What price ‘correction’?
“If only people would leave things alone” I find myself crying more frequently nowadays and realise that this blog could, very easily, become ‘grumpy’ (if it hasn’t done so already!). When the Prime Minister says we are entering a period of financial ‘correction’ then I’m not surprised, but cold shivers run down my back when I’m told that they’re going to ‘manage’ it. Why is it that people feel they have to do something at a time of change rather than letting the Universe just get on with it – this overpowering compulsion of SHORT-TERMism
My Dad once told me “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. What a wonderful piece of advice that’s been, but I suppose it depends on one’s perspective of what constitutes ‘broke’ and ‘fix’. Take ‘abuse’ for instance – a survey recently said that 1 child in 10 has suffered sexual, physical or emotional abuse. But today’s children aren’t shoved up chimneys, or forced down the mines and, unlike in my childhood, aren’t given corporal punishment (then again, today’s youth don’t seem to be subject to any discipline). So the terminology we use can change daily, and with it people’s values, opinions etc.
Which takes us on to ‘Political Correctness’ (PC), as it is known. We constantly hear reports and exclaim “that can’t be true”, yet so often it is. The Police were prohibited, amongst other non-PC expressions, from using the term ‘nitty-gritty’ as (apparently) it originated out of sailors going into the bilges of ships to have sex with the female slaves; and our politicians apologise for the slave-trade. What self-indulgence is that? Councils cancel Xmas because it might offend other religions; we daren’t (except brave souls like David Attenborough) voice that overpopulation is at the source of most of the world’s problems (somewhere between 3½ and 3000 times to be as precise as studies will allow); people throw their arms up if one section of the community (gender, race, geographic etc) isn’t paid the same as another; and so it goes on. We have lost the idea that we’re all different and that we ought to celebrate the fact – God help us if we all become one homogenous clone.
LIFE IS DISCRIMINATORY!!! We ought to deal with it and move on.
But this short-termism doesn’t restrict itself to our social interactions – it invades everything we do. There is the common perception in our society that pain and illness is WRONG, and must therefore be expunged from the world in which we live: that every life must be saved: that all the disadvantaged must be made equal.
In the doing of this, we somehow forget that things are often better if left alone, even though the immediate prospect is not pleasant, so that the ultimate outcome is for the greater benefit. But no, we (largely those in government over us) tinker with events and circumstances as they arise without taking the long-term view; in medical terms this relates to symptom-suppression without taking due cognisance of the cause, compounded by the refusal to accept that there may be more than one medical system that can provide the answers.
To deny something that’s unfolds naturally leads to imbalance, and it seems that the more there are that watch over us, the greater the frequency and amplitude of that imbalance; this is evidenced that it is reported that in the recent past twice as many government jobs have been created than in the private sector – the ‘watchers’ are increasing at the expense of the ‘do-ers’. Look at the NHS, or at Education to see this almost on a daily basis – fiddlers abound. Now the economy is being tinkered with – government instinctively reacting rather than taking the longer-term response – in trying to pacify one part of the population, they alienate another. But they are all, all honourable men … yet in trying to correct things, they almost invariably make it worse.
Take the European views on chopping boards (leaving aside the madness of straight bananas etc) – there was an effort to move us away from the wooden variety to the plastic type as they were believed to be more hygienic. However, it was only later realised that wood has an anti-biotic component, which turned that argument entirely on its head. In medicine, antiseptic swabbing makes the needling more risky of infection. So life is not always what it seems and the fools will persist on rushing in…..
Things are not what they seem, nor are they otherwise
Lankavatara Sutra
Whether you believe in Karma or not, Roshi Yasutani puts it nicely:
“Now let me explain fixed and variable karma. Our fixed Karma is the result of previous actions crystallized at the time of birth and unchangeable until death. For example, to be born as a man or woman is fixed Karma, a condition we cannot alter. To be born white or black or Japanese or Chinese is likewise unchangeable.
Variable Karma is Karma which can be changed by one's own effort. Consider the matter of health. A person may be born sickly, but by watching his health can become strong. Similarly, a healthy person who neglects himself can become weak. Longevity is a matter of both fixed and variable karma, fixed because limited by our genetic inheritance, variable because it is also affected by one's honesty and good will. A kind and honest person is more apt to extend his life [because of his composure], whereas an irascible and dishonest one very likely will shorten it [by creating anger and tension in himself and others].”
Isn’t this what we believe in TCM? We are not all equal and it is not only counter-productive to believe so but positively dangerous to enact legislation to try to make it so. Legislation, of which there is vastly more than there’s ever been, cannot control the movements in society any more than it can control the coming and going of the tide.
Which brings us to legislation concerning our profession. We are all aware that European legislation is being drafted to restrict our usage of natural supplements and vitamins. Are you aware that Chinese herbs are under similar attack? This is supposedly to protect us. Advocates argue that people have died from either taking too much or the wrong herb –this is true in a small number of cases where the deceased has most probably ordered it over the internet and overdosed thinking it would have greater effect. This is similar to saying ‘acupuncture can cause death’ – the case cited was, in fact, a patient who went home and plunged a knitting needle into her own heart. And so nervous politicians, supported by so-called ‘research’ from the pharmaceutical industry (the third largest industry in the UK), legislate to penalise the whole profession. It makes my blood boil (or at least become quite exuberant)!
And yet, under our noses (literally) we see greater damage being done. Adverts for ‘Surface Protection’ antiseptic wipes and fluids, so that our children are not exposed to germs (or at least 99.99% of them). Does this protect our children? Of course not. Their immune systems are weakened and they ultimately suffer sickness more (witness, allegies and intolerances); who can deny the increase in asthma amongst our youth – now 40% as opposed to almost nothing 50 years ago? Maybe the regime in Sparta, of leaving their newborn on a hill overnight to promote survival of the fittest, was a bit extreme, but by all accounts it worked. And yet we try to save every struggling baby as well as artificially inseminating women well past their natural child-bearing age – some might argue that this is weakening the gene pool that out successors might regret in years to come.
And the drug juggernaught goes on – paid for by £11bn of our money (via the NHS) each year. Is it to our ultimate benefit? Giovanni Maciocia, in his writings on ME, makes a nice point:
“Antibiotics are one of the most common causes of residual pathogenic factor in our society. Whilst they do destroy bacteria, from the point of view of Chinese Medicine they tend to "lock" the pathogenic factor in the Interior and do not release the Exterior in the beginning stages of an exterior invasion, nor clear Heat or resolve Phlegm in the later stages…..
Furthermore, Chinese medicine gets rid of the pathogenic factor by raising the immune response and strengthening the body resistance. Although antibiotics kill the harmful bacteria, they inevitably kill beneficial bacteria as well as leave the body weakened. …..
The above is not intended to be a critique of antibiotics but an objective analysis of their mode of action compared with Chinese Medicine. There are many instances where antibiotics do need to be used when an infection is advanced, widespread and potentially dangerous. In many cases, however, antibiotics are used unnecessarily and routinely.”
So we have a mirror of society in both PC-ness and the health industry (to mention just a couple of areas) where fiddling at the edges for short-term gain will only damage us in the long-term. As an ex-smoker, I am reminded of how that worked – I smoked to get rid of the phlegm in my chest, only to put more heat in there which only produced more phlegm – and damaged my lungs irreparably. Let’s hope we’re not doing the same to our world (whatever you deem that to be).
And as we enter the festive season, and where we eat what we want as opposed to what would do us good at this time of year, I would encourage you to give a thought for your own short-termism and the price your Karma may have to pay for it in the New Year. Hmmmm……
Metta
