Veils of Vision

Introduction

Originally the title of this book was “Nosy Be provings”, like “Lamu Provings” and “Kenton provings”. But during and after the seminar the theme of outside influences became stronger and clearer. The outside influences of the the regi- on and atmosphere, the background. Added to that are the influences of the provers themselves.

Proving reliability

Provings have long been considered as being reliable, giving reliable pictures. And many symptoms have been shown to be reliable, sometimes even keynotes. But many proving symptoms are not confirmed in cases, but still retained in the Materia medica. Often this is done out of fear that one might miss some case that, might have that symptom in the proving.

In considering remedy pictures it becomes clear that they are not really a picture. I mean they don’t give a real picture, they only give a collection of symptoms that do not make sense as a whole. It looks a bit like pointillism in art, but then without having a real picture. It can look like abstract art, where there is no idea left.

One reason is of course that disease is not fully understood at the momentary level of science. But a major reason is that many symptoms are missing and many symptoms are incorrect. The idea that symptoms in proving can be incorrect is denied by Hahnemann in the Organon.

My experience is that many symptoms are coming from the provers and from the situation and background where the proving is done. I had this impression already a long time and have expressed it many times. But I also have the impression that many homeopaths have not incorporated this idea in their practical work. Many provers do not see clearly what is going on during a proving and this was the case also in the Madagscar provings.

Veils of Vision

The idea came of making a picture of what is going on in proving. This picture has become the cover of this book. Veils of Vision presents the idea that what we see in proving is seen through a veil, is colored by the prover and his own personalities. And the remedy is seen on a background of the situation, in this case Madagascar.

The cover shows a picture of a background of Madagascar with a Ravenala plant prominent in the middle. The remedy is Achryranthes aspera, one of the proven remedies. This remedy is still quite well recognizable, especially on the back of the cover. On the front we see three “veils”, symbolizing the provers with their personalities. The veils, with a transparency of 70%, make the picture of Achyranthes aspera gradually less and less recognizable.

One see a proving as looking at a remedy, where the remedy is not seen clearly. It is as if one is looking through a veil, the veil being the provers. Each provers brings in his own veil with his own images and colors. These images and colors are the states of the provers themselves. The veils make it difficult to see the real picture. This can be even more difficult when parts of the veil images are corresponding to the remedy image and parts are contradicting, when parts are overlapping and others not.

Provers

This picture makes clear how important the “transparency” of the provers is. The more transparent the provers, the less their own picture, their own personality is visible and the more the picture of the remedy becomes visible. This is not to blame provers. Every person, and thus every prover has his own personalities and brings them into the proving. We can only try to let them be less influential. But having one’s own personalities into the proving is unavoidable. Especially when there is an overlap

with the proven remedy, one’s own personalities are triggered and becoming more prominent. At the other hand one’s personalities are needed to bring to the front the peculiarities, to know what a certain feeling means and how it can be expressed. The life experiences of the provers are needed to give the proving perspective. But it is also the case that realizing the above makes that the prover is less vulnerable to fall into the pitfall of their own personalities, to stay experiencing instead of getting involved and losing the perspective. Realizing that one has his own veils makes that one can try to distinguish them from the proven remedy.

The quality of the provers is a point that is often neglected in proving protocols, but which is much more essential than any protocol. Provers have to be able or to learn to focus on the proven remedy and not get distracted by their own problems and states. This is something that can be learned. It was the experience of the provers that they were better provers in Kenton than on Lamu, the previous proving seminar.

Background

A disturbing factor is the background against which the approving is done. The background is the situation, the pace and time of the proving. The background always influences the proving. It can have both a distorting and confirming element. Sometimes the background is giving just what is needed to understand the proven remedy. Coincidences and synchronicities can show important aspects a remedy. But they also give a distortion, bringing incorrect images and symptoms. In the case of Madagascar that was even more prominent than in the case of the Lamu provings and Kenton provings. That is why there is a chapter with the name Madagascar in this book. It gives the experience of the provers of Madagascar, what happened to them and what it brought to them, both in the positive and negative sense. It sets the proving pictures in perspective. At least that is how many provers felt.

Picture improvement

The image shows also how the picture can be improved. One way is to improve the transparency of the veils. This means that the provers have to be less involved in their personalities. The more provers are involved with themselves, the less they can distance themselves from their personalities, the less transparent their veil and the less clear the picture of the remedy is. Thus provers stay more in the expression phase of the proving, as explained in Proving phases. Analysis of the remedy picture is much more difficult when the picture is unclear and contaminated with other pictures.

The remedy picture can also be improved by making the layer of the remedy less transparent so that the background becomes less visible, less influential. This can be done by focussing on the proven remedy, the focus makes the remedy layer more prominent.

Madagascar

In order to give a better understanding of the Madagascar background I have added the Madagascar experience. It is a combination of the experiences the provers had on their trip to Nosy Be back and forth. It is their experience of Madagascar. This is done to give the reader an idea of the background of all the proving. Especially prominent was the violent quality of the trip. Beforehand most provers had an idyllic idea about Madagascar. And that part is there too, definitely. It can be seen form many of the images in thus book. But there was definitely also and aggressive side to it, being robbed, attacked and a general feeling of disappointment, grudge and feeling abused. It culminated in the attack on a few French doctors on Nosy Be.

 

Table of Contents

 

0.1  Publication data

0.2  Table of Contents

0.3  Word of Thanks

0.4  Goal

0.5  Method

0.6  Results

0.7  Phases in provings

0.8  Veils of Vision

0.9  Background Madagascar

1  Ravenala madagascariensis

2  Macphersonia gracilis

3  Sorindeia madagascariensis

4  Sida rhombifolia

5  Drypetes madagascariensis

6  Isolona madagascariensis

7  Noronhia emarginata

8  Terminalia catappa

9  Achyranthes aspera

10  Sonneratia alba

11  Merremia peltata

12  Cananga odorata

13  Rinorea apiculata

14  Ochna madagascariensis

15  Allamanda cathartica

16  Catharanthus roseus

17  Vanilla madagascariensis

18  Jasminum multiflorum

19  Cissus quadrangularis

20  Barringtonia asiatica

21  Commelina madagascariensis

22  Angelonia biflora

23  Russelia equisetiformis

24  Senna alata

25  Passiflora foetida

26  Cases from provings