Illness as a way
The book Illness as a Path. Interpretation and meaning of the clinical pictures appeared in 1983 and in a version expanded by a chapter in 1989 as a joint work of the two authors Thorwald Dethlefsen and Rüdiger Dahlke . In Munich it was first published by C. Bertelsmann Verlag , later by Goldmann Verlag . It describes a view of illness , according to which all symptoms have a specific meaning and reflect a psychological issue of the patient. The approach is based, among other things, on the theory of the shadow according to CG Jung and the concept of psychosomatics , but deliberately differs from the latter in that a psychosomatic interpretation is considered possible (and even necessary) for every symptom without exception. Every illness is thus viewed in a context of meaning. The authors call this view esoteric and "not scientific".
The book is divided into a somewhat shorter first part, which explains the ideological basis of their understanding of the disease, and a second part, in which the authors explain their interpretation of various common clinical pictures. They see in their work an addition to the conventional medical perspective, which they recognize within their framework and at the same time is located outside of it. The book is characterized by a very concise , sometimes provocative style.
content
The book is divided into two parts. The first part deals with "Theoretical requirements for understanding disease and healing". The second part "Disease pictures and their meanings" deals with many common illnesses and their supposed psychological patterns.
First part
In the authors' point of view, diseases are always to be found at the level of consciousness and are always meaningful. The authors often use metaphors to illustrate the principles they represent.
In the opinion of the authors, healing can only take place on the level of consciousness and can never be brought about by pure conventional medicine on the level of the body.
The chapter on polarity and unity draws on many spiritual principles from different religions.
The unconscious is treated by the authors in the chapter The Shadow . In the opinion of the authors, unrealized contents of consciousness could manifest themselves in diseases.
The following chapter, good and bad , deals with the concept of sin . The authors take the view that sin is the basic state of human life. A return to so-called unity should be aimed for.
In the following chapter Man is sick it is concluded that sickness due to sin is the basic state of man.
The chapter The search for the causes claims that in order to explain a clinical picture both the causality (cause in the past) and finality (intention, purpose or goal which lies in the future) must be considered.
In the last chapter of the first part, The Questioning Method , it is claimed that conventional medicine would only treat illnesses inadequately, as it only looks at causality and does not ask about the supposed psychosomatic origin of the illness.
Second part
Fifteen chapters in this part cover many common disease topics and the supposedly underlying psychological patterns.
For example, the authors see infection as a material conflict , and allergies as material aggression . In addition, various topics are assigned to the individual body and organ parts, for example the heart is assigned to the ability to love and emotions , the kidneys to the area of partnership , the neck to fear (tightness), etc.
Editions and further reading
The book was published in three paperback editions by Goldmann Verlag , a bound ( Bassermann Verlag ) and an audio book edition (Arkana Verlag).
By 1998 over a million copies of the book had been sold. There are translations into numerous languages, for example into English: The Healing Power of Sickness at nova Vega Books (New edition 2002).
Dethlefsen presented essential parts of this esoteric worldview as early as 1979 in his book Destiny as Opportunity. In 1989 Dahlke and Dethlefsen separated. Dethlefsen published three more lectures on the interpretation of illness. Dahlke also pursued the approach: In 1992 illness as the language of the soul appeared (conceived as a continuation, contains further explanations and interpretations of further illnesses) and in 1996 illness as a symbol (reference work), followed by further publications that remained true to the approaches of illness as a path are. Rüdiger Dahlke was a guest with the book in 2011 in the series Questions to the author at Saarländischer Rundfunk .
criticism
Illness and blame
The general connection between illness and guilt that the authors maintain has received much criticism since then, as it contradicts the fundamentals of physics and medicine. On the one hand, the authors emphasize that the patient himself is absolutely and without limitation responsible for his illness; on the other hand, they emphasize that esotericism “has nothing to do with the distribution of guilt, as it [...] assumes that everyone is fundamentally guilty because they are separated from the unity. Becoming guilty is not a question of small or large mistakes in everyday life, but a fundamental one. ”Nevertheless, her statements connote the sick to the highest degree with guilt, a lack of insight and insufficient“ learning ”with regard to the alleged message, especially in the case of incurable diseases. This leads to a stigmatization and condemnation of the sick, which in addition to the suffering arouses guilt in those affected. Philipp Flammer wrote:
“In theory, we find the same contempt for human beings here that cost British national coach Glenn Hoddle his position in January 1999 . Esoteric follower Hoddle publicly proclaimed that the physically handicapped should atone for their sins from a previous life. "
The authors call the seventh escalation level of unprocessed disease topics karma and see congenital malformations and inherited disorders as an expression of the shadow of earlier incarnations .
Epistemological Basics - "Law of Analogy"
The epistemological premises of illness as a path cannot be maintained scientifically. The basis of their esoteric theory is the hermetic philosophy , which in particular postulates the “law of analogy” (“As above, so below” or “microcosm = macrocosm”). In doing so, they see themselves as incompatible with and even superior to "science" based on the causal principle. This “law of analogy” is an axiom for the authors that is not recognized as such in any science. Also, none of their theses of analogy could be statistically proven.
Philipp Flammer writes:
“Inferences by analogy can serve as heuristic aids in acquiring knowledge or they can be used for the symbolic clarification of knowledge gained analytically. But if you also use them - like Dethlefsen and Dahlke - as independent instruments for gaining knowledge, the findings become speculative and arbitrary and, in the best case, are unsuitable for a serious disease interpretation. "
According to the physicist Martin Lambeck , the statement “As above, so below” is scientifically clearly falsified.
“For everything we know, the macrocosm and the microcosm are fundamentally different from the human world. They are governed by laws, namely those of relativity and quantum theory, which differ fundamentally in terms of space, time, matter and causality from the ideas we have formed of these concepts. Therefore it is [...] not possible to extrapolate the experiences made in the ›area accessible to us‹ to the ›inaccessible levels‹ using ›analogy thinking‹ as ›ingenious key‹. Dethlefsen / Dahlke do not take note of the falsification of their core theses because they are inextricably linked to their other activities such as astrology and homeopathy . Esoteric thinking is not a means of gaining knowledge here, but (futile) support for established preliminary decisions, because it does not even take notice of the results of science. "
He sees in such esoteric approaches "a manipulation and threat potential that is neither democratically nor scientifically legitimized".
Psychologization of physical illnesses
Karin Spaink also criticizes the approach of illness as a path that all physical phenomena are shifted to the psychological level and that these are primarily interpreted and thus "justified" through the use of metaphors and figurative expressions:
“Illness degenerates [in Dethlefsen and Dahlke's view] into a sign and the body into the battlefield of the spirit. Our body is then nothing but the arena in which we resolve our unprocessed conflicts. […] Just [an example] of how silly and narrow-minded this imagery is. According to Dehtlefsen, the heart stands for the feeling, and heart patients are therefore ›people who only want to listen to their head and in whose life the heart falls short‹. In the following passage, the heart condition is completely drowned in a jumble of metaphors: ›If the fear of the feeling that you only trust the absolute norm has become too great, you can have a pacemaker installed. In this way the living rhythm is replaced by a clock [...]. What used to make the feeling is now taken over by a machine. There is no mention of a medical need for a pacemaker. What matters is only the assumed psychological deficit. [...] It is just as offensive that Hay , Dethlefsen, Myss distribute such extensive psychological attributes on the basis of symptoms of illness and presume to be able to cast an X-ray view into a person's soul based on the physical condition. "
Metaphors - taken literally - are misused as specific explanations, although metaphors are secondary and interchangeable influences. This creates a wrong connection between the levels of physical processes and the visual content interpretations for the authors.
Secondary literature
- Karin Spaink : Illness as a fault? The traps of psychosomatics. German by Helga van Beuningen, Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-499-19547-X
Individual evidence
- ↑ The topic of AIDS was added as the 15th chapter in Part II.
- ↑ “With this we are clearly and deliberately leaving the field of 'scientific medicine'. We do not claim to be ›scientific‹ because our starting point is completely different - from which it also follows that scientific argumentation or criticism can never meet our point of view. We are deliberately leaving the scientific framework, since it is limited to the functional level and at the same time prevents meaning and meaningfulness from becoming transparent. "(20th edition, full paperback edition, Goldmann / Arkana Munich 2000, p. 16, see p. 8.)
- ↑ Information on the cover of the Mosaik edition by Goldmann, Munich 1998
- ↑ "In conclusion, I still regret that Thorwald Dethlefsen, who decisively shaped this approach, withdrew from the public so definitely that he could not be won over to continue the work that we had started together." (Rüdiger Dahlke: Illness as Language of the Soul , 1992, full paperback edition, Goldmann / Arkana, Munich 2008, p. 13.)
- ^ Lectures on CD by Dethlefsen: Illness as a way - practice of holistic healing. Lecture 11th Aurinia Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-95659-511-0 . Disease pictures - practical interpretation of symbols. Lecture 12th Aurinia Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-95659-512-7 . Illness, fate, healing - transformation through the laws of life. Lecture 13th Aurinia Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-95659-513-4 .
- ↑ Radio interview on sr-online.de ( memento of the original from September 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (MP3 file, 23 MB / 50 min.)
- ↑ Cf. 5. Man is sick . “Neither bacteria nor earth rays cause illness, but humans use them as an aid to realizing their illness.” (20th edition, complete paperback edition, Goldmann / Arkana Munich 2000, p. 107f.) “Everyone cares about his own Taking care of problems - that is all he can do to perfect this universe ”(ibid. P. 125).
- ^ Rüdiger Dahlke: Illness as the language of the soul. Meaning and chance of the clinical pictures. Approved special edition 2000. Orbis Verlag, Munich. P. 17
- ↑ Philipp Flammer: Overcoming all contradictions: The understanding of illness and healing in esotericism using the example of Thorwald Dethlefsen and Rüdiger Dahlke. Revised and expanded version of a lecture at the conference on September 30, 2000 at the Paulus Academy Zurich. InfoSekta association, Zurich. infosekta.ch
- ↑ “The human being as a microcosm is an image of the universe and contains the sum of all principles of being latent in his consciousness.” (20th edition, full paperback edition, Goldmann / Arkana Munich 2000, p. 63) “This is exactly what the old esoteric means Doctrine ›microcosm = macrocosm‹. This ›equals‹ applies here with mathematical precision. ”(Ibid. P. 204.)
- ↑ “In these fifteen theses [of Hermes Trismegistus ] all knowledge is summarized that is ever accessible to man. The text describes the creation of this universe and at the same time the production of the alchemical philosopher's stone. For those who fully understand this text, all libraries become superfluous, because they have all the wisdom, ›Nothing is missing from it, it is completely perfect‹. At this point we are only interested in thesis 2 for the time being: ›That which is below is equal to that which is above: and that which is above is equal to that which is below in order to accomplish the miracles of a single thing. ‹This statement, which is mostly abbreviated with the words› as above so below ‹, is the key to hermetic philosophy. Behind this is the assumption that everywhere in this universe, above and below, ›in heaven and on earth‹, in the macroscopic as well as in the microscopic area, the same laws prevail on all levels of manifestation. ”(Thorwald Dethlefsen: Fate as Chance Primal knowledge of the perfection of man. Goldmann paperback edition. C. Bertelsmann Verlag GmbH, Munich. 15th edition 1985. p. 30.)
- ↑ “With this we are clearly and deliberately leaving the field of 'scientific medicine'. We do not claim to be ›scientific‹ because our starting point is completely different - from which it also follows that scientific argumentation or criticism can never meet our point of view. We are deliberately leaving the scientific framework, since it is limited to the functional level and at the same time prevents meaning and meaningfulness from becoming transparent. "(20th edition, full paperback edition, Goldmann / Arkana Munich 2000, p. 16, see p. 8.)
- ↑ Philipp Flammer: Overcoming all contradictions: The understanding of illness and healing in esotericism using the example of Thorwald Dethlefsen and Rüdiger Dahlke. Revised and expanded version of a lecture at the conference on September 30, 2000 at the Paulus Academy Zurich. InfoSekta association, Zurich. infosekta.ch
- ↑ Martin Lambeck : Esoteric and Physics. EZW -Texte Nr. 141 (1998), pp. 1-25.
- ↑ Martin Lambeck : Esoteric and Physics. EZW -Texte Nr. 141 (1998), pp. 1–25, quotation p. 25.
- ↑ Karin Spaink: Illness as a fault? The traps of psychosomatics. German by Helga van Beuningen, Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1994, p. 39f.
