The Healer vs. The Dogma

I am a strong believer that understanding the history of a topic is important if we want to understand how it has evolved and the part it plays in humanity's development. Before we start talking about what healthcare is today, we should talk about what healthcare is at its core. To truly appreciate what it is, we have to ask ourselves what value it represents as part of the human experience and how certain historical events have shaped its future.

Understanding the History of the Healer and Why it Matters...

There are a lot of inherent misunderstandings surrounding ancient healing practices. The need to heal and to solve physical problems has likely been a central need for humanity since humans first achieved the level of self-awareness required to know it was a need. It is safe to say that the ability to carry out healing has inherent value. Whether you were a shaman of the pagan persuasion, a Sunu of ancient Egypt, or a more modern version of what we in our time know as a physician; you were and are considered a valuable component of your social structure. The reverence we hold for our healers is obvious and necessary.

Centralized religion has been guilty of mischaracterizing some of these ancient roles by redefining them as "evil" or labeling them as witchcraft. This was fueled largely in part by the rise of global monotheism. Looking at it from a modern, secular perspective, to say this was unjust is an abysmal understatement. These ideologies were clearly based on a lack of understanding of why certain cultures practiced medicine the way they did, and as science has progressed, we find more and more that not only were these practices not evil, they were effective. They weren't universally effective, but neither is our modern version of medicine. That is where the second mischaracterization becomes apparent. Ancient practices were labeled as "primitive" and therefore obsolete compared with "modern practice". Again, as we progress in our understanding of physiology and pathophysiology, especially when paired with progressive understanding of how our psychology affects our health and habits through psychosomatic connection, we are beginning to see how integrating spiritual, emotional, and psychological practices can support and enhance healing when paired with modern medicine and therapies. I am sure on some level, shamans of the past would consider our mainstream model incomplete at best with its sometimes willful disregard of the holistic treatment of both body and soul. Not only have ancient and traditional practices been disrespected, they have been actively erased from our history. The early Christian experience documents ecstatic experiences as part of practice. Ecstatic experiences attributed to the early Christian faith include altered states of consciousness and visions, speaking in tongues, and healing by faith-all core markers of the shamanic complex. As the church evolved into a hierarchical structure of priests and bishops, these direct experiences of the divine were stripped from the narrative and labeled heretical. This restructuring of the way the divine experience was understood allowed the church to centralize power within the church which effectively stripped spiritual authority from the individual and handed it to the church. This stripping of individual spiritual authority ultimately led to the medieval inquisition which was estimated to have lasted for nearly 700 years in various forms and places around the globe. Modern historians estimate that between 3,000 to 6,000 people were officially executed by the church during this period, but in my personal view, the number is likely much higher.

Religious persecution continued in Europe long after the end of the inquisitions. It continued and was one of the primary reasons Europeans left Europe to colonize the New World in the first place. The ironic tragedy is that although these people were fleeing their own persecution, they used the same legal, moral, and physical methods of forced conformity against the Native Americans that was used against them in Europe. Rather than fostering a society of universal religious freedom, they effectively repositioned themselves as the new religious authority. They followed the same steps of hostile takeover including replicating the “One True Faith” rhetoric of the very church they were trying to escape. They implemented the “Doctrine of Discovery” which proclaimed lands inhabited by non-Christian peoples were as good as empty and legally ripe for the taking. Finally, and worst of all, they implemented forced conversion under threat of violence. The atrocities committed against native peoples at that time were egregious and tragic to say the least. Despite the very obvious parallels of early American settler behavior to their European oppressors, they remained ideologically blind to their own self-contradictions; and remain so in many ways to this day.  

You may be wondering why a nurse writing a blog dedicated to helping people take care of their own holistic health and navigate the modern healthcare system would take the time to review this history. I have done so because believe me when I say, the same evil that has plagued and limited us in the past is very alive and well today. It is currently driving us towards a cliff and point of no return making healthcare inaccessible to many. It has a different face and uses different words, but its goal is the same; absolute control and power. Make no mistake, I hold NO CONTEMPT towards the church. Religion has its place and it would be unwise to disregard it. I myself, am a believer in my own way, but I would say it is in a way that does not turn a blind eye to the realities of how it is also flawed. I would say that it is no longer religion that is the driving force behind this unnatural darkness. It is now corporate greed which I would argue is in many ways even worse and more parasitic with a total, blatant disregard of humanity as a whole; choosing instead to prioritize their own enrichment. I will be doing my best to cover how this evil is at work in modern medicine in a practical way in future posts.