What is vital force in homoeopathy ?

• Vital force is the ” life giving entity ” which animates the material body , rules the body with unbounded ( without limits ) sway ( influence ) and keep all parts of body in harmony ( in the snese of sensation and function ).
• By doing so, the vital force enables our indwelling – reason gifted mind to employ the living – healthy instrument ( Material body ) for achieving the HIGHEST PURPOSE OF OUR EXISTENCE.

DEFINITION OF VITAL FORCE IN HOMOEPATHY :

• ” Vital force is Spiritual , Dynamic , Automatic , Autocratic , Unintelligent and Instinctive force which animates the living organism ; whose presence is the life and absence is the death. “

CHARACTERISTICS or QUALITIES OF VIATAL FORCE :

1. Spiritual
2. Dynamic
3. Automatic
4. Autocratic
5. Unintelligent
6. Instinctive

Spiritual

• Like spirit the vital force is invisible, whose source is not known, who has no shape , no volume and no mass ( immaterial ).
• Vital force works and functions through material body ( the body which it Rules with unbounded sway ).
• anatomical body is just an instrument in hand of vital force to achieve HIGHEST PURPOSE OF OUR EXISTENCE.

Dynamic

• Dynamic means the force in action – the power which is capable to produce change.
• Its effects are made clear to our senses through its functions.
• The vital force is dynamic in action ; what happens , what is out come or result is seen but why it happens can not be explained.

Automatic

• Automatic means self acting force.
• No force of body has control over it.
• It prevades all organism – all cell and reacts to every stimulus and move the body accordingly.

Autocratic

• ( Auto means : self and Kratic means : power ) = autocratic means self power.
• Vital force is autocratic , it is not depended on anything and no tissue or organ has influence over the vital force.
• Vital force is not govern by body but body is govern by vital force.

Unintelligent

• Every force is unintelligent and vital force is also no exception.
• ” Intellect ” means the ability to reason , the ability to make rational decision.
• Although vital force has power to govern the material body but do not possess ability to reason.
• It is called unintelligent because during any fatal acute disease , if any threat to life of organism occurs , it tries to save life by sacrifising one part of body to miasmatic influence ; for example : in poliomyelitis , patient looses functioning of his legs in case of recovery.

“It is undeniable that our vital force without the assistance of the active remedies of human art cannot overcome slight acute diseases (if not succumb to them) and restore some sort of health without sacrifising a part of the fluid and the solid parts of the organism through so called crisis. The chronic diseases, which spring from miasms, cannot be healed unaided, even by such sacrifices, nor can real health be restored by this force alone.”

By Dr. Hahnemann , in the book “Chronic disease”

Instinctive

• Instinctive means natural impulse that is present since birth , origin.
• Vital force has natural instinct , inbulild character and is force since birth.
• vital force does not change according to constitution of person and not infuenced by knowledge.

What is the importance of the vital force ? or What is the function of the vital force?

• It animates the material body.
• To simply understand this just think that what is the difference between the living body and dead body ? there was force ( power ) which was keeping the body alive , which was preventing the decaying of the organs and regenerating the dead cells. This force which is abscent in dead, is vital force. Whose presence is the life and absence is the death.
• It keeps all parts of the organism in harmony in regards of their sensations and functions.
• It helps our indwelling reason gifted mind to employ the living – healthy body to achieve the highest purpose of our existance.
• The vital force animates the material organism , thus without the vital force our material body is not capable of any sensation , function and self preservation.
• It balance the co ordination between body and mind. It is part of trinity of life : Mind, Body and Vital force. Communication between the mind and body is vital force.

Role of vital force in health , disease and cure :

ROLE IN HEALTH :

§ 9
In the healthy condition of man, the spiritual vital force (autocracy), the dynamis that animates the material body (organism), rules with unbounded sway, and retains all the parts of the organism in admirable, harmonious, vital operation, as regards both sensations and functions, so that our indwelling, reason-gifted mind can freely employ this living, healthy instrument for the higher purpose of our existence.

§ 10
The material organism, without the vital force, is capable of no sensation, no function, no self-preservation, it derives all sensation and performs all the functions of life solely by means of the immaterial being (the vital force) which animates the material organism in health and in disease.

From “Organon of medicine” By Dr. Hahnemann

• In healthy condition, vital force keep harmonious fuctioning of all organs in body.
• It maintains perfect cooperation between body and mind.
• It protects body form the other morbific ( disease causing ) agent.
• In over day to day life we exposes to mant pathogenic morbific agent , but it is due to our vital force that the body survive, grow, repaires the injured cells and reproduce.
• Dr. Hahnemann comments that ” Vital force is a never resting perservative power ” in his book ” Chronic diseases “

ROLE IN DISEASE :

§ 11
When a person falls ill, it is only this spiritual, self acting (automatic) vital force, everywhere present in his organism, that is primarily deranged by the dynamic influence upon it of a morbific agent inimical to life; it is only the vital force, deranged to such an abnormal state, that can furnish the organism with its disagreeable sensations, and incline it to the irregular processes which we call disease; for, as a power invisible in itself, and only cognizable by its effects on the organism, its morbid derangement only makes itself known by the manifestation of disease in the sensations and functions of those parts of the organism exposed to the senses of the observer and physician, that is, by morbid symptoms, and in no other way can it make itself known.

§ 12
It is the morbidly affected vital force alone that produces disease, so that the morbid phenomena perceptible to our senses express at the same time all the internal change, that is to say, the whole morbid derangement of the internal dynamis; in a word, they reveal the whole disease; consequently, also, the disappearance under treatment of all the morbid phenomena and of all the morbid alterations that differ from the healthy vital operations, certainly affects and necessarily implies the restoration of the integrity of the vital force and, therefore, the recovered health of the whole organism.

From “Organon of medicine” By Dr. Hahnemann

• Derangement of vital force by morbific agent is disease.
• Disease is nothing but alteration in the state of health of the healthy individual which express themselves by morbid sign. ( in aphorism 19 )
• INDISPOSITION :
  • It is the no disturb condition or we can say the begining of the disease.
  • There is strugle is going on between vital force and disease force.
  • Thus there is kind of balance between both forces.
  • there is slite feeling of unwell or not feeling good state.
  • For understanding this , lets assume you are living in a house , here the house is compared to your body and you are the vital force. now thief come to your house to break in through the door , here compare the thief to the disease force. The thief is pushing the door to open it and you are preventing him with the same force as thief applying. So what would happen , the door will remain close and thief will not able to enter thr house. But here the door feels stress of both force and as so does your body feels some uneasyness or feeling unwell. this exact process is going on contineously in healthy condition but vital force over comes the disease force in healthy condition.
• ACUTE DISEASE :
  • Immunity or Resistivity is inversely proportional to Sensitivity or Susceptibility.
  • Person is very sensitive that he is affected or give responce to every disease force.
  • Here person is sensitive to particular types of diseases and often got sick by such disease condtion due to his so called susceptibility or predispotion.
  • To understand this lets take the above mentioned example again , but now your house (body) has particular difence mechanism (Immunity) installed and only authorise the known persons (own body cells) only. But now thief come to break in with disguise and Now what your susceptibility towards particular disease do is allow disease force to come in your body.
  • In some epidemic conditions although person’s resistivity & vitality is high ; the disease force is too strong.
  • In this case the thief (disease force) is stronger than you (vital force) thus he will break in by force and over poers you.
  • So in above cases the disease force ( morbific agent ) over powers the vital force of person and thus person become sick.
• CHRONIC DISEASE :
  • In such disease although the vital force is very strong and disease force is not strong, constant irritation or constant attakes of disease force on vital force will lead to following two possibilities :
    1. Body will produce resistivity.
    2. Body will not able to resist anymore and submit to disease factor and lead to chronic menifestation.
  • In first case , vital force will become resistant to the disease sitimulus.
  • in the second case , vital force will submit to disease and gives entry to disease or it will select site ( the weakest part and less important organ ) in body and cause disease. (sacrifice the less important part in order to save the life or more important part)
  • lets understand this with example of a father and his child. Here the father is vital force and child is disease force. The child want a phone so he asks his father to buy one. But father refuces. The child ask again and again every day , now what will happen eighter father will became so resistance and compelety refuce to bow down or he will submit to his child and buy him a phone. Like this due to constant attake our vital force will eighter get resistance or will submit to disease.
• ARTIFICIAL DISEASE :
  • It is the drug induce disease or so called Iatrogenic disease.
  • It is responce of vital force to the drugs.
  • Here , in high dose of drug also there are two posibilities :
    1. Body might get affected so much by the drug that the vital force is no longer able to repaire the damage.
    2. Vital force is not much strong but by the time passes , vital force over comes the effects of drugs and eliminate the effects.

ROLE IN CURE :

§ 16
Our vital force, as a spirit-like dynamis, cannot be attacked and affected by injurious influences on the healthy organism caused by the external inimical forces that disturb the harmonious play of life, otherwise than in a spirit-like (dynamic) way, and in like manner, all such morbid derangements (diseases) cannot be removed from it by the physician in any other way than by the spirit – like (dynamic, virtual) alterative powers of the serviceable medicines acting upon our spirit-like vital force, which perceives them through the medium of the sentient faculty of the nerves everywhere present in the organism, so that it is only by their dynamic action on the vital force that remedies are able to re-establish and do actually re-establish health and vital harmony, after the changes in the health of the patient cognizable by our senses (the totality of the symptoms) have revealed the disease to the carefully observing and investigating physician as fully as was requisite in order to enable him to cure it.

From “Organon of medicine” By Dr. Hahnemann

• Vital force is dynamic in nature thus it can not be attaked or sick untill and unless the disease force is dynamic in nature itself.
• And cure will also not be complete untill and unless the curative medicine is dynamic in nature ( Homoeopathic medicine ) ; material dose ( which contain drugs in its crude form and chemical componant ) can not bring compelete cure as they are not dynamic in nature.

• This is the trio of dynamics in Homoeopathy :
  • Vital force
  • Disease
  • Medicine

• Vital force hase tendency to fight againts the disease force.
• In acute diseases, vital force can easily overcome the disease force without the medicinal help. Bit in the process odf recovery vital force sacrifice some vital energy to the disease force. This happens because it follows the laws and principles according to condition of the nature , that is why Dr. Hahnemann called vital force unintelligent.
• In chronic disease the vital force is not able to over come it without the help of the medicinal aid which is dynamic in nature and most similar to disease force. (natural disease)
• Thus the medicine that we have given will produce artificial disease similar to the natural disease but in higher power , thus natural disease will be removed by the artificial disease that our medicine has produced.
• Now , our vital force is free from natural disease and only suffering with the artificial medicinal disease which will deminish and over powered by vital force after we stop the medicine and with time passes.
• In this way the vital force will be free from disease and also get strong by learning how to fight with that kind of disease force. In future there will be no need of medicine in the same disease as vital force is now knows how to fight with it !!!

Hahnemannian concept of Health , Disease and Cure :

CONCEPT OF HEALTH :

• It is state of health characterized by a sensation of ease and comfort with harmonious playing of the vital force.
• Characteristics of health :
  • Sensation & function of body and mind are normal.
  • Perfect harmony between will , understanding and corporeal activity ; all are following each other and obeying each other.
  • Organism is capable of protecting himself against the forced which has deranged it.
  • All activity related to neutrition , growth and metabolism are normal.
  • There is no unpleasent sensation but always sense of well being.
  • Man is capable of fulfilling the HIGHEST PURPOSE OF OUR EXISTENCE.

CONCEPT OF DISEASE :

• Disease is abonormaly altered state of life , characterized by a sensation of uneasiness and discomfort due to derangement of vital force.
• All Characteristics of disease state is the opposite of health state , above mentioned.

CONCEPT OF CURE :

§ 2
The highest ideal of cure is rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of the health, or removal and annihilation of the disease in its whole extent, in the shortest, most reliable, and most harmless way, on easily comprehensible principles.

From “Organon of medicine” By Dr. Hahnemann

• Conversion of sick state to the previous healthy state is called cure.
• or restoration of vital force to its previous healthy state and compelete removal of the disease in its whole extent is cure.
• Disease should be removed in its whole extent.
• Merely removal of sign and symptoms is not the cure.
• Removal of expressions of the disesae by surgery is not cure ( in case of absces , boil etc. ) but vitality should be corrected and removal of disease from the root cause.
• Cure should be achieved dynamicaly as the vital force and the disease are both dynamic in nature.
• It should be based on fixed principle :
  • According to Dr. Hering , ” Cure should take place from above to down wards , from with to out wards , from more important organ to less important organ and in the reverse order of appearing of disease ”

How Dr. Hahnemann arrived to theory of vital force :

• If we look at how Dr. Hahnemann arrived at the theory of vital force , we soon realise that it is based on inductive logic. [ from particuler premises to general inference ]
• Dr. Hahnemann considered some theory and facts of the world as below :
  1. Egyptian theory :
     • According to it we are made up of “Ba” and the divine spark called “ka”.
     • Ka was thought of as the life force and left the body during death.
  2. Islamic theory :
     • there is concept of “Ruh” which means “the holy spirit“
  3. Bible Theory :
     • According to it God’s particle or God is taking breath in all people.
     • Its present is life and abscence is death.
  4. Hindu Theory :
     • There are two theories given in “Vedant theory” and “Bhagvat Geeta”.
     • In Vedant , It is said that Brahm devided himself and present in people having the paricle of the brahm.
     • In Geeta , it is said that “Atma” is part of “Paramatma”
  5. Jewish concept :
     • The soul as a supernatural entity created and bestowed by God and joined to a terrestrial body.
     • It is based over origin of man and take soul and vital force to be identical.
  6. Greek Considered “Psyche” to be life.
  7. Pythagorus considered the soul is immortal ; it changes into other kinds of animals ; there is eternal recurrence and embodied animate creatures are of the same genus.
  8. Plato was the first philosopher to propose that the soul was the source of both the mind and life.
  9. Aristotle, The highest priest of greek philosophy, also considered that a soul is a principle that accounts for change, a particular kind of nature.
  10. Galen, the father of antipathy mode of treatment also considered vital force as life giving principle.
  11. Paracelsus gave the same concept of vital force but used the term “Archaeus” at the place of vital force / soul.
• On these facts ( premices ) Dr. Hahnemann reached to the conclusion ( inference ) that there is something in the man and called it “Vital force” ; latter in sixth edition it was replaced the term “Vital principle”

What is vital force according to HA ROBERTS ?

• Vital force is that force which animates each individual.
• The vital force in the individual becomes therefore the ego.
• It is the most in animate spark of an individual which gives him identity as well as makes him different from other individuals.
• It keeps and maintains the individual’s relationship close to the universe.
• Vital force is capable of three forms of action : motion, direction and balance.
• Growth and development are directed motion and the degree of their perfection find the manifestation of the balance.

What is vital force according to JT KENT ?

• Dr. Kent gave term “Simple substance” instead of the “Vital force”
• The healthy state is nothing but the harmonious state of body, mind and soul.
• This harmony is maintained by an immaterial vital principle.
• Kent asks “What is vital force? What is its character? Is it true that man only has this vital force? Is it possessed by no animal or no mineral?” It is difficult to identify this immaterial substance as it not tangible and cannot be seen either, unlike the material substances which can be seen, measured and weighed etc.
• Material and the immaterial substances in this world are interdependent.
• The true holding together of the material world is performed by the simple substance.
• The order from the time of eternity of each material thing in this world is because of
  simple substance.
• The world is functioning (see the stars, see the growth of the baby into an adult and into an old man, see the molecular moments in the solid, liquid and gaseous states) and working in a planned and orderly manner because of simple substance.
• Kent called the immaterial substance as the fourth state of matter, the other three states being the solid, liquid and gaseous states.