Category Archives: Philosophy of Medicine

The Love Connection – Love is mediated by the Nature of a Spiritual Living Substance

I define ‘Spirituality Science’ – ‘Adhyatma Vidya’ (The Knowledge of Spiritual-Self) as an investigation of the spiritual nature of corporeal or material substances. I must clarify that I am not seeking to discover a soul or a spirit that could have existence independent of the man’s physical being. My inquiry pertains to the relationship between soul, spirit, and human body. When I speak of the man as a Spiritual Being, the truth or falsity of my proposition depends on the fact of man’s having a corporeal substance that is of spiritual nature. The structure and the behavior of things contribute to their individual being, and function. In my view, the ability called discernment, the capacity to make a distinction between good and evil is a spiritual function. Good is a property of being or existence and hence it provides the direction of conduct and behavior that support self-preservation. The specific qualities of the maxims that define the difference between good and evil are Peace, Harmony, and Tranquility. The term evil is the opposite of good. Evil is often associated with violence, agitation, disharmony, disturbance, confusion, and unruly behavior or conduct. Life comes into existence when matter and energy come together. The human being comes to life when the body matter uses its potentiality or power to acquire energy and matter from its external environment. This power to exploit matter and energy for the establishment and preservation of existence is called the power of “Nutrition.” It demands the operation of a principle called discernment, a fundamental, or primary function of knowing what is good or bad for the purposes of self-preservation.

The Real is Rational, and The Rational Real

The Ground Substance of Spiritualism and Spirituality. The vital characteristics, the animating principles of Protoplasm could be known by observing Amoeba proteus. The Living Substance works as an organ of Motion or Movement, as an organ of Nutrition, and as an organ of Reproduction to generate new cells which have a life span of their own. In these physiological functions, I describe the characteristics such as Cognition, Consciousness, Memory, and Intelligence which have a Spiritual role as they bring functional unity and harmony in the interactions between different parts of the same individual organism while it exists in an environment as a member of a biological community.

Spirituality Science to guide the Art of Medicine

The Art of Medicine in its essence is a spiritual practice. It aims to restore the experience of Peace, Harmony, and Tranquility in the living condition of the Man. The fundamental concepts of Medical Theory reflect the Philosophy of Nature and of Man. The term Physician describes the person who practices ‘The Art of Medicine’. This term is derived from the medieval English word ‘Physic’ (Latin. physica; Greek. physike which means nature) which is used to describe Natural Science, Medicine, and Nature. This archaic usage of the English word “Physic” as the name for the art, science, practice and profession of Healing suggests what the word’s Greek root signifies, namely that the physician is a student of Nature.

The Rule of Temperance promotes Mental Health

The essence of Temperance is choosing moderation and deliberately avoid excess. In Indian Culture and Tradition, living in moderation and living in virtue are almost identical. Socrates suggests that one should “choose that which is orderly and sufficient and has a due provision for daily needs.” He compares the intemperate man “to a vessel full of holes because it can never be satisfied.” Socrates describes the temperate man as able to satisfy his limited desires, whereas the intemperate man of boundless desire, can never pause in his search of pleasure. According to Freud, when “the ego learns that it must inevitably go without immediate satisfaction, postpone gratification, learn to endure a degree of pain, and altogether renounce certain sources of pleasure”, it “becomes ‘reasonable’, is no longer controlled by the pleasure-principle, but follows the reality-principle”, which seeks, “a delayed and diminished pleasure, one which is assured by its realization of fact, its relation to reality.”

The development of well integrated Stress Resistant Personality

The accelerated tempo of life brings forth stimuli of high velocity of action, magnitude, and impact that they stimulate a chain of psycho-physical reactions strong enough to cause manifest effects in the human body. A person experiences ‘strain’ when his life’s demands exceed his ability to meet those demands. Prolonged high intensity intellectual and emotional strain which involves fixation of motives to do hard work, achieve high standards, carryout a task against opposition, and aspiration for high professional, prestigious, economic and social career and status would produce ‘stress’. Stress is produced not so much by the efforts which have been rewarded by success but more often by the ones not ending in satisfactory achievement.

Defining Mental Health – What is My Relationship with Myself?

Mental health is defined as the capacity in an individual to form harmonious relations with others and to participate in or contribute constructively to changes in the social environment.
If man is viewed as a multicellular human organism, we may have to ask ourselves the following question. Who or what is the subject who lives because of the functions of the trillions of cells?
Human existence raises some fundamental questions about individual’s identity, the purpose in life and the nature of human relationships. Does the image I see in the mirror describe my true identity ? Unless I define my identity, how it would be possible to describe my relationship with others. The fundamental rule for formulating harmonious, positive interpersonal relationships relate to understanding my own identity and recognizing my relationship with my own self. If I know, who I am, I could live in a relationship with myself.

Psychoanalysis fails to verify the concept of human soul

I explain ‘Spiritualism’ as the potency that is observed by the presence of consciousness in any given living organism or living cell. It is the chief biological characteristic of living matter. Spiritualism is the power that causes consciousness and awareness that is exhibited in the biological properties of living matter; biological properties such as Motion, Nutrition, and Reproduction by Cell Division. Spiritualism is the biological basis for human existence and it explains human nature which is expressed as an internal, mutually beneficial partnership, relationship, association, connection, and bonding between the cells, the tissues, and the organ systems of the human organism and the Whole Organism that represents the Human Person in the world he lives. Clinical Medicine provides the opportunities to promote the well-being of all people as it includes the principle of verification of the objective, biological basis of human existence.

Spiritualism vs Behaviorism – The dimensions of health and wellbeing

I define the term ‘Spiritualism’ as the  nature of a relationship, a partnership, an association, or bonding between two individual living entities based upon characteristics such as compassion, sympathy, understanding, cooperation, mutual assistance, mutual tolerance, voluntary subservience to provide some benefit to the member participating in the biotic interaction. Spiritualism is innate and is not acquired by learning experience. The man depends upon the protoplasmic substance for his very existence as a human being and to perform the characteristic living functions. The human form becomes the actuality that it represents by the Nature of its spiritual association with the protoplasmic living matter. Man is a spiritual being because of the spiritual nature of his living substance called protoplasm.

Mental Health – Keeping memories alive to protect mind from age-related cognitive decline

Man exists as he helplessly watches the moment called future is churned into past, and present is only an instant in this future-past continuum. Fortunately, man can recall and revisit the moments that have slipped away and bring past into the present moment.