Moving Chiropractic from Theosophy To Philosophy
This AMAZING profession, that we are absolutely privileged to be a part of, is constantly evolving. This is why our philosophy must be written in pencil. Chiropractic principles do not change, it is our understanding of these principles change. Let us look at 3 topics in chiropractic.
First, chiropractic basic science. This would be the 33 principles of chiropractic. They are basic laws that break down into 19 discussing universal law of organization, 10 discussing the law of living things, and 4 principles directly involving Chiropractic. Claude Lassard goes into wonderful detail in his recent Blue Books.
Chiropractic is a philosophy, as stated by Reggie Gold. Philosophy is the constant asking of why, the search for truth, congruence, reason, and knowledge.
And 3rd, chiropractic applied science. This is taking the basic science and philosophy and applying them to practice and service.
There is an overlap of philosophy in all aspects of chiropractic. The basic science of chiropractic is universal law and does not change. It is our understanding (philosophy) and application (applied science) that changes.
The beginning of chiropractic and the discovery of these universal principles started as physical medicine ( getting sick people well ) and theosophy ( the belief that universal and innate intelligence are God/soul and are personified).
It can be argued that the vast majority of the profession chooses to hold on to this belief and not evolve in these 3 topics of chiropractic understanding.
This has been a challenge in chiropractic for decades because it puts chiropractic in the realm of faith, belief and religion. These are very important topics and are not in any way a part of chiropractic.
Claude Lassard and Jim Healey do an amazing job clarifying our understanding of innate and universal as laws, which must not be personified. They simply exist to perform a function. Claude modifies the names for clarity in his Blue Books: Universal being Universal Principle of Organization (UPO) and innate being the Innate Law of Living Things ( ILLT).
This is genius because it describes them as principles that simply perform function. They do not think, talk, nor are they an intelligence. They are not personified, nor do they create anything. They exist as laws just as the laws of gravity, inertia, extropy, entropy, etc, do not think. These laws are universal principles that simply are. ILLT exists and adapts universal force and the matter in which it resides without breaking universal law. It simply is.
This is not to say that other entities in the human body do not exist such as soul, spiritual guide, intuition, etc. It is simply stating that these are out of the scope of chiropractic.
I consider this clarification in our lexicon and major breakthrough in chiropractic. Let’s continue to expand on these topics!!
Thank you to all my mentors who continue to challenge, inspire, and further my understanding of chiropractic!!! Please send all feedback to [email protected] and check out The Chiropractic Trust website for our Talk the Tik contest for students with cash prizes!!!
www.thechiropractictrust.com