What Price Health?
and
What IS Health, Really?
--- the Low-Tech Concept ---
(part of the Truth about Natural Healing)
The English words "health" and "whole" share a common root word that implies unbroken unity; not diminished in any way. To "heal", therefore, is to RESTORE that "unity" of undiminished health ---- the "wholeness" or fullness of the biological processes that constitute life.
It is similar to the repair and restoration of your home after serious damage; which COULD be from a storm or other disaster, but, in the case of our bodies, is more often like the gradual deterioration of a house or other building --- from (for example) water damage that goes unnoticed for years until much of the structure has rotted away or the foundation has settled unevenly and the building is literally "pulling apart at the seams". When suddenly one day we become aware of the damage and start realizing its extent, is our first thought to install new carpet, wallpaper or siding to cover it up? Of course not. We want the STRUCTURE to be sound --- not collapse with us in it!
While, for typical storm-damage, much of the underlying roof structure will most likely need repairing/replacing/rebuilding, in normal home MAINTENANCE only the roof COVERING (the waterproofing such as shingles) will need replacing. If that has been done regularly, WHEN and HOW it NEEDS to be done, the roof STRUCTURE will still be sound, not water-damaged, decayed/rotted, or othewise falling apart.
Is a sick/damaged human body any different? Only in some ways. We can't do it's repair/rebuilding (healing) FOR IT --- not even with surgery. That's basically a "patch" --- for true healing, the living organism must do its OWN repairing/rebuilding on the cellular, bio- molecular level. And no drug can "force" it to accomplish that real healing --- it already has the correct agenda pre-programmed in it's DNA. Of course, EITHER medical intervention at a crucial moment COULD "save a life" ---or, more accurately, postpone death a bit longer. (Usually, by the time we reach that "crucial moment" --- unless it's the result of a sudden, catastrophic accident --- our body has already been on a STEEP decline toward death for SOME TIME.)
But, whether it's the "family home" or your very, very personal biological "home" (your body) you don't want the damage just covered up, do you? You want it cleaned up ---- and repaired/replaced/rebuilt. Those functions require "building materials" ---like lumber, roofing, siding, bricks, etc. in the case of a house--- as well as "cleaning supplies and equipment".
Medicine and Medical procedures provide the biological equivalent of NEITHER. Essentially, in the long-range scheme of things, it functions more like a blue poly tarp. Indeed, the most astute and caring medical professionals in "Western civilization" are indicating that, essentially, most of our illnesses ARE being treated roughly equivalent to fastening a temporary waterproof covering [such as plastic sheeting or the ubiquitous blue poly tarp] over a damaged roof and thinking no more about it as long as the rain doesn't drip inside the living areas of the house. Sadly, their warnings are being largely ignored, covered up, and even hidden (archived away from public view) because it is not what the majority prefer to hear --- so, of course, it is "not good for business".
Actual "Health Equity" Can Be Yours
"Health equity" is defined by the CDC (U.S. Centers for Disease
Control) as "the state (as in "condition", "situation",
"circumstance"---not a POLITICAL state, province or country) in which
everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level
of health". It is usually associated with social justice movements
---- with good health being considered a fundamental human right.
What a beautifully noble, seemingly simple and straightforward concept to have such enormous potential for complication! Not just Social and Political complexities; but even more, in definition, perception and objective. TRULY-better "health", for example, does not come from more or "better" medicine. REAL health is not merely "prompt, temporary relief" of the most widespread dis--ease symptoms, but the fullness of the biological processes that constitute life (just as true peace is much more than the absence of open conflict).
Some years ago, The World Health Organization was quoted as saying [apparently referring to things we have done AND things we have neglected]: "We have inflicted wounds on ourselves, in the belief that science, doctors and hospitals would find a cure, instead of preventing the very causes of illness in the first place. Of course we cannot do without the medical care facilities that actually save life, but let us be clear that they do not add to our health ---they stop us dying. ..." ----[POSTPONE dying, actually ---ed.]
While the "right medicine" at the "right time" MIGHT TEMPORARILY "cure" a "dis-ease" (the distressing outward manifestations of an illness) but not the illness itself, truly equitable OPPORTUNITY to attain our "highest level of health" (and especially the ACTUAL attainment of such) depends on our willingness to genuinely think, reason, learn and work in harmony with the true biological source of true health --- the "natural" world and its cycles and processes that humans USED to be a part of. Even now, the "fair and just OPPORTUNITY" to do so is not as elusive or as complicated as it might seem. As it turns out, simple basic REAL food (LIVE food, as in "live music"), simply and MINIMALLY prepared, is actually your body's BEST (and ONLY truly sufficient) source of the BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS it needs to carry out it's marvelous internal self-healing, self-renewing functions. (To have REAL health --- which is to stay as fully alive and functional as possible --- your body must "re-construct" itself constantly.) So the more "modern" and "sophisticated" the "cuisine" the less of those essential elements are still biologically available ----- often, little more than in the seemingly cheaper and more convenient "fast food" on the OTHER end of the culinary spectrum --- with the resulting biological damage to the human body and the consequent Medical costs eventually proving neither cheap NOR convenient, of course.
While we may congratulate ourselves that our ability to reason on "abstract" (not here-and-now or intangible) concepts, to "look ahead" and to plan for or to avoid certain eventualities makes us superior to the "lower forms of life", our human nature's live-for-the-moment tendency typically concentrates on treating dis-ease and keeping the real illness "out-of-sight-out-of-mind"; much like throwing the cheapest available plastic tarp over a damaged roof and considering the repair complete.
True attainment of REAL "health equity" requires a certain personal involvement --- not political or social involvement --- actual conscious, purposeful involvement in the real needs of our own body and its biological life-functions --- not just its pleasure or other biologically external superficial qualities. We can neither wishfully nor protestingly look to any human government or other agency to fulfill those needs. Ultimately WE have to "take the bull by the horns" (our own old habits and thought patterns often being the most "bull-headed" part) and "wrestle the beast down". Our real biological quality of life has to be more important to us than any emotional or other biologically external elements of our life that we might tend to thoughtlessly and momentarily prioritize. (Pleasure, Convenience, Popular Opinion, etc.)
Affordable Health Care ---- All Natural?
Or only sickness care?
If we're more concerned
with the unpleasant EFFECTS of an ailment
than with its causes,
it is not Health Care
--- it is Sickness Care.
If we care enough to do something about it
only when we're sick
it is not Health Care
--- it is Sickness Care.
Think about it from this standpoint ---
An ancient wise King (reputedly the wisest of ancient times) once remarked that "man has dominated man to his harm". (Not as a gender-bias comment; simply referring to the human race as a whole) Such domination does not have to be by force. The King also added, in one of his widely known (at the time) proverbs, that the person "who thinks things out is hated" [as in: disregarded, despised, ridiculed]. And, truly, in today's pleasure-oriented, anti-think culture, the IDEA of "thinking for oneself" IS popular, but serious reasoning actually is not. For the most part, we have allowed this culture to convince us that we're "too stupid" to understand "important matters of life" and need "experts" to do that thinking for us. Of course, truly good advice can be priceless. The wise King acknowledged that "there is accomplishment through many advisers." There needs to be a balance, though; not an abdication of all personal responsibility. But in today's society, whether intentionally or unintentionally, we have almost completely relinquished control of the most important aspects of our life --- including our health and well being.
Granted, real thinking requires some time and mental energy that we may PREFER to spend on something we IMAGINE we'd enjoy more. But taking control of our life doesn't HAVE to be an "anxiety trip". It CAN be a beautiful, fascinating, exhilarating journey; just as life itself is a journey. We don't have to figure everything out today, anymore than we can "see all the scenery" in five minutes. But would we take a scenic cruise with our eyes closed or holed up below deck playing video games --- and hire someone else to "see the scenery for us"? Of course, if you truly VALUE momentary pleasures more than you VALUE having control of your life, this may not be the thing for you; but don't we usually ENJOY thinking about things that interest us? And what could be more enjoyable than a feeling of well being at least most of the time ---not just momentarily when we have some kind of pleasure to take our mind off reality or a medicine to deaden our sensibilities and forcibly modify our body's responses to it's normal needs for internal cellular renewal?
"Forgive me my nonsense,
as I also forgive the nonsense
of those who think they talk sense."
--- Robert Frost
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Rutilio_Manetti_-_Sant%27Ambrogio_
(hands_writing_with_quill_pen_detail).jpg
original by Italian painter
Pietro Antonio Rotari
(1707 - 1762)
--------------------
Do you see the body you live in as "disposable" and replaceable?
Or indispensable and irreplaceable? Unique? "A priceless original
work of art?" (Well, I wouldn't go quite that far about my old
carcass; but definitely unique and irreplaceable:)
-------------------
The longer I live,
the more UNconvinced I become
that "civilization"
is actually civilized.
--- See for example ----
The 2013 Toxic Chemicals
Documentary Video
--- "The Human Experiment" ---
https://archive.org/download/youtube-GAMy4OwURck/GAMy4OwURck.mp4
----------------------
"Haste makes waste!", the "old folks" used to say. And not only
material or financial waste. Sometimes, when we're trying to pack
more "living" into our life, we're just wasting, ruining and even
shortening our life. A related saying was to "take time to smell
the roses". Meaning? If we focus more on enjoying (AND CARING FOR)
what we DO have (including our health and well-being) the less we
waste it hurrying, worrying and obsessing over some unrealistic
concept of what we've been led to believe we SHOULD be or do or
have. Then the longer AND better quality our life is apt to be.
-----------------------
Website Navigation
Free E-Book ---
The Truth About "Natural" Healing
--- Ten Things You Should Know
1. What IS It --- REALLY?
--- Scientific "Alternative Medicine"?
OR Psychosomatic Occult Superstition?
2. The Issues ---
Widespread Claims & Misconceptions
3. Is It Safe?
4. Is It Scientific?
5. Is It Legal?
6. What's the REAL Problem?
7. Is It Enough? ---
Growing Up REALLY Drug Free --- A True Story
8. Is It For YOU?
9. How Does It Work? --- Unconventional
Concepts of Illness & Health
10. How You Can Learn More
Appendix --- Questions from Readers and
Other Observations
Appendix 2 --- Natural Healing/Prevention of the
Alarming Illnesses Associated with Coronavirus and Other "Microbes"
--- and --- why Medicine is a Blue Poly Tarp
Appendix 3 --- Fake Food --- Real Food
--- The Simple, Uncomplicated Basics of Truly "Eating Healthy"
Living Wills, Advance Medical Directives, and
Serious Considerations
Editorial "Scribble Notes"
---Previous "Front Page" topics; and other Quasi-relevant
observations that don't directly fit any of these pages
( This page you're now reading )
----------------------
As time goes by, I often reflect on all the things we've all had to
learn "the hard way" ---- and wonder in how many ways we still haven't
"learned our lesson". ----- (What's the old saying? "Waiting for the
other shoe to drop"?)
(Copyright 2007-2026
Low Tech Concepts)
Do you see the body you live in as "disposable" and replaceable? Or indispensable and irreplaceable? Unique? "A priceless original work of art?" (Well, I wouldn't go quite that far about my old carcass; but definitely unique and irreplaceable:)
-------------------
The longer I live,
the more UNconvinced I become
that "civilization"
is actually civilized.
--- See for example ----
The 2013 Toxic Chemicals
Documentary Video
--- "The Human Experiment" ---
https://archive.org/download/youtube-GAMy4OwURck/GAMy4OwURck.mp4
----------------------
"Haste makes waste!", the "old folks" used to say. And not only
material or financial waste. Sometimes, when we're trying to pack
more "living" into our life, we're just wasting, ruining and even
shortening our life. A related saying was to "take time to smell
the roses". Meaning? If we focus more on enjoying (AND CARING FOR)
what we DO have (including our health and well-being) the less we
waste it hurrying, worrying and obsessing over some unrealistic
concept of what we've been led to believe we SHOULD be or do or
have. Then the longer AND better quality our life is apt to be.
-----------------------
Website Navigation
Free E-Book ---
The Truth About "Natural" Healing
--- Ten Things You Should Know
1. What IS It --- REALLY?
--- Scientific "Alternative Medicine"?
OR Psychosomatic Occult Superstition?
2. The Issues ---
Widespread Claims & Misconceptions
3. Is It Safe?
4. Is It Scientific?
5. Is It Legal?
6. What's the REAL Problem?
7. Is It Enough? ---
Growing Up REALLY Drug Free --- A True Story
8. Is It For YOU?
9. How Does It Work? --- Unconventional
Concepts of Illness & Health
10. How You Can Learn More
Appendix --- Questions from Readers and
Other Observations
Appendix 2 --- Natural Healing/Prevention of the
Alarming Illnesses Associated with Coronavirus and Other "Microbes"
--- and --- why Medicine is a Blue Poly Tarp
Appendix 3 --- Fake Food --- Real Food
--- The Simple, Uncomplicated Basics of Truly "Eating Healthy"
Living Wills, Advance Medical Directives, and
Serious Considerations
Editorial "Scribble Notes"
---Previous "Front Page" topics; and other Quasi-relevant
observations that don't directly fit any of these pages
( This page you're now reading )
----------------------
As time goes by, I often reflect on all the things we've all had to
learn "the hard way" ---- and wonder in how many ways we still haven't
"learned our lesson". ----- (What's the old saying? "Waiting for the
other shoe to drop"?)
(Copyright 2007-2026
Low Tech Concepts)
The longer I live,
the more UNconvinced I become
that "civilization"
is actually civilized.
--- See for example ----
The 2013 Toxic Chemicals
Documentary Video
--- "The Human Experiment" ---
https://archive.org/download/youtube-GAMy4OwURck/GAMy4OwURck.mp4
----------------------
"Haste makes waste!", the "old folks" used to say. And not only material or financial waste. Sometimes, when we're trying to pack more "living" into our life, we're just wasting, ruining and even shortening our life. A related saying was to "take time to smell the roses". Meaning? If we focus more on enjoying (AND CARING FOR) what we DO have (including our health and well-being) the less we waste it hurrying, worrying and obsessing over some unrealistic concept of what we've been led to believe we SHOULD be or do or have. Then the longer AND better quality our life is apt to be.
Website Navigation
Free E-Book ---
The Truth About "Natural" Healing
--- Ten Things You Should Know
1. What IS It --- REALLY?
--- Scientific "Alternative Medicine"?
OR Psychosomatic Occult Superstition?
2. The Issues ---
Widespread Claims & Misconceptions
3. Is It Safe?
4. Is It Scientific?
5. Is It Legal?
6. What's the REAL Problem?
7. Is It Enough? ---
Growing Up REALLY Drug Free --- A True Story
8. Is It For YOU?
9. How Does It Work? --- Unconventional
Concepts of Illness & Health
10. How You Can Learn More
Appendix --- Questions from Readers and
Other Observations
Appendix 2 --- Natural Healing/Prevention of the
Alarming Illnesses Associated with Coronavirus and Other "Microbes"
--- and --- why Medicine is a Blue Poly Tarp
Appendix 3 --- Fake Food --- Real Food
--- The Simple, Uncomplicated Basics of Truly "Eating Healthy"
Living Wills, Advance Medical Directives, and
Serious Considerations
Editorial "Scribble Notes"
---Previous "Front Page" topics; and other Quasi-relevant
observations that don't directly fit any of these pages
( This page you're now reading )
----------------------
As time goes by, I often reflect on all the things we've all had to
learn "the hard way" ---- and wonder in how many ways we still haven't
"learned our lesson". ----- (What's the old saying? "Waiting for the
other shoe to drop"?)
(Copyright 2007-2026
Low Tech Concepts)
As time goes by, I often reflect on all the things we've all had to
learn "the hard way" ---- and wonder in how many ways we still haven't
"learned our lesson". ----- (What's the old saying? "Waiting for the
other shoe to drop"?)
(Copyright 2007-2026
Low Tech Concepts)