3. Medicine
Religious scriptures
The physician is Nature’s assistant.
Galen
The book of Nature is that which the physician must read; and to do so he must walk over the leaves.
Paracelsus
Servants of God, make use of medical treatment, for God has not made a disease without appointing a remedy for it, with the exception of one disease: old age.
Hadith of Ahmad, Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud (Islam)
Give the physician his place, for the Lord created him; let him not leave you, for there is need of him. There is a time when success lies in the hands of physicians, for they too will pray to the Lord that he should grant them success in diagnosis and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.
Ecclesiasticus 38.11-14
The medicine men learn their medicines from the spirits in a vision. The spirits tell them what to use and how to use it. Their medicines are nearly always herbs (wato) or roots (hutkan)… They drive the disease out in the sweat, in the vomit, in the defecation, in the urine, and in the breath.
Oglala Sioux Tradition (Native American Religions)
The hekura [guardian spirits]… help you bring back stolen souls; thanks to them you don’t lose your way. You can repel the demons of disease; they enable you to recognize them by their smell. Each one has its particular odor, and their hammocks are impregnated with it; it comes from the watota, which they all possess. A high-quality hallucinogen enables you to see and name the demon who has just stolen a soul. You think, “It is so-and-so who is guilty!” And it is your turn to hurl your familiar hekura after him.
Yanomami Shaman’s Instruction (Native American Religions)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Even the vilest germs disappear when faced with their natural enemies. All we need to do is introduce several of the germs’ natural enemies to mop them up and restore the body’s balance. Yet today’s doctors, in their ignorance, cut and slice in order to cure diseases like SARS. I am establishing a unified medical science, a combination of Eastern and Western medicines. It is a preventative medical science. I believe that by employing the principle of natural enemies, people can protect themselves from disease proactively. We should not have to undergo surgery in order to be healed of disease. In God’s love, our bodies are not meant to be cut and sliced.
(May 10, 2003)
What is medicine? It is the disease’s natural enemy. If you have a disease in your head, the medicine would be the tail of its natural enemy. It is interesting to examine the materials and methods of Oriental medicine. If you get sick in the right side of your body, the treatment for it may involve the left side.
(325:148, June 30, 2000)
We need to develop a unified medical science as a field of Unification Thought. It will cure the diseases of the body, even those that originated from the Human Fall. Furthermore, it should help to heal the conflict between Eastern and Western medicine by harmonizing Eastern and Western cultures. When we can combine Eastern and Western medicine, we will be able to cure incurable diseases like HIV/AIDS. In Korea, among people of the countryside with no formal medical education, there are many gifted healers. The spirit world instructs them about special treatments for curing diseases such as AIDS that are incurable with modern medicine. Conventional medicine ignores such things.
(287:38, August 10, 1997)