Anthroposophical medicine: Healing the whole person

Centro Natura, at 24 Mahusay St., UP Village, is a center for anthroposophical medicine. Resident physician Divina Hey-Gonzales, whose field is family medicine, is also an anthroposophical medical doctor. Her clinic is full of natural remedies from Switzerland and other countries. Her cabinets are a veritable pharmacopoeia of nature – Achilles comp. for hemorrhoids, varicose veins, and spider veins; Mandragula for gout; Gelsemium comp. for aches and pains of flu and colds; Hypercum/Aurum comp. for cold sores, shingles, and chicken pox; Cinnabar for sore throat and Bolus/Eucalyptus comp. gargle for tonsilitis; Rheuma massage oil; toothache drops; wart paint; baby teething powder; and natural vitamins and minerals. There are also natural shampoos, citrus deodorant in natural, ozone-safe spray, and apricot facial scrub.

In anthroposophical medicine, injectible, oral, and topical remedies for the physical body include plants and animal organ preparations. For example, Fornica is made of red ants while Apis mallifica consists of bees which are turned into homeophathic products. Homeopathy is a system of medicine that prescribes minute doses of medicines which would produce in a healthy person the symptoms of the disease being treated. Homeopathy comes from the Greek words homoios (similar) and pathos (suffering). Take, for instance, the cinchona bark for malaria. Dr. Samuel Hanemann, who discovered the remedy for malaria, suffered malaria-like symptoms when he took the decoction from the bark of the cinchona tree. If a substance produces symptoms of a particular disease in a healthy person, that substance must have healing properties for the disease.

Austrian philosopher and polyglot Dr. Rudolf Steiner used the paradigm of homeopathy to develop anthroposophy, but he went beyond its paradigm by including the spirit in the understanding of the human being. There are several anthroposophical medicines based on the formula of Steiner. Says Dr. Gonzales, "For example, the mistletoe (Viscum album), a bush parasite, is a cure for cancer. You inject the formula or you take it orally. Mistletoes grow on trees like apples, poplars, and oaks. It figures in Christmas traditions the world over, when you kiss people under mistletoes. The preparation of herbs and other remedies in anthroposophical medicine is a very complicated process, depending on whether you’re using leaves, flowers or fruits. There is a whole pharmacology in anthroposophy. This is why one has to be a medical doctor to be able to practice anthroposophical medicine. Anthroposophical remedies are very effective. A conventional pediatrician in Davao said that medical representatives are giving up on her because the anthroposophical medicine she uses on patients are very effective."

Dr. Gonzales says she practices anthroposophical medicine because she saw the limitations of western medicine. "I was looking for a wider framework of medicine. Even as a young graduate, my goal was to find a medical practice that would harmonize with my life path – one that would address my true nature as a human being, a holistic life path. Being a believer in anthroposophy has affected my life in all its dimensions – from bringing up my son (13-year-old Edgar Joshu, fondly called Jio) to running my household, choosing my food, and dealing with relationships. And even in doing business."

Dr. Gonzales’ Centro Natura is the sole distributor of Weleda anthroposophic medicine from Switzerland.

This September, Dr. Gonzales is attending a Medical Section conference in the Goetheanum (Goethe’s Center), the anthroposophical center in Dornach, Switzerland.

She notes, "Anthroposophy made me look at illnesses, suffering, and evil in a new way, or in a new dimension – that they have a task to fulfill, and all is part of this drama that is to unveil the God-like nature of the human being. No difficulty. No fear, because even the most difficult thing in life has beauty as it helps bare the human being’s godly nature."

She adds, "Individuals may have the same illness, but there are different remedies that will address the same illness. We are taught to diagnose the human being in a four-fold way; to hone the skills of our 12 senses. These are: the sense of your own movement, sense of balance, the sense of well-being, and the sense of touch. These lower senses give you an idea of your self, your own body. The middle senses are: the sense of sight, sense of smell, sense of taste, and sense of warmth. These senses give you an idea of the outer world. The higher senses are composed of the sense of ego or "I," the sense of language, conceptual sense, and the sense of hearing. These higher senses make you aware of other human beings."

Dr. Gonzales points out that anthroposophical medicine is only one aspect of anthroposophy, a philosophy evolved by Steiner. The term comes from two Greek words – anthropos (human beings) and sophia (wisdom). So anthroposophy means the study of the wisdom of the human being. When applied to medicine, it is a new way of looking at the human being that goes beyond the physical paradigm.

Steiner established the anthroposophical initiatives in Arlesheim and Dornach, Switzerland in the 1890s. Anthroposophy covers medicine, education, mathematics, social science, economics, the arts, and other disciplines.

Dr. Gonzales explains that Steiner founded anthroposophy because he saw that the world looks at things from a highly material perspective based on the physical body. "He saw that there was a limiting view of the world. You tend to have a lot of flaws in your ideas if you view the world in this sense. You don’t see things not sensed by your senses. We only consider one-fourth of the totality of the human being if we consider only the human body. We miss out on the three-fourths – the life force, the soul and the spirit. He always believed in the supersensible, but he always used the scientific approach in looking at things."

The aim of anthroposophy is to reveal the true nature of the human being and unfold it to its full potential.

Anthroposophy has branches in almost all countries, even in the newly-independent Baltic states. In the Philippines, the Anthroposophical Society was founded in 1989-1990, by a group headed by Nicanor Perlas, Jake Tan, Brenda Fajardo, Mary Joan Fajardo, Bella Tan, and Catherine Perlas. There are now 50 formal members and thousands who attend reading and study groups, 500 of whom study anthroposophy on a regular basis. In Cotabato alone, thousands of farmers attend reading and study groups. Nick Perlas taught the farmers’ group. He also trained farmers in Baguio and Bontoc on biodynamic farming. If you remember, Nick Perlas received the Alternative Nobel Prize. He also established the group Karangalan.

The Waldorf School is an anthroposophical initiative in education. Anthroposophy sees education as preventive medicine. Dr. Gonzales explains why: "If you bring up the child knowing the proper developmental stages, you can match the curriculum and the way of teaching according to the development of the child. By respecting the developmental stages, you actually bring up balanced and harmonized human beings. You just don’t bring up an intelligent person, but an individual who knows how to think well and think clearly, who has warmth of heart and who has enthusiasm to do things in the world. Education should develop the child’s IQ, EQ (Emotional Quotient), and WQ (Willing Quotient)."

Dr. Gonzales says there’s a big Kolisko conference in the Philippines from April 22-28 next year. Named after Eugen Kolisko, the first Waldorf School doctor, the conference will also be held next year in France, Japan, India, Australia, Sweden and Poland. The Kolisko conference was originally a school doctors’ conference held every four years. Now, mini-Kolisko conferences are held in other countries. Last year, it was held in Australia. Extraordinary speakers and resource persons will give lectures and workshops on issues of the times – medical and pedagogical or education issues.

Part of the solution to our society’s ills such as graft and corruption could just be the adoption of the educational principles of anthroposophy – education as preventive medicine.