This remarkable statement by Dr. James Tyler Kent typifies the problem we face in our view of humankind. If we cannot touch it, at least with a physical instrument, say the scientists, it is not real. Homeopathic remedies were known two hundred years ago to contradict this view of the world. And they knew it because even then chemists could not find the substances in Homeopathic remedies beyond about the 12th potency.

The reason is very simple. A Homeopathic remedy is produced in a series of dilutions. A tincture of the substance is made in alcohol or water. A drop of this tincture is put in 100 drops of a neutral liquid, usually distilled water. The dilution is shaken hard for a period of time. This is the first potency (1C). The process is repeated by taking a drop of the 1C preparation and adding it to 100 drops of the neutral liquid. This action produces the second potency (2C).

Between the 6th and 12th potencies there is the possibility that the 100 drops of the previous potency will contain no molecules of the substance. Above about the 12th potency, this possibility becomes a probability. Most homeopathic practitioners begin treatment of long-standing cases with the 30th potency or higher.

The Spirit-like Dynamis

The obvious consequence of this fact is that we are ‘diluting’ something that no longer contains a physical substance. What are we doing then? According to Homeopathic theory as elucidated by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann in the late 1700’s, we are drawing out the dynamic power of the substance. Dr. Hahnemann informs us also that it is only this power of a substance that truly heals. In a statement that must rank among the most important in medical literature, Dr. Hahnemann tells us the following:

Outer malefic agents that harm the healthy organism and disturb the harmonious rhythm of life can reach and affect the spirit-like dynamis only in a way that also is dynamic and spirit-like.

The physician can remove these pathological untunements (diseases) only by acting on our spirit-like vital force with medicines having equally spirit-like, dynamic effects that are perceived by the nervous sensitivity everywhere present in the organism.

So it is only by dynamic action upon the vital principle that remedies can restore health and the harmony of life after the perceptible changes in health (the totality of symptoms) have revealed the disease to the carefully observing and inquiring physician fully enough to be cured (Para 16 of The Organon of Medicine).

And what is this “spirit-like vital force’? Dr. Hahnemann has informed us in paragraph 10 of his Organon as follows:

Without the vital force the material organism is unable to feel, or act, or maintain itself. Only because of the immaterial being (vital principle, vital force) that animates it in health and in disease can it feel and maintain its vital functions.

Thus, according to Dr. Hahnemann, it is only possible to render a cure by using this self-same spirit-like vital essence of a substance. But even if we do know now how to prepare the substance properly how do we know which one to use?

First, says the Doctor in paragraph 14:

There is no curable disease or morbific alteration hidden in the interior of the body which does not announce itself to the conscientiously observant physician through objective and subjective symptoms. This is what the omniscient Preserver of human life has provided in his infinite goodness.

Then, in paragraph 22, he says that

The curative power of medicines consists exclusively (emphasis mine) in their propensity to produce disease symptoms in the healthy and remove them from the sick.

And on this simple statement rests the whole of the science of Homeopathy. For if we do not limit our understanding of what a sign or a symptom is to physical disturbances and abnormalities, but include feelings, moods, peculiar things, desires, compulsions, times of day, month or year, periodicity, weather and all the full range of human experience, then we can begin to understand what a profound and far-reaching statement Dr. Hahnemann has made.

Another way to understand this view of illness and health is that illness is a language spoken by the system. The person (or animal) is trying to communicate. It is trying to express itself. We know that in psychological work an important part of the process is that the person learns to accurately express himself or herself. The whole system is trying to do the same thing, and the way it ‘talks’ is through symptoms.

If we use the dynamic essence of substances that creates these same ‘sentences’ in healthy people, then the system is helped to express itself clearly. Once it has done that, as often happens in psychological work, the system doesn’t have to say that anymore and we have a ‘cure’. This metaphor is not complete, of course, but gives a small insight into the process of homeopathic treatment.
 
The science of homeopathy is in the extensive ‘provings’ that have been done on healthy people.  A proving is a careful process of giving the substance to healthy people to find out the signs and symptoms that substance consistently produces. Because we cannot drive the person into serious illness to find out how the remedy acts in these conditions, the provings are complemented with clinical results collected over decades and centuries of application.

A ‘materia medica’ lists the remedies with their actions. A ‘repertory’ lists various signs and symptoms with the remedies that produce them. Using both, the conscientious practitioner can discover how best to apply the remedies to the people who need them.
 
The Classical Homeopath

It is beyond the scope of this short statement to go into the details of treatment. We only wish to point out that classical Homeopathy is still here after more than two hundred years; it is still here after the efforts of many powerful individuals and groups to destroy it. And perhaps more remarkable, classical Homeopathy is still practiced in spite of the efforts of some people who call themselves homeopaths to dilute the revolutionary essence of this remarkable science and art.

Some basic principles to watch for:

1. Does the practitioner spend real time taking the case, usually at least an hour and often two hours?
2. Does he or she include medical history and family history as a part of the intake?
3. Are the questions penetrating and sometimes odd, reaching into areas you may never have thought of?
4. Do you have the sense that you perceive yourself differently after the initial interview?
5. Does the practitioner usually give a single remedy, usually in a single dose. (There are exceptions to this, particularly in acute cases.)
6. Except in very specific circumstances, are you asked to stop all other treatment during the course of the Homeopathic treatment?
7. Is the practitioner available for follow-up consultations outside of appointment times?

The answer to all of these questions should be ‘yes’. If any of these things are not adhered to, you are likely not with a classical Homeopath, or at least you are with someone who is willing to compromise their principles for expediency.

Dr. James Tyler Kent emphasizes a different quality of the classical Homeopath in his Aphorisms:

A physician's attitude in performing his duty to the sick, is different from that of any other person. He has a different sphere from that of the ordinary man. This is a thousand times amplified in Homoeopathy. One who has entertained that peculiar "circumcision of the heart," always looking to the good of his patient, never thinking of the criticism of man, acquires an ability to say what is right to do. He establishes a garment of righteousness.

 To approach a whole human being who gives his trust to another person that he or she will be treated with circumspection and respect is a great and high honor that cannot be reduced to the process of making a living. One is called or not. If not, it is better to do something else than treat those in need who are looking for truth. For disease is falsehood. Cure and reliable health require honesty, patience, and love without judgment. Though the time the practitioner takes must be paid for, these qualities cannot be bought.