Energetics versus Materialism – Dual Mechanism in Botanical Medicine

Kathryn Tian

Registered Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Canada)

Registered Acupuncturist (Canada)

ND Candidate (Canada)

MD (Canadian Equivalence by WES)

In his book “The Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism”, Matthew Wood stated: “…it was said that Western herbalism lacks a system of energy patterns. Actually, this is not true – it is just that this special vocabulary has been forgotten.” Matthew Wood is a world-famous international lecturer and author. He wrote six books on Western herbology and run his business “Sunny Field Herb Farm” in Wisconsin. In his book, Wood furtherly points out: “It should be understood that herbs can be used either way: to stimulate the self-healing powers of the organism to return to health, or to artificially manipulate the organism to fit an artificial goal.” I was deeply touched by his neutral respect to different medical systems and his thoughtfulness on protecting Western culture. His books will guide me to practice botanical medicine under dual mechanism – energetics and materialism.

Energetics is the basic feature of all traditional medical systems. In ancient time, people had a lack of tools to observe/research into the material world; they can only use their naked eyes to look at whatever they are able to see. Hence, in medical practice, ancient practitioners developed various kinds of systems of energy patterns. All these patterns are at the physiological and psychological levels, which are from the macroscopic practice. The methods they use are induction and holism. Does it mean the traditional medicines are low level though? No. Because of the limited conditions, ancient practitioners viewed life as functional unity. They saw the unity nowadays, and now we are forgetting. Wood comments by saying, “A survey of various cultures around the world shows that a simple system of two, three, four, or five elements, qualities, or humors forms the basis of diagnosis and treatment in traditional holistic medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine uses the yin/yang system and the five elements. Ayurvedic medicine uses the three doshas and the five elements. Greek medicine used the four elements, qualities, humors, and temperaments. American Indian medicine acknowledges four to seven directions. These different terms are translated fairly easily from one system to another…” Because of the industrial and scientific revolutions, medicine in the West rapidly developed into materialism. Cellular and molecular medicines are now the mainstream medicines. Luckily, in botanical medicine we are still keeping energetics in our practice. The herbal actions like stimulant (warming), refrigerant (cooling), mucilage (moistening), and astringent (drying) are reflections of energetics. As Wood points out, “The reason herbs are suited to the old-fashioned approach, i.e., to the treatment of broad physiological patterns in the body rather than specific molecular lesions, is that they are in fact complexes of many different chemicals drawn together.” For example, goldenseal can stimulate the digestion and mucosa to resume the homeostasis in the digestive system so that the internal environment will not be suitable for bacteria. That is why goldenseal can prolong the clinical cure for peptic ulcer. Artemisia carvifolia can improve immune function at the organismal level. Panax Ginseng can protect heart muscles, improve anoxia tolerance, and stimulate hematopoietic function of bone marrow. All these above usages of botanical medicine are based on energetics mechanism.

What about the materialism mechanism then? In recent ten years, materialism and reduction have been criticized heavily in the Western world. People doubt if structure can really decide function or not. On the one hand, penicillin has cured millions of pneumonia patients; transplants made the cure of leukemia being possible and saved millions of lives suffered from organ failure. On the other hand, antibiotics lower the immune system and are even messing up the natural environment. Cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases are still unable to be controlled even if we have known the genome. To my understanding, it is because materialism/science is still underdeveloped, and it has not matured yet to solve all health issues. So, this means we should utilize whatever we have achieved. The berberine in goldenseal has been proven to be antimicrobial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and blood glucose lowering. Artemisinin and its semi-synthetic derivatives are a group of drugs used against malaria. Dr. Youyou Tu who won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine for her discovery extracted it from Artemisia carvifolia. Structure of ginsenoside is similar to cortisol, which can explain ginseng’s energetic actions almost perfectly. But, there are about one hundred other structures in Panax Ginseng, which is why it is called “panax” (meaning “treats all”). To completely understand the complexity, the structure and function of whole herbs rely on the further development of physics, chemistry, biochemistry and brain science.

The reason we look back to traditional medicine practice is simply because the “modern” medicine cannot satisfy patients. It is patients trying to find solutions. We were so focused on what we see under the microscope, that we have forgotten that we are human beings as a whole and are just part of the Mother Nature. We need to combine energetics and materialism. “Goldenseal is successful, not just because it kills bacteria, but because it stimulates increased mucosal activity and secretions, making the stomach tissue more active and less susceptible to bacterial infection.” Wood states in his book. Both goldenseal and berberine belong to Western herbology. Artemisia carvifolia can improve immune system and Artemisinin can kill malaria; Genseng can regulate blood circulation and the central nervous system while ginsenoside has anticancer effects; all these kinds of herbs, their extracts, and also the synthesized chemical drug mimicking the original structures, are Chinese Meteria Medica. In botanical medicine practice, we can unify different kinds of medicine from the whole world.

The first aphorism of Hippocrates is: “The life so short, the craft so long to learn, experience difficult to obtain, experiment dangerous, judgment hard.” Science is a never-ending ongoing journey for the human being. One day, we will unify energetics and materialism. Traditional and modern medicine will combine together to achieve the optimal health. Eastern medicine and Western medicine will merge together to be the world medicine that will serve the whole of mankind.

References:

Matthew Wood. The Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism. North Atlantic Books. Berkeley, California. 2004