All humans, including scientists, are inclined to jump to conclusions; even though we know digging for facts is much better (and more productive) "exercise". Un-intimidated thinking might suggest that a number of widespread theories that have become ACCEPTED as fact MAY have originated by the FIRST method ---and, thus are actually assumptions and pre-conceived notions. For example:

Micro-organisms have been demonstrated to exist, to nearly always be present in certain diseased conditions and even somehow to be involved in the "spreading" of the "disease". So it's generally ASSUMED they CAUSE the "disease". SOUNDS logical enough --- on the surface. But when we notice vultures, maggots or other scavengers nearly always present at dead carcasses do we assume they CAUSED the dead carcass? And will killing or eliminating the scavengers prevent or "cure" the condition? My father, (a licensed non-medical health-care professional for many years) used to ask: "Now, the FIRST person who ever had this disease --- who did they "catch" it from?"

The human body is often compared to a machine. And it truly IS one of the greatest mechanical-and-more marvels in the natural world. But it's also a "structure" (like a bridge or a building). Like the body, both machines and structures require maintenance; but, unlike the body nothing humans make repairs and maintains itself. That surely is one of the body's greatest marvels. Yet it's internal maintenance functions closely resemble those of a building. Think of a very large industrial laboratory/office complex, for example. While some maintenance goes on around the clock, such as patrolling lobbies and corridors for trash and spills as a matter of safety as well as appearance; the serious maintenance starts after the place closes for the day. Not just trash pickup, cleaning, polishing and restoration of vulnerable materials like floor finish. If it's a very large (or very old) complex, there will nearly always be some rooms in the process of being completely "gutted" and restored, rebuilt or remodeled.

While this latter process greatly extends the usefulness (and, usually, structural soundness) of the building, it produces a great deal of debris ---IN ADDITION TO the trash the janitorial crew carries out every night from the daily course of doing business. A process very similar to the the body's metabolism and it's replacement and disposal of worn-out cells IN ADDITION TO the waste byproducts from digesting, assimilating and producing energy from the food we eat.

Now, what do you think would become of all this building maintenance in the event of a general sanitation strike? Business as usual? ---For a few days ---until the normal pick-up area outside the back door gets full. Then trash would start to accumulate INSIDE the back door, then along the back corridor, finally in ALL the corridors (the "arteries" of all the building's activity); until everyone is stepping over and around it. Production slows down during the day. (Ever get that sluggish feeling?) Maintenance and repair are hindered at night. (We notice when flesh wounds heal slowly, but internal deterioration of our body may remain invisible for years.) Finally, it becomes almost impossible to accomplish ANYTHING in the building ---OR in our body; which by now may be "at death's door" and the doctor may be there trying to "pull us through".

If the day crew and the maintenance crew are under enough deadline pressure to "produce", and repeated attempts to resolve the waste problem are unsuccessful long enough, somebody will eventually give up in total frustration and start throwing it out the windows. (Ever have boils, pimples, abscesses or a similar discharge from sinuses or bronchial tubes? The body HAS to get rid of its debris SOME WAY in order to function and stay alive.)

Here's another maintenance aspect to consider: If the building's trash and other debris stays piled up in the corridors and outside holding areas long enough, it's almost certain to become infested with vermin ---from roaches to rats to who knows what else--- just as accumulations of waste material anywhere in the human body will almost always contain "undesirable" micro-organisms. Now, did the VERMIN in the building CAUSE the FILTHY CONDITION to develop, or did the filth draw the vermin? Why should we think this "cause and effect" relationship would be the opposite inside our bodies?

Of course, life is a "miracle". But nothing "mystical" goes on inside the living organism. The same laws of physics (and logic) apply there as in the "outside world". There's no biological "black magic". Just because certain micro-organisms detect in us (while we're still alive no less) the kind of dead and decaying organic material they were designed to recycle (and ---eager to go to work--- produce results we were not desinged to live with as they clean up the mess) that does not make them our "natural enemies"; but MAY explain the effectiveness of quarantine: we confuse the microscopic recycling team unless we stay far enough away (or healthy enough) so they don't "see" us as carrion ---and as their next work assignment. Similarly, my father used to insist that AT LEAST 90% of all our ills in the "Western World" come about from two primary contributing factors: Failure to put INTO our bodies the proper cleaning and building materials (nutrition); and the body's failure to properly ELIMINATE it's waste materials.

Have you ever noticed how "natural science" often marvels at the "order" and "wisdom" in "nature", while so-called "civilization" seems obsessed with remodeling it as if it were a blunder, controlling it as if it were demented, or even conquering it as if it were an enemy? Therefore, acceptance of the widely held ASSUMPTION mentioned at the beginning of this part requires belief either that an "all-wise and loving creator" DESIGNED certain micro-organisms to make us sick and shorten our life, OR that life IS merely an accidental eternal struggle for "survival of the fittest". Neither view accounts for all the observable evidence. Scientific researchers tell us the soil is teeming with numerous varieties of micro-organisms that no larger plant life could survive without. Others find in our intestines a similar array of bacteria without which we could not digest our food to continue living. In spite of abundant speculation to the contrary, the most carefully observed evidence indicates that all life is designed to support other life in some way. So, if any living thing APPEARS to be an enemy, something is out of balance, out of place, or misunderstood. And if we see "natural healing" as merely a safer, less toxic way of dealing with "pathogens", we're missing the whole point. Truly-natural healing is not a therapy; it's a way of life ---an entirely different CONCEPT of life, in fact.