II.
THE FOUR PILLARS OF MEDICINE.
The pillars upon which the practice of modern medicine rests, are:—
1. A knowledge of the physical body of man, the arrangements of its organs (anatomy), their physiological functions (physiology) and the visible changes which take place in them when a disease becomes manifest (pathology).
2. A certain amount of acquaintance with physical science, chemistry, botany, mineralogy, etc., in fact with all that embodies a knowledge of the outward relations which the things in this phenomenal world bear to each other and to the body of man, (therapeutics).
3. A certain amount of acquaintance with the views and opinions of modern accepted medical authorities, however erroneous they may be.
4. A certain amount of judgment and aptitude to put the acquired theories into practice.
All this is very well as far as it goes; but it may be seen at once that all the knowledge required of a modern practitioner refers only to the external plane of existence; the animal body of man and its physical surroundings. As to a science of “psychology,” to call that which goes by that name as such at present, is a misnomer; for there can be no science of the soul as long as the existence of a soul (pysche) is not recognized.[10] The invisible, spiritual or causal body within the nature of man is entirely ignored by science, and even if any modern physician personally believes in a soul, he will almost without exception consider this subject as belonging exclusively to the Church, and as something with which science has nothing to do.
Nevertheless, if the term “religion” means the knowledge of the relation which the outward terrestrial man bears to the creative power in him, his own inner Self, which is the seat of not only his spiritual but also the indirect source of his physical life; it would seem that a knowledge of that religion which teaches the nature of this true inner and immortal being, and also the links which connect that higher nature with the physical form, would be an indispensable and most important part of a true science and system of medicine based upon the recognition of truth; and although theory precedes practice, this knowledge should not be merely of that theoretical kind which is only imaginary and not real, and which in persons who are attempting to grasp things which they are not able to realise produces a wild and absolutely fruitless mysticism; but it should be of that kind which through experience constitutes self-knowledge, and which is possible only through the realization of the possession of the ideals one wishes to know.
According to Theophrastus Paracelsus the following are the four pillars of medicine:—