Homeopathy and the Future of Medicine: A Report from the Future (Part II)
The future is always full of more changes than one can ever imagine. In the 20th century, skeptics thought that homeopathy was dead. Yet reports on the death of homeopathy had been greatly exaggerated
This previously article was from a presentation made at the National Center for Homeopathy's Annual Conference, April, 1988, San Mateo, California. References to events occurring prior to 1988 are based on fact. All other events after this time are based on conjecture. This article was originallly published at the HuffingtonPost (August 26, 2014).
PART I of this article began in THIS way:
Captain's Log, Star Date April 29th, 2096. Captain Dana T.Kirk reporting. Star Fleet has asked me to speak at this centennial celebration of the re-establishment of Hahnemann Homeopathic Hospital in San Francisco. It is also the 300th anniversary of Samuel Hahnemann's first writings about the science and art of homeopathic medicine. It is indeed an honor to have these ceremonies transmitted to our Federation's 38 space stations and to our colleagues in neighboring galaxies. This celebration is meant to honor this hospital and this city, both of which helped spawn a major revolution in medicine and science.
PART II begins below (REMEMBER: Because THIS article was written in 1988 (!), any references to dates AFTER this time are purely conjecture on my part!). Please note that it is true today that virtually every medical school in the USA now has coureses in “alternative and complementary medicine,” though a common words for such courses these days is “Integrative health care.”
Medical Care in the 21st Century
By 2010, the vast majority of physicians and healers worked in a group practice. A collaborative model of health services was offered, in which a team of practitioners work with an activated patient who plays an integral part as a member of the health care team. Virtually all practitioners utilize homeopathy, nutrition, breathing techniques, therapeutic yoga, color therapy and emotive-attitudinal work. Certain people specialize in homeopathy, others in acupuncture, others in body therapies, and others in what has become known as energy work.
Speaking of "energy work," something should be said about the concept of "energy." In the 1970s and 1980s the concept of "energy" in relationship to healing was derided as some vague, new age poppycock.
It took the seminal writings of a meteorologist who also was a student of homeopathy to help people understand the concept of energy in a more simple way. Dr. Gregory Weinstein utilized a meteorological metaphor, noting how wind and high and low air pressure are the primary determinants to the planet's weather, and that wind and air pressure are forces in nature that cannot be seen. Dr. Weinstein described the obvious: that the more one knows about wind and high and low pressure patterns, the more accurately one can predict weather patterns. Likewise, the energy of the body, whether it be called chi, prana, or vital force, is an invisible but tangible force. Analysis of the energy flow within the body can provide vital diagnostic and prognostic information to the practitioner, and by harnessing and balancing this bioenergy, the bodymind is able to heal itself.
We today know the important role that homeopathic medicines played in breaking the prejudice against bioenergetic concepts in healing. Even the skeptics of bioenergetic medicine had to admit that the medicines had dramatic effects on people's health, thereby conceded some basis to bioenergetic healing. It is indeed ironic that such an ancient concept such as energy in healing would also become a modern, even futurist, concept.
As for other developments in medicine in the 21st century, I should remind everyone that in the 1980s the costs of medical care rose as high as 12% of America's gross national product. This figure is quite startling to us today in 2096, since the costs for medical care amount to less than 2% of the western hemisphere's budget. The sharp decline in cost was directly connected to the growth of homeopathic medicine, acupuncture, and bioenergetic therapies.
As the result of the significant cost savings that homeopathic care was providing, major corporations began to play an important role in promoting homeopathy by providing scholarships to those medical professionals who want to be retrained. The health insurance and life insurance companies that encouraged their insurees to seek homeopathic care proved to the corporate world that homeopathy could save much money for individuals and companies. Health maintenance organizations and paid provider organizations had some inherent incentives to utilize homeopathic medicines, and they began using them considerably before the individual private practitioner.
As one might have predicted, the government was much slower in accepting and supporting homeopathic practice, but once they assumed total financial responsibility for every person's health care at the turn of the 21st century, the government developed incentive programs for the retraining of physicians to homeopathic and bioenergetic therapeutics. The government also infused much research monies and resources to the scientific investigation of homeopathy.
The increase in homeopathic care ultimately led to a sharp decline in the number of doctors. First of all, there was not as much need for as many physicians since the new medical care that was offered was working. Secondly, many physicians did not want to attend retraining programs. Third, the government assumed the role of health care provider, thereby making health care free for all. Many physicians did not want to be employed by the government, especially since this was to result in a significant decrease in wages. Sociologists and economists who have studied medical care and medical care costs discovered how much more medical care was previously offered when the physician profited from it. And fourth, a growing number of citizens were effectively using homeopathy and other self-care treatments to reduce the need for doctor visits. The emergence of homeopathic software programs for at-home use in 1992 played an important role in this self-care revolution.
Medical care in the 21st century has become as high-touch as it has become high-tech. Self-care with homeopathic medicines, herbs, good nutrition and nutritional supplements, body therapies, yogic postures, and breathing exercises have become a regular part of most people's lives.
This effective health care has made utilization of the high-tech developments relatively rare, and it has led to the closure of many hospitals. In fact, Hahnemann Homeopathic Hospital is one of only three hospitals remaining in San Francisco. Now that so much health care can be provided on an out-patient basis, there is little need for hospitals. Plato asserted in his Republic "that a sure sign of a bad city is one with many doctors and hospitals." It is remarkable that just a century ago people took pride in the fact that their city had lots of doctors and lots of hospitals.
Back in 1980, the respected and staid American Council of Life Insurance published a forecast of health care in the year 2030. Their report stated, "The newly established Cooperative Commission on Wellness placed substantial reliance on community-based healers as educators. Osteopaths, acupuncturists, massage therapists, ethnic healers and allopathically trained diagnosticians had equal status--and roughly equal earnings."
We today know that this forecast was not radical, but actually quite conservative. Besides the serious omission of homeopathy from the forecast, we today know that these changes in medicine took place considerably before 2030.
I realize that some of you cannot imagine such revolutionary changes in such a short period of time. But let me remind you of that if any person in 1988 were to take a time machine back just 25 years, you would be shocked at the everyday life of the time. The workplace would not have computers, and most may not even have electric typewriters. Copying machines did not exist, and phone machines were a long 15 years to come. Smokestacks would bellow smoke into the air, and the conservation movement was little more than an anti-litter campaign. Outright discrimination against women, the elderly, and various races of people was pervasive. Women were judged more on how clean and shiny they kept their floor than much else. Black people were riding in the back of buses and drinking from separate fountains. And anyone who ate bran was considered a health nut.
The future is always full of more changes than one can ever imagine. Over a century ago, some people thought that homeopathy was dead. At one conference in 1988, it was formally announced that reports on the death of homeopathy had been greatly exaggerated.
And today, as we look throughout this auditorium at our fellow colleagues from the Andromeda Galaxy and the Pleiades, we can feel a sense of real accomplishment that we Earthlings have made some contributions to homeopathy, even though they have utilized the homeopathic principle for centuries longer than we have.
It is, of course, ironic that my great-grandfather Dana Ullman's son would become an allopath, but I'm certain that he would feel that justice and virtue has prevailed as the result of the fact that his son's daughter, my mother, is presently the President of the Homeopathic Society of Earth.
In closing, I must give personal thanks to homeopathy for saving my own life. While on a space mission just five years ago, I contracted a Neptunian virus. Without the carefully selected and timed doses of Sulphur and, of course, Phosphorous, I would not be here to honor this hospital and to honor you.
Live long and prosper.
BIO:
DANA ULLMAN, MPH, CCH, received his Bachelor’s degree (1975) and his masters in public health from UC Berkeley (1978). UC Berkeley’s alumni magazine published a feature interview with Dana Ullman here.
He is one of America’s leading advocates for homeopathy. He has authored 10 books, including The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy, Homeopathy A-Z, Homeopathic Medicines for Children and Infants, Discovering Homeopathy, and (the best-selling) Everybody’s Guide to Homeopathic Medicines (with Stephen Cummings, MD). Dana also created an e-course How to Use a Homeopathic Medicine Kit which integrates 80 short videos with his famous ebook that is a continually growing resource to 400+ clinical studies published in peer-review medical journals testing homeopathic medicines. This ebook is entitled Evidence Based Homeopathic Family Medicine.
Dana Ullman has also authored chapters on homeopathic medicine that included in medical textbooks published by Oxford University Press, the American Academy of Pain Management, and Mosby.
He is the founder of Homeopathic Educational Services, also known as www.homeopathic.com, America’s leading resource center for homeopathic books, tapes, medicines, software, and e-courses. Homeopathic Educational Services has co-published over 40 books on homeopathy with North Atlantic Books.
Dana previously wrote a regular column for the popular website, www.huffingtonpost.com (to access these articles, click HERE!)