Tending The Flame (about fevers & more)

[Guest guest]

I really thought Dr. Mercola was the greatest until he mentioned TV as

a cause of autism in one of his articles last month. Now what is THAT?

>

> http://www.mercola.com/2001/jan/7/spiritual_health.htm

>

> Tending The Flame

>

>

> by Philip Incao, M.D.

> Originally Appeared in Lilipoh

>

> Illness has a bipolar nature: on the hot side are the acute contagious

> inflammatory illnesses and on the cold side the chronic degenerative

> illnesses. These are the twin dangers we must navigate on our life's

> journey, as between Scilla and Charybdis, between Fire and Ice.

Throughout

> recorded history the fiery acute inflammatory illnesses have always

> predominated as the chief causes of death because the human constitution

> always tended to the warm side, thus making us susceptible to

inflammations.

>

> But in the brief course of the past 100 years the illness pattern of all

> previous recorded history has suddenly reversed itself, as we've seen.

>

> Now in all developed nations, the cold illnesses prevail: cancer, heart

> disease and stroke in adults; and asthma, allergies, cancer and

> neurological and emotional dysfunction in our children.

>

> What is the deeper meaning of this sudden and profound reversal?

>

> From 1900 to the 1950's the health and survival of children improved

> because the cooling and densifying effect of modern industrial and

> intellectual civilization made them less susceptible to dying from the

> acute contagious inflammations which had claimed children's lives

> throughout history.

>

> After a brief period of healthy balance during the 1950's, children's

> health has worsened since 1960, due to the further intensification

of the

> same cooling and densifying forces which improved their health from

1900 to

> 1950!

>

> We were on the right track, but now we've overshot the mark; we are

out of

> balance!

>

> Children are indeed the canaries in the coal mine. Their distress is

crying

> to us to wake up to the health-weakening and spirit-deadening aspects of

> modern life so that we will understand how to protect and nurture the

> delicate growth and unfolding of their individual spirit. This spiritual

> unfolding is nothing less than a child's entire developmental process!

>

> What we call brain development, neurological maturation and the like are

> the all-important physical effects resulting from a healthy and balanced

> spiritual development.

>

> Like water for fishes, warmth for humans is the indispensable medium

which

> supports and nourishes our humanity at every level of its existence.

> Through warmth we connect. We connect to our family, our friends, our

> teachers, our coworkers, to all humanity, to animals, to plants, to the

> universe!

>

> A growing child must find its inner ground, its center of warmth,

and from

> this solid ground it seeks to connect to other sources of warmth, in an

> ever-widening circle around itself, from immediate family all the way to

> God. But today's child understandably has great difficulty finding its

> connection to the world when that world is portrayed by modern

science and

> education as ultimately an arrangement of atoms and molecules devoid

of any

> higher meaning or purpose, and devoid of any human warmth.

>

> One of the most effective ways to reverse the increasing cooling and

> densifying trend of our children's souls and bodies, and of our own,

is to

> realize the healing, enlightening, spirit-permeating power of feverish

> inflammatory illness.

>

> Seen truly, inflammation is never the real illness; it is always the

> attempt of our immune system to permeate our inner opacity and coldness

> with the spirit's healing warmth and light.

>

> When this attempt is overzealous and threatens our life or functional

> capacity, then we can be very grateful that modern medicine has

empowered

> us with the tools and techniques to suppress and control inflammation.

>

> But we must use that power with discretion!

>

> To suppress all inflammation indiscriminately with antibiotics,

> vaccinations, and anti-inflammatory drugs contributes enormously to just

> this condition of spirit-rejecting density of body and soul I've been

> describing (and lamenting) in this article.

>

> Health is balance after all, thus we must learn to avoid

overshooting that

> balance with our overzealous efforts to " conquer " illness.

>

> The surging consumer interest in Waldorf education and in alternative

> medicine in our country is a sign that our paradigm in medicine and in

> education is shifting.

>

> What is most urgently needed is a widespread awareness of the critical

> difference between healing illness and suppressing it. Healing

empowers our

> spirit; suppression cools down the spirit's activity in the body.

>

> Repeated suppression may hinder the capacity of our human spirit to

express

> itself in us, or may transform our acute illnesses into chronic ones.

>

> The spirit renews as well as destroys, and now that we have the power in

> our technology to modify even the spirit's power, we must acquire the

> discernment to use that power wisely, or else cause our children and

> ourselves great suffering.

>

> The task of healing ourselves, our children, and the Earth is one

and the

> same.

>

> To accomplish this will require a revolution in all aspects of modern

> science, and especially in agriculture, medicine, psychology,

education and

> parenting. It will require enormous enthusiasm and good will. It will

> require of us nothing less than a practical, down-to-earth embodying

of the

> spirit's fiery, renewing power.

>

> People are social creatures, just try to remember we need human

contact

> and warmth more than anything, - Colorado eighth-grader Ash,

> reflecting on the Columbine tragedy

>

> Education is to light a fire, not to fill a bucket. - Heraclitus

>

> A social issue is essentially an educational issue and this in

turn is

> essentially a medical issue, but only if medicine is fertilized with

> spiritual knowledge. - Rudolf Steiner

>

> Fever is the purifying flame which renews the body. - Hippocrates

>

> Some say the world will end in fire,

> Some say in ice.

> From what I've tasted of desire

> I hold with those who favor fire.

> But if it had to perish twice,

> I think I know enough of hate

> To say that for destruction ice

> is also great

> And would suffice. - Frost

>

> Further Reading:

>

> Sapolsky, R., " How the Other Half Heals " , Discover 4/98

>

> Benor, D.J., Healing Research: Holistic Energy Medicine and

> Spirituality. Un. Kingdom: Helix Editions, 1993, Vol. 1.

>

> Locke, S., Hornig-Rohan, M., " Mind and Immunity: Behavioral

Immunology,

> An Annotated Bibliography " 1976-1982 Institute for the Advancement of

> Health, New York 1983.

>

> Sagan, L.A. The Health of Nations. New York: Basic Books, Inca.,

1997.

>

> McKeown, T. The Role of Medicine. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton

> University, 1979.

>

> Mann, D. " Study: 18% of U.S. Children Suffer Chronic Conditions " .

> Medical Tribune, August 13, 1998.

>

> Thanks to Gerhard Bedding of NH Citizens for Health Freedom for

supplying

> this article.

>

> --------------------------------------------------------

> Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

> Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

> Vaccines - http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccine.htm Email classes

start in

> November

>

[Guest guest]

http://www.mercola.com/2001/jan/7/spiritual_health.htm

Tending The Flame

by Philip Incao, M.D.

Originally Appeared in Lilipoh

Illness has a bipolar nature: on the hot side are the acute

contagious inflammatory illnesses and on the cold side the chronic

degenerative illnesses. These are the twin dangers we must navigate

on our life's journey, as between Scilla and Charybdis, between Fire

and Ice. Throughout recorded history the fiery acute inflammatory

illnesses have always predominated as the chief causes of death

because the human constitution always tended to the warm side, thus

making us susceptible to inflammations.

But in the brief course of the past 100 years the illness pattern of

all previous recorded history has suddenly reversed itself, as we've seen.

Now in all developed nations, the cold illnesses prevail: cancer,

heart disease and stroke in adults; and asthma, allergies, cancer and

neurological and emotional dysfunction in our children.

What is the deeper meaning of this sudden and profound reversal?

From 1900 to the 1950's the health and survival of children improved

because the cooling and densifying effect of modern industrial and

intellectual civilization made them less susceptible to dying from

the acute contagious inflammations which had claimed children's lives

throughout history.

After a brief period of healthy balance during the 1950's, children's

health has worsened since 1960, due to the further intensification of

the same cooling and densifying forces which improved their health

from 1900 to 1950!

We were on the right track, but now we've overshot the mark; we are

out of balance!

Children are indeed the canaries in the coal mine. Their distress is

crying to us to wake up to the health-weakening and spirit-deadening

aspects of modern life so that we will understand how to protect and

nurture the delicate growth and unfolding of their individual spirit.

This spiritual unfolding is nothing less than a child's entire

developmental process!

What we call brain development, neurological maturation and the like

are the all-important physical effects resulting from a healthy and

balanced spiritual development.

Like water for fishes, warmth for humans is the indispensable medium

which supports and nourishes our humanity at every level of its

existence. Through warmth we connect. We connect to our family, our

friends, our teachers, our coworkers, to all humanity, to animals, to

plants, to the universe!

A growing child must find its inner ground, its center of warmth, and

from this solid ground it seeks to connect to other sources of

warmth, in an ever-widening circle around itself, from immediate

family all the way to God. But today's child understandably has great

difficulty finding its connection to the world when that world is

portrayed by modern science and education as ultimately an

arrangement of atoms and molecules devoid of any higher meaning or

purpose, and devoid of any human warmth.

One of the most effective ways to reverse the increasing cooling and

densifying trend of our children's souls and bodies, and of our own,

is to realize the healing, enlightening, spirit-permeating power of

feverish inflammatory illness.

Seen truly, inflammation is never the real illness; it is always the

attempt of our immune system to permeate our inner opacity and

coldness with the spirit's healing warmth and light.

When this attempt is overzealous and threatens our life or functional

capacity, then we can be very grateful that modern medicine has

empowered us with the tools and techniques to suppress and control

inflammation.

But we must use that power with discretion!

To suppress all inflammation indiscriminately with antibiotics,

vaccinations, and anti-inflammatory drugs contributes enormously to

just this condition of spirit-rejecting density of body and soul I've

been describing (and lamenting) in this article.

Health is balance after all, thus we must learn to avoid overshooting

that balance with our overzealous efforts to " conquer " illness.

The surging consumer interest in Waldorf education and in alternative

medicine in our country is a sign that our paradigm in medicine and

in education is shifting.

What is most urgently needed is a widespread awareness of the

critical difference between healing illness and suppressing it.

Healing empowers our spirit; suppression cools down the spirit's

activity in the body.

Repeated suppression may hinder the capacity of our human spirit to

express itself in us, or may transform our acute illnesses into chronic ones.

The spirit renews as well as destroys, and now that we have the power

in our technology to modify even the spirit's power, we must acquire

the discernment to use that power wisely, or else cause our children

and ourselves great suffering.

The task of healing ourselves, our children, and the Earth is one and the same.

To accomplish this will require a revolution in all aspects of modern

science, and especially in agriculture, medicine, psychology,

education and parenting. It will require enormous enthusiasm and good

will. It will require of us nothing less than a practical,

down-to-earth embodying of the spirit's fiery, renewing power.

People are social creatures, just try to remember we need human

contact and warmth more than anything, - Colorado eighth-grader

Ash, reflecting on the Columbine tragedy

Education is to light a fire, not to fill a bucket. - Heraclitus

A social issue is essentially an educational issue and this in

turn is essentially a medical issue, but only if medicine is

fertilized with spiritual knowledge. - Rudolf Steiner

Fever is the purifying flame which renews the body. - Hippocrates

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

is also great

And would suffice. - Frost

Further Reading:

Sapolsky, R., " How the Other Half Heals " , Discover 4/98

Benor, D.J., Healing Research: Holistic Energy Medicine and

Spirituality. Un. Kingdom: Helix Editions, 1993, Vol. 1.

Locke, S., Hornig-Rohan, M., " Mind and Immunity: Behavioral

Immunology, An Annotated Bibliography " 1976-1982 Institute for the

Advancement of Health, New York 1983.

Sagan, L.A. The Health of Nations. New York: Basic Books, Inca., 1997.

McKeown, T. The Role of Medicine. Princeton, New Jersey:

Princeton University, 1979.

Mann, D. " Study: 18% of U.S. Children Suffer Chronic

Conditions " . Medical Tribune, August 13, 1998.

Thanks to Gerhard Bedding of NH Citizens for Health Freedom for

supplying this article.