Suppose for a moment that at some point in the future we managed to create an extremely sophisticated artificial intelligence that was infinitely more intelligent than us. Then imagine that the AI we created went on to create a new life form, a hybrid of sorts between a robot and a mammal.
Now, considering that humans and animals get sick, and computers get bugs and glitches, it is fair I would say to imagine that this newly created species may experience some forms of "sickness." If you or I were to attempt to imagine what form these ailments would take and how they would affect this new hybrid species, we would of course fail. Our minds could not conceive of such things.
However, what we should be able to agree on, regardless of our inability to imagine what illness looks like to a half-tiger, half-iPhone type of being, is that for a member of this new species to seek answers on how to get better from us rather than from their maker would be entirely silly - for the AI would know far better than us how to heal its own creation.
So why is it that we do not find it silly that so many of us put our trust in self-proclaimed healers - mere men and women, to help us recover when we have injured ourselves or fallen sick? Do we really believe that doctors and nurses or the drug companies they work at the behest of, know more about how to heal an organic life form than nature itself?
We know already the human body is committed to healing itself. We need not petition a cut on our arm or leg to clot and begin to regenerate tissue - it does it automatically whether we want it to or not. Just as we might be silly enough to eat something toxic, but our body will be smart enough to know it doesn't belong in us and cause us to vomit in response. Our bodies are constantly attempting to get better and tougher and stronger and more capable, and it is only we who get in the way of its goal by thinking we know better than it what it needs.
How amazing is it that if we play a guitar and damage our fingertips, our skin will understand that it needs to be stronger and in an attempt to adapt, grow calluses upon them to protect us from damaging them again? And if we lift heavy weights until our muscles tear apart and we cannot lift any longer, those muscles somehow know to not only repair themselves, but to improve themselves so that we might lift heavier weights for longer when they've recovered - is that not worthy of your awe?
Stepping beyond the human body, to the totality of nature itself, I'd ask you to consider how astounding is it that the thing we erroneously label "waste," when expelled from us, is fit as nourishment for other lifeforms on the Earth? And how extraordinary is it that plant life can detect overpopulation of nearby animal species based on the percentage of its foliage being consumed, and in response to this, synthesise oestrogenic compounds that will in turn lower the population to ensure there remains enough food for all?
Nature has the ability, somehow, to adapt and improve, to repair and to rejuvenate. - and seemingly even to govern. This is more than mere efficiency. This is nothing short of magic. And these are but a mere handful of examples of how far beyond intelligent nature is when compared to you or I.
So I ask again; why would one trust man more so than the creator of man when it comes to health and recovery? Why do we not, when we injure ourselves or become ill, trust our own magnificent bodies to deal with any problems on their own? This seems like the logical approach to getting better from where I am sitting. But it's not what people do. Instead, while the body is committing resources to solving the problems we made for it, we poison ourselves with pharmaceutical drugs, and the healing process must be delayed so the body's resources can be expended on ensuring the poison we ingested does not kill us.
Why do you think it is that when we are sick we often lose our appetite? I would wager it is not the sickness itself that causes the loss of appetite, but it is a response from our body that causes us to lose our appetite - its way of saying to us "stop eating for a while so I can commit all these resources to healing instead of digesting or filtering out toxins contained in the food." This is surely why animals seem to instinctively fast when they are seriously injured. Do we really believe they are smart enough to understand that they should fast in order to heal faster? More likely it is that their own body has triggered a nauseating response to deter eating so it can get to work on fixing the problem without distraction. Why do you think that fasting is time and time again linked to the number forty? Such as in the case with both Moses and Jesus? Why not fifty days and nights? Why not thirty? Could it be because the number is symbolic, and the number forty is connected to the notion of fortifying the body and making it strong once again - and that this is exactly what fasting does for us?
I have drifted off into the realm of maybe. So let me return to the plane of certainty. Here is what we know for sure;
The human body is a remarkable piece of organic technology - just like all other life forms on the Earth. So incredible it is in fact, that we still after all of our experimenting and studying have no fucking clue how much of it works.
Our bodies heal automatically, and adapt to the lifestyles we lead in a quite magical fashion.
Our bodies have an incentive to heal us for in the process it is healing itself, while those in medical professions and pharmaceutical businesses have an incentive for us to remain sick - or they'd be out of a job and down trillions of dollars.
Our bodies make every effort to expel harmful toxins through various outlets, while doctors encourage us to ingest toxins, or to be injected with sickness to prevent sickness.
The third largest cause of death in at the very least the US, is medical-errors, the brunt of those being misprescribed or overprescribed pharmaceutical drugs.
A considerable amount of recoveries in hospitals are due to a placebo - which does not, by the way, mean that those who receive genuine drugs are not also being healed by their belief the drug will work rather than the drug itself.
So I ask a final time; is it not entirely nonsensical to put your trust in men above their maker - nature itself? And is it not the epitome of arrogance to pick apart and try and fix something that already knows and has demonstrated a highly-sophisticated ability to fix itself if you just leave it the fuck alone?
The next time you get sick; will you take something in the hopes it will make you better? Or simply endure the detoxification process, take a break from poisoning yourself, and trust your own body's ability to heal itself?
I think that this is part of the reason why I have stayed healthy for so long... my parents are very medicine oriented; (they insist that I take medicine every time I get a cold even though I'm 32 years old and can decide for myself), though I often take the offered med to please them, but whenever I'm by myself, I would prefer more natural remedies. I have chaga and reishi infused coffee every day, I want to add more cannabis in there, too, and I eat at least four salads a week. I am still trying to find the best balance of natural herbs and fungi, but I keep getting waylayed by my doctor; she tells me that anything I find on the internet about this subject is stupid and unreliable.
What about 2019?
I ask this question because back in '19, I was diagnosed with a condition called thoracic outlet syndrome, which depending on the type can cause a few different symptoms including blood clots, deformed bones, pain, and all sorts of other inconveniences. I happened to have the arterial kind, and both my top ribs, both right and left, had been deformed since I was born; I had to have a total of three surgeries; one to remove the blood clot that was eventually slowly beginning to kill my right hand (fingertips actually went necrotic at one point, and they were as black as a raven's backside), followed by two others, one to remove my right and left top ribs respectively. In light of what you were saying... how did my body miss the chance to heal itself? If not for conventional medical intervention, I would have lost my hand, at best. As a result of the TOS, too, I now have a perpetually high heart rate, and I am now on a beta blocker, and I have found nothing on the natural spectrum to help with this. Do you know of anything? And then what about the folks who are born with conditions that don't have any natural remedies? Those are always tough calls. I highly suspect though that there are things we haven'tt studied.
evidenced Based Alternative Medicine?
The next question... in light of all of this... how do we get the scientific method applied to alternative medicine? that is something I have been curious about (whenever anyone is trained in the medical field, even here in the US, from what I have witnessed, they tend to lose their natural affinity for nature as a healing method. thoughts? Also... don't get me started on how the FDA destroys nature by making synthetic derivative's of natural remedies; look what they have done to mother Canna, as well as what they could have the potential to do to mushrooms (though I applaud them for finally conceding the fact that psilocybin could have the potential to treat depression.) Also, don't even get me going on how they are trying to find ways to reduce the hallucinogenic affects, stating that medical supervision is needed to take those safely with the hallucinations included, so to speak. On who's authority? I have never tried that sort of thing before, but having to do it in a hospital setting, if you ask me, would destroy the experience. that's all I have for now... but I want this discussion to continue.
I will address all the issues raised in your comment in a post or posts over the coming days. But know that these are things I have considered deeply, and I have personal experience with some of these issues that I think will be valuable to share. I had written already, half a reply which was already three times longer than my original post but for some reason the draft did not save and I wish not for this to occur again, so I will just weave my response to your questions into future posts as I've never had a draft fail to save from the submit page and I am thinking maybe this is a problem exclusive to comments.
But, I appreciate you taking the time to leave such a thoughtful response and I definitely will address your curiosities soon, via articles published within the same community I've posted this one in -#naturalmedicine
I look forward to these posts... very much.
I've a great deal of things to write about as I have been silent for the past few years, studying myself and the world. So, if I have still not done so within a few days, feel free to reply here and remind me to do so.