The depth of homeopathy
Rajan Sankaran, India
In the initial years of my practice, I began searching
for a method that would yield consistent and successful results in every case.
No one person can know everything and my endeavor for better and more consistent
results is a continuing process. In the twenty-one years of my practice, this
process has resulted in a shift from mechanically repertorising cases after
selecting a few characteristic symptoms, to using mental and general symptoms,
from there to understanding the central disturbance, perceiving the mental state
and unearthing the concept of disease as a delusion, and later to a deeper
understanding of miasms and the kingdom classification and finally developing a
system of prescribing where all these concepts fit into place, to discovering
the common sensation in each of the plant families and more recently to an
understanding of various levels of experience. Studying the plant families has
led to a milestone in my understanding of disease and my earlier concept of
disease as a delusion, and the subsequent emphasis on the mental state gave way
to an understanding of disease as a Vital Sensation that was common to the mind
and the body.
This common disturbance seemed more representative of the
disturbance of the Vital Force, than the Delusion had been. More recently, this
latter concept too has undergone some metamorphosis with the discovery of
something deeper to the Vital Sensation, viz. energy.
 With the emphasis on sensations, I noticed that patients
often used hand gestures to describe sensations. And as I started paying
attention to these gestures I realised that only sometimes were these indicative
of sensation; at other times they could indicate the delusion and at still other
times they were only patterns that could not be reduced to either a nervous or
emotional experience. Like sensations, these patterns too could not be localised
in either the mind or the body; they were too general. Further what the patient
was conveying through these was mostly movement,
sometimes together with form, shape, color and speed. These patterns seemed to
me to be representative of energy. And the domain of energy was once again
general and still deeper than sensation.
I realised then that the delusion had merely been one
level along a spectrum of various levels. I was able to identify seven levels in
all, and beginning from the most superficial to the deepest they are as follows:
1. Name
2. Fact
3. Emotion
4. Delusion
5. Sensation
6. Energy or Universal level
7. The Seventh Level
The concept of these levels is universally applicable, as
is true with all of homeopathy. It indicates not only the level at which the
patient experiences symptoms, but also the various levels of all human
experience. Further human consciousness is in a state of continuous growth, and
the levels are indicative of the evolution from the most superficial to the
spiritual, which is the ultimate aim of mankind. Explained very briefly below
are the concepts of Vital Sensation and the Levels, and an illustration of their
application in homeopathy.
The concept of the Levels
Let us understand the concept of the levels through the
following example: As children, when we are taught to draw, the first thing that
we learn to draw is a line, then some shapes like triangles, squares and
circles. Then we are taught to copy things we see around us: objects, houses,
trees, people, etc. As we progress we are taught to qualify the subject of our
drawings: for example, a sad person or a happy person, a flowing river, etc.
Next we are asked to create drawings from our imagination: scenes from nature, a
marketplace, a picnic, etc. Later some of us learn abstraction and we are able
to express our moods and experiences through different shapes, forms and colours.
Our experiences may be mental or physical or spiritual, and these can be
conveyed through the medium of abstract art.
One can see that our initial drawings of lines and shapes
cannot convey anything; they have nothing more than a name attached to them. For
example: this is a line, this is a circle etc. The next step where we are taught
to copy has to do with fact that there are things that exist around us and we
replicate them. In the third step we put in the adjectives or feelings or
emotions. In the fourth step we create situations out of our imagination
-situations that may or may not exist - or situations we may have or have not
experienced. This has to do with delusion. When we reach the stage where we can
abstract, we are able to convey our delusions, sensations (mental and physical)
as well as describe some kind of energy in the form of patterns and shapes. In
this way, in learning art, we have progressed from what can be only named to
something that has no name but only an energy pattern.
Similarly with homeopathy. The most superficial level at
which homeopathy is practiced is pathological prescribing, or giving a remedy
based on the diagnosis of the disease condition. (Level I: Name)
At the next level of prescribing, one takes into account
symptoms of the disease. (Level II: Fact)
Then comes prescribing on the emotional state of the
patient. (Level III)
Level IV or the level of Delusions is where my
prescriptions were aimed at for many years.
Then I discovered the level of Sensation (Level V)
And finally that of Energy (Level VI). The levels also
apply to the experience of any event or phenomenon (For example: the sunrise or
the Northern Lights in the sky), or an art form (for example: music, painting,
literature) or any kind of human activity (for example: science, politics,
medicine, sex, relationships) or a belief, like religion. The experience of each
of these can be at various levels. Let us look at the example of religion more
closely.
For different people religion may be experienced and
practiced to various depths. Or a person may evolve over time in his religious
practice and beliefs from the level of name to that of energy. The most
superficial experience of religion (at the level of name) is limited to simply
identifying oneself as a Hindu or Catholic or Muslim, etc. At the factual level
this experience is also superficial, being confined to daily prayers, rituals,
attending mass or reading a holy book.
Taken one level deeper, religion can be an emotional
experience with feelings of joy, calm, security and dependence. It can be the
delusional need in a person who feels he is lost in the wilderness; religion
could make him feel 'found'. Some people may perceive sensations such as
binding, or togetherness, etc. At the deepest level or in the abstract form it
can be experienced as nothing but spiritual energy.
The levels and homeopathy
As with any phenomena, the experience of disease can also
be at various levels. A patient with a very extensive cancer may have accepted
his fate so that he experiences no emotions such as anxiety or fear or grief,
but only symptoms related to his problem. For him the experience of his disease
is no more than a fact; he has cancer, it is his fate and he has to accept it as
a fact. On the other hand a young woman with rheumatoid arthritis may experience
a great deal of anxiety about her future. If you observe her or go through her
case, this anxiety will be the most prominent feature. One could say even that
her disease is anxiety about the future rather than the arthritis, because she
experiences the arthritis as anxiety. The pains will be experienced as anxiety
and the limitation of movement will be experienced as anxiety. The level at
which she experiences her disease is Level III (Emotions). Another young woman
with a patch of eczema may have the fear that she will be shunned by society as
a result of her problem. For her, symptoms like itching and scaling, even though
present, will not be as bothersome as this imaginary fear of being shunned. For
her, the eczema is experienced as a delusion, the level of experience is level
IV. A man with bronchial asthma may experience the sensation of being bound tightly, and this sensation will
also emerge on the mental plane. Here, what is prominent is a sensation that is
common to the mind and the body. He experiences the asthma as a sensation of
being bound tightly, and in other areas of his life he experiences the same
sensation. His experience of his disease is at level V, the level of sensation.
In a child with recurrent colds and coughs, one may observe the child only
running about continuously, moving constantly and rapidly. This child may not
even experience the cold and cough, rather only the energy that compels him to
keep running. His level of experience is that of energy, or level VI.
Having understood that each patient's experience of the
disease will be at any one of these levels the question that comes to one's mind
is: 'Of what use is this concept in practice?' What will be most obvious to
those who used the Delusion theory, and realised that it yielded better results
than prescription based on mere collections of symptoms, is that the levels of
sensation and energy are deeper and closer to the Vital Force. Prescriptions
based on sensations, and those that take into account the energy pattern
experienced by the patient can yield far better results than did those based on
Delusions. So how does one get to these deeper levels, how does one recognise
sensation and energy, what sense do we make of these when attempting to
understand the patient, and finally how does one use these to find the remedy?
Before we go to the process of getting to the deeper
levels let us understand them some more. First, each of the levels is based on
the one deeper than it. The seventh or the deepest level can be compared to an
empty canvas on which some pattern or picture can take form. It forms the
backdrop on which the Universe was created, on which the energy of the Universe
is manifest. It is obvious just at the moment of conception, where something, a
life or energy form occurs from nothing, where creation happens out of
nothingness. It is therefore the basis for energy. The level of energy in turn
forms the basis for sensation, but it, itself lacks the sensation. Energy is
represented by the way it moves. And for any individual the domain of experience
of this energy is beyond mind and body - it is the domain of vitality or the
Vital Force itself. And this experience is in the form of speed, movement,
patterns, colour, etc. When
this experience materialises from the domain of the
material/spiritual Vital Force to that of the nerves, which are distributed
everywhere in the body, then it is perceived as a sensation. The nervous system
connects the mind and the body and at this level the sensations experienced are
general. Let us take as an example the experience of listening to music. Music
itself is pure energy. When a musical chord is struck some vibrations or
patterns are created, and these are not only picked up by the nerves in the ear
and experienced as pleasant sounds, but can also be transmitted everywhere else
in the body and experienced as pleasant sensations. (Here, let us differentiate
between general and local sensations. The sensations we are talking about at
level V are general. While these are experienced on the somatic plane they are
felt in more than one locality. Further, they are also experienced on the mental
plane. These are different from purely local sensations, which have no
correspondences on the general and physical planes.) Similarly, sensation is the
basis for delusion. If there is a sensation of heaviness all over it could give
rise to the mental image or false perception of being under a heavy load. In
turn, delusion becomes the basis for emotions, emotions for fact and fact for
name. In this way each level is based on the next. In taking a case and
understanding the patient, having gone past one level one can expect to find the
next one emerging, until the deepest level is reached.
It is important and interesting to note that in each
case, the deepest level the patient takes us to spontaneously, is the level at
which he experiences all phenomena. This is his level of consciousness. In any
case therefore, all relevant experiences, viz. the chief complaint, exciting
cause, stress situations, dreams, interests and hobbies, etc., will be
experienced by the patient at one and the same level. This is significant as far
as the process of case taking is concerned, as well as in selecting the potency.
Also from deep to superficial the extent of pathology increases, so that at the
energy level there is the least pathology, whereas at the level of name one
usually sees gross pathology.
The levels and potency selection
Potency versus Physical symptoms experienced:
Level 1: (Gross pathology) 6C, 12C - diagnosis,
pathology.
Level 2: 30C - Local symptoms (location, sensations,
modalities). Level 3: 200C - Concomitants, general effects of level 2.
Level 4: 1MK - *NEI symptoms, cravings, sleep, general
modalities. Level 5: 10MK - General sensations, affections.
Level 6: (Least pathology) 50MK - General movements and
patterns. (*NEI for Neuro-Endocrine-Immune axis.)
Sensation is non-human specific
Energy is universal and immaterial. All things - living
and non-living - possess energy. Energy can be manifest in the form of different
patterns, all part of a common, universal pool, yet each one with its own
peculiar shape, direction, speed, form, etc. Energy patterns are common to
kingdoms, so that certain plants, animals and minerals can have the same energy
patterns specific to them, yet all belonging to the common pool. The energy of
any substance is that which is common to that substance and to the entire
universe. At the energy level therefore, it is difficult to differentiate the
kingdoms. A specific energy pattern could manifest itself in a member of any of
the three kingdoms. Sensation is more specific to kingdoms. Each kingdom has its
unique basic sensation. With the mineral kingdom the basic sensation is
structure, and in the consciousness of each mineral substance this basic
sensation of structure is expressed in a way quite unique to that substance.
With the animal kingdom the basic sensation is survival, and again in the
consciousness of each animal, this is experienced differently and in a way
unique to itself. With the plant kingdom the basic sensation is sensitivity, and
each plant family has it's own peculiar kind of sensitivity. In case of diseased
human beings the Vital Force is deranged so that man's consciousness is altered.
This altered consciousness is similar to a specific mineral/animal/plant
consciousness from the Universe. Homeopathic remedies are prepared from
plant/animal/mineral sources among others, and when these substances are
po-tentised to a degree far beyond the material, there remains in them nothing
but the spirit or energy of the substance. These remedies, when administered in
accordance with the Law of Similars, are capable of bringing back the altered
state of man's consciousness to a level where he is able to achieve the 'higher
purposes of his existence' - in this way health is restored.
In a diseased individual, the altered state of
consciousness is similar to the consciousness of a specific plant/animal/mineral
substance (remedy source) from the universe. The diseased individual and the
remedy source have in common the energy pattern and basic sensation. These, the
energy pattern and basic sensation, are therefore non-human specific. This
means, that they are shared by human beings and other substance(s) in the
Universe. On the other hand, emotions and delusions could be human specific;
they may be experienced only by human beings and may not be present in the
consciousness of any other substance in the Universe.
Case taking in a new light
The aim of case taking now is to reach to what is
non-human specific in each patient. The patient will obviously begin with the
name of his main physical complaint. From here one has to cut through the
various levels and reach to the levels of sensation and energy. While traversing
the various levels, one picks up (i) peculiar symptoms (sensations, modalities,
concomitants, mental symptoms, delusions, dreams, cravings, aversions etc.) and
(ii) sensations/words/expressions that have the potential to lead to the next
level. At each level there are various sub-levels and to get from one level to
the next one has to ask an appropriate question (s). Briefly the map of case
taking is as follows:
Level 1
Question: So what exactly is happening?
Level 2 - Facts: What it is, qualified and peculiar.
Question: How do you feel? How does this effect you?
Level 3 - Feeling: What it is? (Common feelings, anger,
fear, sadness.) Feeling qualified. (Feelings further described.) Feeling
peculiar. (Peculiarity in the feeling.)
Question: How does it feel like? What comes to your
mind? A situation that had a big effect on you? How did that feel like?
Level 4 - Delusion: The situation. How it is experienced? Dreams.
Question: What sensation do you experience in that situation?
What are you showing by that gesture of your hand?
Level 5 - Sensation: Kingdom. (Sensitivity/structure/victim-aggressor.)
Subkingdom/family. (Precise nature of the issue.) Source.
(Precise degree, depth and quality.)
Level 6 - Energy: Observation of energy patterns.
Quite obviously patients do not always give the case one
level after the other. They may use other routes or they may get blocked or
stuck at a particular level, and in such a case one would have to use a
'by-pass'. When a patient is unable to go beyond a particular level his level of
experience is usually the previous level; this also determines the potency he
needs. For example: if he cannot express feelings then he is stuck at the
previous level of fact, and to get beyond the level of fact one would ask: What
are the feelings he does not feel, what are the feelings he felt in the past,
etc.?
The concept and the new method of case taking will be
better understood from a case. (See next article on pages 168 - 174. The
editor)
Conclusion
The concept of the levels and this new approach to case
taking have so far yielded for me and some of my colleagues, very encouraging
results. We are able now to prescribe remedies we might never have otherwise
used. But I would like to add that these ideas continue to evolve and techniques
continue to get more and more refined. It is a work in progress. As with 'An
Insight Into Plants', I feel there are sufficient results to convince me
that there is at least some truth in the idea and it has much potential. As long
as we have failures, we need to look deeper, to look wider and to continue to
evolve in our concepts and techniques. In this way we can hope for better and
more definite results in our cherished and chosen task of restoring the sick to
health.
Dr. Rajan Sankaran
20 Station Road
Santacruz West
Bombay
400054, India
E-mail: spirit@vsnl. com
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