Editorial: A New Beginning and an Appeal

Sometime between New Year's Eve and the first day of 2021, my neighbor happened to ask a rather pointed question, which went something like this: “what are the ailments homeopathy could be used successfully against. I opined that, in general, success is possible as long as the complaints are still in a reversible stage and that if no permanent tissue damage has occurred. He mulled over my response for a moment and then enquired as to why the doses are so small. “A teaspoon, just a smell, that's so minimal. At the doctor's, you get a 10-day cure, or you take a lifelong medicine. That is so much easier and faster, isn't it?”

This remark made me understand his question better. I told my neighbor, a high-ranking police officer, about the Goldilocks effect that homeopathy has. The porridge should not be too hot and not too cold; the bed should not too hard and not too soft. Everything in our body possesses its own laws to keep the system under optimum conditions. Of course, our body is dynamic, but there is a bandwidth within which our health remains fine. Homeopaths prescribe staying within that bandwidth by providing a minimal dose of the effective remedy, in order to guide the complaint in the right direction and never attempt to take over the system with the danger of chaos. The neighbor came to the realization that the bandwidth of his work was narrowing.

Then, I was reminded of the first couple of paragraphs of Hahnemann's Organon, 6th ed., in which he described the goals of a physician and explained what the highest ideal of healing was. At the end of the second paragraph, he wrote: “nach deutlich einzusehenden Gründen.” Like the rest of the world, we in the Netherlands, too, are having to deal with Corona and all its mutations; at a certain point over the course of this delicate phase in life, a query pertaining to the safety of the vaccination process was posed to me. It seems as if the world has lost sight of the fact that the adage knowledge is power inherently possesses an equal and opposite pole, namely, knowledge makes humble. We homeopaths understand that the remedy we administer is merely an invitation to the patient's dynamic life force to return to homeostasis. From this humility, we understand that Dynamis, the life force, is essential and deserves respect. One inevitably comes to terms with the fact that the struggle of Hahnemann exists to date, and that has to do with the issue of multiple value systems giving rise to varied world views, and that it is up to the patient to determine which value system is rooted and what results from that particular approach: chaos or balance.

Our homeopathic system consists of various currents that all have one common goal: to strengthen the life force. I would like to reach out to my fellow homeopaths and encourage them to make known to each other as well as to the global audience about the work that is being done, so that we can enrich our journal and simultaneously inform others. From my professional association, the NVKH, we placed a lot of emphasis on the project Clificol, a software program to exchange clinical experiences in homeopathy on an international level. I also observe a lot of good work being conducted in Europe by ECCH, and in a more practical way, by the Humanitarian Homeopathic Organization.

This editorial comprises a philosophical reflection by Andre Ernst, who treats patients afflicted with cancer. He muses on the impact the diagnosis of cancer has for a given individual, and the emotions he counters as the treating homeopath; a message with a call for collegiality.

I thank the NVKH in trusting me to form Links with the respected Dr. Bindu as a tribute to the work of our fellow authors and also ensure that the field of homeopath reaches greater heights by virtue of harmony. I reach out to you all to get in touch with me for the purpose of valuable case studies and other interesting articles.

Publication History

Article published online:
31 March 2021