FAQ

• The Law of Similars: Known since the time of the Greeks, the Law of Similars was based on the observation that no organism in nature could have two similar diseases at the same time; one would always destroy the other. Dr. Hahnemann was the first doctor in history to discover how to utilize this law without risking harm to his patients.
• Dynamic Nature of Remedies: In attempting to diminish the toxic side effects of crude medicine, Hahnemann diluted and succussed ( shaken vigorously )  these medicines beyond the point where not even a single molecule of the original substance existed within the dilution yet he was still able to observe curative properties. He concluded from this that although no crude amount of the medicine remained, the energetic signature of the original substance must still be present.
• The Polar Nature of the Living Principle: Hahnemann came to realize that the energetic Living Principle of the patient was polar in nature. This polarity related to the Sustentive and Generative sides of the Living Principle or Life Force of the patient. (Please see the following sections on the Sustentive and Generative Sides).
• The Sustentive Side or Power: Dr. Hahnemann identified this aspect of the Living Principle as being responsible for maintaining homeostasis or internal harmony within the body. The Sustentive Side usually becomes imbalanced as the result of regimenal deficiency. Through the use of the Law of Opposites, inner balance can be restored. For example, if a patient is lacking Vitamin C, then Vitamin C is increased in their diet.
• The Generative Side or Power: Dr. Hahnemann’s keen observation led him to discover that true disease was more than a simple imbalance in the body but rather an energetic assault on the patient’s Life Force. Hahnemann called this dynamic aspect of the Life Force that is compromised when disease is engendered, the Generative Power. In health, the Generative energy is essentially creative in nature and is responsible for everything from cell division to the full expression of the patient’s life, or in other words, the patient’s living essence.
• Tonic and Pathic Disease: Dr. Hahnemann observed that certain diseases had a fixed or constant nature, as they always displayed the same symptom picture whenever they afflicted a person, while other diseases were variable in nature. He called the fixed type of disease “constant” or “tonic” disease. He referred to the variable disease as “pathic” disease (from the Greek “pathos” meaning suffering) as these diseases affected the “feelings, functions and sensations” of the patient.
• Chronic Miasms: One category of constant diseases required over a decade of research by Dr. Hahnemann to uncover. He referred to these diseases as the “chronic miasms.” These diseases that were originally infectious in nature but had such a detrimental effect on the patient that they ended up being passed on from generation to generation. In effect, he was the first to propose the concept of genetically inherited diseases.
• Tonic Disease Jurisdictions: Dr. Hahnemann classified constant diseases into particular jurisdictions based on the cause of the disease. These jurisdictions include: homotoxic (toxins), homogenic (physical and emotional traumas), pathogenic (pathogens), iatrogenic (medically induced illness, i.e. medications or surgeries) and ideogenic (diseases engendered by false belief, which he termed the “highest disease”).
• The Highest and the Deepest Diseases: As a counterbalance to the highest diseases, or those of false beliefs (ideogenic disease), was a category that Dr. Hahnemann referred to as the deepest diseases, or the chthonic diseases, which stemmed from profound fear. It is not uncommon for a disease stemming from a false belief to be accompanied by one of deep fear or terror.
• The Dynamic Use of Remedies: As a natural, organic system of healing, Heilkunst is constantly evolving. This is most clearly seen in our understanding of the dynamic application of remedies. Dr. Hahnemann’s early use of remedies has broadened further to include low potency remedies to correct metabolic disturbances within the body or to stimulate or regulate organic functioning, as well as a scale based on the Fibonacci series of numbers.
• Disease and Time: Dr. Hahnemann observed that a patient could have more than one disease at a time. This insight helped to make sense of the multitude of symptoms that a patient may suffer from but it still left the question of how to separate and identify these different diseases. His early observations were later developed by Dr. Constantine Hering in what has come to be known as Hering’s Law, which provided tangible benchmarks for the process of the cure of disease. These latter insights were amended further by James Tyler Kent who observed that the remedial process must proceed in the reverse order of the emergence, i.e. in the reverse order in which they occurred in time.
• Dynamic Philosophy and the Nature of Health: Dr. Hahnemann was part of a stream of thought in Western philosophy called the Dynamic System, which includes Goethe, Coleridge, the Hunterian physicians, and later Rudolf Steiner and Wilhelm Reich, to name the most important contributors. The Heilkunst system owes a debt of gratitude to each of these thinkers for their contribution to our understanding of the nature of health.
• A Unifying Principle for Treatment: Dr. Hahnemann’s Heilkunst system provided an underlying framework for understanding health, disease and imbalance. Any remedy, therapy or approach can be carefully integrated within Heilkunst’s cohesive framework of principles derived from natural law. This ensures that not only do you get the right remedy/therapy at the right time but also in the right order.