Aphorisms 9 and 10

Aphorism 9 takes the question – what does it mean to be healthy – that is raised in aphorism 8 and expands the definition.  In aphorism 8, cure is defined as the absence of symptoms, but here, health is defined as the ability of our mind to use this life for a higher purpose.

Aphorism 9:

“In the healthy condition of man, the spiritual vital force (autocracy), the dynamis that animates the material body (organism), rules with unbounded sway, and retains all the parts of the organism in admirable, harmonious, vital operation, as regards both sensations and functions, so that our indwelling, reason-gifted mind can freely employ this living, healthy instrument for the higher purpose of our existence.”

He starts to introduce some terms here, so let’s go over those first.  Autocracy is a governing body headed by one person with absolute power.  And dynamis is power or force.  So the beginning means that in health, the vital force has absolute power.  He then equates the vital force with dynamis and reiterates that it animates the material body and rules with unbounded sway.  Note that this is essentially the definition of vitalisitic thinking.  But essentially, he is saying we are kept in balance by this force.  Our sensations are in balance, and our functions are in balance.  And we know we are in balance, because we want to use our time on this earth for our higher purpose.  He doesn’t define what that higher purpose is, but I have heard multiple people refer to the beginning of his preface in chronic diseases for his definition of our higher purpose on this earth:

“If I did not know for what purpose I was put here on earth — to become better myself as far as possible and to make better everything around me, that is within my power to improve — I should have to consider myself as lacking very much in worldly prudence to make known for the common good, even before my death, an art which I alone possess, and which it is within my power to make as profitable as possible by simply keeping it secret.” (Chronic Diseases, page xv)

When we are healthy, we are able to serve the community around us.

Vital Force:

The first time we see the term vital force is in aphorism 6, but I didn’t define it there so I’ll do so here.  The vital force is the term Hahnemann gives to the animating force of the body.  It’s not the soul – let’s not add religion or spirituality here.  Not because that’s a bad thing to do, but because I think that’s a misinterpretation to what he means.  He is talking about that force that causes cuts to heal and separates us from being complete robots.  It’s something I think is easier to understand if we first go through aphorism 10, where we see what the absence of the vital force is:

Aphorism 10:

“The material organism, without the vital force, is capable of no sensation, no function, no self-preservation (1), 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.

1. It is dead, and only subject to the power of the external physical world; it decays, and is again resolved into its chemical constituents.”

So without the vital force, we are not alive.  It animates our physical being; it’s the force that creates our sensations, functions, and drives self-preservation.  There is a difference between the vital force and the vital principle.  The vital principle you can think of as life itself, whereas the vital force is the force that does work; it’s like the vital principle’s henchman that goes out and does all the stuff.

What if this sounds like hooey?

That’s fine.  The purpose of giving a name to life, and the forces of life that create homeostasis, is to allow us to talk about them easily.  In other words, you don’t have to necessarily “believe” in the vital force, but understanding Hahnemann’s meaning and schema of disease is vital (haha) to understanding his theories.  Because…. As we will see in the next aphorism, he believes that disease resides in the vital principle, not in the physical body nor that the symptoms themselves are the disease (aphorism 7).  And while you may not care where disease lies (to be honest, it’s not really what I care about either), it does affect how he conceptualizes health and disease.