Editorial

The Higher Purpose of Disease

In the last few months, a possible outbreak of Avian Influenza has dominated the news. Virologists have made clear that the question is not whether such an outbreak will take place, only when. Elderly people born before the end of the First World War know from experience what such a pandemic can involve. Millions of people died worldwide from the Spanish Influenza, which, we now know, was also an avian virus. The reflex of politicians and scientists around the world is completely in line with the spirit of the times: war has been declared on the virus. The war budget is several billion dollars. Medicines are being produced to kill it, vaccinations to guard against it, and slaughter teams are ready to kill any number of birds necessary to protect the human race and its economy.

Birds fly east - birds fly west - and men fly over the cuckoo's nest.

If H5N1 becomes airborne the efficacy of antivirals is estimated to be close to nil, a vaccine will come too late, and killing millions of chickens and other birds we economically exploit will most likely not help to prevent a pandemic.

I don't know of any problem mankind has dealt with that was ever solved by killing. Nevertheless the leaders in the world today know no other options, nor does the medical establishment. Every doctor knows the doctrine that killing bacteria, viruses and protozoa automatically results in more virulent and more dangerous specimens, yet the weapons race against them continues.

Even Hahnemann considered disease as something that prevents us from fulfilling the higher purpose of our existence. He regarded symptoms as a sign of health and the activity of the vital force. But he stated that disease itself, the viral force, creates miasms that without intervention will destroy life.

In the past decades many have come to understand that curing a person of a disease does not imply a restoration of health in the sense of bringing the patient back to an earlier better state. Disease can be considered as a teacher and cure then not only means that the symptoms have gone but also that the lesson has been learned. The individual then emerges as a better person. The homeopathic remedy that can bring about such a cure should not only fit the totality of the symptoms but also be similar to the higher purpose of the disease, the directive miasmatic force, which gives meaning to the totality.

The present threat of a pandemic of Avian Influenza brings back to our attention our ability and therefore also our responsibility to treat epidemics. We have largely neglected this in the past century despite the fact that epidemics like tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS kill millions of people every year.

To be able to effectively treat epidemics, the totality of the symptoms should include not only a two-dimensional grouping of symptoms but also insight into the underlying purpose of the disease, its role in the evolution of mankind. In that respect there is no real difference between individual treatment and the treatment of epidemics. Only the totality is larger. Without an understanding of the possible role of a disease, whether for an individual, a group or mankind as a whole, we are unlikely able to find remedies that will really cure. If there is indeed a meaningful reason for the existence of a disease, it can only become obsolete by fulfilling its purpose.

Let us use the threat of a possible Avian Influenza to develop and implement our skills to deal not only with H5N1, but also with the many other chronic epidemics whose continuing existence implies that until today their purpose has not been fulfilled.

A far too ambitious and idealistic goal? Well, certainly a long road to walk. A journey that probably never ends, but nevertheless one that could lead us to the fulfilling of the higher purpose of the existence of homeopathy.

Harry van der Zee, editor