Philosophy of Healthcare
We are fearfully and wonderfully made. God designed us to live in
health; but when sin entered the world so too did disease and
death. As the years passed the consequences of sin multiplied and
man’s lifespan became shorter and shorter. Man’s continued and
growing disobedience to God resulted in the worldwide flood that
killed all human life but for Noah and his family. The post-flood
climate dramatically shortened man’s lifespan. Within a few
generations life expectancy had dropped from many hundreds of years
to a mere seventy years. In addition, various illnesses, largely
the result of poor nutrition, soon shortened many lives even
further.
Although we can do nothing about the average seventy-year life span,
the occasional genetic disorder, or even the inbred and compounded
maladies inherited from our ancestors; by-in-large most of us can
live relatively healthy lives by avoiding the many diseases that are
primarily caused by poor nutrition. As such, holistic healthcare —
as practiced by botanical medicine, naturopathy and homeopathy —
differs philosophically from modern western allopathic medicine.
Both allopathic and holistic philosophies agree on basic cytology:
that cells are bathed in a nutritional extracellular environment and
that potential invaders (bacterium, fungi, virus, carcinogens, etc.)
are ever present, lurking, seeking opportunity to attack. But here
the two philosophies part company; with each having different
answers to the fundamental questions of: How do these invaders
strike? How do we defend against them? And how do we best repel
them once they have invaded? These differences may sound trivial
but the schism runs deep with both philosophies arriving at
extremely diverse philosophical and practical implications.
The fundamental theory of modern western medicine is one of
intervention and heroics. The invaders must be killed, inhibited or
excised. After a differential diagnosis an interventional cure is
prescribed: surgery to excise damaged or harmful tissue; radiation
and or chemotherapy to kill the unwanted growths; or a synthetic
drug to inhibit or in some way alter the body’s natural biochemical
function. What evoked this cellular invasion is generally of little
or no concern. The primary issue for allopathic medicine is to get
rid of the invader; even by drastic measures if necessary.
Conversely, holistic philosophies focus on the reason these
opportunistic invaders have gained root. They believe the invaders
have taken advantage of the cell’s weakened defense system — a
defense generally weakened by an unbalanced or deficient supply of
necessary micro-nutrients within the cellular environment. Barring
exceptional circumstances, this philosophy believes that cells
necessarily have the ability to defend against these invaders;
provided they are supplied the proper nutritional ammunition to
accomplish the task. Thus, it is the task of traditional, holistic
healthcare practitioners to educate and encourage the population to
eat correctly and to take nutritional supplements if necessary, so
each cell will be supplied with the proper ammunition.
Desmond Allen, PhD, MDiv, ND
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