SARS, Comparative Epidemiology and Jewels for the World

"Every time I think I'm out, they keep pulling me back in!"

I'm sure that many of you recognize this line from the Godfather III.
Yet, it seems so apropos here.

As I penned the previous post, I silently thought to myself that somehow I would be sharing this quote and the thought that Drug Resistant TB would pull me back into the arena. Sure enough, I guess the quest continues. Throughout so much of my life, in my search and exploration of Lupus across culture, time and space, I have been led. Thankfully, I must admit, the wolf prints have led me along so many paths, elicited introductions I could never have imagined and exposed me to "Comparative Epidemiology." Granted, this is not on the traditional sense as written about in most scientific articles presently. Nevertheless, it exists!

Comparative epidemiology is essentially why SARS was overcome in China with so few people actually stricken by SARS itself. Culture and Chinese Medicine played a very major role in the elimination of SARS. By examining the case studies from centuries and Millenia past, the Herbal Doctors designed several formulas as preventatives, based on constitution, symptoms, etc. Of course, they also treated those affected and were the first to achieve favorable results.
Vis-a-vis Western medicine, Chinese medicine harmonized the body more effectively.
On the preventative side, its flexibility allowed for quick moderations to address changes in symptoms, presentation thereof and a person's constitution type--meaning how certain people would react or not react to certain kinds of medicines and environmental factors.

Perhaps, the most important lesson for the world contained within SARS was the viability, modernity and applicability of Chinese Medicine within the face of a Pandemic. Of course, Chinese Medicine has also risen to meet the challenges of Drug-resistant Malaria. Artemnesia, wormwood, was used in China for more than 2, 000 years to treat Malaria. It is based on the Mawangdui scrolls that many have benefited.

Today, I believe, more than ever that the answers to the most pressing health problems lie within the tomes of case studies and the seemingly simplistic principles of Chinese Medicine and other systems of medicine, many of them ancient. Albeit, the body and classification of diseases are seen through different lenses. Nevertheless, they serve as a series of lenses through which to discriminate and discern a condition. Sometimes, they intersect those known within Western science. Sometimes, they simply elude of supercede them for more reasons than I can post within these few paragraphs. Yet, one thing is clear........we need more mutual respect, comparative epidemiology, more collaboration across medicines and more valuation of each other's medicines and worldviews. Hierarchy has no place when compared to the value of a life.

Crossroads for true healing and discernment

Dear All,

The Time of Discernment has arrived........

After many months of seemingly insurmountable opposition, personal and professional sacrifices and challenges, the quest for a homeland for "True Healing" may have reached its end.

It may well be someone else's work to unite healers and bridge knowledge. I just don't know. It certainly requires more courageous people dedicated to truth and integrity, willing to share, to give of time and talent and perhaps more importantly to listen.

There are so many things I wish I could share with you and so much I wish were different. In the end, it doesn't matter. It is what it is.

As I pen this, I am curiously reminded of the crossroads a friend of mine faced with his site dedicated to remembering the Holocaust and reuniting families and survivors. (It was a project I am honored to have shared.) As I ponder the uncertainty of the path ahead, I recall reading his letter. In brief, it stated that perhaps he was the Emperor minus the fancy clothes, naked before the world and that he felt that the project might indeed be like the sand Mandala ready to be swept away and cast back into the water. It still gives me chills when I recall his words and feelings, even though that was six years ago.

So, too, I have thought about that letter for months and the feeling behind it. Each time, it has struck a deeper chord and resonated more loudly. I realize his love for the project and his willingness to let it go emanated from the same love in his heart. (After some time away, my friend found strength and resources to carry it forward:)

Energy and time are short. For more than twenty years, I have dedicated whatever I could, always painfully aware that even my best efforts were short of what was needed.

True healing may have reached an impasse, a new beginning or an end awaiting someone else's insight, inspiration, energy and love to bring into the world today or in the future. Perhaps, it was the " impossible dream," simple grains of sand collected carefully, painstakingly drawn only to be swept away and given back to the universe.

A little more time and distance might yield more answers. Unlike my friend, I have no other "me" to man the office in my absence. In the meantime, this warrior must find refuge, true rest, or a sanctuary somewhere. I'll have to trust that Divine intervention will somehow step in and the answer will shine through. Namaste