What does science have to do with this?

 Healing was once considered an art. Everyone understands the complex interaction between the patient, the physician, the living community, the flora and fauna (insects, stones, and fish), and the inanimate human communities (e.g., healing). Ancestors, spirit guides, prototypes) and the esoteric movement known by many names: Creator, God / Des, all superior.

Healing arts include a thorough knowledge of human behavior a thorough knowledge of plants, and a comprehensive knowledge of the performing arts, especially song / song, clothing / body painting, anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry. (If you think these areas are not art, look for a system used by traditional Chinese healers, including "organs" such as a triple heater and a dozen different legumes.)

Does not prevent or oppose the science of art. Science, after all, is the honest experimentation of ideas and the ability to clearly see the confusing relationship between cause and effect. The best of science is deeply indebted to art. Science understands that science is left-brain and art is right-brain, and the whole brain includes both.

However, science in art is not so easy. Science believes that art is superstition. Science believes that art cannot imitate vague and soft and therefore unreliable. (I think it's interesting that the students of the Liberal Arts University - UCLA - where I studied take a variety of science courses, but the science college - MIT - that I turned down did not require students to study the arts.) Science defines itself that way. Realistic, art is great.

Really good scientists understand the need to respect awareness along with information. But the world is rarely ruled by true greats. So to a certain extent, the art of healing is despised and the science of healing is worshiped. The physician spends more and more time with machines, drugs, and technology, and less time with the patient; More and more time to study books and less time to learn about the strange, symbolic and provocative forces of the mind. The doctor focuses more and more on the patient's well-being and the need to achieve perfection in the patient's self, family and community.

The herbalist becomes a biochemist. Pharmacists no longer need to know botany. Introducing medicines as a medicine in green tea. In addition, the active substance should be highlighted.

Is this what I want? Is that what drew me to herbs? Is this what attracts me to herbal medicine? My answer to all these questions is absolutely no. While acknowledging the usefulness of science, I maintain the power of the right-brain in the art of healing. I will protect their rights - big and small - with miracle workers, shamans, witches, grandmother-wife herbalists, intelligent women, talented individuals, and people who have the courage to change the midwife. Between birth and death - in the lives of those around you.

Herbal Medicine. Magical plants. Mentally active plants. There's a thread here, and it goes back a long way. At least 40,000 years. Plants say they talked to us until recently. We know that forty thousand years ago our ancestors were genetically modified, hybridized and cross-bred. And use them in treatment. Maria Sabina, one of the most famous shamanic doctors of the twentieth century, went into the woods at a young age and ate psilocybin while talking to them. With the help of "little people" (mushrooms) she healed, she healed not only the body but also the soul. At Amazon, Herbalism and Healing students train psychoactive plants and human teachers.

There has been a lot of discussion recently about the active ingredients in plants. I have made a number of mistakes since claiming that product ads have more to do with the announcement that there is a newer, better, more active and more active component.

For example, while consumer reports show that cholic garlic does not contain allicin (the "active" ingredient) in effect, cholic has had the advantage of promoting advertising because it contains a different, stronger and more active ingredient

For example, the most certified St. John's / John's wort tinctures are Hypersine certified. But recent research shows that hyperforin is a real active ingredient!

To illustrate: An article on the use of Ginkgo biloba to combat dementia has not determined the active ingredient in the hundreds of units introduced in JAMA many years ago. The ingredient was measured and standardized. What can I say? To me the active ingredient of a plant is the very part that cannot be measured: the energy, the life force, the chi, the fairy of the plant, not a “poisonous” constituent. To the healer / artist / herbalist, the active part of the plant is that part that can be used by the right brain to actively, chaotically, naturally, “jump the octave” and work a miracle. This active part is refined away in standardized products, for the real active part is the messy part, the changeable part, the subtle part, and the invisible part.

Does science have anything to do with it? Certainly! The process of identifying specific compounds in plants, replicating them in the laboratory and mass-producing them as drugs cannot be replicated by or superseded by any healer or herbalist. Preparation of standardized drugs protects the consumer (usually) and protects the plants from over-harvesting (although the net effect on the environment may be detrimental).

If we put into the lap of science anything having to do with measuring and certifying, then surely I beg science to be the guardian of the purity of the herbs we trade in our commerce, knowing that art is the guardian of the purity of the herbs we gather ourselves. (A tip from the apprentice book: When harvesting, put only one kind of plant in a basket. This allows one to quickly and easily notice if an interloper has been mistakenly introduced.)

This story doesn’t have an ending, for it is ongoing. The dance of health and illness, of art and science (and don’t forget commerce) has no pause. So the ending of our tale is not happy, but neither is it sad. Take a look; the real ending of the rainbow is in your own heart.