Traditional
Laws of Naturopathy
Dr. Lust (1872-1925) relocated to New York in the
late 1800’s on a mission to bring “Drugless Nature Medicine” to the United
States from Germany. After being arrested more than 30 times by the New
York authorities and at least 3 times by federal authorities Lust tired of the
fight. Dr. Lust said, “The prosecution became so intense that we could
not use the words cure, healing, therapy, therapist, physician, doctor, or any
other similar title. We were all in despair. Finally we decided to
use the word ‘naturopath’ as being the only safe term by which we could
designate ourselves as having to do with nature cure and disease. This
was the magic word that would set us free.” (Nature Doctors: Pioneers
in Naturopathic Medicine by Friedhelm Kirchfeld & Wade Boyle,
1994. Available from Medicina Biologica). The term ‘Naturopath’ now
distinguishes the profession of “Drugless Practitioners” from others. It
was from this experience that Dr. Lust decided that Naturopaths should never use the term ‘medical’ with or near the term ‘Naturopathy.’ Furthermore,
Dr. Lust considered the practice of Naturopathy to be educating others in a
‘way of life,’ not a treatment for ‘disease.’ Dr Benedict Lust states, “Naturopathy
is the mother, all-inclusive, of natural therapy. It is the basic
platform for all methods of healing; without it any healing art will be a
failure.” (Nature Doctors). Here is a summary of the principles of
Naturopathy.
A. vis medicatrix naturae The Healing Power of Nature.
Naturopathic practioners trust that the body has the inherent ability to
establish, maintain, and restore health. The healing process is ordered
and intelligent, nature heals through the response of the life force. The
physician’s role is to facilitate and augment this process and act to identify
and remove obstacles to health and recovery, and to support the creation of a
healthy internal and external environment.
B. tolle causam Identify and treat the cause. Illness
does not occur without a cause. Underlying causes of disease must be
discovered and removed or treated before a person can recover completely from
illness. Symptoms are expressions of the body’s attempt to heal, but not
the cause of disease. Symptoms therefore should not be suppressed by
treatment. Causes may occur on many levels including physical, mental,
emotional, and spiritual. The physician must evaluate fundamental
underlying causes rather than at symptomatic expression.
C. primum no nocere First do no harm. Illness is a
purposeful process of the organism. The process of healing includes the
generation of symptoms which are, in fact, an expression of the life force
attempting to heal itself. Therapeutic actions should be complimentary to
and synergistic with this healing process. The physician’s actions can
support or antagonize the actions of the vis medicatrix naturae. Therefore,
methods are designed to suppress symptoms without removing underlying causes
are considered harmful and are avoided or minimized.
D. docere Doctor means “teacher.” The term “doctor”
is derived from “docere,” a latin word which designated a teacher. It
apparently was first employed in the 12th Century in the school of
Bologna, being conferred upon those of the legal profession. The French
gave the degree of “doctor” to graduates in the schools of divinity and later a
similar degree was bestowed to both the religious and legal
professionals. Beginning in about 1360 the title and degree of doctor was
applied to those in the fields of philosophy, literature and music and to those
in other academic crafts and sciences as well as those from divinity and legal
schools. The doctor is to teach the patient the elements necessary to
restore proper structure and functioning of the body, so as to release and
stimulate the vital force to normalize. Good health is produced in this
manner through the medium of education (educate, Latin, “to lead’). In
this sense education, through the medium of “Logos” (the spoken word) can be
considered medicinal.
E. phyein / physis / physicos / Physician means “healing by
means of nature.” Phyein is the Greek derivative from which the word “physician”
originates and is means “to produce or grow.” Later this term was applied
to a grower of medicinal herbs and plants, evolving subsequently to “physis”
meaning “nature,” thence into “physikos” meaning “natural,” an allusion to the
natural origin of plants that were used in healing. Later, the term “physis,”
or “the art of healing by natural means with herbs and other natural
substances,” was evolved and finally led to the title of “physician”
designating “one who treats by natural methods.”
F. medico Medicine means “to heal.” Medicine is
derived from the Latin word, “medico,” meaning “to heal.” Thus, the
science and art of the prevention, cure, or alleviation of disease –
restoring and preserving health. Now, unfortunately, commonly understood,
in a much narrower sense, to only mean drugs and their preparations. The
ultimate goal of any health care system should be prevention. This is accomplished through education
and promotion of life-habits that create good health. The Naturopath
assesses risk factors and hereditary susceptibility to disease and makes
appropriate interventions to avoid further harm and risk to the patient.
The emphasis is on building health rather than on fighting disease.
G. Treat the whole person. Recognize the multifactorial nature of
health and disease. Health and disease are conditions of the whole
organism, a whole, involving complex interaction of physical, spiritual,
mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, social, and other factors. The
physician must treat the whole person by taking all of these factors into
account. The harmonious functioning of all aspects of the individual is
essential to recovery from and prevention of disease, and requires a
personalized and comprehensive approach to diagnosis and treatment.
