Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Medicine: The New World Religion
The book, Medicine: The New World Religion by Oliver Clerk is a real eye-opener for me regarding how to explain our almost fanatical devotion to modern medicine and science. There is an uncanny corelation with organized religion and its practice. He explains that our deep, uncounscious religious beliefs and feelings are transfered to the field of medicine which today enjoys a large degree of udeserved credit that is out of proportion to actual results.
"Almost imperceptibly, medicine has taken on a saving, or messianic role, the characteristics of which we must examine. Looking back through history, there is a sense in which medicine can be said to have displayed characteristics that have at various times characterised the Roman Catholic Church: autocracy, centralisation, the control and manipulation of people, censorship, propaganda, total obedience, infallibility, the destruction of heretics, the stamping out of individuality. All this, of course, has been done in the name of public health and the general good, just as the church acted for mankind's salvation."
"We can see, then, that even though our society considers itself to be secular, it has remained as Christian as it was a century ago, but with two major differences. Firstly, our society is not aware of it. It believes itself to be rational, scientific, and free of superstition. It fails to recognise that it is still, in effect, observing the old religious rituals, but under a new guise. Secondly, our society now lives its religious experiences through secular forms - medical ones, in particular - and has at the same time transferred its hopes and aspirations from the spiritual world to the material.
Medicine, then, has become the new world religion. The specific myths, beliefs and rites of Christianity have been unconsciously projected over medicine since Pasteur."
The unfortunate consequences are to limit the expression of new ideas about disease and what areas of research are pursued. Alternative therapies are outright dismissed and healers are viewed as charlatans.
Underlying all this is the fact that people are still being told, and really believe, that there health and well being depends on something outside of themselves. People are not allowed to act independently and exert their own power, but must yield to "the mediation of priest-physicians, administration of drug-hosts and the protection of vaccine-absolutions."
Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic."
- Thomas Szasz
"Almost imperceptibly, medicine has taken on a saving, or messianic role, the characteristics of which we must examine. Looking back through history, there is a sense in which medicine can be said to have displayed characteristics that have at various times characterised the Roman Catholic Church: autocracy, centralisation, the control and manipulation of people, censorship, propaganda, total obedience, infallibility, the destruction of heretics, the stamping out of individuality. All this, of course, has been done in the name of public health and the general good, just as the church acted for mankind's salvation."
"We can see, then, that even though our society considers itself to be secular, it has remained as Christian as it was a century ago, but with two major differences. Firstly, our society is not aware of it. It believes itself to be rational, scientific, and free of superstition. It fails to recognise that it is still, in effect, observing the old religious rituals, but under a new guise. Secondly, our society now lives its religious experiences through secular forms - medical ones, in particular - and has at the same time transferred its hopes and aspirations from the spiritual world to the material.
Medicine, then, has become the new world religion. The specific myths, beliefs and rites of Christianity have been unconsciously projected over medicine since Pasteur."
The unfortunate consequences are to limit the expression of new ideas about disease and what areas of research are pursued. Alternative therapies are outright dismissed and healers are viewed as charlatans.
Underlying all this is the fact that people are still being told, and really believe, that there health and well being depends on something outside of themselves. People are not allowed to act independently and exert their own power, but must yield to "the mediation of priest-physicians, administration of drug-hosts and the protection of vaccine-absolutions."
Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic."
- Thomas Szasz
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You should try this book I got on line at www.mortsgreb.com
It is a little backwards in that it discusses gathering energy when we all know that giving is the best way to receive. But the concepts and exercises are excellent.
Mike Thompson
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It is a little backwards in that it discusses gathering energy when we all know that giving is the best way to receive. But the concepts and exercises are excellent.
Mike Thompson
# posted by 
: 5:45 AM
: 5:45 AM << Home
