In Focus - The Making of a Homoeopath - Part I
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1993 Nov / Dec Vol II NO 6.
Dr Gunavante S M.
The choice of homoeopathic practice as a profession cannot and should not, be made without a serious consideration of the various factors involved in choosing this life-time career. We shall consider these factors in Part I of this article and take up other points as to How to make a good Homoeopath in a continuing series.
The first and foremost qualification for a student in choosing this profession in his love of humanity and his keen desire to serve ailing humanity. Is he prepared to take endless trouble in trying to help a suffering patient with the assistance of all the knowledge he has gained, or is available to him as a physician? Is he prepared to take Dr. Samuel Hahnemanns admonition to heart viz, "When we have to do with an art whose aim is the saving of human life, any neglect to make ourselves masters of it, becomes a crime"?
The Scope:
Homoeopathy is not an ordinary science of therapeutics. It is based on
certain laws of nature and as such its scope to relieve suffering is limitless. Dr. H.A.
Roberts says in "The Principles and Art of Cure by Homoeopathy" that the word
"incurable" should rarely, if ever, come from a Homoeopath. Dr. Henry M Smith
echoes, "Nothing seems more unreasonable than considering any disease incurable
simply because it has not yet been cured". Therefore, a conscientious homoeopathic
physician should be prepared to make a thorough search in the vast symptomatology of our
Materia Medica, aided by the Repertories, to find a remedy to match the patients symptoms.
Masters like Roberts, Stuart Close, Margaret Tyler, have reiterated that Homoeopathy is
not for the lazy and indolent. If one wants an easy life and little responsibility, he had
better avoid choosing this profession.
The medical profession is a noble one - calling for the instinctive display of all the noble qualities of sympathy, unselfishness and generosity, regarding the patients welfare as more important than his own comfort or convenience. These qualities are called for in a higher degree on the part of a Homoeopath, since the scope for help and succour through Homoeopathic remedies is so vast that any neglect to make ourselves masters of this science becomes a crime.
Essential Qualities:
- Good Observer
A Homoeopath should be a close and perceptive observer of life, of human affairs, of the cultures and beliefs and practices of families, communities and nations, as well as of the individual patient. He should develop these powers of observation by keeping in touch with reading books on psychology, science, medicine and even history and philosophy. Patients present different facets of their problems and personalities. It is to be expected. Therefore, the Physician should learn not to be carried away by his story, but learn to be objective in viewing and assessing him. Take the rubric, "Emotions predominated by the intellect" which Dr. Parinaz Humranwala arrived at when she found that the patient again and again showed her disinclination to be swayed by any emotions and reduced everything to rational thought, to intellect. Such instances could be multiplied, but this is not the place for them. The gestures, mannerisms, the indecisiveness or slow reaction to questions, his facial expressions and even certain specific information should be elicited - cold, clammy parts, one-sidedness, fidgety hands and feet. Only close observation, which has been developed by conscious effort, will reveal these "objective" symptoms, which are as important as the "subjective" symptoms felt by the patient.
- Knowledge: Human Mind
Without a knowledge of human nature the homoeopathic physician will not be able to easily correlate and analyse the problem of inter-relationship which almost every patient experiences in this complex society. The patient may slur over them, may have compensated for them saying to himself that "I have to live with them, so better accept them as a part of my unfortunate life". It takes a lot of tact and technique to probe and unearth the hidden, unexpressed, undemonstrated feelings and "delusions". The thoughts, feelings, attitudes and proclivities of patients have been shaped by various events in life - which, in turn, have made them mild and yielding, generous and sympathetic liars and braggarts, or hard hearted cruel and unfeeling. They might have had disappointment in love, or ambitions; or grief or overwhelming joy. Sufferings may have made them indifferent to pleasures of life, even indifferent to loved ones, going further to loathing of life and suicidal thoughts. The patient may not reveal his deep inner feelings openly and directly. It is the physicians task to glean them from the snippets of his lifes events.
- Analytical Mind
The Homoeopathic physician needs to develop keen analytical power, learn to analyse the lifes story and draw a firm and pointed conclusion about his present state of mind and disposition. In the ultimate analysis, only when we can diagnose his physical ailments, that our search for the curative remedy will be successful.
- Good Memory
A good memory is an asset in any walk of life, especially so to a Homoeopath. His constant job is to master the peculiar and characteristic features of the large number of remedies in the Materia Medica. Unless these "characteristics" become part and parcel of him, it will not be easy for him to observe their counterpart or similars in the patient. Here again, many remedies have many symptoms in common and the physician who is able to compare and differentiate them, will be more successful. Master prescribers have been found to possess this in a marked degree.
In analysing the characteristics of patients and matching them with the characteristics of seemingly similar remedies, the physician has to rely on his native intelligence. He cannot afford to go by fixed rules, pre-conceived notions, or the cases cured by him or by others in the past. As Dr. J.H Clarke as well as Dr. Margaret Tyler said, homoeopathy must be used with "brain", not with blind faith.
- Total Faith in Homoeopathy
This brings me to the most essential quality which a Homoeopath must possess if he is to make a mark in his profession; that is, an unshakeable faith in the principles of homoeopathy and in the efficacy of the well-selected remedies. There may be moments when, in the face of an intractable case, he feels jittery, his confidence wavers, he feels dis-heartened and is on the point of throwing up his hands. It is at this time that he badly needs this quality of "faith in the homoeopathic principles and remedies". Faith supported by knowledge and a willingness to work hard on a case will give him the courage to go through the darkest hour before the dawn, with equanimity.
Just as we recharge our batteries by drawing inspiration and guidance from great thinkers and practitioners of homoeopathy, is it not our duty to repay our debt and give back to the world by reporting our successes, even failures, and our observations in Homoeopathic Journals? Like the quality of Mercy that blesses him that gives as well as the one who takes, reporting ones experiences also becomes "twice blessed".
It may be that every one may not feel "competent" to fill the bill outlined above one hundred per cent; but if you sincerely TRY YOUR BEST to fulfill it, yours will be the world, my boy, of success and supreme satisfaction - satisfaction of having served humanity to the BEST of your ability, and when the final call comes, of leaving the world better than you found it to be. Remember -
The heights by great men reached and kept, Were not attained by sudden flight; for, they, when their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night.