Organon Paragraph 8

[Dr. Jeff]

Hi everyone-

Here's the next aphorism and its footnote from Dr. Hahnemann's guidebook to your pets homeopathic healing.

In it he starts his discusion of the significance of symptoms.

"It is not conceivable, not can it be proved by any experience in the world, that, after removal of all the symptoms of the disease and of the entire collection of the perceptible phenomena, there should or could remain anything else besides health, or that the morbid alteration in the interior could remain uneradicated.1

1 When a patient has been cured of his disease by a true physician, in such a manner that no trace of the disease, no morbid symptom, remains, and all the signs of health have permanently returned, how can anyone, without offering an insult to common sense, affirm in such an individual the whole bodily disease still remains interior? And yet the chief of the old school, Hufeland, asserts this in the following words: Homoeopathy can remove symptoms, but the disease remains. (Vide Homoopathie, p.27, 1, 19.) This he maintains partly from mortification at the progress made by homoeopathy to the benefits of mankind, partly because he still holds thoroughly material notions respecting disease, which he is still unable to regard as a state of being of the organism wherein it is dynamically altered by the morbidly deranged vital force, as an altered state of health, but he views the disease as a something material, which after the cure is completed, may still remain lurking in some corner in the interior of the body, in order, some day during the most vigorous health, to burst forth at its pleasure with its material presence! So dreadful is still the blindness of the old pathology! No wonder that it could only produce a system of therapeutics which is solely occupied with scouring out the poor patient."

Of special importance is that he says: "dynamically altered by the morbidly deranged vital force".

Does anyone have any thoughts about how this statement is relevant to us or how it relates to dis-ease (and why the hyphen)?

Dr. Jeff

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Hello again.

Poman and I were just discussing this most important topic.

That is, both what Hahnemann means in paragraph (aphorism) 8 by "morbid alteration" and how it relates to knowing the exact cause of your pets health challenges.

We realized that first there needs to be a more concrete definition of imbalance.

There are two kinds of imbalances.

Primary and secondary.

The primary cause of anything is the first change that starts the others.

In your pets' bodies, these are changes in cellular function that translate into symptoms.

It is changes in these functions that result in the symptoms which then get grouped together and artificially labelled as secondary dis-eases.

A concrete example of a secondary imbalance that your vet might find is an abnormal test result like SAP (serum alkaline phosphatase).

Elevated SAP is among the findings that result in a diagnosis of Cushing's Disease.

Elevated SAP test results are also commonly found during routine senior (or any age) wellness screening.

Blood test results like SAP are awesome, and objective, secondary internal symptoms but they are only one little piece of the picture.

Secondary pieces that result from abnormalities in cellular function of your pets' organs like their livers.

Philosopher Thomas Aquinas gives us another way to think about the underlying primary cause vs. secondary effects.

According to him, the primary cause of some thing is that which is unique.

The beginning of everything.

Like Eve giving the apple to Adam in the Garden of Eden.

Another example of being secondary is a bacterial "infection".

These are always secondary to decreases in immune surveillance and function.

All bodies and our environment is teeming with organisms like bacteria and viruses that are potential pathogens.

The "dynamically altered by the morbidly deranged vital force" as per aphorism 8 is the primary cause.

This (primary) change in balance is reflected by your pets' (secondary) symptoms.

Does this help clarify paragraph 8 and its footnote, or just further confuse the matter?

Dr. Jeff

 

[Dr. Sara]

Aphorism 8 is, truly, an excellent description of cure.
The patient, in a state of health, is in equilibrium and at ease with themselves, with no sign of dis-ease.
HOWEVER, when the body becomes dis-eased, and out of equilibrium, then signs of illness will occur.
The dis-ease of the body will always precede the appearance of symptoms.

As a practical example, all three of my Berners are positive for the Lyme organism. We know that this indicates that they probably have the organism in their body, just as every dog's body harbors organisms which could, in a dis-eased patient, cause symptoms.
Suppose that I lose my mind, and start feeding my dogs kibble, vaccinating capriciously, and using harsh chemicals?
Then my dogs may well become dis-eased, and it is certainly possible that they could show signs of Lyme.
It is not the organism that caused the dis-ease, as it has been present for years with no effects whatsoever.
The body imbalance results in dis-ease, and the manifestation of disease is via the Lyme organism.

Hahnemann was so far ahead of his time that his colleagues didn't have the foggiest idea what he meant, and tried to reduce it to what they thought they understood, poor dears.

 

[PomanL]

I am trying to understand this very important paragraph using the hormonal challenges my son Bodhi is facing. Bodhi was diagnosed with Cushing's and hypothyroidism last year. In conventional medicine, both Cushing's and thyroid problems can never be cured and no one knows what causes them in the first place. Drugs like Vetoryl or thyroxine need to be taken long term for life because they are either pallitative or suppressive (Vetoryl suppresses adrenal function while thyroxine is a synthetic replacement of the natural hormone). From a homeopathic perspective, the body only manifests such symptoms when the underlying energy imbalances can no longer be coped with. Hence, once the root imbalance is corrected, the pituitary gland will resolve and the thyroid gland will be healthy again, leaving no trace of dis-ease. Restoring equilibrium and fixing the problem from the root enables complete cure and recovery without reliance on drugs.
In this case if the imbalance is corrected, homeopathy remedies should also not be required on the long term? However, I keep wondering what causes this imbalance in the first place? Is it the same force that is causing the pituiary gland to be enlarged and the thyroid gland to degenerate? Is it something that can be treated once and for all? Or is the dynamic equilibrium so delicate that imbalance can be triggered by internal or external stressors every now and then (which means remedies might still be needed whenever the body is stressed)?

 

[Dr. Christina]

This is the most important take home point of Aphorism 8 that you state so well - Restoring equilibrium and fixing the problem from the root enables complete cure and recovery without reliance on drugs.

you can add - without reliance on continued homeopathic, or herbal, or flower essence, etc. Because whatever trigger that caused the imbalance may still be present (EMF, bad air, bad water, sensitive to negative vibes, etc), homeopathic treatment may be needed if any small symptoms appear.

what causes this imbalance in the first place? Is it the same force that is causing the pituitary gland to be enlarged and the thyroid gland to degenerate?
Yes. We may never know what triggers a problem initially. Over time, if symptoms recur, we may realize that the trigger is diet, or toxins, emotions or as yet unknown.

Is it something that can be treated once and for all?
This is where the holistic paradigm gives so much hope. With conventional approaches, it would be a miracle to have malfunctioning organs return permanently to normal. With homeopathy, we expect a return to normality, though we are not always able to find the needed treatment.

Or is the dynamic equilibrium so delicate that imbalance can be triggered by internal or external stressors every now and then (which means remedies might still be needed whenever the body is stressed)?
It is not that the dynamic equilibrium is naturally so delicate in every person or animal, it is a combination of finding the right homeopathic medicine, using lifestyle choices to build vitality and balance, and avoiding the triggers (which may not even be known).

Health is a journey, not a place we get to and stay at permanently. Having the perspective that we will do our best, that there is no one right answer, that each person and animal has a different path empowers you to enjoy every minute even while working with challenging symptoms.

Dr. Christina

 

[JoannC]

Hello again.

Poman and I were just discussing this most important topic.

That is, both what Hahnemann means in paragraph (aphorism) 8 by "morbid alteration" and how it relates to knowing the exact cause of your pets health challenges.

We realized that first there needs to be a more concrete definition of imbalance.

There are two kinds of imbalances.

Primary and secondary.

The primary cause of anything is the first change that starts the others.

In your pets' bodies, these are changes in cellular function that translate into symptoms.

It is changes in these functions that result in the symptoms which then get grouped together and artificially labelled as secondary dis-eases.

A concrete example of a secondary imbalance that your vet might find is an abnormal test result like SAP (serum alkaline phosphatase).

Elevated SAP is among the findings that result in a diagnosis of Cushing's Disease.

Elevated SAP test results are also commonly found during routine senior (or any age) wellness screening.

Blood test results like SAP are awesome, and objective, secondary internal symptoms but they are only one little piece of the picture.

Secondary pieces that result from abnormalities in cellular function of your pets' organs like their livers.

Philosopher Thomas Aquinas gives us another way to think about the underlying primary cause vs. secondary effects.

According to him, the primary cause of some thing is that which is unique.

The beginning of everything.

Like Eve giving the apple to Adam in the Garden of Eden.

Another example of being secondary is a bacterial "infection".

These are always secondary to decreases in immune surveillance and function.

All bodies and our environment is teeming with organisms like bacteria and viruses that are potential pathogens.

The "dynamically altered by the morbidly deranged vital force" as per aphorism 8 is the primary cause.

This (primary) change in balance is reflected by your pets' (secondary) symptoms.

Does this help clarify paragraph 8 and its footnote, or just further confuse the matter?

Dr. Jeff

 

[JoannC]

This makes sense, I think I understand, it’s like a human who has higher levels of free T3 and T4, and western medicine just gives medication, when in fact a fundamentalist Dr would look at cortisol level increase and amount of stress in a persons life. Just like our beloved pets, I think it works the same way. A healthy microbiome will build up immune system for fighting off dis-see. Very interesting! BEAM is so important when analyzing pet health.