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© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 2
Session Overview
o Define the principle Vis Medicatrix Naturae
o Philosophy of Vitalism
o History of Vitalism
o Spirituality and VMN
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 3
People can study their
life force in the same
way that a master
gardener studies a
rosebush. No gardener
ever made a rose.
When its needs are met
a rosebush will make
roses.
~Rachel Naomi Remen, MD(Pxhere, 2017)
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 4
Naturopathic Principles
o First, Do No Harm (primum non nocere)
o Healing Power of Nature (vis medicatrix naturae)
o Treat the Cause (tolle causam)
o Treat The Whole Person (tolle totum)
o Doctor as Teacher (docere)
o Prevention (preventare)
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 5
Vis Medicatrix Naturae
o The healing power of nature is the inherent self-
organising and healing process of living systems which
establishes, maintains and restores health. Naturopathic
medicine recognises this healing process to be ordered
and intelligent. It is the naturopathic physician's role to
support, facilitate and augment this process by
identifying and removing obstacles to health and
recovery, and by supporting the creation of a healthy
internal and external environment(Zeff & Snider, AANP, 1989)
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 6
Vis Medicatrix Naturae
o Nature acts powerfully through healing mechanisms in
the body and mind to maintain and restore health.
Naturopathic physicians work to restore and support
these inherent healing systems when they have broken
down by using methods, medicines and techniques that
are in harmony with natural processes (Pizzorno & Murray, p.81)
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 7
In considering this definition, what
is the difference between the Vis
Medicatrix Naturae, vitalism, and
vitality?
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 8
Vitalism
o Vitalism is a philosophy, the premise of which is that
nature has an innate and intentional striving that
perpetuates life in a self-sustaining and purposive
manner.
o The historical Western influences of naturopathy are
important to explore and ground the philosophy.
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 9
Historical Emergence of Vitalism
o Animism is the oldest known type of belief system,
holding that objects, places and creatures all possess a
distinct spiritual essence.
o Essentialism from Platonic idealism described ‘essence’
(which characterises a substance or a form) as
permanent, unalterable, eternal; and present in every
possible world (Bird, 2009).
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 10
Historical Emergence of Vitalism
o Hippocratic medicine believed organisms left alone can
often heal themselves.
o Pneuma (πνεῦμα) and psyche (ψυχή) are words used to
define breath, breath of life, spirit and soul and was
thought to have originated as a concept of Anaximenes.
o Galen, for example, believed that the ‘pneuma zoticon’
derived from the air was responsible for the source of the
vital fire in the left ventricle of the year (Gilbert, 1981)
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 11
Historical Emergence of Vitalism
o Intelligent design (Socrates), suggests the order of
nature showed evidence of having its own human-like
"intelligence"
o Teleological argument (Aristotle), suggests a cosmic
intelligence is responsible for the natural order, but a
"creator" is not required to physically make and maintain
this order
o Teleology is the belief that things are purposeful and
aimed towards a goal.
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 12
Historical Emergence of Vitalism
o Naturphilosophie was founded by German Romantics
(18th and 19th century) and is a theory of the unity of
nature which attempted to achieve a speculative unity of
nature and spirit.
o They held the view of the natural world as a kind of giant
organism.
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 13
Historical Emergence of Vitalism
o Gaia hypothesis (James Lovelock, Lynn Margulis)
asserts that living organisms and their inorganic
surroundings have evolved together as a single living
system that greatly affects the chemistry and conditions
of Earth’s surface
o Biophillia hypothesis (Erich Fromm, E.O. Wilson) is the
urge to affiliate with and love other forms of life. The
psychological orientation of being attracted to all that is
alive and vital. Suggesting that connection with nature
will lead to conservational efforts, positive psychological
development etc.
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 14
Vitalism in Other Whole Medical
Systems
Eastern Whole Medical Systems
o Ayurvedic medicine – prana
o Tibetan medicine - prana
o Traditional Chinese medicine – chi/qi
Western Whole Medical Systems
o Unani-Tibb medicine - Quwwat-e-mudabbira
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 15
Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets
of nature and you will find that, behind all the
discernible concatenations, there remains something
subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this
force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my
religion.
~ Albert Einstein, Response to atheist, Alfred Kerr (1927)
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 16
Spirituality, Religion and VMN
o Spirituality is seen as a search or quest for the sacred in
life, a seeking of answers to life's most meaningful and
vital questions.
o Religion is described as the organised system of beliefs,
practices and rituals and symbols that are designed to
facilitate closeness with the sacred and provide the
average person with moral and social guidelines for
behaviour. (Grant, 2012)
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 17
History of Spirituality and
Religion in Naturopathy
o Nature-cure hygienists, e.g. Kneipp, Kloss, Lindlhar,
were Christian men who taught that living by nature's
laws was a way of obeying God's will.
o They saw illness as happening to those who did not
follow the laws of nature, and that a return to health,
whilst incorporating sunshine, fresh air, rest and
wholesome food, also meant living a moral life.(Grant, 2012)
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 18
History of Spirituality and
Religion in Naturopathy
o Benedict Lust was influenced by the writings of Mary
Baker Eddy and Christian Science and Helen Wilmans’
Mental Science. Both suggest disease is in the mind.
o Christian Science - reality is purely spiritual, the material
world an illusion. Avoids medical treatment, relying
instead on Christian Science prayer.
o Mental Science - intellectual growth leads to ultimate and
perfect redemption from all the ills of life, including
disease, old age, poverty and death (Wilmans, 1902)
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 19
Opposed Philosophy
o Socratic method - logic, objective science
o Materialism/physicalism/naturalism
o Reductionism
o Mechanism/pathological mechanism
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 20
Homoeostasis and VMN
o The vis medicatrix naturae in a clinical practice context is
defined by Zeff et al. (2012) as the tendency for
physiological systems to gain equilibrium via intentional
self-organisational processes.
o This is open to metaphysical or naturalistic interpretation.
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 21
Homoeostasis and VMN
o Through most of the twentieth century, biology’s image
as a valid science has been gauged by how closely it
adheres to the norms of “objective” sciences like
physics, chemistry and mathematics.
o Homoeostasis is an example of a living system whose
properties including purposefulness, design, and
intentionality. (Turner, 2013)
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 22
Homoeostasis and VMN
o Walter Cannon's notion of homeostasis had its origins in
vis medicatrix naturae.
o "All that I have done thus far in reviewing the various
protective and stabilising devices of the body is to
present a modern interpretation of the natural vis
medicatrix” (Cross & Albury, 1987)
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 23
Vis Medicatrix Naturae
in Clinical Practice
Naturopathic Therapies:
o Diet/nutrition
o Lifestyle/hygienics
o Homoeopathy
o Flower essences
o Hydrotherapy
o Herbalism
o Various types of energy medicine
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 24
Vital Force
o (Philosophy) A basic force, independent of physical and
chemical forces, regarded as being the causative factor
of the evolution and development of living organisms (Collins English Dictionary, n.d.)
o (Noun) The energy or spirit which animates living
creatures; the soul (Oxford Dictionaries, n.d.)
o Vis medicatrix naturae defines health as good vitality
where the vital force flows energetically through a
person’s being, sustaining and replenishing us, whereas
ill health is a disturbance of vital energy (Connolly, 2014, p.3)
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 25
Vital Force in Homoeopathy
The material organism, without the vital force, is capable
of no sensation, no function, no self-preservation, it
derives all sensation and performs all the functions of life
solely by means of the immaterial being (the vital
principle) which animates the material organism in health
and in disease.
~Hahnemann, Organon of Medicine
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 26
Vitality
o Vitality is the manifestation of the VMN in an organism.
o The VMN is always there, while the vitality can be lower
or higher in an individual
o This can be due to numerous factors: genetic potential,
stressors and the effects on the body, nutrition/lifestyle
o Assessing the individual’s vitality can be a useful
diagnostic tool for treatment interventions.
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 27
Vitality in Clinical Practice
o How do you know when your vitality is low? What are the
external and internal signs and symptoms?
o What are signs of high vitality? Low vitality?
o How do you increase your vitality?
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 28
Your deepest roots are in nature. No matter who
you are, where you live, or what kind of life you
lead, you remain irrevocably linked to the rest of
creation.
~Charles Cook
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 29
"What then do I mean tonight by the healing power of nature? I mean to
refer to the way in which Nature ministers to our minds, all more or less
diseased by the rush and racket of civilization, and helps to steady and
enrich our lives. My first point is that there are deeply-rooted, old
established, far-reaching relations between Man and Nature which we
cannot ignore without loss... there would be less "psychopathology of
everyday life" if we kept up our acquaintance... we have put ourselves
beyond a very potent vis medicatrix if we cease to be able to wonder at
the at the grandeur of the star-strewn sky, the mystery of the
mountains, the sea eternally new, the way of the eagle in the air, the
meanest flower that blows, the look in a dog's eye.“.
Professor J. Arthur Thomson "Vis Medicatrix Naturae"
Keynote Address at the Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association, 1914.
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 30
Connection to Nature
o Naturphilosophie is a pantheist philosophy of Nature as
an all-pervading force and higher power that ordered the
universe. It held that knowledge was only attainable by
those who truly appreciated and respected nature.
o Biophilia is “the connections that human beings
subconsciously seek with the rest of life”. It encourages
us to understand other organisms and in doing so place
greater value on them and ourselves. (Wilson, 1984)
o What do we gain by reconnecting to nature?
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 31
The more high-tech we become, the more
nature we need.
~ Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 32
Connection to Nature
o Richard Louv coined the phrase “Nature Deficit Disorder”
in his book Last Child in the Woods (Louv, 2005).
o Nature Deficit Disorder is a description of the human
costs of alienation from nature.
o Louv (2005) argues it to be a causative factor in the rise
of behavioural and metabolic issues in both children and
adults.
o How can we bring nature back into our lives?
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 33
Connection to Nature
o How do naturopaths utilise the healing power of nature
that comes from outside the patient?
o A natural substance or force correctly taken in by the
patient is bringing the healing power of nature to that
client
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 34
In every culture and in every medical tradition
before ours, healing was accomplished by
moving energy.
~Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 35
Modern Energy Medicine
o Concept refers to two kinds of energy fields:
o Veritable: can be measured, examples include
vibrational energy (sound), and electromagnetic forces
such as visible light, magnetism and monochromatic
radiation (lasers).
o Putative: cannot be measured quantitatively with current
technology, examples include acupuncture,
homoeopathy, flower essences, reiki, prayer.
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 36
Modern Energy Medicine
Common therapeutic concepts
o Belief in universal substance (vitalism – the VMN, vital
force, primal energy, or vibration)
o Human beings are a network of complex energy fields
that interface with physical/cellular systems
o Use of energy to positively affect energetic systems that
are out of balance
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 37
Ending Quote for the Day
Now we face overwhelming evidence that we are not
smart enough to recover Eden by assault . . . . We see
how everything—the whole world—is belittled by the
idea that all creation is moving or ought to move
toward an end that some body, some human body,
has thought up.
~Wendell Berry
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 38
ReferencesCollins English Dictionary. (n.d.). Vital Force. Retrieved from
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/vital-force
Connolly, G. (2014). Naturopathic case taking. In Sarris & Wardle (Eds.), Clinical naturopathy
2e. An evidence-based guide to practice. Sydney: Churchill Livingston Elsevier.
Cross, S. T. Albury, W. R. (1987) "Walter B. Cannon, L. J. Henderson, and the organic
analogy" Osiris 3:165-192 page 175
Gilbert, D. (1981). Oxygen and living processes: An interdisciplinary approach. New York:
Springer-Velag
Grant, A. (2012). ‘Incorporating spirituality into the work of the holistic practitioner’.
Journal of the Australian Traditional-Medicine Society. vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 101-103.
Louv, R. (2005). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder.
Chapel Hill: Workman Publishing Company
Oxford Dictionaries. (n.d.) Vital force. Retrieved from
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/vital_force
Pxhere. (2017). Rose (Image). Retrieved from https://pxhere.com/en/photo/893577
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 39
ReferencesTurner J.S. (2013) Homeostasis and the forgotten vitalist roots of adaptation. In: Normandin
S., Wolfe C. (eds) Vitalism and the scientific image in post-enlightenment life.
Science, 1800-2010. History, philosophy and theory of the life sciences, vol
2. Springer, Dordrecht.
Whorton J.C. (2003) Benedict Lust, naturopathy, and the theory of therapeutic universalism.
Iron Game History. 2003;8(2).
Wilmans, H. (1902). The difference between Christian science and mental science. Retrieved
from
http://www.iapsop.com/ssoc/1902__post___mental_science_and_christian_scienc
e.pdf
Webster’s Dictionary (n.d.) Homeostasis. Retrieved from
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/homeostasis
Zeff, J. & Snider, L. (1989). The process of healing, a unifying theory of naturopathic
medicine. Journal of Naturopathic Medicine. AANP
Zeff, J., Snider, L., Myers, S., & DeGrandpre, Z. (2012). A hierarchy of healing: The
therapeutic order. A unifying theory of Naturopathic medicine. In J. Pizzorno & M.
Murray (Eds.), Textbook of natural medicine (4th ed., pp. 18--‐33). St Louis:
Elsevier.
© Endeavour College of Natural Health www.endeavour.edu.au 40
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