“The human body is often likened to a high performance machine…”
So begins an article I saw today in the Daily Mail by the wonderful Bill Bryson. Bryson goes on to implore us to behold the wonder of our bodies.
But it set me thinking how differently homeopaths conceive of our bodies than most conventional medics. Most graduates from medical school do think of the body like a car with an engine with more or less replaceable parts. But it goes further than that. Disease is seen as something separate from us. Something we need to fight, whether it be bacteria, viruses or cancer. Even the language use is indicative: We say “I have a flu” (the flu is separate from us); might it be more accurate to say “I am flu-ing.”? And this leads to an aggressive concept of drugging to counter the perceived external threat with anti-biotics, anti inflammatories, anti-depressants etc.
Homeopathy has a radically different idea. Firstly symptoms are not the disease. Imagine the oil light in your car comes on ( a symptom of low oil). The conventional medical parallel would be to rip out the car light or at least stop it from lighting up. But then when the engine fails everyone denies the connection. Just an unrelated incident.
Homeopaths have a concept that the medics may think of as pure woo-woo! The “Vital Force”. Sounds a bit Star Wars doesn’t it. But in fact the Vital Force exists in many traditional medicine cultures (in India it’s “Ki”; in China it’s known as “Qi”)
The Vital Force in homeopathy is the energy field that keeps us healthy but also produces symptoms if there is a disorder within the system. Note! The symptoms are not the disorder, they are just signs of disorder. Once the disorder is corrected the symptoms will disappear. The homeopathic remedy simply gives the body the information it needs that allows it to come back into alignment with the vital force. 
So next time you have a flu, a headache or a tummy upset you might want to thank your body’s wonderful intelligent Vital Force for letting you know there is a disorder in your system. And may the Vital Force be with you!
