Stages of Disease and Remedies 2

[David Little]

Dear Colleagues et al,

I have already made my opinion of "essences" fairly clear. I am of the
opinion that it is extremely difficult to reduce all the symptoms of a
remedy to one single cause because this process can easily lead to
stereotyping and narrow vision. That is why it is important to study the
portraits of more than one experienced homeopath as one patient seems to
suit one picture and another a different picture. If we could see the Esse
this would not be a problem but what we see are different facets of the
Esse through provings and clinical confirmations on living human beings.
What we record are relative observations subject to the time and
circumstances of the prover-patient and the view of the observer.

My approach is to try to "psychoanalysis" the entire remedy-Gestalt
like we do a human beings. The paradigm I use is Jungian philosophy because
there is a large body of experience behind these observations not just my
own concepts. This means that I look at the Psyche of remedies and patients
through its components Persona, Shadow, Anima-Animus, Collective
Unconscious and Self. The persona is the mask the person wears on the
outside and the shadow is the compensation for this mask. The Anima-Animus
makes up the personal unconscious, which is polarized opposite to the sex
of the individual's body. The self is the deep integrative aspect of the
Psyche which is always working for individuation and Self-realization. As
one can see the Psyche is based on component parts and functional
polarities not a monolithic structure.

It is far beyond the scope of this post to try and explain what each
of terms mean but one can read about them in published works on the
subject. I have chosen to work with the traditional body of Jungian
information rather than introduce my own personal Neo-Junigan ideas as many
are doing in Homeopathy. This is because I can discuss experiences within
the exact same paradigm with colleagues and those with great knowledge in
the field and we know exactly what each other is talking about. I also have
access to a massive amount of theoretical and clinical material on the
subject. I also find some of the new age versions of archetypal psychology
a bit simplistic and incomplete. Some people using terms and changing a
system they did not really understand in the first place.

Images from the Unconscious manifested through spontaneous actions,
dreams, fantasies and altered states of consciousness that share certain
religious, mythological, philosophical, literary, and alchemical motifs
that are expressions of the collective unconscious. These themes that
reoccur in all cultures and all time periods are called Archetypes. One
cannot see the absolute essence of the archetypes but one can observe their
relative Gestalt phenomena through their dynamic characteristics in living
human beings. These Archetypes are part of the structure of the Psyche and
give human life their meaning. They seek to reach the surface through every
avenue of human activity.

When I review a remedy I generalize the characteristic symptoms by
common threads (with sensations, modalities, etc..) as much as possible and
study very closely the dreams, delusions and deliriums. I try to interpret
the dreams and delusions as one does with living patients in psychology.
These are message directly from the Unconscious. I look for common themes
as well as atypical symptoms that seem different than the main threads. I
consider these very important. The I review the remedy symptoms in terms of
classical psychology as if I was looking at a patient.

I study the symptoms related to mood affective disorders like mania,
depression, manic-depression and melancholia and see how each individual
remedy would act if suffering such a state. I take a good look at the
symptoms of the 12 personality disorders like obsessive compulsive, passive
aggressive, narcissistic, hysteria, antisocial, avoidant, dependent,
borderline, schizoid, etc., and review the symptoms related to anxiety,
obsessive compulsive, hysterical, hypochondriacal and phobic neuroses. I
study at the fears related to paranoid disorders very closely. The fears,
imaginations and anxieties are very important as they show problem areas. I
look at all the rubrics of our remedies in relations to these classes of
psychopathology and try to judge them in accordance with the four stage of
pathology, the pseudo functional, the early breakdown stage, the neurotic
stage and the psychotic stage.

I review the mind/body/postural relationships in terms of infantile
orificial activations. I look at sex in accordance with Riech's function
of the orgasm teachings as well as archetypes and complexes..I look at the
potential psychosexual disorders like exhibitionism, Pedophilia voyeurism,
nymphomania, satyriasis, impotency, frigidity, etc. I also study possible
gender issues. When speaking to patients I sometimes investigate sexual and
masturbation fantasies as they also are a door into the deeper state of the
Psyche. The repression, suppressed, mistreated, frustrated, distorted power
of the sexual libido is a source of very deep symptoms and a power behind
many neurotic and psychotic states as well as physical diseases.

At the same time, I study the psychosomatic channels and possible
conversion diseases affecting to the body and what they might mean
psychologically. I take all this material into account and attempt to
integrate it in a homogeneous portrait that bring out the grand
characteristic but also maintains the more complete individual symptoms
that are strikingly, uncommon, rare and odd. I find many essences are too
over generalized and use common symptoms that incomplete rubrics without
sensation, modalities or concomitants. Everything is reduce to the lowest
common denominator instead of the most unique, individualizing
characteristic threads. This is how I study remedies and patients. So when
I say that our deep acting remedies can reflect more one undigested
archetype, complexes, neuroses, personality disorders, etc, I have these
classes of psychopathology in mind. I am using these terms in relationship
to classical psychology.

We cannot be totality "conscious" of the Unconscious because the
nature of the Unconscious is to be UNCONSCIOUS. This is like trying to look
at the entire ocean from the beach. We can only experience the the waves,
currents, colors, reflections, smells, etc., that are observable to our
senses but the ocean is much greater than this. It has unseen plant and
creatures, plants as well as floor with volcanic vents, etc. The ocean is
an image of beauty, expansiveness as well as danger the unknown. This is
why the Ocean is one of the timeless symbols of the Unconscious. Every
Psyche is based on primordial Archetypes. Religion, mythology, philosophy,
fables, superstitions, the arts, history, even physics is an attempt to
make sense of the dynamic fields of this Priori. The problems arise when
the energy of these Archetypes is undigested, distorted, and deranged in
such a manner that it produces complexes that disrupt the integration of
the fivefold Psyche.

For example, Dionysus was an ancient Pelasgian divinity representing
natural life, death, resurrection and eternal life. In his pure form
Dionysus was first identified with Zagreus, who was a Cretan divinity. He
was the son of Zeus, chief of the Immortals, and Demeter, the Earth Mother.
The other gods were so jealous of his beauty that they tried to kill him.
The Titans tore Zagreus to pieces and threw his remains into a cauldron.
Athena rescued his beating heart and took it to Zeus for resurrection. Zeus
then gave him new life in the form of Dionysus and struck the Titans down
with his thunderbolts. From this point on Dionysus, "the twice-born" became
a divinity of everlasting life. The remains of Zagreus were reconstituted
as an underworld god who welcomes the souls of the dead and helps them with
their purification.

Plutarch wrote that Dionysus is a "god who is destroyed, who
disappears, who relinquishes life, and then is born again". The Dionysus
Archetype teaches that one must use titanic effort to tear to pieces the
false ego until only the beating heart of the Self remains. Then one can be
resurrected in the eternal life of the spirit. The myth of Dionysus shares
many symbols with Osiris, Asclepius, Orpheus, Jesus, etc. The inner meaning
of the life of Dionysus was presented as a sacred drama showing his birth,
passion, death and resurrection. This mystery play is the origin of western
drama and tragedy. The term tragedy literally means "goat song" in
reference to the sacrifice of Dionysus's animal form. Tragedy was a
religious experience that was designed to purify the participant through
awe and sympathy. Dionysus became one of the first in a long line of
"scapegoats" for the human consciousness.

Dionysus is associated with wine, vegetation, moisture and natural
living. Wine is a symbol of divine intoxication. Everyone wishes to feel
the bliss of divine intoxication but they do not know how to attain it.
Therefore, rather than seeking the wine of the spirit within they look to
the outer world of drugs and alcohol to alter their consciousness. This, of
course, can never satisfy the soul so they fall into the vicious cycle of
addiction and abuse. Vegetation, moisture and natural living are symbols
for fertility and procreation. Self-sacrifice often involves the violent
and chaotic destruction of the false ego and an aggressive restructuring of
the psyche. Dioinysus represents the forces of nature.

The temptations of intoxication, abuse of sexual energy and angry
aggression are so powerful that even a god can become trapped in this
cycle. After Dionysus discovered the grape vine he traveled all over the
world and became a civilized man. It was only when Dionysus became a god of
civilization (rather than nature) that drugs, sex, and violence got out of
control. This is analogous to the fall of humanity. The fallen followers of
Dionysus reveled in uncontrolled drunkenness, frenzied sex orgies, violent
rampages and human sacrifice. Dionysus inflicts madness on those who
misunderstand or deny his proper manifestation causing them to tear to
pieces their loved ones, especially their children. Drug addition,
promiscuous sex, and violent rampages are being more and more common.

I have seen the undigested Dionysus archetype destroy of the lives of
many persons who were creative and inspired but could not control their
addictions, sexuality, and violent impulses and committed conscious or
unconscious suicide. Even if they wished control themselves the undigested
power of the Dionysus complex drove them further and further toward death
with a false idea of resurrection. One might say that the entire "drugs,
sex and rock and roll and punk culture" is a manifestation of the Dionysus
complex. . In the 1960s their arose a cultural Dionysus mystery drama on a
mass scale. The is the story of Jim Morrison and the Doors is only one
example. Some integrated the archetype and moved on and others did not and
were destroyed. Glimpses of the undigested Dionysius archetype can be seen
in remedies like Anac., Androc., Fl-ac., Cant., Hep., Hyos., Iod.,
Kali-br., Lach., Lyss., Med., Nux-v, Phos., Plat., Stram., Sulphur, Tarent,
Verat and other remedies. Aspects of this archetype appear in psora but
reveal themselves more fully in sycotic and syphilitic miasms.

I hope this offers a view into what I mean when I speak of undigested
archetypes, complexes, personality disorders, neurosis, etc. I am writing
about all these classifications in detail and composing specialized Materia
Medica of psychopathology with physical concomitants for my never ending
book project. My daughter just told me "Dad, STOP stop writing! You have
been writing since before I was born." Is 12 years too long? Gosh, talk
about obsessive-compulsive disorder!

Similia Minimus,
David Little

[David Little]

Dear Colleagues et al,

I have already made my opinion of "essences" fairly clear in the past.
I am of the opinion that it is extremely difficult to reduce all the
symptoms of a remedy to one single cause because this process can easily
lead to stereotyping and narrow vision. That is why it is important to
study the portraits of more than one experienced homeopath as one patient
seems to suit one picture and another a different picture. If we could see
the Esse this would not be a problem but what we see are different facets
of the Esse through provings and clinical confirmations on living human
beings. What we record are relative observations subject to the time and
circumstances of the prover-patient and the view of the observer.

I have been asked how I look at the psychopathology, archetypes,
complexes, etc, My approach is to try to "psychoanalysis" the entire
remedy-Gestalt like we do a human beings. The paradigm I use is Jungian
philosophy because there is a large body of experience behind these
observations not just my own concepts. This means that I look at the Psyche
of remedies and patients through its components Persona, Shadow,
Anima-Animus, Collective Unconscious and Self. The persona is the mask the
person wears on the outside and the shadow is the compensation for this
mask. The Anima-Animus makes up the personal unconscious, which is
polarized opposite to the sex of the individual's body. The self is the
deep integrative aspect of the Psyche which is always working for
individuation and Self-realization. As one can see the Psyche is based on
component parts and functional polarities not a monolithic structure.

It is far beyond the scope of this post to try and explain what each
of terms mean but one can read about them in published works on the
subject. I have chosen to work with the traditional body of Jungian
information rather than introduce my own personal Neo-Junigan ideas as many
are doing in Homeopathy. This is because I can discuss experiences within
the exact same paradigm with colleagues and those with great knowledge in
the field and we know exactly what each other is talking about. I also have
access to a massive amount of theoretical and clinical material on the
subject. I also find some of the new age versions of archetypal psychology
a bit simplistic and incomplete. Some people using terms and changing a
system they did not really understand in the first place.

Images from the Unconscious manifested through spontaneous actions,
dreams, fantasies and altered states of consciousness that share certain
religious, mythological, philosophical, literary, and alchemical motifs
that are expressions of the collective unconscious. These themes that
reoccur in all cultures and all time periods are called Archetypes. One
cannot see the absolute essence of the archetypes but one can observe their
relative Gestalt phenomena through their dynamic characteristics in living
human beings. These Archetypes are part of the structure of the Psyche and
give human life their meaning. They seek to reach the surface through every
avenue of human activity.

When I review a remedy I generalize the characteristic symptoms by
common threads (with sensations, modalities, etc..) as much as possible and
study very closely the dreams, delusions and deliriums. I try to interpret
the dreams and delusions as one does with living patients in psychology.
These are message directly from the Unconscious. I look for common themes
as well as atypical symptoms that seem different than the main threads. I
consider these very important. The I review the remedy symptoms in terms of
classical psychology as if I was looking at a patient.

I study the symptoms related to mood affective disorders like mania,
depression, manic-depression and melancholia and see how each individual
remedy would act if suffering such a state. I take a good look at the
symptoms of the 12 personality disorders like obsessive compulsive, passive
aggressive, narcissistic, hysteria, antisocial, avoidant, dependent,
borderline, schizoid, etc., and review the symptoms related to anxiety,
obsessive compulsive, hysterical, hypochondriacal and phobic neuroses. I
study at the fears related to paranoid disorders very closely. The fears,
imaginations and anxieties are very important as they show problem areas. I
look at all the rubrics of our remedies in relations to these classes of
psychopathology and try to judge them in accordance with the four stage of
pathology, the pseudo functional, the early breakdown stage, the neurotic
stage and the psychotic stage.

I review the mind/body/postural relationships in terms of infantile
orificial activations. I look at sex in accordance with Riech's function
of the orgasm teachings as well as archetypes and complexes..I look at the
potential psychosexual disorders like exhibitionism, Pedophilia voyeurism,
nymphomania, satyriasis, impotency, frigidity, etc. I also study possible
gender issues. When speaking to patients I sometimes investigate sexual and
masturbation fantasies as they also are a door into the deeper state of the
Psyche. The repression, suppressed, mistreated, frustrated, distorted power
of the sexual libido is a source of very deep symptoms and a power behind
many neurotic and psychotic states as well as physical diseases.

At the same time, I study the psychosomatic channels and possible
conversion diseases affecting to the body and what they might mean
psychologically. I take all this material into account and attempt to
integrate it in a homogeneous portrait that bring out the grand
characteristic but also maintains the more complete individual symptoms
that are strikingly, uncommon, rare and odd. I find many essences are too
over generalized and use common symptoms that incomplete rubrics without
sensation, modalities or concomitants. Everything is reduce to the lowest
common denominator instead of the most unique, individualizing
characteristic threads. This is how I study remedies and patients. So when
I say that our deep acting remedies can reflect more one undigested
archetype, complexes, neuroses, personality disorders, etc, I have these
classes of psychopathology in mind. I am using these terms in relationship
to classical psychology.

We cannot be totality "conscious" of the Unconscious because the
nature of the Unconscious is to be UNCONSCIOUS. This is like trying to look
at the entire ocean from the beach. We can only experience the the waves,
currents, colors, reflections, smells, etc., that are observable to our
senses but the ocean is much greater than this. It has unseen plant and
creatures, plants as well as floor with volcanic vents, etc. The ocean is
an image of beauty, expansiveness as well as danger the unknown. This is
why the Ocean is one of the timeless symbols of the Unconscious. Every
Psyche is based on primordial Archetypes. Religion, mythology, philosophy,
fables, superstitions, the arts, history, even physics is an attempt to
make sense of the dynamic fields of this Priori. The problems arise when
the energy of these Archetypes is undigested, distorted, and deranged in
such a manner that it produces complexes that disrupt the integration of
the fivefold Psyche.

For example, Dionysus was an ancient Pelasgian divinity representing
natural life, death, resurrection and eternal life. In his pure form
Dionysus was first identified with Zagreus, who was a Cretan divinity. He
was the son of Zeus, chief of the Immortals, and Demeter, the Earth Mother.
The other gods were so jealous of his beauty that they tried to kill him.
The Titans tore Zagreus to pieces and threw his remains into a cauldron.
Athena rescued his beating heart and took it to Zeus for resurrection. Zeus
then gave him new life in the form of Dionysus and struck the Titans down
with his thunderbolts. From this point on Dionysus, "the twice-born" became
a divinity of everlasting life. The remains of Zagreus were reconstituted
as an underworld god who welcomes the souls of the dead and helps them with
their purification.

Plutarch wrote that Dionysus is a "god who is destroyed, who
disappears, who relinquishes life, and then is born again". The Dionysus
Archetype teaches that one must use titanic effort to tear to pieces the
false ego until only the beating heart of the Self remains. Then one can be
resurrected in the eternal life of the spirit. The myth of Dionysus shares
many symbols with Osiris, Asclepius, Orpheus, Jesus, etc. The inner meaning
of the life of Dionysus was presented as a sacred drama showing his birth,
passion, death and resurrection. This mystery play is the origin of western
drama and tragedy. The term tragedy literally means "goat song" in
reference to the sacrifice of Dionysus's animal form. Tragedy was a
religious experience that was designed to purify the participant through
awe and sympathy. Dionysus became one of the first in a long line of
"scapegoats" for the human consciousness.

Dionysus is associated with wine, vegetation, moisture and natural
living. Wine is a symbol of divine intoxication. Everyone wishes to feel
the bliss of divine intoxication but they do not know how to attain it.
Therefore, rather than seeking the wine of the spirit within they look to
the outer world of drugs and alcohol to alter their consciousness. This, of
course, can never satisfy the soul so they fall into the vicious cycle of
addiction and abuse. Vegetation, moisture and natural living are symbols
for fertility and procreation. Self-sacrifice often involves the violent
and chaotic destruction of the false ego and an aggressive restructuring of
the psyche. Dioinysus represents the forces of nature.

The temptations of intoxication, abuse of sexual energy and angry
aggression are so powerful that even a god can become trapped in this
cycle. After Dionysus discovered the grape vine he traveled all over the
world and became a civilized man. It was only when Dionysus became a god of
civilization (rather than nature) that drugs, sex, and violence got out of
control. This is analogous to the fall of humanity. The fallen followers of
Dionysus reveled in uncontrolled drunkenness, frenzied sex orgies, violent
rampages and human sacrifice. Dionysus inflicts madness on those who
misunderstand or deny his proper manifestation causing them to tear to
pieces their loved ones, especially their children. Drug addition,
promiscuous sex, and violent rampages are being more and more common.

I have seen the undigested Dionysus archetype destroy of the lives of
many persons who were creative and inspired but could not control their
addictions, sexuality, and violent impulses and committed conscious or
unconscious suicide. Even if they wished control themselves the undigested
power of the Dionysus complex drove them further and further toward death
with a false idea of resurrection. One might say that the entire "drugs,
sex and rock and roll and punk culture" is a manifestation of the Dionysus
complex. . In the 1960s their arose a cultural Dionysus mystery drama on a
mass scale. The is the story of Jim Morrison and the Doors is only one
example. Some integrated the archetype and moved on and others did not and
were destroyed. Glimpses of the undigested Dionysius archetype can be seen
in remedies like Anac., Androc., Fl-ac., Cant., Hep., Hyos., Iod.,
Kali-br., Lach., Lyss., Med., Nux-v, Phos., Plat., Stram., Sulphur, Tarent,
Verat and other remedies. Aspects of this archetype appear in psora but
reveal themselves more fully in sycotic and syphilitic miasms.

I hope this offers a view into what I mean when I speak of undigested
archetypes, complexes, personality disorders, neurosis, etc. I am writing
about all these classifications in detail and composing specialized Materia
Medica of psychopathology with physical concomitants for my never ending
book project. My daughter just told me "Dad, STOP stop writing! You have
been writing since before I was born." Is 12 years too long? Gosh, talk
about obsessive-compulsive disorder!

Similia Minimus,
David Little