Homeopathy as seen through an allopath's eyes: The concept of vital force
About the author
Dr. Rajesh Vishwanathan was born in Mumbai (Bombay), India on 15th December 1957.
He has been blessed with a brilliant academic career throughout his life. He went to medical school at Karnataka, where he came first in 2nd MBBS Part 1. He was second in college in 2nd MBBS part 2. In the final year, He was 4th overall in the university with 2 gold medals.
In the year 1982,he joined a super-speciality hospital in Mumbai and became a houseman in diabetes, internal medicine and haematology.
He became disillusioned with the impersonal and aggressive allopathic system and trained and qualified in yoga, meditation, naturopathy and homeopathy.
He is a life member of the Homeopathic Medical Association of India. He is also the associate life member of the Infectious Disease Society of India.
He is married and lives with his wife and teenage son. He dreams of integrating allopathic medicine with the alternative systems and his dreams are featured in a Californian website www.kalos.org.
Dr. Rajesh Vishwanathan has travelled to the US and the Far East. He regularly speaks and writes on Indian spirituality and alternative medicine.
Introduction
It is virtually impossible for a hard-core allopathic physician to understand or accept certain homeopathic principles. However, it is increasingly recognized that for a disease to occur in a human being, three things need happen:- The bug or agent should be strong.
- The host resistance must be overwhelmed.
- The environmental factors should be hostile enough to overwhelm the host.
What is the vital force?
The vital force was described by, Dr. Hahnemann as a "spirit like, dynamic, automatic self powered power, which preserves the life in living beings". It is the life principle, which is present everywhere in the body. It exists in the living body, which is gross in structure and the vital force is a subtle energy, which is active. From the perspective of the spirituality it may be interpreted as a soul force of the body. From the perspective of Indian spirituality, it is very similar to pranic energy. Dr. Hahnemann introduced the term vital force in the 5th edition of the Organon in 1833 and the term was replaced with the term life principle in the 6th edition of the Organon.When the vital force is in a normal state, it is orderly and the person is at ease and healthy. When it becomes disordered or deranged, disease accrues in the body. When the vital force leaves the body or ceases to function, the body dies.
In this sense, the concept of the vital force is spiritual and holistic. The vital force is not perceptible to our senses, but it helps the gross body to perform its functions. It is a spiritual conscious energy blessed with an intelligence to power the body and maintain both volitional and autonomic functions.
Dr. Hahnemann called the vital force an "autocratic, self powered, self controlling power or energy, which keeps the body intact and without which life as we know it cannot exist". It is only when the gross or the material body becomes unfit for the vital force to utilize it, that the vital force ceases to work.
The vital force in health
When an individual is healthy, the vital force animates the gross or material body and keeps it in a harmonious order. A healthy man feels no discomfort and is generally unaware of the existence of his internal organs or the functions carried out by them. He remains unconscious of his body and carries on with conscious working of the mind. The vital force maintains the balance between body and the mind. This fundamental principle makes homeopathy a holistic system of medicine. The vital force protects the body from hostile influences, both from the mind within (negative thinking) and from the external disease producing influences (e.g. bacteria, viruses, atmosphere etc). Dr. Hahnemann postulated that the vital force is ever alert and a never resting preservative force.The vital force in disease
The body is endowed with the vital force, which is constantly fighting with inimical forces. But, the vital force can be overwhelmed with a long continued exposure to disease or due to wrong living. When the vital force is disturbed, the subject senses an uneasy sensation in the body, thorough the cerebro-spinal nerves. In simple words, a disease or discomfort in the body is a cry for help by the vital force as it seeks to restore its balance. In homeopathy, a disease by itself has no separate objective existence; there are no diseases but only diseased individuals.The vital force in cure
The harmonious flow of the vital force is disturbed in a diseased state. This can be restored with the aid of medicinal substances, which make all abnormal sensations and diseased states disappear. The body - mind equilibrium is restored and a cure essentially signifies the removal of symptoms rather than their suppression.The vital force in recovery
The vital force is a self-preservative force that protects the body from exposure to inimical forces without external air, and is capable of maintaining the harmonious flow of its self in the body resulting in good health. Thus, recovery is just the natural process of maintaining the body-mind equilibrium and when this happens, all complaints disappear.© Rajesh Vishwanathan. All rights reserved. Republished with permission on 22-Jul-07.
