Orthodox and natural medicines both have their place in healing and in society. All too often doctors bag natural therapists as being ‘quacks’ and natural therapists bag doctors as being cruel and aggressive in treatment. Often doctors show little respect towards natural therapists and many natural therapists show little respect towards doctors. This lack of respect is very disappointing, as so much can be gained from each other’s medicine and forms of treatment. Both have an extremely important place in healing.
Modern surgery is remarkable and extends life to many souls who before the advent of medical technology were condemned to an early death. The new techniques and advances in transplant surgery, brain surgery and heart surgery have improved the quality and length of life for many people. Surgeons are amazing people with incredible skills to repair damage and to recreate healthy working functions of organs and body tissues. However, surgery can be quite invasive and uses man-made drugs to treat side effects, and in many cases attempts to patch up the symptoms rather than deal with the cause of the problem.
Likewise, natural medicine plays an equally important role in healing and health. Natural therapy is designed to treat the individual as a whole and to solve the causative problem, rather than to patch up the symptoms. Natural medicine is equally good in preventing and treating symptoms. It is usually non-invasive and uses gentle, natural methods to restore the health of the individual. Forms of natural therapy include nutrition, naturopathy, vitamins, herbs, homeopathy, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, Tibetan medicine, aromatherapy, reflexology, iridology and many more. Natural medicine has been used in all cultures for thousands of years. Orthodox medicine is a relatively new form of medicine, being developed originally from the art of natural medicine.
Orthodox medicine definitely has a prominent place in healing. Any taint to the medical profession’s reputation has been received because of errors in surgery, removal of healthy body organs and the overuse of pharmaceuticals by general practitioners to treat patients. It is common knowledge that some doctors receive expensive bonuses and incentives from pharmaceutical companies for selling large amounts of certain types of drugs. With this carrot in front of their faces, many doctors prescribe medical drugs in excess without proper investigation and reason. Doctors are human beings like you and me and are therefore not perfect, and prone to making mistakes.
Unfortunately, doctors are not in a good position to make mistakes or errors as they are dealing with people’s lives. They are rarely held liable for any errors in treatment, as patients naturally baulk at the time and expense of legal action. When being treated medically, you are placing an enormous amount of trust and faith in your doctor.
Natural medicine is entirely different. It has been around for thousands of years in nearly every culture in the world. The American Indians have used shamanic healing and herbs to heal since the first existence of life. The Chinese have traditionally used Chinese medicine and acupuncture, the Indians in Asia incorporated Ayurvedic medicine to rebalance the individual since their culture began, and the Africans and Australian Aborigines are known for natural medicine and healing.
Natural medicine is used to heal the actual cause of the problem and prevent it from reoccurring in the future. It is a process of re-educating the individual to heal himself or herself by maintaining a healthy diet, mind and spiritual body. Of course, there are also unskilled and unqualified natural healers out there who have given this ancient method of healing a bad reputation. These healers may work primarily from a position of financial gain lacking the true empathy to heal individuals in accordance with nature. However, these healers are few and far between. The majority of natural healers are caring, passionate, empathetic and highly skilled souls.
Combining both orthodox and natural therapies in cancer treatment can for many, speed up the healing process dramatically. It is sad that so many people, in both the medical and natural field, remain ignorant of the benefits of each other’s therapy. We have lost the essence of healing. It is not about the doctors and the natural therapists and whose therapy is better than the other. Nor is it about a practitioner’s pride of ‘who is more right’. It is about the individual and restoring balance and health to the person as a whole.
If the egos of both natural and orthodox practitioners were to be set aside, and the financial incentives to ‘prove’ the other is wrong were eliminated, we could remember what the true essence of healing is about. True healing comes from the soul and understanding the cause of the problem, and working to solve the problem, not to patch it up. It involves spending time with the patient (longer than 10 minutes), attentively listening to their problems and using the best healing methods possible, whether they be natural or orthodox or both, to solve the problem and bring about a healthy state of equilibrium and balance to the patient. If only more practitioners could open up their hearts to the immense healing potential contained within each other’s amazing therapies, I’m sure there would be less illness in this world today.
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