Dr. Moshe Daniel Block, ND, HMC
Just like in life, there is a choice we can make in selecting our form of medicine that reflects Shakespeare’s famous question “To be or not to be?” In life, to choose to be is to choose to be ourselves, who we really are. I call this our “I AM” statement. As simple as it may sound, to be oneself is the healthiest way one can choose to be. Not to be is the choice, therefore, that goes against or denies us from being ourselves, our true nature. That is the choice that leads to illness. It doesn’t simply lead to illness of the mind and emotions, but also of the physical body. Yes, choices not to be can lead to disease in the body after long periods of time, from denying ourselves from being who we are. In simple terms, the way this happens is that the Universal life force, called Chi, Prana, or Orgone, from different sciences and cosmologies, becomes blocked when we choose not to be. Imagine the Soul as a bright flame. The very statement of the Soul is “I AM.” When we choose not to be what our Soul truly is, we become misaligned with that bright flame and parts of ourselves fall into darkness. It is like by choosing not to be who we are, we are declaring a stoppage or a blockage to the flow of life itself. As a result, the Chi, Prana, Orgone cannot flow into the parts of ourselves that are normally supplied by this Universal life force that emanates from the Soul. This is the essence of what leads to illness. The illness, in all its symptoms and effects on the body, manifests there as a result of the blockage in our life force.
Symptoms of Disease Carry Important Messages
Understanding this direction of influence is important when making choices of what sort of medicine we select for ourselves. What I have definitely confirmed in my 15+ years of practice, and also in dealing with my own rare and difficult form of disease, is that the body reflects what is occurring on the mental-emotional levels. If the mind says “I am not happy” the body becomes unhappy in a way that reflects that. If the mind says “I am uptight about everything,” the body will reflect that in a very similar way by becoming full of tension. If the mind says “I am bad” and the person’s emotions attacks themselves, the body will reflect that by ‘attacking itself.’ This is a classic pattern I have found in my cases of auto-immune disease. The metaphor I use is that the body is like a faithful puppy dog, always responding to the commands of the mental-emotional levels by reflecting them. Take from all of this that the symptoms of disease in the body are a communication from a higher level that something is “off” inside of us. The symptoms are the barometers, the communication system of the body that say “Hello!!! It’s time to stop and listen!!” To stop and listen is a way of paying attention to the choices we are making not to be. Symptoms, therefore, and illness itself, is a means to get us to get back in touch with our “I AM.” To be.
Drugs Stop us from Hearing the Messages that Symptoms Carry
Enter in the Pharmaceutical drug, or, in our modern times, the Nutraceutical supplement. What are these designed to do? These drugs and supplements target the manifestation of the symptoms at the body level and do nothing to address the underlying cause of the illness. They therefore remove the communication system that is expressing that something is “off.” You’re driving way too fast and the speedometer reads that you’re doing the speed limit. The house is on fire and you have no way of knowing because the little monkeys inside of the drug are fanning the smoke detector vigorously to prevent it from reading that there’s any problem. What is the faithful puppy dog supposed to do? On the one hand, the body reflects what the mind is doing. When the mind is doing something that is not aligned with our true nature, the body reflects that through symptoms of illness. When the drug begins acting, it is attempting to force the body to stop manifesting those symptoms. In naturopathic medicine, this is called the suppression of symptoms. How confusing it is for our body to be given commands that are acting in completely opposite directions?
Physiological Adaptation & The Rebound Effect – Drugs Strengthen the Disease
As a result, there are two things that occur during a course of treatment on drugs or supplements that really proves that drugs and supplements are not our friends***. These phenomena are well-known in both conventional and naturopathic medicine. They are called physiological adaptation and the rebound effect. In physiological adaptation, the dose of a drug or supplement has to be increased over time to continue to keep the symptoms of the disease in check. Why is that? It is because the faithful puppy dog is being given a command from the mental-emotional center that it must obey. So when a drug comes along that gives it an opposite directive, the body must fight against the drug. As it fights against the drug, the body strengthens in its expression of the symptoms. In other words, by giving suppressive drugs or supplements, we are actually strengthening the disease. Isn’t that ironic? Another indication that drugs are causing a strengthening of the disease is the rebound effect. The rebound effect occurs when a drug is stopped and the symptoms have a sudden increase in intensity and amplitude. Like a person trying to prevent a door from closing, imagine the faithful puppy dog pushing back against the drug as it is attempting to push the body in the direction opposing the expression of symptoms. Then suddenly, the drug is removed. The person lurches forward because of its momentum in attempting to push against the door. The same occurs in the body of a person who has a drug removed. Both these phenomena indicate that taking drugs strengthens our disease. More importantly, taking a drug is not healing. It is suppressive. It is not a choice to do something healing. It does not bring about a lasting correction. It does not listen to and address what it causing a problem. It is therefore the most quintessential choice not to be that we can make in medicine.
Choose Health – Choose To Be
Seek out those practitioners that will help you understand what the symptoms of the body are telling you. Ask for it. Seek practitioners that work in harmony with the healing power of Nature to help correct disease at its root cause. This represents a choice To Be in medicine.
There really is only one choice. To be. Everything else is an illusion.
*** In some rare cases, a drug or supplement that treats the symptoms of disease may be necessary where a patient is overwhelmed and unable to embark on the path – “To be” – in medicine.
** The top medicines that work in harmony with the healing power of Nature include, Homeopathy, Holistic Counseling (the Vis Dialogue) and other forms of counseling and psychotherapy that help a patient arrive at the awareness of their problem, cranio-sacral therapy, osteopathy (when it is hands on). Healthy nutrition is fine. Nutritional support is fine. Using supplements to combat disease is not in harmony with the healing power of Nature.
Moshe Daniel Block, ND, HMC is the author of The Revolution of Naturopathic Medicine: Remaining True to Our Philosophy, a book about the philosophy and practice of naturopathic medicine. He graduated from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (Toronto, Ontario) in 2000. Dr Block then went on to complete the Homeopathic Master Clinician course with Louis Klein, FSHom, in 2003. He specializes in autoimmune illness and myasthenia gravis, a disease he was personally diagnosed as having and from which he has healed himself. He teaches the very wisdom and knowledge that helped him heal himself and others in his Holistic Counseling course for NDs, students, and other health care professionals. Some of the other projects Dr Block has worked on can be found at his private practice website, his book website, and his global website.