Introduction

Health is based on a hierarchy of basic needs, starting with the Spirit, or inner body, and ending with the physical body. In order for health to be able to be present at any one level, the lower levels must be balanced and healthy. Health is not merely the absence of disease, but a state of spiritual, mental, emotional and physical well-being. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, considered health to be a natural state that could be lost through forsaking a balanced lifestyle. He preached the need to be in harmony with nature. Hippocrates’ basic principles were:

1. Primum non nocere—first do no harm
2. Medicatrix vis naturae—Nature heals disease

Established medicine only deals with the physical body. Therefore health, once lost, is difficult to regain because the problem is usually at a lower level in the hierarchy than the physical body. However, through alternative medicine, one can identify where in the hierarchy, the imbalance occurs that brings on disease, fix the imbalance, and the body can heal and regain health.

Conclusions which will shake the foundation of conventional medicine:

1. Healing requires letting go of what is familiar and stepping into the unknown.
2. Healing may mean challenging belief systems and daring to break taboos.
3. Healing is about getting past the ego.
4. Healing involves reconnecting with lost aspects of oneself.
5. Healing oneself is an indispensable piece of the healing of the whole planet.
6. Healing is the purpose of our lives.

Representation of a Person

Passenger: Inner self or spirit
Driver: Intellect or mind
Horse: Emotion
Carriage: Physical Body

In this representation, the spirit, or inner self determines the direction in life that the person travels. If it is the person's spiritual purpose to have certain experiences, then there is nothing the conscious mind or an outside person, such as a doctor, can do to change that direction. In other words, we are the captains of our fate, and no one else. The passenger, or inner self, tells the intellect, or mind of the person, what to do to acheive its purpose. Now the mind attempts to drive the carriage, but there is one factor he has to contend with--the emotion. Emotion is represented by the horse. We can point him in the direction we want to go, but that doesn't always mean he is going to do our bidding. Often he can carry us in a direction we have no plan to go. Then we have to reevaluate the situation and redirect him in the proper direction. The physical body is just there for the ride, represented by the carriage. However, through use (or misuse because of the mistakes made by the intellect/mind or emotions), the physical body can take a beating.