Symptoms as Defenses IV
In this post in the series of Symptoms as Defenses we address the homeopathic law of similars. The homeopathic law of similars is fundamentally a method by which one can find an individually chosen substance to which an organism is most sensitive. When the organism receives this message, its immune and defense systems are catalyzed to begin a curative process. Basic research in immunology, allergy, and physics provides evidence of the regenerative effects of “similars” upon the defense system, but homeopathy has already transformed this pharmacological principle into a sophisticated medical science and art.
James Tyler Kent, a 19th-century American homeopathic physician, made frequent reference to “the innate intelligence of the human organism.”(1) In so doing, Kent acknowledged the aspect of the organism that enables it to react curatively to micro doses of correctly chosen substances.
Contemporary homeopath George Vithoulkas explains micro-dose cures by defining the human body as a magnificent cybernetic system.(2) Such a system has the inherent capacity to always respond to changes with the most effective and efficient response, based on its present abilities. Perhaps astronomer Johannes Kepler described this phenomenon as well as it could be described, centuries before computers, when he said; “Nature uses as little as possible of anything.”
R. R. Sharma, a professor of biophysics in India, theorizes that the small doses used in homeopathy are able to cross the blood-brain barrier and cellular and nuclear membranes. Dr. Sharma hypothesizes that more potent homeopathic medicines may act longer and more deeply than less potent medicines because they can penetrate these physiological barriers and thereby deliver their therapeutic effects more profoundly.(3)
These modern perspectives on the action of the micro doses have some similarities to the traditional explanation in homeopathy for the action of the medicines.
Here again a short summation of this series:
1. Symptoms as Defenses I
2. Symptoms as Defenses II
3. Symptoms as Defenses III
4. Symptoms as Defenses IV
Beste Gesundheit,
Werner
1. Kent J. Lectures on Homeopathic Philosophy. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books (1979)
2. Vithoulkas G. The Science of Homeopathy. New York : Grove Press (1980) p. 87
3. Sharma R.R. Homeopathy Today: A Scientific Appraisal. British Homeopathic Journal 75 (October 1986): 231-236