Origin of Disease.
Biomedicine and alternative medicine have widely divergent beliefs about the origin
of disease. Biomedicine was shaped by the observations that bacteria were responsi-
ble for producing disease and its damage and that antitoxins and vaccines could
improve a person’s ability to ward off the undesirable effects of these harmful
agents. Armed with this knowledge, physicians began to conquer a large number of
devastating infectious diseases. As the science developed, physicians came to believe
that germs and genes caused disease and once the offending pathogen, metabolic
error, or chemical imbalance was found, all diseases would eventually yield to the
appropriate vaccine, antibiotic, or chemical compound.
Conventional medicine has also been influenced by Darwin’s concept of survival of
the fittest, which says that all life is a constant struggle and that only the most suc-
cessful competitors survive. When this concept is applied to medicine it results in the
belief that we live under constant attack by the thousands of microorganisms that,
in the Western view, cause most diseases. People must defend themselves and coun-
terattack with treatments that kill the enemy.
Based on this assumption, symptoms are regarded as harmful manifestations that
should be suppressed. For example, a headache is an annoyance that should be
eliminated, and a fever is an attack on the body that should be countered by the use
of medications.
Alternative medicine is based on the belief that a life force or energy flows through
and sustains each person. Balance and harmony should be fostered among organs
in the body, among body systems, and with other individuals, society, and the envi-
ronment. A balanced organism presents a strong native defense against external
insults like bacteria, viruses, and trauma. When the life force or energy is blocked or
weakened, the vitality of organs and tissues is reduced, oxygen is diminished, waste
products accumulate, and organs and tissues degenerate. Symptoms are the body’s
way of communicating that the life force has been blocked or weakened and that a
compromised immune system has resulted. Disease is not necessarily a surprise
meeting with bacteria or a virus, since they surround us constantly; rather, it is the
end result of a series of events that began with a disruption of the life force.
Based on this assumption, symptoms are not suppressed unless they endanger life—
a headache from an aneurysm or a fever above 105°F. Instead, symptoms are coop-
erated with because they express the body’s wisdom as it reacts to cure its own
disease. A headache is regarded as a signal that the whole system needs realign-
ment, and a fever may be the result of the breakdown of bacterial proteins or toxins.
When symptoms are suppressed, they are not resolved but merely held off, gathering
energy for renewed expression as soon as the outside, curative force is removed.10 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TOALTERNATIVE MEDICINE