United Nations: Health is Harmony With Nature

http://motherearthrights.org/2010/08/18/harmony-with-nature-report-of-the-un-secretary-general/

IV. The evolving relationship of human health with nature

A. Nature and human health integrated

24. Most cultures throughout history have viewed the body as a unified phenomenon animated by mysterious life-giving forces. To search out the origins of medicine is to search out the origins of our very humanity. A close study of the principles and practices of any given cultural system of medicine will unearth a commonality that is shared in one way or another with many other systems.

25. Egyptian doctors likened the body to a great land. As their own land was nourished and fed by the rivers and irrigation channels, the human body was similarly nourished by its own flowing streams. Egyptian doctors had power over gods and men.11

26. As early as 5,000 B.C.E., physicians-sages formulating the healing traditions of both traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicine from India recognized that human beings were comprised of body, mind, and spirit, and that health represented a harmonious balance within all three of these aspects of existence, as well as the free flow of invisible vital energy, known in China as qi and in India as prana, throughout the various body systems. These energies are said to be in constant interaction with external or environmental energies, in other words, with nature.

27. The same tenets were also present in the healing traditions of the druids of Europe and in those of ancient Africa, in native American cultures, and in the cultures of other indigenous peoples. The primary role of healers and physicians in each of these traditions was to instruct others in the art and practice of living harmoniously with themselves and their environment.12

28. Greek doctors took a holistic view of their patients, who were seen as the embodiment of natural forces that operated harmoniously in states of health but that could fall out of balance in disease states. This holistic view meant the whole was greater that the sum of its parts. Such a view also informed the philosophy of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (477-260 B.C.E), the father of Western medicine. Greek doctors considered the four elements of fire, earth, air and water as having a profound influence on both philosophy and medicine.13

29. Doctors in medieval Europe continued to view the body in similar terms to those described by their Greek forebears. People accepted that the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual elements of the body are interconnected as one whole.

30. Since then, in healing traditions worldwide, medical wisdom evolved with a framework that linked health to this state of harmony and disease to a state of disharmony or imbalance, and took into account the multiple factors that contributed to both.

B. Nature and human health separated

31. The roots of conventional medicine, that is the drug- and surgery-based mainstream medical procedures that came into dominance in the early 20th century, can be traced back to the time of Rene Descartes (1596-1650), the scientist and philosopher whose work led certain of his followers to develop Cartesianism, a philosophy characterized by its rationalistic, dualistic worldview. A consequence of Cartesianism was the separation of the “mind” from the body.14

32. Less than five hundred years ago, Andreas Vesalius recorded the first reproducible images of the systematic dissection of the human body in a remarkable series of woodcuts. His work “On the Structure of the Human Body” was published in 1543. It became the first textbook of the new science of anatomy. Newly constructed microscopes began to reveal that each body part and organ system consisted of a mosaic of undreamed-of cellular complexes.15

33. As the body and its organ systems came under close scrutiny, it was described increasingly in mechanical and functional terms, the new medicine increasingly severed its connection with the past and with nature. The four elements of fire, earth, air and water described by Greek doctors were nowhere to be found under the microscope, nor was the human soul that had engaged the attention of both Greek philosophers and Christian theologians over the centuries.

34. In the mid-19th century, the discovery of disease-causing microbes further added to the bedrock of conventional medical theory. At the time there were two opposing theories concerning the cause of disease: one theory held that bacteria and viruses caused illness, the other one claimed that such microbes only became infectious if inside the various body systems there existed conditions of imbalance or weakness. The germ theory advocated by Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) became dominant and, as a result, modern medical science greatly expanded its role in the treatment of illness.16

35. Since the late 19th century, epidemiologists identified the relationship between poor sanitation and disease in towns and cities swollen by promises of urban industrialization. Sanitary engineers became bolder in their interventions, sewerage systems and piped water supplies became more common available. With improvements in transport systems, urban communities began to benefit from the increasing availability of clean water and a constant supply of fresh food.

36. The earlier ways of medicine were steadily left behind as newer scientific approaches began to make their presence felt. Although the ancient scourges of leprosy, diphtheria, malaria, cholera and tuberculosis had been largely overcome through quarantine, vaccination and the use of antibiotics, recent times have seen the emergence of new and deadly viral diseases and the re-emergence of old plagues and pandemics in different parts of the world.

37. As Western medicine probed further into physiology and biochemistry, the health sciences became ever more specialized, as did the emergent disciplines studying the significance of social, economic and psychological realities of human life.

C. Nature and human health reintegrated

38. In 1925, Jan Christian Smuts brought back from ancient Greek medicine the term holism. He used it to describe a philosophical position that was directed towards an understanding of whole systems rather than particular events or phenomena. It carries the synergetic understanding that wholes are greater than the sum of their parts.

39. Holism operates at a number of levels. The individual cell is a finely balanced system in constant interaction with its surroundings. The human body is similarly endowed and responds as a totality to both interior and exterior changes. Each of us is subject to environmental influences related directly to our home and work spaces, and to the quality of the air that we breathe, the water and fluids that we drink, and the foods we consume. Our overall health can be influenced at any or all of these levels. Today, we know that the human immune system can be assisted in its activities by far more than just antibiotic drugs or herbal extracts. At present, society is witnessing in places a reorientation of the medical profession toward a holistic approach to disease and healing.

40. According to WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2002-2005, the use of traditional medicine remains widespread in developing countries, while use of complementary and alternative medicines is increasing rapidly in developed countries. “Traditional Medicine” is a comprehensive term that includes traditional Chinese medicine, Indian ayurveda and Arabic unani medicine, and various forms of indigenous medicine.

41. In countries where the dominant health care system is based on allopathic medicine, or where TM has not been incorporated into the national health care system, TM is often termed “complementary”, “alternative” or “non-conventional medicine” (CAM) and it is widely used. In Africa, up to 80% of the population uses TM to help meet their health care needs. In Asia and Latin America, populations continue to use TM as a result of historical circumstances and cultural beliefs. In China, TM accounts for around 40% of all health care delivered.17

42. In many developed countries, CAM is becoming more and more popular. The percentage of the population which has used CAM at least once is 38% in Belgium, 42% in USA, 48% in Australia, 70% in Canada, and 75% in France. Popular use of CAM is fuelled by concerns about the adverse effects of chemical drugs, questioning of the approaches and assumptions of allopathic medicine, and greater public access to health information. Longer life expectancy has brought with it increased risks of developing chronic, debilitating diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes. For many patients, CAM offers gentler means of healing and, oftentimes, patients combine both.18