Prevention of Disease

In our society there is a growing awareness that prevention might be better than cure. Not only does it prevent a lot of suffering, it also is very cost effective. Although we struggle to properly organise the prevention of diseases, methods and systems for the prevention of illnesses have been around for as long as mankind.

Imbalances in our physical being, emotional disorders and imbalances in the mind are the underlying reasons for disease processes and treating these imbalances naturalises the disease at it’s root. It is not, as is the case with Western medicine, the primary concern to classify the diseases or to identify the pathogens; it is about the disease process.

In this framework, it has always been recognised that whatever we can do for ourselves to improve our own health will be more effective than what another does for us. When we have failed in our efforts, the doctor, health care professional or clinical facility becomes necessary. Even then, their value is temporary, to bring us back to the point of caring for ourselves. Often small things we do for ourselves will do more for our health in the long run than taking many medications or consulting many doctors.

There is no substitute for our own right living. It cannot be bought at any price and we cannot expect another to provide it. As long as we are not living in harmony with our nature and constitution we cannot expect ourselves to be really healed by any method. We need to learn the right regime for our particular type covering all aspects of our nature, physical, psychological and spiritual. But it can only succeed with our own time and effort, devotion and dedication. The responsibility is ours, and there is no one to blame but ourselves if we do not make the effort.

It is necessary that we establish the right rhythm in our lives. This maintains a certain harmony and consistency but remains flexible and responds to the challenges of the moment. The rhythm of our right action in life creates a certain momentum that gives power to our lives and gradually improves all of our faculties.

What is significant is creative living. Creativity is not chaotic. It establishes an order, an absolute order, but one that gives freedom. These regimes of living are the rhythms of creative living, as natural as the breath. They require an effort to establish in the beginning to counter the inertia created by our life out of balance, but soon they create a self-sustaining and expanding force of their own.

What we do every day makes for who we are. An occasional visit to a healer, no matter how famous or expensive, cannot substitute for our own regime or substantially alter its effects. The healing methods we put into practice are of the greatest importance, not what someone does for us. The latter are palliative; the former only can be curative, as they alone indicate a change of nature within us. What we do every day is our real religion, for it shows what we truly value in life.

Only a healthy daily routine which pays attention to all aspects of our being will prevent disease and in the unfortunate event of an acute disease invading our body, will be able to heal. Not only will we as individuals feel better and be better, when our lives are in perfect balance, but since there will hardly be any need for medical intervention, the whole culture will change. Our attention will shift from being focused on illness, hospitals and medical care to being focused on health. No longer will illness and disease be the centre of our lives, the topic of conversation, the main drain of resources, but health will have become the norm, illness the ab-norm. Our focus will have shifted from hospital to home, from doctor (healer) to self, from imbalance to natural harmony.

Freedom from illness and suffering lies in the prevention and rectification of imbalances within our lives.

Let’s look for the answers where they always have been and will always be. Who are you? What are you doing?

Dr Patrick Quanten MD