Between conventional and unconventional

by Andrei Gămulea

The need for healing

In the course of time, the need for healing has almost always been a challenge that has required, perhaps most intensely, the need for man to unify the often contradictory nature of his thinking.
Faced with illness, human thought has been determined countless times to cross - sometimes faster, sometimes slower - the "distance" between generalization and particularization, between synthesis and analysis, between induction and deduction or between reasoning and empiricism.
In the past, medicine approached the problem of disease mainly from the general to the particular. Nowadays, modern medicine seems to prefer the complementary approach, starting from the detail to the whole.
Modern medical thinking today often starts from the diseased organ and its particular symptoms in approaching the problem of disease. At other times, however, the premise of overall observation and analysis of general symptoms has been preferred.
However, whatever the approach to the problem of health or illness, man is and remains a part of the universe, and between man and the universe there is and will always be a relationship of reciprocity. This is why the idea that the human being is a veritable microcosm has remained alive in the wisdom of humanity.

Human nature

As a constituent part of the whole, man is connected in a mysterious way to the universal living reality. Visibly, he is a tiny part of this gigantic living universe. Invisible, he is infinitely more. This is essentially relevant to man's state of health or illness.
And this is true regardless of which time period thinkers accept or do not accept these fundamental ideas.
However, for those who take them seriously and seek to discover their meaning, the possibility of the happy unification of human thought in the field of healing, thought which usually still alternates between one extreme or another, is becoming closer and closer.
Perhaps such a path of higher understanding will soon lead to a constructive unification in medicine, a unification between conventional and unconventional.

Constructive unification

The perspective of constructive unification between conventional and unconventional is necessary to be understood realistically as a creative intertwining of different, often diametrically opposed, points of view, but whose convergence is given by the common beneficial purpose, namely that of offering man as many opportunities as possible to have a better state of health.
Fundamentally speaking, the unconventional will never become mixed or confused with the conventional, because such a hypothetical possibility will inevitably lead to the cancellation of its unconventional status.
The creative unity between the conventional and the unconventional will emerge when the rigid and dogmatic rejection of the conventional disappears in favour of a wise, creative openness to the vastness of the unimagined possibilities that the unconventional offers. In the fascinating field of human life and human health, this is more than just a need for innovation.
Life itself is extremely shapeable and adaptable, often far outstripping in its speed of transformation the capacity of human thought to accept as conventional a certain aspect that has been subjected to repeated and prolonged verification. So life flows faster than the speed at which the unconventional can become integrated into the conventional.

The scientific evidence crisis

We are currently witnessing a veritable crisis of scientific evidence, especially in the field of validating the beneficial properties of natural foods, medicinal plants and natural remedies on human health.
The methods are few, the aspects studied are of great diversity, and the competence in the field is outweighed by the vastness of new directions of approach. The resistance to conventional scientific dogmas is shaken by the multitude of new considerations coming from unconventional branches.
At this turning point some choose to look back, others to stay put and some to embrace the new and unconventional, however uncertain it may seem. However, this kind of divergence of opinion is still not a practical solution.

Unity and roles

Placing the conventional and the unconventional in completely different, disjointed and even antagonistic camps and positions will not bring anything creative in the end. The role of the unconventional has always been to empower the conventional and to constantly refresh it.
As long as the unconventional is appreciated as a true source of inspiration, the conventional will be able to stay young.
Denial and rejection of the unconventional will inevitably lead to the aging of the conventional and even its replacement by an anemic and inconsistent conventional.
The unity between conventional and unconventional is a continuous and constant process. Unity between the conventional and the unconventional is a necessity of the transformative flow of human thought.
It is worth once again reformulating both our position and our view on unconventional medicine resources in a way that is constructive and as wise as possible.