Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Because the solution lies not outside but within
Sri Aurobindo International Institute for Integral Health and Research (SAIIIHR)
SAIIIHR is based on the vision of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in the field of health. Here health and illness are studied from a total perspective. This means, that each individual is taken as an evolving soul, in an evolving earth.
Each individual also carries within itself different levels i.e. the body (the physical), the emotions and energies (vital) and the mind (mental). Harmony at all these levels brings health. Disequilibrium brings disease. As the earth is still evolving, and human beings are in a process of change, illnesses are becoming common.
At SAIIIHR we try to create the equilibrium again by rediscovering our deeper self.
So SAIIIHR revolves around the cardinal concepts of health as 'harmony’ and the discovery of the ‘psychic’ (soul principle).
Practitioners of any system of medicine can help bringing back this harmony. So all systems of medicine can be practiced here. Yet no system or discipline appears to have found a universal acceptance or cure for all diseases and health for most people still remains just a dream. Perhaps this is so because the solution lies not outside but within us.
It is to find an answer to man’s long felt need of perfect health and wholesome living that SAIIIHR has been established.
Each individual also carries within itself different levels i.e. the body (the physical), the emotions and energies (vital) and the mind (mental). Harmony at all these levels brings health. Disequilibrium brings disease. As the earth is still evolving, and human beings are in a process of change, illnesses are becoming common.
At SAIIIHR we try to create the equilibrium again by rediscovering our deeper self.
So SAIIIHR revolves around the cardinal concepts of health as 'harmony’ and the discovery of the ‘psychic’ (soul principle).
Practitioners of any system of medicine can help bringing back this harmony. So all systems of medicine can be practiced here. Yet no system or discipline appears to have found a universal acceptance or cure for all diseases and health for most people still remains just a dream. Perhaps this is so because the solution lies not outside but within us.
It is to find an answer to man’s long felt need of perfect health and wholesome living that SAIIIHR has been established.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
A holistic view of health-related matters
NEW APPROACHES TO MEDICINE AND HEALTH (NAMAH)
NAMAH is published quarterly, in April, July, October and January. It has about 60 pages. You can write to us at:
NAMAH, Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry 605 001, India.namah@sriaurobindosociety.org.in Å 91-0413-2336396/97/98
NAMAH is a journal dedicated to the cause of an integral approach to psychology, health and medicine. The basic concept is that a human being is a complex whole constituted by the body, the emotional nature, the mind and, behind all these, the core self - soul or spirit.
NAMAH is published quarterly, in April, July, October and January. It has about 60 pages. You can write to us at:
NAMAH, Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry 605 001, India.namah@sriaurobindosociety.org.in Å 91-0413-2336396/97/98
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
The human being is a sub-unit of the universe
HEALTH: AN INTEGRAL APPROACH
Health has evolved over the centuries as a concept from individual concern to world wide social goal and encompasses the whole life. The concept of health will be keep on evolving so long as man's quest for better life continues. A human being is an integrated whole where the different parts of his being i.e. the physical, vital, mental and spiritual work in a harmonious equilibrium. Health is the outer expression of this deep Harmony between them. Therefore any single dimension of health cannot be considered in isolation, as the human organism works, as an integrated whole always, whether performing its normal functions or defending itself from morbific stimuli. As life situations keep changing one has to adjust constantly to maintain this equilibrium. Therefore to be healthy is a dynamic phenomenon, and not a state to be attained once and for all, but ever to be renewed.
Illness
The integrity and equilibrium of the "body, life, mind and soul" can break at any time and reduce the normal resistance of the body manifesting in the form of illness or abnormal behaviours, crimes, riots, ethnic conflict and meaninglessness in life. The Mother says,
"An illness of the body is always the outer expression and translation of a disorder, a disharmony in the inner being."
The nature and severity of the illness corresponds to the nature of the disharmony and is expressed by symptoms. Symptoms through their symbolism reveal the patient's current problems. Therefore symptoms are not enemies to be fought, resented and destroyed by any means, fair or foul. Instead the symptoms are a partner, capable of helping one to discover what is lacking in our consciousness, in our inner being. Therefore illness gives us a chance to progress.
"An illness of the body is always the outer expression and translation of a disorder, a disharmony in the inner being."
The nature and severity of the illness corresponds to the nature of the disharmony and is expressed by symptoms. Symptoms through their symbolism reveal the patient's current problems. Therefore symptoms are not enemies to be fought, resented and destroyed by any means, fair or foul. Instead the symptoms are a partner, capable of helping one to discover what is lacking in our consciousness, in our inner being. Therefore illness gives us a chance to progress.
Cure
Just as the concept of health is changing so also the concept of disease, its cause, cure, role of medicines and role of physicians is changing based on a new thought.To become healthy once again one has to move from the plane of chaos and disharmony to a higher plane of harmony. And this necessitates a growth in consciousness. This movement might meet with resistance resulting in the chronicity of illness and frequent relapses or exacerbations. Therefore it is left to the individual whether he wants to grow in his consciousness and bring back the harmony or prefer to suffer and ultimately succumb to illness by disability and death. The physician can 'use' the hour of crisis as a means and spring board for the patient to launch higher and deeper within himself.
The Integral Way
The purpose of healing is not just to return a body or mind back to what society considers normal. Rather, the goal is to become better, more enlightened, or stronger than before in some way. The ideal condition would be a remarkable union of body, mind and spirit. As The Mother exactly puts it,
"An illness of the body is always the outer expression and translation of a disorder, a disharmony in the inner being; unless this inner disorder is healed, the outer cure cannot be total and permanent."
An integral approach assumes great importance as it focuses on the very aim and goal of life itself. It is neither a mere mixing of various approaches, nor is it a new system or a special technique. It is called 'integral' because here the human being is considered in totality along with the universe of which he is a subunit. It is a multidimensional approach encompassing all levels of consciousness i.e. physical, vital, mental and spiritual including all types of forces acting upon the various levels, dealing with both the internal self and external self. Healing means to rediscover and restore communication with our inner self. - Dr. Arati Sharma
"An illness of the body is always the outer expression and translation of a disorder, a disharmony in the inner being; unless this inner disorder is healed, the outer cure cannot be total and permanent."
An integral approach assumes great importance as it focuses on the very aim and goal of life itself. It is neither a mere mixing of various approaches, nor is it a new system or a special technique. It is called 'integral' because here the human being is considered in totality along with the universe of which he is a subunit. It is a multidimensional approach encompassing all levels of consciousness i.e. physical, vital, mental and spiritual including all types of forces acting upon the various levels, dealing with both the internal self and external self. Healing means to rediscover and restore communication with our inner self. - Dr. Arati Sharma
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Metallic generation from sulfur and mercury
Even geniuses of the first order, like Isaac Newton, found alchemy irresistible. It was an accepted method of seeking knowledge — or confirmation of received truth — in early modern history. Newton, whose laws of gravity and optics ushered in modern physics, also delved into alchemy with relentless energy. His notebooks contain thousands of pages on alchemic thoughts and experiments over 30 years.
William R. Newman, a professor of the history and philosophy of science at Indiana University, said many manuscripts had not received the scrutiny they deserved. He reported on a text in theSmithsonian Institution that he called “an overlooked gem.” In these notebook entries, Newton cited the ideas of German alchemists for imitating the processes by which metals were generated in nature, deep inside the earth. These involved the familiar alchemical theory of metallic generation through interactions of sulfur and mercury.
But Newton, expanding on the theory, wrote: “These two spirits above all wander over the earth and bestow life on animals and vegetables. And they makes stones, salts and so forth.” As Dr. Newman noted, “Thus we have passed from a theory of mere metallic generation to one that is intended to explain the totality of life on earth, as well as the production of all mineral materials, not just metallic ones.”
In this sense, Dr. Newman continued, Newton’s repeated experiments for the rest of his life were aimed at fulfilling the words of the Emerald Tablet of Hermes, considered the founding text of alchemy in ancient Egypt. Newton expected to achieve what the tablet said was the una res, “the one thing” by which “the world was created” and with which one could “perform miracles.” So it seems that Newton was no ordinary alchemist interested in making gold. He apparently aspired to a theory of alchemy more comprehensive than even his laws of gravity.
But it could be said, in a paraphrase of Newton’s famous expression of modesty, that the giants on whose shoulders he stood in this endeavor did not measure up to his antecedents in physics and astronomy. Newton’s alchemical bent was not out of character, Dr. Smith of Columbia said. “He was drawn to the occult,” she said. “Gravity for him was an occult force, and so was alchemy as an explanation of how things transform into other things.”
The British chemist Robert Boyle, a Newton contemporary, also had a foot on each side of the alchemy-modern science divide. He dabbled for years in an alchemical obsession, the search for the philosopher’s stone — the long-sought agent for transmuting lead to gold and unlocking other material and spiritual secrets. The stone was the unified theory of everything in that time. Boyle wrote enviously in 1680 that “there exists conceal’d in the world” a group of chemists “of a much higher order able to transmute baser Metalls into perfect ones.”
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