Reprinted with the permission of The Society of Homeopaths (from "The Homeopath" magazine, Spring 2007 edition). Reviewed by Michelle Shine.
In my opinion all the best books are the ones that beg the author to be written and Medicine Flows is no exception. Mo Morrish introduces this work by saving that the restrictions of classical homeopathy as he once understood them to be were stifling his ability to practise medicine until he met his mentor and broke all the rules (sounds familiar!). Nevertheless, homeopathic philosophy still posed a challenge to him. Then in 1997, he stumbled across The Organon of the Medicinal Art which paved the way to his present understanding and a compelling need to write it all down.
What happens next is an honest and often poetic journey in five parts beginning with his bird's eye view of the world which touches briefly on the subjects of Life, Dynamic Medicine and The Field ('infinite sea of energy which underlies all reality'). Morrish then pans in on The Human Being bringing clarity to the different levels of existence, from spirit to matter, as denoted by Hahnemann. This chapter includes discussions on Suppression, Susceptibility, Constitution and Health. (The Capital Letters are by Morrish).
Part three homes in even further bringing clarity once again to the different types of diseases mentioned in Hahnemann's Chronic Diseases, namely individual, sporadic, epidemic in the acute realm and iatrogenic and ideogenic in the chronic - technical stuff. This chapter also has an emphasis on miasms.
Part four talks a little about The Homeopath; about how he should apply himself to the job and about his mission. Part five speaks about The Medicines, Provings, Law of Similars, Action of Cure etc.
Throughout the text there is much reference to the Hahnemannian term 'impinging' which Morrish explains as 'to have superficial contact with something, followed by a thrusting, driving or penetration into it.' One could say that the format of this book is impinging. Influenced by Taoist philosophy Morrish writes with compassion and humility. His aim being to communicate not to indoctrinate while acknowledging that his beliefs and assumptions belong to him only, he encourages the reader to have his own opinion. It is for this reason that I have never read a homeopathic philosophy book quite like it; so without ego, that when it concludes with a successful case written up so sensitively, I too am humbled and touched.
I have one last comment; I would like to have seen a glossary of terms in the back for easy reference. Otherwise the simple presentation of this book is appealing and fits in with its style and content. Morrish aims for a target audience of the new student but as an older and slightly more jaded homeopath I too found a lot of wisdom to be gleaned among its pages. So do not be surprised if whoever you are, Medicine Flows impinges upon you too!
Second review; Reprinted with the permission of The ARH (from 'Homeopathy in Practice', Summer 2007 edition):
Reviewed by Theresa Partington MARH:
This book is primarily aimed at students of homeopathy. First impressions are promising: the book is slim with an attractive 'watery' cover and a silky solid feel to the pages. Combined with a page design and layout that promises clarity and simplicity it is a book that draws you in. Maybe that shouldn't be important but with such a potentially dry topic, it is. The first page holds a dedication to Kenneth Metson and the last a single sentence: 'Keep it simple'. Better and better. Then comes the blow: the Introduction is on the now familiar theme of 'I spent four years at college and practised for years believing that I could only prescribe on mental and emotional symptoms with a single dose of exactly the right remedy that would last for ever and then I saw the light' (my words, not Mo's, but that is the gist).
These intros are a pet niggle of mine. First, how can you spend so many years without coming across Boenninghausen, Burnett and Blackie, without even reading the Organon properly for yourself? And second, this eventual epiphany usually involves throwing out individualisation, similarity and the Organon in favour of some essentially allopathic system involving the use of potentised substances, which inevitably brings to my mind 'babies' and 'bathwater'. However, I digress. I really do digress because that is not how the story goes at all! It gets better again.
The book is divided into five sections: The World', 'The Human', 'Disease', 'The Homoeopath' and 'The Medicines'.
The World' is a brief introduction to the concept of the Field and the life force and first mentions the Tao, something returned to in more depth in 'The Human'. In The Human', Mo Morrish uses and quotes extensively the Stephen Decker translation of the Organon and goes into exact translations / definitions of such words as Geist, Gemut and Gesundheit, referring to Decker's Glossary. He connects 'susceptibility' to 'inflowance' and 'resistance' and all to the Taoist concept of flow, action and reaction. This chapter could justifiably be called the Tao of Homeopathy, if someone hadn't already pinched that title.
First there is the One
Then there is the one and the other.
Then the movement between the two,
The relationship
Which creates all things.
Susceptibility is fundamental to being alive, not just to becoming diseased. Disease is described as 'dynamic mistune-ment' (you do have to get used to some seeming abuses of the English language in this book!) and the eponymous chapter goes through Hahnemann's classifications of disease and dwells extensively on the Miasms and the role and significance of Psora in particular.
The dynamic of the consultation is discussed in The Homoeopath'. Mo briefly parts from Hahnemann in acknowledging that the 'impartial observer' is an impossibility and replacing him with the self-aware, 'dynamic' practitioner. Taking the Case gets a mere page and Case Analysis just one and a half- but this is the point of the book. If you have understood the basics of what you are doing, detailed instructions should be superfluous and only likely to interfere with an essentially dynamic process. If you have a grasp of the nature of your building materials, and of basic engineering rules, you should be able to develop your own structures, reflecting your needs and creativity and that of the others concerned. What is more, these will be sound structures.
The introduction of prefabricated structures into yours will not be helpful. However, even that analogy (mine) is too fixed and rigid in the context of this book which is all about flow.
The Law of Similars, potentisation and the action by which a similar remedy replaces the natural disease to affect a cure are discussed in Part Five. Here, too, Mo explains how the concept of the Similimum has become an elusive and frustrating Holy Grail - I would think a 20th century chimera might be a better description, but still ... There is discussion of the importance of provings (and the desirability of taking part in them), the importance of the single remedy prescription as 'good science' and the nature of aggravations and of placebo, including an excellent defence against the 'homeopathy is only argument.
What you will not find in Homoeopathic Philosophy is a description of various methodologies, instructions for making any of them work, or case examples. You won't find help with repertorisation or 'remedy relationships'. Nor will you be told how to set up and run a practice - maybe those things will come in later volumes of the projected 'Medicine Flows' series. Instead, you get a short but quite difficult and thought-provoking read. You get a book without even a word index. I disagree with some other reviewers who say you can dip in and out of it as required. You will want to put aside the time and sit and read it from beginning to end. If you do, you will find true philosophy, poetry and inspiration.
