Page 12 - Win ter 22-23

Ten Ox-herding pictures by Peter Gregory, UK
Oxherding Pictures Number 10
This picture shows a ragged, potbellied man walking barefoot bearing a sack full of goodies. It represents freedom, wisdom, and compassion and from a homeopathic view I think it embodies what Hahnemann meant in the first paragraph of the Organon ‘The physician’s highest and only calling is to make the sick healthy, to cure as it is called.’ So simple and yet so profound – and so easy to forget, getting caught up in the ego, clinging onto beliefs, prejudices and insecurities. I’ve found it a huge challenge to cope with the treatment meted out to us with regard to our challenge to the RCVS with regard to their ‘position statement’. I have reacted to their refusal to even consider the material we have submitted by feeling anger and frustration; but if I had reached the stage of development describe in the tenth picture than it wouldn’t matter. Why do I need to be
Why do I need to be accepted by the majority? I don’t have to fit in, dress ‘like a vet’, worship at the altar of ‘evidence based veterinary medicine’, use the latest medical jargon, accept diagnosis by algorithm’ and ‘market’ junk food, vaccines and antiparasiticides.
accepted by the majority? I don’t have to fit in,
dress ‘like a vet’, worship at the altar of
‘evidence based veterinary medicine’, use the
latest medical jargon, accept diagnosis by
algorithm’ and ‘market’ junk food, vaccines
and antiparasiticides. I can be myself. I don’t
even have to label myself as a ‘homeopathic
veterinary surgeon, holistic vet or veterinary homeopath (I’m increasingly leaning towards
the latter). I think this is the lesson I have personally learned with my contact with the
RCVS in recent years: that homeopathy is actually bigger than any intraprofessional conflict. And I try to remember the Buddha’s words: ‘In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves’. So the lesson is to be comfortable in our own skin - just be who we are. That doesn’t mean we have to resign from the Royal College (though I am sure they would be pleased if we did) but we can move on from the childlike state of seeking parental approval .
So where have we got to on our homeopathic quest? Well, as homeopaths our connections to our patients run deep; we feel their suffering, and that of their owners, and we want to respond and help. So what have we got in our bag? Well hopefully it’s full of joy, compassion, understanding, loving-kindness, wisdom, and ‘skilful means’ viz homeopathy.
We listen deeply, we observe compassionately, and we respond appropriately. We are not superior to others when we help them; on the contrary, helping them is like
helping ourselves
and we are grateful they give us that opportunity. As vets we do not help only people we like and who are easy to be with but also people who are difficult and grumpy; as homeopaths so many of those clients who have been written off as awkward , with various epithets to denote their degree of difficulty, turn out to be simply caring owners who are frustrated at the lack of sympathy and understanding they have received under the paradigm of modern veterinary medicine. Often they turn out to be exemplary clients and super
caring owners.
But is this enough? My belief is that we also have a responsibility to share what we have learned. Sir Isaac Newton said ‘If I have been able to see further it was only because I stood on the shoulders of giants’, but we don’t have to be a giant to act as a stepping stone. Of course the
continued on p12