INFORMATION MEDICINE...
SIGNS • SYMPTOMS • KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANCIENTS • CYCLES OF NATURE • HIPPOCRATIC MEDICINE
Symbols as Information - Part II
Information, knowledge, and wisdom are terms for human acquirements through reading, study, communication, and practical experience. Information applies to facts told, read, or communicated that may be organized into a body of information that leads to action and human development. It leads to the comprehension and understanding consequent on having acquired and organized a body of facts from a health science counselor or physician. Thus a knowledge of medicine both ancient and modern.
God created worlds by word of his power, which is his Son (Moses 2: 5).
Information as a concept has many meanings, from everyday usage to religious devotion to technical settings. The concept of information is closely related to notions of constraint, communication, control, data, form, instruction, knowledge, meaning, mental stimulus, pattern, perception, and representation. In its most restricted technical meaning, information is an ordered sequence of symbols.
The unique aspect of being human was originally the ability to construct and interpret symbols. Symbolism, the uniquely human practice of representing things by means of symbols (a letter, figure, or other character or mark); or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships was a pivotal evolutionary event brought by our Creator. Symbolism was the transforming energy that allowed human development and language to develop and made us unique and distinct from the animal world. The ability to symbolize constitutes the one characteristic of man which most profoundly affects his own life. Unfortunately, this propensity is also the indirect cause of a large percentage of his or her misunderstandings and cause of disease (psychosomatic illness).
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being that has come into being. In him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. . . .
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 14) †
Symbols contain information. Symbols convey potential actions. You can think of symbols as a form of kinetic energy. The kinetic energy of an object is the extra energy which it possesses due to its potential to create motion. Symbols can be defined as the work information needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its velocity or change in action.
Therapeusis, simply defined, is an action taken to initiate change. The state of disease is a state of stasis and decay, therefore, action (therapeutics) is needed for change. Therapy as defined is "the treatment of disease or disorders, as by some remedial, rehabilitating, or curative process: physical therapy," or "a curative power or quality." Therefore, symbols can easily be curative. Cure, as defined, "a means of healing or restoring to health; remedy, " or "spiritual or religious charge of the people in a certain district," or "the office or district of a curate or parish priest." From its earliest inceptions, cure for disease was in the capacity of the village priest, as cure came from God. Information about God came from symbols. As symbols were reserved for those of the learned people, specialization of other arts evolved, as in physicians and doctors. The knowledge of medicine was passed on by symbols and so it is to this day.
The Importance of Health Information
The importance of information in health is obvious. We need to exchange information with others to stay alive, we need to receive information from nature in the form of pictures, sounds, feelings, and fragrances to move and stay healthy. Any action we perform is preceded by a flow of information in our brain and we actually move energy and objects by thinking and feeling first. This concept of energy information gives us a qualitative understanding of information medicine.
In general just as we apply qualities like good, bad, high, low, dense, harmonic, intense to “energy”, the same is applicable to “information”. If a neighbor warns of seeing a snake in your backyard, that information could be life saving. If a health science counselor warns a patron of a vitamin C deficiency, supplementing the diet with ascorbic acid could have profound health benefits if the information is translated into gathering the energy to action to obtain and ingest it. If a doctor makes a wrong diagnosis and labels the patient with disinformation, the patient could become worse, imagining he or she has a wrong condition. No one would argue that hypochondria, often referred to as health phobia, refers to an excessive preoccupation, worry or anxieity (neuroses) about having a serious illness that is not present. In this aspect, information is a very powerful component on our health.
Also, just as there are different forms of energy, there are different forms of information. Information can be obtained by symbols, letters, art forms, color, sound, taste, touch, etc., and even water itself (holy water, homeopathy, flower essences, structured water). Accordingly, information medicine can be defined as the science of how to obtain frequency specific symbols pertaining to the present state or condition and translating that to change into better health. No one would argue that in order to first learn a subject, one must first learn the terminology associated with the topic. Only then, can information be translated into constructive forms for use. Learning is this process. Education stems from information.
Origins
The English word - information - was originally derived from Latin informatio: this noun is in its turn derived from the verb "informare" (to inform) in the sense of "to give form to the mind", "to discipline", "instruct", "teach". The ancient Greek word for form was morphe; and also eidos "kind, idea, shape, set", the latter word was famously used in a technical philosophical sense by Plato (and later Aristotle) to denote the ideal identity or essence of something. "Eidos" can also be associated with thought, proposition or even concept.
As sensory input
Often information is viewed as a type of energy input into an organism. Inputs are of two kinds. Some inputs are important for the function of the organism (for example, obtaining food). These are called these causal inputs. However, information is any type of sensory input. When an organism with a nervous system receives an input, it transforms the input into electrical signals. The idea of representation is still relevant, but in a slightly different manner. That is, while abstract painting does not represent anything concretely, when the viewer sees the painting, it is nevertheless transformed into electrical signals that create a representation of the painting. Defined this way, information is any type of sensory input, even that of electricity itself.
Entertainment that is not intended to be informative, i.e. fiction, will however translate into the dream state or even directly into the subconscious mind. Music, the performing arts, works of fiction and so on are thus forms of information in this sense. Consider another example: food supplies both nutrition and taste for those who eat it. If information is equated to sensory input, then nutrition is both information and taste. When we test for a persons mineral balance using appropriately adjusted mineral solutions which can be tasted by normal subjects, however mineral deficient people cannot taste the solution at all, we have obtained information. The body is not retaining the information with sufficient force, a trace solution of a mineral does not confer electrical signals on the taste buds.
As an influence which leads to a transformation
Information is any type of pattern or symbology that influences the formation or transformation of other patterns of change. In this sense, there is no need for a conscious mind to perceive, much less appreciate, the pattern. Consider, for example, DNA. The sequence of nucleotides is a pattern that influences the formation and development of an organism without any need for a conscious mind. Feelings at times seems to refer to information in this sense, assuming information does not necessarily involve any conscious mind, and patterns circulating (due to feedback) in the system can be called information. In other words, it can be said that information in this sense is something potentially perceived as representation, though not created or presented for that purpose. An early fear that develops in childhood for example, like cats, later in adult life translates into an allergy to cat hair and dander shows how past symbolism can have a profound influence on the information system of the body's immunity.
If, however, the premise of "influence" implies that information has been perceived by a conscious mind and also interpreted by it, the specific context associated with this interpretation may cause the transformation of the information into knowledge. Complex definitions of both "information" and "knowledge" make such semantic and logical analysis difficult, but the condition of "transformation" is an important point in the study of information as it relates to knowledge, especially in the business discipline of knowledge management by mental health science counselors. In this practice, tools and processes are used to assist a knowledgeable health care workers in performing study, research and making decisions, including steps such as:
- reviewing information about the communicant in order to effectively derive health status value and meaning
- referencing all available data about the communicants signs and symptoms
- establishing a relevant context, often selecting from many possible contexts
- deriving new knowledge from the information
- making decisions or recommendations from the resulting knowledge.
Transformation of information into knowledge is a critical one, lying at the core of value creation and competitive advantage for the relevant enterprise of helping people to become more healthy. It has been said that "the doctor that treats himself has a fool for a physician." Information must be gathered externally by communication and by devices like a stethoscope, thermometer, or weight scale.
As an agent to offset disturbance
Other information inputs are important only because they are associated with causal inputs and can be used to predict the occurrence of a causal outputs at a later time (and perhaps another place). In this sense, our first form of information medicine was medical astrology. Medical astrology is an ancient medical system that associates various parts of the body, diseases, and drugs as under the influence of the Sun, Moon, and planets, along with the twelve astrological sign placements. Hippocrates, the Greek physician who is regarded as the father of medicine, insisted his students study astrology, saying, "He who does not understand astrology is not a doctor but a fool."
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Most have forgotten that Hippocrates mentioned astrological medicine in his corpus; he indicated the necessity of this medical technique. This excerpt from his writing has been overshadowed and lost. But, as even Hippocrates appreciated the implications of astrology on medicine, this persisted for nearly two thousand years in both Christian and Islamic medicine. This method does not come in opposition with other methods, such as medicine and surgery. It is supposed to be the focus of treatment, and other methods should be used in conjunction with it. |
Each of the astrological signs (along with the Sun, Moon, and planets) are associated with different parts of the human body. Thus, for example, those born under the influence of Aries, will be more prone to proclivities and faults to areas of the head. Also, many plants are referred to in old herbals as being "under the influence of" some planet. This was used as a codification of the plants properties and used to create herbal formulas specific to different diseases.The associations of the signs with the parts of the body known to the ancients are as follows:
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• Aries - head, face, brain, eyes • Pisces - feet, toes, lymphatic system, adipose tissue |
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Now, let us dispel some of the mundane notions people may have about astrology, for originally, astrology and astronomy were one and the same. In ancient times, life was intricately woven with the cycles of nature. Our lives were intimately connected with the journey of the sun through the constellations as our Mother Earth transformed environmental life through her seasons. The ancients were possessed of much wisdom that modern man is only just now beginning to appreciate. Stonehenge (conservatively dated at 1800 BC), is a giant astronomical observatory, not remotely understood until computers discovered its ability to accurately predict solstices, equinoxes, eclipses and other significant astronomical events. Zodiacs from ancient Egypt, China, India, Mexico, Greece, Babylon, Assyria and Sumer have all now been discovered.
In the days of candle light, what the ancients observed and recorded was simply cycles of nature, not moon beams and stars shining mystical lasers of influence. For example, it was noted during numbers of years that babies born in the winter would grow up with certain proclivities and faults, than those born in summer. Babies born in the fall and spring would likewise show individual traits, susceptiblities to certain diseases, fondness for certain items, etc. Further, when planets in the sky transited certain sectors, things unique seemed to happen, accidents would be more frequent, some people got sick, plants were delayed or crops less abundant, etc. Over the eons, all of these observations were collated and assembled into certain tablets, formulas and rules. Almanacs were created and astrology for the intellectuals became an esteemed profession. Life became heavily dependent on starch crops as agriculture advanced, harvests like wheat and barley and a bad season could mean life or famine for the next year. Farmers and families simply want fore warnings, altogether a natural human trait. Physicians were prized for their prevention as much as treatment, so knowing if an epidemic was possible could help in minimizing the sicknesses.
Star location became important information because of their association with cycles of nature, and eventually there showed be a connection to a causal input when the sky map was put in practice. This information may appear to be weak stimuli that had to be detected by specialized sensory systems which is evident from the ancient ruins. But suffice it to say, world wide, certain people became keen observers of nature which we, in our sheltered world of electronic media, with absolutely least contact with the sky and nature may not comprehend. But it does not mean, it does not exist or is untrue!
