Multidimensional Medicine
The current medical model sees symptoms, bodies, and people as distinctly separate parts. The world view of conventional medicine is mechanistic, viewing an individual as a collection of isolated systems that can be taken apart, changed, and put back together. Symptoms are seen as an illness, rather than as a tool for illumination that can point us in the direction of true healing. When a symptom expresses itself in the body, we are evaluated, diagnosed, and sent off with either a prescription, a surgical procedure, or a shrug of the doctor's shoulders indicating, "We just don't know how to help you". We are living in a time when medicine is more advanced than ever... but we seem to be constantly faced with ailments and disease from which we have no cure. Even some of the most common afflictions of our day, such as Herpes, which effects nearly half a billion people or 18% of the global population (Bence, 2022), has no "cure". Patients are offered medications that suppress this nagging viral infection, potentially instructed on a few lifestyle suggestions, and sent home to cope with the emotional distress of a contagious virus they will now have "for life".
So, what is the problem? Why is it that even with our advanced technology and $4.3 trillion per year spending on on health care (Peter G. Peterson Foundation, 2023) we are still struggling to cure the most common of physical diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, asthma, and herpes (Disabled World, 2020). In short, the perspective of conventional medicine is simply not working. Our futuristic technologies and readily available pharmaceutical medications are failing us, time and time again. Now that we are fully aware of the problematic nature of our current system, it is time to catalyze a "sea change in human consciousness" (O'Dea). We need to approach healing from a new direction and adopt an ancient-future philosophy if we want to see real transformation in our global medical system. In short, it is time to transition to a framework of multi-dimensional medicine.
Multi-dimensional medicine "unabashedly asserts that humans are, above all else, multidimensional beings, with a mind heart, and spirit, as well as a body—all equally worthy of time and attention" (Geffen, 2007). In addition to his, I would add the holistic perspective that humans are also "an integral part of the cosmos" (Khanna, pg. 502). We are engaged in a cosmological, cyclical dance of creation, expansion, death and rebirth, that connects us to all bodies of light, matter, and energy throughout the universe. I offer multi-dimensional medicine as a step beyond integral medicine because, "[integral medicine] rarely ventures into deep arenas of self-exploration, let alone the realm of psycho-spiritual death and rebirth... But as saints, sages, wise men and women, and healers of all kinds have known and described for millennia, this very process often is necessary for awakening to the deepest truths about one’s self and one’s life—and thus to experience healing at the deepest possible level" (Geffen, 2007). Multi-dimensional medicine fosters the environment for the true mystery of the human experience to be explored. The simple fact is that, "our health is a mysterious, complex amalgam of multidimensional causes and factors. A multidimensional approach to medicine openly and skillfully explores this complexity" (Geffen, 2007). Try as we might, we don't know exactly why certain conditions, like cancer, occur in some individuals and not in others. Each person develops illness based on their own unique experience and multi-dimensional medicine offers a human-centered approach that explores the complexity of each patient, rather than relying on pre-determined protocols.
In ancient culture, a multi-dimensional approach was common place. From the Asklepions of Ancient Greece to the practices of Chinese Medicine, we see an acknowledgement of the relationship between the spirit, the body, and the cosmos.
For centuries, medical traditions from other cultures, particularly the East, have identified multiple levels of energy and being that affect one’s health. For example, Ayurvedic medicine describes 3 fundamental dimensions of being—physical, subtle, and causal—and 5 layers, or “sheaths” (called koshas in Sanskrit), that cloak one’s innermost essence, which is understood as pristine, undifferentiated, non-dual awareness.19,20 This healing tradition—arguably the oldest in the world—recognizes the role and contribution of all these factors in the causation of health as well as disease, and works consciously with them.21 In Tibetan medicine, physical disease is understood to originate from one primary cause: ignorance of our true nature. From this arises the “3 poisons” of desire, hatred, and confusion. Over time, these cause disturbances in subtle energy systems of the body, which in turn ultimately manifest as physical illness. This profound concept is worthy of our serious attention. Traditional Chinese medicine also believes illness arises from disruptions in the flow of subtle energy that flows through channels (called meridians), connecting all the internal organs and glands. Like Ayurvedic, Tibetan, and Chinese doctors, multidimensional physicians focus on restoring natural balance and energy flow instead of concentrating on the disturbance, illness, or pathology (Geffen, 2007).
As we move forward into an unknown future, multidimensional medicine will support us to heal on the deepest levels. Our experiences with illness will offer insights that will help us course-correct our collective pathway through the cosmos as we steward our ancient, earthly home and direct our healing journey towards conscious evolution.
References
Bence, Sarah. (2022). Genital Herpes Statistics You Should Know About. Retrieved August 5, 2023 from https://www.verywellhealth.com/genital-herpes-statistics-5496714
Disabled World. (2020, June 7). List of Currently Incurable Diseases. Disabled World. Retrieved August 5, 2023 from www.disabled-world.com/definitions/lists/incurable.php
Geffen, Jeremy. (2007). From integrative to multidimensional medicine. Alternative therapies in health and medicine. 13. 14-8.
Schlitz, M., Amorok, T., & Micozi, M. (2005). Consciousness and healing: Integral approaches to mind body medicine. Churchill Livingston.