Part 1: Influences

Part 1: Influences

Dr. Nicolae MIHU draws his statements from years of study, reading and practice inspired by the work of two highly influential figures in the field of homeopathy, namely Samuel HAHNEMANN and Rajan ANKARAN, but also by other figures who worked in a variety of fields such as Chinese medicine, physics, psychology and philosophy …

A brief biography of these leading figures seems essential, though it can in no way provide an exhaustive account of each one's work.

Biographies

Lao TSEU (or Laozi) is an ancient Chinese philosopher, regarded as the founder of Taoism. He is believed to have lived in the 6th century BC, with dates traditionally estimated at around -600 to -500 BC, although his historical existence and these dates remain uncertain. The “Tao Te Ching” is attributed to him, a major short work composed of poetic aphorisms that set out his thought, centred on the Tao (the “Way”), non-action (Wu Wei), simplicity, humility and harmony with nature. Never in the history of humanity have so many concepts been expressed in so few words. His overall body of work essentially amounts to this foundational text, which has profoundly influenced Chinese philosophy, spirituality and culture, and which remains the basis of Taoism to this day. The notion of healing is intimately linked to inner peace; without it, healing recedes. According to tradition, he is said to have ended his life by leaving China for the west, after passing on his teachings.

“The instrument of healing comes 100% from within. This must be experienced to grasp the capacity for healing.”

Kong FUZI or CONFUCIUS, born around 551 BC in the State of Lu, grew up in a noble but impoverished family, which prompted him to develop a passion for the study of rites and ancient history at a very early age. His life was marked by an unceasing quest for social harmony during an era of unstable political chaos. After holding various minor administrative posts, he became a renowned teacher, convinced that the moral virtue of rulers and the education of citizens were the only remedies for disorder. He travelled throughout China for more than a decade to advise princes on the art of governing with benevolence, without, however, achieving the immediate political success he hoped for during his lifetime.

Returning to his native land towards the end of his life, he devoted himself to teaching and compiling classical texts in order to pass on the wisdom of the ancients to his many disciples. Although he died in 479 BC feeling that his message had not been heard, his legacy was preserved by his students in the celebrated Analects. A few centuries later, his philosophy became China's state ideology, establishing a system of values founded on filial piety, respect for hierarchy and meritocracy. His influence lastingly shaped the social and educational structures of all of East Asia, making him one of the most influential thinkers in human history.

PLATO or Aristocles (428/427 BC – 348/347 BC) is an ancient Greek philosopher, regarded as one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Western philosophy. He was a student of Socrates and the founder of the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in Europe. PLATO's writings have influenced many philosophers and thinkers, from antiquity to the present day.

Samuel HAHNEMANN (1755–1843) is a German physician, known as the founder of homeopathy.

Trained in traditional medicine, he soon questions the medical practices of his time, which he often considers too aggressive. Drawing on his observations and experiments, he develops a new therapeutic approach based on the principle of “similars”, according to which a substance capable of producing symptoms in a healthy person can, in very small doses, help treat similar symptoms in a sick person.

The way homeopathy works is based on transmitting the information of a substance (mineral, plant or animal) to a remedy. If this substance is administered in small quantities to healthy people, it produces certain symptoms. At the heart of the method is the idea that, when these same symptoms are present in a patient, the same substance, administered in homeopathic form, can be used to treat that patient.

This information acts as a “strong stimulus” for the body, forcing it to react and surpass itself.

He also introduces the concepts of dilution and dynamisation of remedies, which become central to his method.

He believed that human beings could learn everything and drew nourishment from the knowledge of Chinese medicine, Indian medicine and alchemy.

His principal work, the “Organon of the Art of Healing”, lays the theoretical and practical foundations of homeopathy. Through his work, Samuel HAHNEMANN profoundly influenced alternative medicine and gave rise to a practice still used today in many countries, although it is scientifically controversial.

Rajan SANKARAN is a contemporary homeopathic physician from India, born on 16 June 1960 in Mumbai, recognised for having helped modernise certain approaches to classical homeopathy.

He is primarily known for developing the “Sensation Method”, a method of analysing patients that is not limited to physical symptoms, but seeks to identify an overall experience felt by the patient (emotions, bodily impressions and subjective perception). According to this approach, this “central sensation” could guide the choice of homeopathic remedy.

He also proposed classifications of homeopathic remedies into different categories (the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms) and sought to incorporate a more psychological and narrative dimension into the observation of patients.

The author of numerous works and an international trainer, he has influenced some contemporary homeopathic practice, particularly in India and Europe.

In summary, Rajan SANKARAN is an important figure in modern homeopathy, known for proposing a more psychological and interpretative approach to the homeopathic consultation.

In the remainder of this work, Dr. Nicolae MIHU will focus on classifications of homeopathic remedies into animal, plant or mineral categories in his initial approach to reading faces, and will use the term totem or archetypes.

In this way, he connects the roots of homeopathy to the sciences of humanity, such as yoga and ancient philosophy, or to an encyclopaedia of fundamental Chinese assertions, verified over millennia.

By drawing on the notion of the totem, whether animal, mineral or plant, all the information embodied by these categories is transferred to the person.

This philosophy and its symbols are also found in the practice of yoga, whose energetic structure is modelled on the character of animals. At birth, everyone has a totem attached to them that becomes their second nature. This notion of the totem is not connected to anything human and may therefore be regarded with a certain aversion. Nevertheless, it is indeed present in various philosophies in every era and throughout the world.

“Whatever the years and places,

the same assertions have been made.”

In this part of the work, the main principles of these disciplines are explained and the theories set out with the aim of shedding simple light on complex subjects.

Principles Drawn from Various Disciplines

Psychology:

Psychologists agree on the idea that we have had the same behaviours since birth and that they are immutable. Personality is unique and is reflected in the psyche and in the body. It seems important to understand each individual's particular behaviours and fundamental traits in order to make the right choices in life.

This unique personality is known instinctively to each person and is much more difficult to express in words. Words seem far too impoverished to describe reality. Nevertheless, the discipline of philosophy succeeds in dissecting these intuitions and becomes an instrument of logic for making deductions linked to intuitiveness.

Philosophy:

Monism is a philosophical position that asserts the fundamental unity of reality. For a monist, everything that exists (matter, mind, energy) can be reduced to one single substance or one first principle.

“Learn to see. Realise that everything is connected to everything else.”

Quotation from Léonard DE VINCI

It is the direct opposite of dualism (such as that of Descartes), which divides the world into two distinct realities: mind on one side and matter on the other.

Another philosophical concept is highlighted here: Taoism, associated with Lao TSEU and his work “Tao Te King”, a Chinese philosophy that teaches living in harmony with the Tao—that is, the natural and invisible principle governing the universe—by favouring simplicity, humility and non-action (Wu Wei), which consists in not forcing things but following their natural course, while recognising the fundamental balance between opposites, such as yin and yang, in order to lead a more peaceful, balanced life in accord with the world.

Furthermore, Confucianism is an ethical and social code centred on earthly harmony and human relationships rather than metaphysics. Its fundamental principle is Ren, or benevolence, which is cultivated through respect for rites and filial piety (a major virtue of Confucianism). This philosophy rests on the idea that if every individual fulfils their duties within their social hierarchy, peace and natural order will prevail. Through education, a person seeks to become a Junzi, a person of virtue acting for the common good.

The relationship between CONFUCIUS and Lao TSEU illustrates the complementary duality of Chinese thought, akin to Yin and Yang. Whereas CONFUCIUS represents the Yang side, focused on social action, morality and the structure of the city, Lao TSEU embodies the Yin side, turned towards spirituality, contemplation and freedom of the mind in harmony with nature. Their legendary meeting underscores this beneficial opposition: one builds society through rules, while the other advocates detachment as a means of finding the Way.

PLATON's philosophy rests on a radical dualism separating our sensible world, perceived as an illusion of shadows projected onto the wall of a cave, from an intelligible world composed of eternal and perfect ideas. In this vision, our reality is merely a diminished reflection of invisible models that reason alone can reach. The body is thus seen as a material prison from which the soul must detach itself through reflection in order to rediscover, through recollection, these universal truths situated beyond physical nature. Unlike the scientist who observes the concrete world, PLATON seeks perfection and immutable harmony beyond changing appearances.

The Sensible World: this is our everyday reality, subject to change and deterioration.

The Intelligible World: this is the world of “Ideas” or “Forms” (the Beautiful, the True, the Just). These Ideas are eternal, immutable and perfect.

The body is a material prison, mortal and a source of illusions. The soul is immaterial, immortal and belongs to the world of “ideas”.

Theology:

God, this figure whom anyone can imagine, perhaps as old and kindly, with the personality of a man, creates all existence. Imagine a plane tree before your eyes. You know that it is a plane tree; God's language seems natural to you. But interpretations can be connected to complex lived experiences. When this God creates things through instantaneous processes, there is a plan (or an idea) in his mind that is non-material, and he makes the thing material, identical to the plan. Thus, since the soul is immaterial, it manages to gain access to the plan in its entirety.

In Romania, a lecture was given by the current Orthodox patriarch, Daniel CIOBOTEA, in which he explains in detail that God has not left creation and remains alive in all creation. This God is autonomous and his creation perpetual. He is an anatomical and functional part of the soul. Thus the notion of alter ego, from the Latin “second self,” becomes clear, and within each person there exists an entity that it is good to listen to.

One day, a priest asked Dr. Nicolae MIHU the following question: why do we do evil if we all know innately, within ourselves, what is good or evil? To this, the doctor replies that good can be done only by noble and strong people, which is not given to everyone.

In the Christian and Muslim religions, a spiritual message was very much present, but practitioners did not know how to use it. Philosophy, with PLATO and ARISTOTLE, helped clarify these religious concepts. It is nevertheless still very difficult to put into words feelings that are not dogmatic.

Spirituality

Dr. Nicolae MIHU offers the example of the natural and universal notion of love, which is simply life, drawing a parallel with a 1930 interview with Albert EINSTEIN, who used a very evocative image to describe our level of knowledge.

“I am not an atheist, nor do I think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the position of a small child entering an immense library filled with books in several languages. The child knows that someone must have written these books. He does not know how. He does not understand all the language in which they were written. The child vaguely suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books, but does not know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude that even the most intelligent human being should have toward God. We see the universe wonderfully arranged and obeying certain laws, but we understand these laws only vaguely.”

Max Jammer, “Einstein and Religion,” originally published in 1999, reissued in 2002, p.48

Physics

In present-day physics, known as modern physics (early 20th century), basic notions are proposed without being explained. One of them, first described in the 19th century, proposes the notion of a three-dimensional field representing lines of force governing the movement of particles.

In seeking to analyze particles, physicists instead found energy, but no matter. What, then, is this three-dimensional field made of? The description is not based on anything material. Rather, we should consider the pairing of energy and immaterial information that characterizes the concept of the dimension of the mind. Modern physics has become mystical by incorporating information related to the soul.

Today, the sciences use statistical methods to demonstrate reality. Experience or intuition are labeled as having lesser value in the analysis of results. Yet through experience, over so many years of existence and rigorous, serious practice, as in the case of magnetic healers, for example, the results are conclusive.

In Chinese or Indian medicine, the sciences of energies and the electrical currents between cells have been systematized. These energies are measurable and circulate through the body along very well-identified pathways.

Some people who possess deep inner peace are able to sense, observe and visualize these energies.

“They distinguish clear water from cloudy water.”

By looking a person in the eyes, one perceives their energy and, through it, their personality. This personal energy has no explanation set down in a textbook, but is very real. Everything has an energy that cannot be fully explained by physics.

First law of thermodynamics: conservation of energy

The total energy of an isolated system remains constant. Antoine LAVOISIER:

“Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed.”

In Chinese medicine, the three-dimensional field is concentrated in 5 energetic compartments. This approach incorporates psychological reference points such as emotions in balance or out of balance; reference points based on seasonality as an underlying framework, and reference points related to the organs.

Lived experience is a kaleidoscopic mixture of emotions. From an overall perspective, the person becomes a three-dimensional energetic kaleidoscope called the circle of the five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). It is a tool used in Chinese medicine to understand how everything works in nature and in the body.

Everything is connected: each element corresponds to an organ and an emotion.

Source: Gemini Creation

The elements nourish one another like a family in a cycle of creation. Water makes Wood grow, Wood burns to create Fire, Fire creates Earth (ashes), etc. If one element is “tired,” it weakens the next.

For balanced health, these five energies must circulate without blockage. If anger manifests itself too strongly, it can disrupt digestion. Chinese medicine therefore seeks to rebalance these forces rather than simply treat a symptom.

For example: the energy meridian of the liver and gallbladder, with the opposition between a flat organ and a hollow organ:

the liver is associated with spring, with nature in a state of effervescence and rebirth. If regeneration is needed, then the liver must be treated, and the associated colour will be green.

People who are in the midst of regeneration, building and action can become hyperactive, and in psychology this overactivity leads to a transformation into anger. A balance must be found in the stimulation of the liver.

“For the body to function well, each element must do its work without taking the place of the others.”

Dr Nicolae MIHU wrote a dissertation on sadness, emphasising the study of felt experiences in his discussion. There is no universal definition of sadness or of emotion—in the broader sense, whether negative or positive. Only felt experiences are expressed: as many people, as many descriptions of felt experiences.

Dr Nicolae MIHU witnessed diagnoses made by a certain Doctor XXX. This doctor used pulse diagnosis and observations, asking very few questions. He had the ability to sense people's energy flows. So much so that one day, in a room with six patients, with the doctor in the middle and the patients around him, when a seventh person arrived behind him, he was able to say as soon as the person entered that he had a heart problem, without even looking at him.

He repeated these diagnostic experiences, notably on another day with a fashion designer. A few months earlier, she had developed a tumour, with endocrine changes and many other problems, including physical deformities affecting her beauty. This woman was able to be cured through this doctor's analysis. Unfortunately, he experienced problems in his life that took him too soon. He did not know when to stop and was exhausted because he worked so much.