HEALING PARADIGMS

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

The concept of paradigms is very important to understand. A paradigm is a worldview underlying the theories and methodology of a particular scientific subject. In other words, a paradigm is the basic underlying scheme or basic premises upon which the thinking in a scientific field is based.

This article discusses a number of the paradigms that underlie various systems of healing.

THE CONVENTIONAL MEDICAL PARADIGM

The conventional paradigm may be called the disease entity model. In this way of understanding the body, health problems are caused by the presence of entities called diseases. Health, in this perspective, is defined as the absence of disease entities in the body. Thus health has a negative definition as the absence of something.

Two basic conditions exist within this view. A person is either healthy, or has a disease.

In this model, when ill, one goes to a practitioner who diagnoses, treats, prescribes for and hopefully cures or gets rid of the entities called diseases. Those who diagnose, treat, prescribe, and cure disease entities are licensed allopathic doctors.

Allopathy is a technical name for the medical system that uses mainly patented drugs, surgery and radiation to remove disease entities. This is really a very narrow set of remedies compared to what is available.

For example, homeopathy uses tiny doses of thousands of drugs, minerals, plants and other things to cure diseases. Herbology prefers to use extracts of natural plants and perhaps animal extracts to cure diseases. Naturopathy sort of combines the use of herbs, homeopathy, and sometimes drugs to do the same thing.

Of importance is that all of these healing arts accept the idea of identifying disease entities and then eliminating them or “curing” them in order to restore health.

This paradigm is useful, at times, and has served well in the development of surgery, trauma care and infectious disease care. However, this paradigm is not too helpful for the correction of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and others. The reason is that so far, at least, medical science has not found a simple disease entity that accounts for these, and some other, common health conditions.

THE NUTRITIONAL PARADIGM

Another paradigm that is gaining popularity is that ill health is caused by a lack of a nutrient or vital chemical, or a number of these. These chemicals are found in our food, water, or in supplements of various kinds. Healing in this paradigm is not about removing a disease entity, but rather a matter of supplying missing chemicals or nutrients.

This paradigm does not involve diagnosing disease entities. Instead, it involves testing for nutrients and other chemicals the body requires. When one figures out which nutrients are needed, one simply supplies them and the health condition vanishes.

This model of healing or understanding of the body is definitely useful for correcting certain health conditions. Its use began with the correction of deficiency diseases early in the twentieth century. Since then, more and more minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and phytochemicals have been discovered that are essential for health. Thus, this paradigm of healing has become much more comprehensive and complex as hundreds of chemicals have been discovered that are required for optimum health.

Expansion of the nutritional healing paradigm. The definition of a ‘nutrient’ can be expanded to include not only chemicals, but also sunshine, water, oxygen, electrical frequencies such as those found in the red heat lamps used in nutritional balancing, and even more. However, the principle of giving what the body needs to heal it remains the same.

THE BALANCE PARADIGM

The causes of ill health may not involve just deficiencies of nutrient substances, but illness can also be caused by having too much of any of thousands of chemicals or substances.

This leads to a more complex paradigm that states that ill health is the result of imbalances - too little or too much of thousands of chemical substances, frequencies, and more. Healing consists of restoring balance to the body.

While there is some overlap, the idea of balance carries much more weight in healing arts such as acupuncture and in nutritional balancing science. It is also gaining popularity among those who work with the nutritional paradigm discussed above.

Once again, with this paradigm, one need not diagnose disease entities. Instead, one focuses on correcting imbalances in the body. One can measure the levels of nutrients, but there can also be more subtle balances that can be measured, such as yin and yang, cellular mineral ratios on a hair mineral test, and many others.

THE DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM

This is the idea that human beings can move through a rather unique process that slowly rejuvenates the body and extends life. All diseases tend to diminish and eventually vanish as a result of development.

This paradigm is not well known in the Western world. However, it is very important in nutritional balancing science. To read much more about it, please read The Stages Of Development and Introduction To Development on this site.

THE WHOLE SYSTEMS PARADIGM

This is yet another paradigm that is used extensively in nutritional balancing science. It is based on modern systems theory. The basic principle of systems theory is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. For this reason, one cannot simply study and alter the parts of a system. One must study and heal the body as a unity or whole system.

Systems theory also states that if one can correct the whole system and a few of the parts, the rest of the parts will often correct themselves.

To those accustomed to dealing with the parts of the human body such as the stomach or the lungs, the implications of systems theory will seem almost magical or mystical. The implication is that one does not need to know about all of the parts of the body. Yet the parts will correct, balance or heal themselves if one focuses on healing the whole system first.

A Biblical analogy. A statement of systems theory is found in the Bible, in the advice: “Seek first the kingdom of God, and all else will be added thereto”.

This statement means that rather than try to solve all your problems one by one - such as those involving family, friends, work, finances, and more - first turn your attention to the “whole system”, which is God.

Then you will magically find that many, if not all of your other issues will somehow resolve themselves. This concept is identical to the whole systems perspective on healing the body.

CONCEPTS INVOLVED IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND WHOLE SYSTEMS APPROACH TO HEALING

1. The etheric science. This concept is not used consciously in most healing arts, but it is an important part of Tibetan medicine and nutritional balancing science, which are related to each other.

The basic idea is that the human being is powered by a type of subtle energy I will call etheric energy. Others have called it vital force, orgone energy, Love energy, or other names. We are born with a certain amount of this energy. As we age, it generally runs down unless we can replenish it. The decline in etheric energy is the underlying cause of “old age”. When the amount of this etheric energy becomes too low, physical life cannot continue and death intervenes.

To preserve physical life, we can conserve this vital force or energy with a healthful diet and lifestyle. Also very helpful is to avoid all toxins, which unfortunately includes items such as vaccines, fluoride and chlorine in water, and most all medical drugs. We also conserve it or use it up depending upon our thoughts and emotions. Positive thoughts and emotions tend to conserve it more than negative thoughts and emotions.

We can also acquire more of it by keeping the body balanced. That is, we have a certain ability to extract some of it from our surroundings. This is somewhat like a well-functioning dynamo or alternator that ‘creates’ electrical energy. In fact, a dynamo or alternator of the type in an automobile cuts the etheric field in such as way that it extracts some energy from it in the form of electrical current.

We can store etheric energy better when our cells, especially the cell membranes and nuclear membranes, are properly nourished. This function is similar to a well-functioning capacitor in electronics. Those familiar with capacitors know they are made of alternating layers of conductors and non-conducting materials of specific design. Our cell membranes and nuclear membranes can function this way, as well.

We can also absorb some etheric energy from the right food, water and air. Even some locations can give us more of it or less of it. For example, staying grounded and centered helps us absorb it from the earth and elsewhere.

Ancient techniques also exist to vastly increase it by absorbing a lot more of it into the body. This can even delay or overcome aging completely. One of the most powerful and simple methods is the Roy Masters mental exercise, with my modification, in which one moves energy downward from the head to the feet. This is the only mental exercise recommended in nutritional balancing science at this time, as it is usually all one needs.

2. The physical science – unstable parts that function together thank to complex negative feedback loops and the formation of homeostatic states. Words like feedback loops and homeostasis come from the science of cybernetics, the science of communication and control in complex, self-regulating systems.

The human being is somewhat like a gigantic servo mechanism or self-correcting machine. This means it contains millions upon millions of feedback loops that guide its every movement and function. It knows when to grow more tissue to heal a wound, when and how to digest food, how to generate trillions of chemicals it needs to function, and much more. This is all built into its design. Here is a little more detail on how this all works.

Negative feedback loops. These are special types of communication links that tend to keep the system in perfect balance. A very simple example is that if the body is too hot, it begins to sweat to lower its temperature to normal. It also signals the brain of the person to take off one’s coat or move to a cooler area.

However, if the body becomes too cold, it begins to shiver, which raises its temperature a little. It also signals the brain of the person to put on a coat or move to a warmer area.

Homeostasis. These negative loops allow the whole system to maintain states of balance or dynamic equilibrium called homeostatic states. This just means that the system forms equilibrium states based on negative feedback loops that keep inherently unstable elements in our bodies in a state of temporary balance. Among the most important homeostatic states in our bodies are the oxidation types, and the major mineral ratios in the tissues.

The stages of stress – homeostatic states. Hans Selye, MD proposed the stress theory of disease in the mid-twentieth century. It is still not used in medicine today, even holistic medicine, although it is central to nutritional balancing science.

Dr. Selye did his research on rats. He found that animal bodies always respond to stressors of many kinds in the same way. Stressors may include most anything such as fatigue, hunger, infection, heat, cold, nerve stimulation and more.

Dr. Selye also found that all animal and human bodies pass through several “stages of stress” before dying. He called this process the general adaptation syndrome and called the stages of stress the alarm, resistance and exhaustion stages. This is a very important whole system behavior, if not the most important one of all. For more on this topic, read Understanding Stress on this site.

The “stress wave”. The way a body responds to stress is always shaped like a waveform. It begins at a resting or baseline level. When a stressor impacts the body, it first moves in an upward direction, or an inflammatory direction, or faster oxidation, or sympathetic nervous system response, or more yang direction. This is followed by a peak and then a decline to below the baseline level in what is, in essence, a recovery part of the wave. This is associated with a slower oxidation rate, a more yin phase, or a more parasympathetic state. After the recovery phase, the body returns to the baseline level providing the organism is healthy. The stress wave is explained in more detail in the text Nutritional Balancing And Hair Mineral Analysis (2010 and 2014 editions).

The oxidation types. If the organism is not perfectly healthy it often gets stuck in one or the other phases of the wave. Fast oxidation is the name given to becoming stuck in the upward, more sympathetic, more yang, or inflammatory part of the wave. Slow oxidation is the name given when a body is caught in the recovery phase, or more yin, more parasympathetic phase of the stress wave.

Measurement of this whole system behavior. This can be measured mathematically with a properly performed hair mineral test. Other tests, so far, are much less accurate such as blood tests, urine tests or others.

Correction. Once one assesses the oxidation type or stage of stress, one can assist the body to move out of the stuck position and back into a flexible and healthier situation using diet, targeted supplements and other things such as the procedures used in nutritional balancing science.

Combination oxidation types. The situation is not always simple. The body can be caught in states that are more complex combinations of fast and slow oxidation, and others that are somewhat more esoteric such as a four lows pattern.

One must also correct the sodium/potassium ratio and the calcium/magnesium ratio. The four major ratios (Ca/Mg, Ca/K, Na/Mg and Na/K) constitute the major tetra of the body, which is just a way of saying they form a unit of four items that we find we must correct to rebalance and restore a body to full health. This brings us to another vital concept in the whole systems model of healing. That is the repeating use of simple whole number patterns such as 2, 3 and 4 in our bodies.

Fractals. This is the fancy name for the use of repeating simple whole numbers that keep repeating to form very complex patterns and systems in nature. You can find beautiful examples of fractals on the internet.

The human being is entirely a fractal design. This must be understood and appreciated because it assists us to balance the body by balancing simple mineral ratios, as explained above. It would seem too easy to just balance a few mineral ratios in order to heal the body. However, it works because of this fractal design of the whole human and animal body system.

Someday I predict that scientists far wiser than I will figure this out and will be able to “unwind” the fractal that creates a human being. This will be an amazing accomplishment, something like breaking the genetic code, only far more exciting. It is truly human design science or creation science.

I predict that parts of the bible, for example, will only be understood in terms of the human fractal, including statements by Jesus that “I am the way, the truth and the light”. This is a three concept, and the three concept is found throughout the bible and throughout the body. Three, of course, is the number of basic structure – the triangle. Four is the number of the basic three dimensional world represented by the tetrahedron, which has four sides and four corners and is the simplest space-filling structure. My teacher, Buckminster Fuller, loved to explain how he came up with an entire mathematics based on these simple 3- and 4- numbers.

Two is the simplest number concept of balance and of yin and yang, another vital concept in the whole systems theory of healing. Two of course is in the bible in Genesis, when God created the heavens and the earth, the land and the sea, male and female, etc.

Yin and Yang, or cold and hot. Yin and yang are Chinese words that have no simple equivalent in English. They refer to a physics concept that presumes that all bodies, locations and situations contain varying amounts of basic physical qualities including heat (motion of matter), expansion (another type of movement of matter), moving in a centrifugal or centripetal direction, light (another physical quality related to motion of atoms), and other more subtle qualities.

These include but are not limited to up-facing or down-facing, located or growing below ground or above ground, colored more bluish or more reddish, more salty or more sweet, upward-moving or downward-moving, and more.

Yin and yang or twoness is perhaps the most basic fractal concept and systems concept. Understanding its importance is paramount or one will not understand nutritional balancing science. Yin and yang is an ancient system of understanding reality, represented by the Taoist symbol. It is also seen in the Jewish star – two triangles with one pointing upward and the other pointing downward. It is also in the Christian symbol of the cross, which consists of two lines, a vertical line intersecting a horizontal line. In fact, the symbol of “twoness” is found throughout the world, as it represents symmetry, balance, male and female balance, and basic physics concept of positive and negative electrical charges, among other things.

The human body is also full of “twoness”, from the two arms, two legs, two eyes, two ears, etc. to the opposite actions of extensor and flexor muscles, contraction and relaxation of the tissues, and much more. The concept of yin and yang is used extensively in nutritional balancing science, but not much in other healing paradigms.

I find we must balance yin and yang forces or twoness in the body for deeper healing to occur. When they are balanced, many symptoms and diseases vanish on their own, just as when one balances the tetra or fourness of the body – the major mineral ratios – many conditions vanish.

The condition of the body in terms of yin and yang can be corrected by changing one’s diet, but also with certain food supplements, and changes in one’s lifestyle, thinking, and using the procedures of nutritional balancing science. For much more about it, read Yin And Yang Healing and Yin Disease on this site.

3. The mental or soul science - teleology or healing intent – a vector concept. The whole systems paradigm also involves the amazing healing intent or healing intelligence of the body. This is not easy to understand, but it is clearly the truth about our body. It is sometimes called the wisdom of the body.

The healing intent is simply the self-healing abilities and intention built into all animal and human bodies. It is at least partially due to the self-regulating feedback loops and homeostatic states that characterize the design of all bodies. It may be more than this, however, and I think it is. It is as though the body knows the basic design of how it is supposed to be and feel. When we give the body the materials it needs to heal, and the energy it needs, and the other things it needs such as warmth, oxygen, love, etc. the body does the rest.

The healing intent of the body is used in all healing methods, although they do not usually acknowledge it.

For example, when a surgeon closes up a wound or operation site, he just arranges the tissues in the right order and location, and stops infection and bleeding. The body does the rest of the healing. However, surgery, drugs, herbs, homeopathy, chiropractic or vitamins do not work on dead bodies simply because the healing intent is no longer present.

Nutritional balancing science actively employs the healing intent of the body at all times and tries to work with it, not against it, as medical drug science often does. The reason I say that medical science, at times, works against this intent is that all toxic interventions harm the body. This is not recognized nearly enough in mainstream medical care. For this reason, nutritional balancing teaches not to use toxic substance or procedures such as vaccines, medical drugs, and even surgery unless absolutely needed. For more on this subject, read Teleology on this website.

Syntropy. A concept related to teleology or the healing intent of the body is syntropy. Scientists who are experts in systems theory such as R. Buckminster Fuller define syntropy as a tendency toward greater organization and complexity. It is the opposite of entropy, or the tendency for decay and disintegration in the physical world. The body’s teleology or healing intent and its amazing system of feedback loops when it is healthy are examples of its syntropic nature. This means that its parts work together in a sort of symbiotic fashion that trends toward greater complexity and more sophisticated functioning.

Vector mathematics. This is a system of mathematics that uses directional arrows to express direction, speed, and intensity of motion in a system. Every part of a system has qualities of direction, speed and intensity.

The patterns on a properly performed and correctly interpreted hair mineral test are often best expressed as vectors. In the 2010 and 2014 editions of the textbook, Nutritional Balancing And Hair Mineral Analysis” this quality is listed for each pattern and called its “movement pattern”.

The law of cause and effect, karma and grace. Movement patterns are related to another very important motion pattern of all matter that is called the law of cause and effect, or in some ancient texts is called the law of karma, and in Christian literature also related to what may be called the law of grace. These have to do with how aspects of a system interact with each other and affect each other. This is an aspect of soul science, a topic that is discussed elsewhere on this website.

Chaos theory. This has to do with movement or vibration within a whole system. This “chaos” or randomness must be in the system to the correct degree for optimal functioning. Too much or too little, and the system malfunctions or does not operate correctly. An excellent analogy for this quality or concept is that of a pendulum that swings back and forth to tell the time. Somehow the gentle back and forth swinging motion of the pendulum measures and breaks through the time, connecting all the parts in a certain important and magical way.

QUALITIES OF THE HUMAN BEING

1. Holographic. Holographic means that the whole is contained in the part. For example, each of our body cells contains all the DNA or master blueprint for the entire body.

Conclusion – human and animal bodies are simply amazing! As one studies the principles above, one begins to realize just how utterly amazing advanced, and complicated is the design of the human body. This is a hopeful thing, in my view, that helps us keep reaching forward to learn and discover how we can heal and develop just a few of the capabilities of human beings. Medical research is also confirming the complexity and elegance of the human body, as it learns more about our genetics, protein synthesis, biochemistry, physiology, anatomy, histology, microbiology and more.

I wish this sense of wonder were conveyed more to medical and in fact to all students. This would do more to advance our health than much of the medical school curricula that focuses so much on diseases and drugs.

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