The Role of the Healing Systems of the Body
All living things are capable of homeostasis – that means a ‘self regulation of a constant healthy state.’ If the body has the capacity of homeostasis at all times then it would have the capacity to heal itself at all times.
The processes of homeostasis then are the processes of self healing. The part of the living organism which carries out these processes is what we call the ‘defense mechanism’.
The defense mechanism is that part of any living organism which generates defensive reactions to adverse stimuli and guides or controls the natural, innate, healing processes of the body. (Dean Crothers, MD)
In biology it is known as the ‘mechanism of homeostasis.’ For example, our body must have a defence mechanism to control body temperature. Shivering and perspiration are some of the defence reactions to maintain a normal, healthy temperature.
Every cellular process and body system is controlled and kept in a healthy state by the ‘systems of homeostasis’ or by the ‘healing system’ of the body.
From the moment after conception, the developmental process is guided by this same system of homeostasis. It is one of the necessities of all living things, also known in biology as ‘structural intelligence’. The same healing system or mechanism of homeostasis that was present on day-one, is present on the last day of a person’s life, trying as it may to maintain the overall integrity of every cell and the health of the organism as a whole.
Science is still not able to determine where, in the cell, this ‘creative intelligence’ operates, or even how it works to allow the DNA to express itself. But science is sure that it does exist as human development and homeostasis are not random events.
Another example of the intelligent defense mechanism is the way in which the circulatory system reacts when children are in the process of drowning. The defense mechanisms involved ‘perceive’ the critical situation and ‘instruct’ the blood vessels of the extremities to constrict and the arteries to the brain to dilate. The net result is that the heart pumps more blood to the brain which often extends the life of the person long enough to be rescued.
In many cases, a child has been submerged for over twenty minutes. The defense mechanism ‘knows’ that the brain cells can live for only a few minutes without oxygen and so an extreme adaptive reaction is taken to extend the child’s life.
Samuel Hahnemann in his book, The Organon of Medicine, expressed this idea as the following:
When man (or women) falls ill it is at first only this self-sustaining (vital principle) everywhere present in the organism which is untuned by the dynamic influence of the hostile disease agent upon it. It is only this vital principle thus untuned which brings about in the organism the disagreeable sensations and abnormal functions that we call disease. Being invisible, and recognizable solely by its effects on the organism, it can express itself and reveal its untunement only by pathological manifestations in feeling and function… (as) disease symptoms.
~ The Organon of Medicine by Samuel Hahnemann
The conclusion is that every biochemical process and every anatomical structure is regulated by the many small defence mechanisms in the body. If the overall defence mechanism is strong and intelligent then the body will not succumb to illness.
When illness does occur it is because the healing system of the body is in some way defective or not functioning as it should.
In general, we must recognize that there are a variety of individual defense mechanisms which are all related to one another and they therefore function as an integrated totality within the body. It will be seen that this idea is fundamental to the understanding of illness and how a cure can be realized.
Influenza, for example, is an illness whereby a virus invades cells. This leads to inflammation of tissues and the resulting “symptoms” which are typical of influenza. This is a self-limiting illness because our healing systems have found ways of killing viruses over many generations. Eventually, over the next several generations, I believe our immune systems will find ways of killing or blocking the AIDS virus. Our ability to adapt to stress and to resist illness from stress is a function of the healing systems of the body.
Conventional treatment concerns itself with drugs which treat the symptoms but do nothing to strengthen the healing systems, immune system, or reveal the cause.
Homeopathic medicines work by rebuilding these defense mechanisms of the body such as the immune system. In this way the person recovers in the most rapid and permanent way possible thereby becoming immune to a similar disease process in the future. These immunities can then be passed on to the next generation.
Homeopathy is based on studies of single medicines. We call these studies – provings.
For example if the juice of an onion can cause the eyes to burn, tear up and sting with pain then in a small dose it can trigger the healing system of the body to cure those same symptoms when for example a patient has hay fever.
It seems logical to assume that if Belladonna can cause symptoms like swelling, redness, inflammation, photophobia and pain and it is given to a person already experiencing these symptoms, then the drug should make that person feel worse, not better.
Also, one would assume, that by using Ipecac, a drug known to cause nausea and vomiting, that the nausea and vomiting of the patient should worsen. Or that it would be a wrong idea to give a coffee remedy to a person who is having trouble sleeping at night, because it seems like it would further aggravate this condition.
In fact, as Hahnemann and all the practitioners of homeopathy since have found, small homeopathic doses of Belladonna 30c will have a curative effect for a patient with photophobia; Ipecac 30c will, in fact, decrease nausea and vomiting, and Coffea 30c will induce sleep. How is this possible?
Each remedy can stimulate the healing system of the body to build up its reaction to cure a specific illness. Belladonna can cure headaches and infections, Ipecac can cure nausea and vomiting and Coffee can cure sleeplessness. The ability of the body to adapt to a specific stress is our greatest asset and can be used to treat any illness.
From my book: Principles of Medicine – Homeopathy.
