Have you ever felt bored by the silliness of things around you, feeling everything is so complex for no good reason? If you didn’t feel this before, well I do actually feel this on a daily basis! I feel myself being surrounded by ignorance and fairytales in all life’s fields, created artificially by the so-called “Scientific” community, especially those in the United States of America!

 

I graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Kuwait; later, I obtained my Radiology-Board certification from Munich, Germany. I used to enter the medical bookstores in Munich and get overwhelmed by the amount of “Natural Medicine” books and therapy forms available there (Neural therapy after Huneke, Acupuncture, K-Taping, Homeopathy, Schüßler’s salts, etc.). I used to stand in the medical bookstore gazing at these books and ask myself why I didn’t learn these therapies in medical school, since they have so many publications written by doctors and published by respectable medical publishing press?! Of course, no answer is there for such a question!

 

It took me years after establishing my career as a radiologist to answer this question, and I didn’t like the answer. The answer I got is that: no one is interested in learning from the other healing crafts, as each medical system in reality is nothing more than a form of “Brainwash” that makes its graduates bound to its doctrine for life! Each graduate of this or that school of therapy sees himself in the right path that he/she should defend it for life, and that other methods are “Pseudo-scientific”! Although, personally I find that all these techniques complement each other; for example, adding Schüßler’s salts (Potassium-sulfate & Potassium-chloride) to an infectious disease augments the effect of antibiotics in general, since both salts are powerful detoxifiers of the toxic products produced by germ in case of sepsis (Endo- & Exotoxins), acting as blood purifiers, a concept that the medical & pharmacological schools do not know, only herbalists do!

 

The same brainwash in the healing arts is seen in studying natural science, history, literature, etc. Each writer or a school of thought tries to “force” its doctrine on the reader or the initiate, without giving him the “Liberty” to explore the doctrine he studies if it is true or not, and where the truth lies. There is no better example to illustrate the last concept than trying to understand what “Alchemy” is. Being a radiologist, I studied medical-related quantum physics (Sonography, Radiation & Magnetism) in Germany as part of the curriculum to become a radiologist; this study of bio-physics brought me later to study bio-chemistry, as modern biochemistry now is called “Electro-Chemistry”, where both phenomena cannot be separated. With any chemical reaction there is a movement of electrons (OXidation-REDuction; REDOX), which is THE definition of electricity; but now because this electricity is generated in water (Plasma & lymph), it is expressed as Hydrogen Potential (pH) rather than the classical Anode-Cathode terms of electricity.

 

I went deep into biochemistry to the level of studying toxicology, organic chemistry, essential oils chemistry, food & flavor chemistry, etc. Once you learn the basics of biochemistry, the whole world of chemistry is opened for you to explore; however, still one area was hidden in darkness to me, which is “Alchemy”! What is this field and how it is related to chemistry? How it began and how it ended? Why still many people acclaim it is a mysterious art that needs initiation like as if we still live in Ancient Egypt & Mesopotamia!? I grabbed many alchemical books and started to read; nothing but crazy and silly ideas of people who try to practice black magic and disguises it in a “Pseudo-scientific” texts! Of course, you will read about the great secretive arcana of the “Duality principle”, the “Triune principle”, the “Four element doctrine”, etc.

 

Of all the alchemical rubbish I read so far, the four-element doctrine stopped me; how is it possible for this doctrine to survive centuries with much success in medical and non-medical fields? How would you explain the 4 elements (Fire, Water, Air & Earth) in modern terms without being ridiculed or seen as an idiot who believe in alchemical fairytales although he is trained in quantum physics!? Many authors through the past 150 years have tried in vain to “Translate” the 4-elements doctrine into modern science, along with its biological-medical branch “The Four Temperaments”, into modern medical terms; do you want examples? Of course you do; here are some:

 

 In 1919, the American pulmonologist Francis Marion Pottenger explained in his book “Symptoms of visceral diseases” that the concept of the 4 temperaments are related to the “Autonomic” nervous system activity as the following: Sanguineous temperament (Balanced autonomic state), Caloric temperament (Sympatheticotonia), Melancholic temperament (Vagotonia), & Phlegmatic temperament (Autonomic hypo-function).

 

In 1928, the Swedish pathologist Robin Fåhraeus tried to explain the doctrine of the 4 Humors in regard to the blood composition, where the Sanguineous humor is the (Red blood cells), the Caloric humor is the (Plasma’s Acids content; e.g., Bile acids), Phlegmatic humor is the (White blood cells), & Melancholic humor is the (Nitrogen blood content, like Albumin, Fibrinogen, Ammonia, etc.).

 

In 1930, the American homeopath John H Clarke mentioned in his book “Constitutional medicine” that the temperaments are created by the “Gaseous” content of the body (Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, & Carbon-dioxide); and when these elements are in balance, a healthy state arises (Balanced temperament), and when they are imbalanced, three states of disease emerges according to a classification by the German homeopath Von Grauvögl (Hydrogenous, Oxygenous & Carbo-nitrogenous constitutions). 

 

In 1936, the British surgeon Thomas-Edwin Hammond showed in his book “Vitality and energy in relation to the constitution” that the 4 constitutions (Temperaments) of man can be traced to either hyper- or hypo-function of the thyroid & adrenal glands; in other words, the level of body metabolism.

 

I can give a longer list, but the past few examples are enough to show that many serious physicians and scientists tried to explain the “Alchemical” doctrine in a “Chemical” way, without the need to use mysterious jargons and encoded language that need its own Rosetta stone to decode, like the people who follow Hahnemann or Paracelsus fantasy & mythical teachings!

 

I finally got my revelation and answers when I reached the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner’s medical doctrine, the “Anthroposophical medicine”, where Steiner uses the 4 humors & temperament as the main core of his medical & scientific teachings to explain the body and its diseases. After reading Steiner’s explanations & his followers’ interpretations, the so-called “Duality principle” of alchemy became “Polarity principle” of chemistry (Thermal-Electric); the “Triune principle” of alchemy (Sulfur, Mercury, Salt) became (Acid-Neutral-Base) of chemistry, and the “Four element doctrine” of alchemy became “Organic Chemistry” itself!

 

Many German scientists from different fields who are faithful followers to Steiner’s teachings wrote fantastic & valuable books that explain everything there is to explain about the alchemical doctrine in modern scientific way since the 1940’s; but of course, since the scientific community worldwide is overwhelmed by the American propaganda & loud rubbish (most of the time), such books are rarely marketed to the public or the scientific community except for the elite readers; books like: the “Gold and the Philosopher’s Stone” (2002) by the German physician Peter Grünwald; “The Four Ethers” (1974) by the German researcher Ernst Marti; and so many others.

 

In his marvelous classical book “The Nature of Substance: Spirit and Matter” (1966), the German biology professor Rudolf Hauschka explained that the 4 elements doctrine is nothing more than “Organic Chemistry” in disguise! Organic chemistry is the chemistry of Carbon-containing molecules, and carbon brings form & solidity to organic molecules; in other word, it is the “Earth Element” by definition. Oxygen makes 80% of the water’s molecules, and many elements will be soluble in water and chemically-active only when they bind to oxygen (e.g., silica becomes soluble in water as silicate SiO3); therefore, oxygen is the “Water Element” of nature!

 

Nitrogen makes almost 80% of the air; also, explosives are compounds that cause liberation of gases in massive amount when they unite with an oxidizer (e.g., oxygen or halogens); the main ingredient of any explosive compound is “Nitrogen” as nitrite or nitrate; therefore, nitrogen is the “Air Element”. Lastly, Hydrogen is a burning & corrosive gas that makes most acids & alcohols (alcohol is called Fire Water in alchemy); therefore, hydrogen becomes the “Fire element” as a logical conclusion! Everything the old language of alchemy described in a mysterious way is nothing more than describing organic chemistry reactions, which are until this day difficult and complex to understand even by modern-day scholars! Alchemical reactions are organic chemical reactions, from the polarization of molecules by light (Levo & dextro-rotation = Duality), to the transformation between state of matter (Solid-Fluid-Gas = Salt-Mercury-Sulfur), to the cyclic or non-cyclic organization of the molecules (Aromatic vs. Non-aromatic open-chain carbons = Ouroboros symbol of alchemy), etc. 

 

Back to my intro; the lack of interest to explore other fields and try to connect the dots between them together is what makes people still in the 21st century regurgitate old books in a silly and unscientific way, leading to may practitioners of healing arts although they have good heart and good intentions, being labeled as “quacks” because they do not understand what they do and cannot explain their results; and as a physician and consultant radiologist, I would like to ask these people logical questions: how do you expect me to believe you and trust your judgment in treating patients if you don’t know even the reason why your methods do work? How do you explain to me that they are not another form of “Placebo Effect” or a form of Hypnotism (Mesmerism) to the patient, like what Franz Anton Mesmer used to do to his patients in the late 1700’s, hypnotizing them and give them the impression that they were cured from fatal diseases!?

 

Dr. Jarrah Al-Tubaikh M.D.

Radiology Specialist, German-Board of Radiology (Facharzt)

Amiri Hospital, Kuwait City, Kuwait