can be told by different individuals enough differently so that it helps somebody else. I think it is very much worthwhile.
The best specialty for the homoeopathist is to study each case, especially individualize and find out what is peculiar, special, or characteristic in each case. When the patient is sick enough to need medicine, the vital force is sure to cry out for help in such a way that no intelligent homeopath can fail to understand its meaning. The best of all specialists, then, is the physician who understands the Organon and has the ability to apply the rules laid down therein for the healing of the sick. A. G. ALLAN, M. D., 1889.
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