Page 5 - Autumn 25

The Plight of
Humanity
The Genius of Jan Scholten
and Zen by Geoff Johnson
He fears new things, and he is cautious, but he’s okay when
I am with him.
The owner said that she was ‘shocked’ by his condition on
two occasions.
He loves standing in water and meditating. If younger dogs
come up to him, he barks at them but would never bite. This
is because if they bump him, he will fall over.
When I asked what sort of a person he is the owner replied
with a laugh; he is Zen. He is calm, gentle and not pushy. He
has no conflict with any dog and gets on well with all species.
He was attacked once by an aggressive dog, and he didn’t
know what to do.
He seems to look lost in his eyes occasionally. In fact, he
wandered off and got lost recently. He has never been in a
hierarchy and has never wanted to be, although he enjoys
company.
When I asked what he would be if he wasn’t a dog, the
owner replied: he would be a totally chilled person. He likes
people and company, but he is not the centre. If he was a
human, he would want to be a Buddhist monk. He is so
happy with so little.
A simple repertorisation was performed.
No remedies really sang to me. Ph-ac could be a thought,
or maybe Plb, but there is no sense of a 6th row metal.
The owner said ‘shocked’ twice. The word ‘shock’ in human
homeopathy is often associated with plant remedies. To
have no concept or interest in hierarchy might also
suggest a plant. I looked at a plant only filtered
repertorisation.
I looked at Agrostis, because I didn’t know the remedy. It is
a grass and thus from the Poales family. Poale issues are
family, nurturing, roots or the lack of roots – and this
didn’t really fit very well either.
The strongest physical symptom seemed to be slowness,
and this word was repeated three times, so I made
‘slowness’ an eliminative rubric.
Of course, the remedy Conium becomes a strong
possibility, especially when we remember that Zen was
castrated because of a huge prostate when he was 10 years
old, and the movement problems began about a year after
the operation. The main aetiology for Conium is
suppression of sexual desire.
However, when we look at the mental picture of Conium,
it doesn’t seem to fit Zen very well. Radar Keynotes are
inflexible, superstitious, neurotic, rigid and materialistic.
continued on p5
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