Melbourne Holistic Health Group

Published in Clinic Information on 17 June 2009 by Melbourne Holistic Health Group

Throughout centuries, every culture and civilisation has developed its own system of medicine that reflects its understanding of the body in health and disease. Medicine has always been an endeavour to cure sickness and illness and bring about health, and can be seen as a dynamic discipline constantly evolving. Many early traditions of medicine can be compared in their similar philosophical underpinnings, particularly in relation to the belief in a vital force and the influence of the natural elements of earth, water, air, fire and metal.

The concept of vital force has played a pivotal role in the philosophy, religion and medicine of ancient cultures. This idea of vital force, or a life giving principle, can be seen in ancient Greek, Egyptian, Chinese and Eastern philosophies as well as Judaeo-Christian belief. Ancient Egyptians recognised Chu as a ‘divine spark’ whose function was to give life to the body. Eastern philosophies and the practice of Ayurvedic medicine dating back 4000 years to 2000BC, recognised prana as life and vitality: ‘prana in the body of the individual is part of the cosmic breath of the universal spirit’. Chinese medicine, over 3000 centuries old recognises Qi as the fundamental substance that makes up the universe. It constitutes the vital energy or life force that flows through the organism. The origin of man in the book of genesis teaches that God breathed into man and made him a living being, the basis of the Judaeo-Christian belief. One of the greatest Greek philosophers Aristotle spoke of the ‘soul’ as ‘the vital principle’. Paracelsus postulated that actions of external influences on Archaeus (the active living spiritual agent in man) produce certain kinds of living diseases.

This concept of vital force belongs to the school of ‘vitalism’ which is in direct contrast to the school of ‘mechanism’. As it has been applied throughout the ages, vitalism adheres to the philosophy that the body in health and disease has to be seen as an integrated whole. A unique complexity as demonstrated by its ability to grow and develop, respond to stimuli, reproduce and repair itself that distinguishes itself from the inanimate. Mechanism on the other hand looks at the body from a reductionist viewpoint, where the body can be explained as a complex series of chemical and physical reactions, without any special quality that distinguishes it from the inanimate. Contemporary natural medicine draws on the philosophy of vitalism, while the scientific biomedical model is firmly rooted in the mechanistic or reductionist view of the body.

In addition to this concept of vital force, many early medical systems believed that the natural environment was seen to have powerful influences over an individual’s health. Ayurvedic medicine of India, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Greco-Roman medicine believed that the elements of earth, fire, water and metal seen in nature also existed in man. An excess of Fire in a person may manifest as an excess of Heat and anger, or Water as an increase in fluid retention and bodily secretions. Each element needing to be balanced where there were signs of excess or deficiency. These concepts are fundamental to the development of the humoral theory of medicine.

The medicine of early cultures was based on observation. Groups of symptoms were seen to form repetitive patterns, and these were related to observed phenomena in the universe. These patterns were associated with environmental factors, and as the philosophies evolved, greater complexity was introduced which described the workings of a vital force, qi or prana.

Despite many differences and complexities between early medical systems, some of the common beliefs can be broadly summarised as follows:

• The belief in a vital force as the living and generative energy in the body. The vital force generates heat, circulates throughout the body, and is necessary for life and procreation.
• Deficiencies of the vital force are associated with poor health, slow recovery from illness and early death.
• Incorporated within this understanding is a wider concept, that the macrocosm (the world) reflects the microcosm (the individual).
• The elements Earth, Air, Fire, Water and (in the Chinese system) Metal and Wood are described as being the constituents of all life forms.
• Ill health is influenced by the relative preponderance of one or more of the elements.
• All life forms are made of identical ‘elements’ and are subject to the same universal laws, celestial influences and patterns of change.
• Each of these life forms, as part of the greater whole, is in no way superior to any other life form.
• Extremes in environmental factors, such as exposure to extreme cold, can cause or aggravate many diseases.

Table: The three major medical systems from antiquity

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