Although it was discovered and introduced by a
German doctor only within the last two centuries, homeopathy has attracted many
practitioners and believers. Still, not many know what it really is and what
benefits it offers to people with medical problems. Let us look at some of its
essential characteristics and the specific advantages it offers to people in
general.
Homeopathy is defined as “a complete system of
medicine which aims to promote general health, by reinforcing the body's own
natural healing capacity” and is “a branch of medical science concerned with
symptoms of diseases”. Specifically, it “means that a substance that can cause
certain symptoms in a healthy person can cure similar symptoms in an unhealthy
person”. Furthermore, “homeopathy aims to aid and stimulate the body's own
defense and immune processes”.
We can see at least two primary factors involved in
the process of this form of healing or medical practice: immunity and symptoms.
We all know that the body has natural healing capacity; that is, the design of
any organism includes the innate ability not simply to grow and even reproduce
its own kind but also the power to maintain an optimum level of healthy
existence to a certain limit determined by cellular processes. Aging and other
sources of morbidity contribute to this aging and eventual dying process for
every organism. Unfortunately for us humans, there is also a limit to our
physical existence. But anyone can live a full and healthy life to a ripe old
age with the help of homeopathy.
Symptoms occur when the body experiences
instability or stresses that disrupt the optimum level of its functionality.
Certain substances that the body requires must remain at certain levels to
maintain such a stable condition. The equilibrium sought by every living
organism, however, is determined by the environment as well as the organism’s
ability to procure and sustain its need for nutrients and other necessary basic
requirements, such as sufficient oxygen, sunlight, water and rest.
Take away one of these essential needs, for
instance, oxygen, and the organism will die. Reduce the organism’s quota for
sleep or remove its protection from continued stress and it will suffer mental
and physiological disorders. For humans, especially, emotional stress can bring
about the onslaught of many physiological symptoms that aggravate the body’s
ability to resist diseases.
Homeopathy,
therefore, considers every factor and how the individual reacts to the
environment and all the stimuli that may bring about an imbalance in the body’s
various functions. Ever patient then is a unique subject to be observed and
analyzed to determine the causes of the symptoms in order to apply the specific
medication or relief that is required to address and eliminate the symptom’s
causes and bring back the body’s health. And once the body recovers its natural
level of function, its own immunity system will maintain its stability as long
as the body receives proper care.
The natural cycle of living does not incorporate
sickness as a natural consequence, although it may often occur. That is why, homeopathy, “does not have
treatments for diseases but it has remedies for people with diseases”. Rightly
so, because diseases are a sort of accidents that nature allows but something
that nature itself has equipped every organism to cope with through a
cellular-level mechanism not clearly understood by other medical practitioners.
Conventional medicine treats symptoms as they are and not as signals of deeper
causes rooted in the body’s internal processes.
Understanding symptoms, then, is key to the
unlocking of the individual body’s response to the causes of the disease. Since
the ideal condition of the immunity system of the body may be considered the
same for almost all organisms, in general, the body’s resistance or lack of
resistance to certain particular causes will also produce similar, if not the
same, symptoms in any individual. This is the fundamental principle in
homeopathy that has allowed its practitioners to apply it to alleviate various
diseases and, thereby, aid numerous patients in the past as well as in the
present.
What other advantages does homeopathy have over conventional medicine? Homeopathy
utilizes the senses to investigate symptoms of a disease. Listening carefully
to the patient is the first step toward discovering what is happening in the
patient’s body. Next is observing the patient and noting down the symptoms. The
whole purpose I this exercise is to maintain the patient’s individuality and
not look at him or her as just another cancer patient who needs a blast of
radiation for a growing tumor, for instance. The tumor is in itself a symptom
that was brought about by the person’s particular habits, attitude and
environment. Removing the tumor will not always remove those causes that
brought it along. It makes more sense than to remove the causes in order to
remove the symptom. But removing the symptom alone will not necessarily remove
the causes.
This homeopathy review illustrates how homeopathy
works and shows the simplicity in which the process is done. Of course, the
major part is knowing what medication is needed for particular symptoms. It
takes years for homeopaths to learn what works for what. However, its
practitioners assure us that homeopathy works to “restore health rapidly,
gently, permanently; to remove and destroy the whole disease in the shortest, surest,
least harmful way, according to clearly comprehensive principles".
The Peterson
Group in Jakarta and Malaysia has promoted homeopathy as one of the practices
under CAM (Complimentary, Alternative & Integrative Medicine) and has
helped to promote holistic healing among so many people throughout Asia and the
rest of the world.
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