India trip February 2006
GC: You have travelled to teach homeopathy in several other countries - You have lectured extensively in Europe, Australia, US and Canada, and we know you have also helped orphans in Kenya, Tsunami victims in Sri Lanka, students in China and India and most recently Europe. (Did I miss any?) Most homeopaths know that homeopathy is already quite established in India, so I would expect it would be quite a different experience than China. How was your time in India?
In India
Dr. Luc: Very hard work since I was on 14 different places in about 4 weeks and distances are great. The very positive: great reception everywhere. The young teachers and students were very enthusiastic about what I had to offer and as usual the senior ones pretend they already know everything I had to say. Alas their actions in the clinic contradict the facts of course. The level of homeopathy is somewhat better than in the other countries you mentioned of course but still I would call it mediocre and the level has to increase in order to even having a bigger impact in their health system. At least they are in a very favorable position since the government supports homeopathy and the facilities are quite good everywhere. To my surprise very FEW allopathic doctors turned into becoming homeopaths. The homeopathic student receives first a 4 year diploma -BHMS- and then has the option to get a Homeopathic MD, an additional two years study. So time enough spent in school but that does not always translate into excellent education. Homeopathy still plays second fiddle to allopathy, as it is more prestigious to be an allopathic doctor. The unfortunate consequence is that many female homeopathic students are only there since they could not get into allopathic medical school and at least getting a "doctor's" degree increases their chance on a better marriage. So the majority of these students never get into practice after their schooling. But if anything, in my opinion, India with improvement in their teaching, is best positioned to have a greater impact in homeopathy.
GC: It has been said that in India, a doctor is either allopathic, homeopathic or ayurvedic. Did you get a feeling for the relative proportions of these different systems of medicine? Do you see any place in healing for the dietary, herbal and detoxification techniques of Ayurveda? Have you been impressed by any ayurvedic physicians?
Dr. Luc: I can't honestly answer your question of Ayurveda medicine in India or Sri Lanka where they are both popular modalities as I have never been able to see the results or be with a practitioner on consult. Certainly allopathic medicine comes on the first place: there is this tendency in China and India that once a person has money, he needs to do allopathic medicine. Money has not bought any brains as you see.
GC:What is the meaning of the red marking between your eyebrows and the lighter colored marking above that in some of the India pictures? The garland of gold colored flowers around your neck?
Dr. Luc: It is the custom in India that when you received as "an honorable guest" which I was that they put these flowers around your neck when they meet you for the first time. And at the same time you get the red between your eyes, the third eye. It is all to honor the special guest.
Europe trip 2006
GC:Having got your medical license originally in Belgium, and having practiced there several years, do you feel a special connection with the people there when you go back to teach?
Dr. Luc:I don't believe in "the grass greener on the other side." Yes I got my medical license in Belgium and of course I have family living there which makes me see them more often than I otherwise could. But I feel at home in the rest of the world, not necessarily Belgium.
In Belgium
GC:What impressed you most about the students in Belgium?
Dr. Luc:In Belgium, in order to practice legally, students are allopathically trained doctors. Knowing how few allopaths convert to homeopaths, I do feel a special connection with them as I know how much ridicule they have they suffer from colleagues, how hard the work is as a homeopath and how they are cast aside by their colleagues. True Hahnemannian suffering that we allopathic physicians, turned into homeopaths all have to live through.
In Belgium
GC:Does having come back to your "roots" after teaching successfully several years around the world impart a kind of authenticity to your knowledge among students there?
Dr. Luc:There is not much difference regarding knowledge I see in Belgium and the rest of the world. There is always that overriding "new" stuff, from neo-gurus,not based on the Organon, promising easy results that is slowly undermining the quality of homeopathy everywhere. While these "new gurus" enjoy temporary success and especially financial success, the authenticity and ground principles of homeopathy are simply forgotten. And because results in the real practice are poor, homeopaths leave the profession, claiming they cannot make a living with it. If you cure, you make a living! In fact people will swarm to your office!
GC:Would you ever like to live in Europe again? Why? Which country do you consider your home now?
Dr. Luc:Living back in Europe? No, only maybe in Spain or S. France to retire and play tennis. Of course there are other attractive points: quick traveling between countries, and therefore being able to teach in many different cultures and enjoy the people. I do miss practicing different languages and the different foods offered!
In Holland
GC: With a common geography, climate, currency and at least one language some people on this sideof the ocean mightnot be aware of differences between HollandandBelgium. So many of our popular modern homeopathy books come from these two countries. Is your teaching at the focus of homeopathic education in Holland, or, are you considered kind of a maverick outsider?
Dr. Luc:As mentioned before, nowadays everyone who teaches true Hahnemannian homeopathy and his advanced methods is considered a maverick. Of course this should not be the case. If anything, I aim my efforts at unifying homeopaths around the world, by FIRST teaching these advanced methods. If students and practitioners know these (and believe me in spite of what they say few do) then they can accept or reject the esoteric stuff that is blowing around. To my regret I see so many schools, including in the US, imitating methods that promise a "true understanding" of the patient, but are only well packaged PR stunts that eventually disappear.
In Ireland
GC:It is common to think of homeopathy being very popular in Western Europe, as compared to the US. How isthe homeopathic establishment in Holland different from that in Belgium, in Ireland or in the US? What is the quality of homeopathy like compared to the US?
Dr. Luc:Homeopathy thrives more for the moment in Holland than Belgium although there is a split between lay homeopaths and allopathic MD homeopaths in Holland. Any split will not benefit homeopathy but here again the human ego plays a role. There is no joint love for homeopathy, only "we are better than you." Ireland has a few schools: there is no difference in a way quality wise throughout the world. Allopathy will always try to convince that homeopathy is bogus and therefore patients in need always go to allopaths. Unless homeopathy becomes a truly accepted specialty at a medical university, this will never change. And it will never happen: pharmaceutical companies fund too many studies in these schools. No chance for homeopathy!
GC:In what way do the questions you get differ between the different European countries?
Dr. Luc:The questions I can pose throughout the world are ALWAYS the same because the basics are not taught. I can pose the following question worldwide and I have yet to get the exact answer once: "What do you say to your patient when you give an acute intercurrent? How often and when should he repeat this?" Not one person has given me the correct answer, yet Hahnemann has it outlined in the Organon. Yet most schools say they teach the Organon? If we can't answer a simple question like that, how do you think we do with management of chronic diseases, a far more difficult topic? Schools should take a hard look at the teachings. I am never impressed in how it looks on paper. I am more impressed with what the student after finishing the school has to say.
GC:Do the ages of the students tend to be the same in the different countries?
Dr. Luc:Ages are everywhere the same as well as gender: many more women than men (80-20%). Ages: with exception of India and S Africa, more to the older side.
GC:What have you learned from your recent European tour, where did you learn it and who did you learn it from?
Dr. Luc:I wish I could say I learned a lot in Europe, The only thing I learned is that true homeopathy is in danger to disappear as schools have less enrollment and the climate goes against homeopathy. Again unification of homeopaths around the world is necessary and obtaining good patient results is the only way of making great PR.
GC:I have heard it said that Nat-m is a more common remedy amongpeople from England than from other countries. Have you found that certain remedies are moreneeded in particular countries than other remedies? Any examples? Reasons?
Dr. Luc:These kinds of statements, "Nat-m is more needed there or there" are kind of flaky. Is grief only the property of Africa? Such statements only divert the homeopath from practicing individual therapy, our tenet. I even heard a homeopaths saying after hearing a proving of "chocolate," that she gave the next twenty patients in her office chocolate. Where do these delusions come from? I call it, "mesmerized, magnetized, easily."
Career steps to homeopathy
GC:Looking back on your career highlights (from your website) I noticed that you were first using homeopathy 1975-1981 but apparently you didn't become totally committed to it at the beginning, since you subsequentlyworked with several other fields of knowledge, including acupuncture and neurology,before becoming focussed on homeopathy. Why did it take you so long tobecome so committed to homeopathy?
Dr. Luc:I was very successfully in TCM as a practitioner for many years. When you have success one does not change was it not for my wandering Tubercular mind and the love I have for study. In TCM I mastered studying about everything I could, in Homeopathy I have a lifelong learning process, something that appeals very much to my mind.
Anti-aging: homeopathy, diet, the shadow, exercise
GC: In alternative medicine today, "anti-aging medicine" is very big. At the same time, I have noticed that at least one doctor, Dr. Weil, does not subscribe to that concept, but does believe in "healthy aging". Do you see homeopathy as offering the possibility of stopping or reversing aging, or, do you see it as a way to minimize the inevitable, undesirable events during healthy aging?
Dr. Luc: In homeopathy we don't talk about anti-aging but when you think about this question, that sounds more like extending life without supplying the quality to it, a more important issue. Personally I don't care to become a hundred years old kept "alive" on ten different drugs with side effects. In reality even for the issue of longevity homeopathy IS far ahead of everyone simply because we can apply the miasmatic therapy which is the equivalent of allopathic genetics except that allopathy is nowhere yet with it when it comes to therapeutic good effects in any case. The present population is weighed down by the ever-increased miasmatic load from the allopathic suppressive acts and ever increasing vaccinations. We might live longer this way but the quality decreases enormously and "mixed" diseases are the norm now. Do we call this a success? Longevity is coupled to the constitution and the miasmatic load you received from your parents. in TCM we call it, what "quality" ESSENCE did you receive from your parents? Just one factor, AGE of the parents and the physical/emotional state the parents were in at the moment of conception plays a role. As a parent you can give the best Essence to your child in the age of 28-35 for a woman and 32-40 for a man. Tells you something not to force Nature with fertility drugs beyond these age {or any age at that anyway}. And then of course if you want to extend not only the length but also the quality of life, human beings would do well to investigate their shadow side and eradicate "justified" negative emotions like anger, irritability, jealousy and the likes. And I haven't even mentioned a sensible diet, a problem in the USA where 60% of the population is overweight.
GC: So, your response to the challenges of aging would be: sensible diet, homeopathy for the miasmatic load, shadow side investigations for negative emotions, and would you add anything else, like an exercise program?
Dr. Luc: All those facets indeed are important, but hierarchy in importance would be first the miasmatic load. As an exercise buff I obviously believe in adhering to an exercise program one likes to do. Too many exercise bikes and machines catch dust in numerous American homes because they did not like that particular exercise anyway. In that case, get a dog and walk! Cheaper and more meaningful.
GC: There are so many diets out there. Could you be a little more specific as to what you mean by a sensible diet?
Dr. Luc: The definition of a sensible diet is probably the most difficult to determine. First there is NO universal diet as we are all different. The obvious fatty, greasy foods, coffee, sugar and overload of CBH are to be eliminated or restricted. If you would one person let you guide in your diet it is the TCM practitioner who can temporarily adjust your diet in relation to the organ that is out of balance. When it comes to dietary measures in you would think they still are in the Middle Ages.
GC: How does a person know where to start? Or does one start with everything at the same time?
Dr. Luc: As many of the above measures should be started at the same time. A remedy cannot work by itself if life style is neglected, and if emotions are refused to be acknowledged. The better you address this "package" the more chance on longevity you have. See my articles on how I tie in diet and exercise to Aphorism 74 and 77.
Book: Achieving and Maintaining the Simillimum
GC: Your most recent book, Achieving and Maintaining the Simillium is the most detailed explanation of the various editions of the Organon and how to actually manage chronic diseases with homeopathy. Have you had any further insights into this topic, which you would like to have included in that book, or does that book remain as complete today as when you finished it? Another way of asking this question is, do you expect any major revisions or additions to the book?
Dr. Luc: I think this book will be a breakthrough in the homeopathic world. Sometimes it even is the "secret" book in schools since the professor does not want to use it for fear of exposing himself that he did not know this. (Homeopaths are no better than other people when it comes to playing politics) But students tell me they study feverishly at home. Management always will remain management. But I keep on asking myself many more questions than you pose me here and follow successes and failures everywhere. This allowed me to get a uniform answer for the burning question of uniformity in the homeopathic society regarding the topic of potency selection. It will definitely unify homeopaths around the world and more importantly, the patients will get the benefit from it. Do I expect more fine tuning of this book? I hope so as I ever look for more accurate answers-call it my editions of the Organon......
Homeopathic education in America and other countries
GC: In November, 2004, regarding homeopathic education, you wrote,". . .Homeopathy must follow the lead of the acupuncture schools . . . . . I am afraid that the struggle will remain and that the idea of creating a 4 year homeopathic school in this country that is part of the Medical Board of Assurance will remain a pipe dream. It has been tried many times before, but for many different reasons always remained unsuccessful. Such schools can only be created in poor countries like India and South Africa, or in future countries where there is a large segment of dirt poor people.". For some time now, Dr. Todd Rowe and others have been involved in the creation of a new full time 4 year homeopathic medical school, the American Medical College of Homeopathy, where roughly half of the training is medically focused and half is homeopathically focused. According to their website, the AMCH "is licensed through the post secondary board of education here in Arizona. The school is provisionally accredited through the Council for Homeopathic Education (not recognized by the State of Arizona). AMCH is a candidate for federal accreditation through the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS)." Do you feel any more optimistic about homeopathic education in America after these developments?