Know Thyself
This blog is part of a series; its original title was Heilkunst Basics : Grade Twelve (“Know Thyself”)
I have previously described the homeopathic constitutional types (6 genotypes, and 6 phenotypes), and at this point, I want to further contextualize them within our ongoing exploration of the Heilkunst curriculum of health. From a practical point of view, prescribing for the patient’s genotype and/or phenotype is one of the first therapeutic acts I take inside the consult room. The larger question, though, is to figure out exactly where they fit into Heilkunst in terms of its structure of three primary jurisdictions (Regimen, Medicine, and Education).
At first glance, it would seem obvious that the prescription of a specific homeopathic remedy for the genotype falls within the realm of ‘medicine’, since a medicinal substance (ie a so-called ‘homeopathic remedy’) is being applied to make a specific change in the patient. This assumption is wrong, as you’ll see once you realize that the realm of Medicine involves the application of a medicine to cure a specific disease. The application of the constitutional remedy, on the other hand, is not being applied to cure any state of disease, but rather as a means to balance the underlying state of health. This falls, then, into the realm of Regimen, which has the job of dealing with imbalances.
The story doesn’t end there, though! Aside from using the constitutional remedy in this Regimenal application, leveraging your own self-knowledge through knowing your genotype opens into the beginnings of the third jurisdiction (Education). While our whole identity contains much more than just our genotype, it does provide a kind of stepping stone into the larger imperative of “know thyself!”. While identifying someone’s genotype may sometimes be a very entertaining party trick, the exercise of knowing yourself is much more in-depth and multi-dimensional. These unfold along the pathway of our in-built desire program and resonance function.
These questions of “who am I?” and “what do I want to do with my life?” are perfectly placed at the end of our high school curriculum, when the patient is now properly prepared to enter the highest jurisdiction of Therapeutic Education.
