Hahnemann and Fundamental Truths
Do you believe there such a thing as a fundamental truth? Something that will always be true, has always been true, and will always continue to be true?
These days, what is true right now seems to be debated by everyone. I find myself constantly unsure of where to turn, of who to listen to, as everyone seems to think they are the only ones that can see the truth. It feels like we are all living in the world of the emperor’s new clothes, but none of us can figure out who the emperor is. Lately, the idea that anything could be “Truth” with a capital T seems farfetched, let alone the idea that something could have been true since the beginning of time. rching until we find our truths.
But Hahnemann believed there was a true, universal law of healing. A truth that was given to us by God that would allow us to heal ourselves from anything. “The Master and Lord of life has revealed to [man’s] senses…what is necessary and completely sufficient to cure disease” (emphasis mine, from the Organon aphorism 12). In other words, he believed that there was a single answer to the question “what will heal us” and that the answer had been on earth for us to find since the beginning of time.
The truth we mortals need
Us blest to make and keep,
The All-wise slightly covered over
But did not bury deep
(Poem by Gellert)
This poem, quoted by Hahnemann at the beginning of the first edition of the Organon, shows a belief that there is a truth that will end our suffering, will make us happy. And that even though the truth may not be immediately apparent, it is findable - it was not buried deep. If you are not religious I don’t want you to get tripped up on the focus on God. It’s not important that he thought a higher power put the answer on the earth. What’s important is that he thought there was an answer to find! The assumption that we have been taken care of, that we would not have been left defenceless and alone, has always moved me, and right now even more so, as many of us face fear and uncertainty about our own ability to heal, to stay healthy, and are in awe at the power of an illness to bring an end to the world we knew.
Maybe to you it seems naïve to think there was a single answer to the question “what will heal us”; sometimes I think it’s oversimplistic at least. But I also think it’s powerful. Perhaps this belief of Hahnemann’s was more powerful than any other belief or skill he may have had. Because of his conviction, he searched for a universal answer. And because he searched for one, he found one.
In the end, Hahnemann’s answer to his question (“what will always cure people in the fastest, gentlest, and most permanent way”) was homeopathy (more accurately, the law of similars). He believed he had found a law of cure – a law that had existed from the beginning of time that would continue to exist for eternity that could cure any disease (with a few exceptions) in any person.
So in these crazy times, I will try, and I encourage you to try as well, to assume that there are some universal truths out there, and then try to find them. Think of an aspect of human suffering, assume there is a truth that will save us from it, and go find it. The journey will surely take us to some wonderful and unimaginable places. And may we have Hahnemann’s strength and conviction to keep searching.