Kent´s conception of Will, Understanding and Memory - present in the homeopathic Materia Medica.

Dr. Claudio C. Araujo M.D. F.F. Hom. (Lon.)

It has always been present, among homeopaths, an issue raised a long time ago: essentially, of what constitutes our anamnesis? We all know that certain symptoms - general expressions like warm and cold, aggravations and ameliorations- have an important place as much as the strange and peculiar symptoms have also their great importance. Without generals and particulars there will be not such thing as a complete homeopathic anamnesis.

Kent mentioned in his writings - after Swedenborg teachings - that remedies might affect the Will and Understanding of the internal human being and also one’s Memory. On a close look, what does it mean? Kent reinforces the idea of a human mind perverted in its loves, desires and in its judgments, consequently affecting one’s own acts, choices and decisions. Finally he mentioned ones’ Memory, a perverted human database that would be the personal internal knowledge of things that belong to common knowledge, ethics and behavior. 

The three combined, Will, Understanding and Memory – are the internal man. In his writings, Kent proposes that we should find, during the patient’s anamnesis, what is perverted in the internal being: his feelings, desires and aversions; how he understands that is happening both with his surroundings and with himself and lastly - on consulting his internal database - what does he believes it’s true, what shall be the right thing to do, The anamnesis must provide us what the internal man has in his mind - regarding the information about what has to be done according to the data kept in but also what has been inserted in his mind. From these many different inputs reality will start to take its subjective form, the human mind will progressively take shape what will become the patient’s Understanding of what is going around.

Studying the pathogenesis:

We’ve being developing this idea – of being both the patient anamnesis and the study of the drug experimentation (pathogenesis) one and the same. Our goal is to have the same approach of studying the mental structure with the patient and with the remedy’s experimentation based on these three aspects: What is perverted in the Will, the Understanding and in the Memory, following Kent’s suggestion that we should search what is perverted in the human mind from these three perspectives.

We decided (as a matter of logics) to give to the perverted understanding the starting point or our proposal. The first impressions of life coming through one’s eyes and ears and after the first contacts with the physical realm (reality) - together with the starting of one’s awareness - will provide the first impressions of what’s happening around. These impressions altogether will produce a group of feelings, images and ideas, building up an internal personal group of impressions of what is this world coming from outside. Reality is surrounding one’s mind, producing this complex group of ideas - a living scenario now occupied with sounds, colors, smells, sensations of touch, pressure, warm or cold, of clothing or water – and also filled from now on by shadows, darkness and light - feelings that Plato’s cave comprehend a good philosophical example.  The many virtual aspects of reality will develop into the actual misunderstandings and further sufferings: images, ghostly ideas, ubiquitous feelings all subduing the human mind forever. 

Why this baby here cries when the lights are turned off but the other baby next him doesn’t? Why a child gets frightened hearing the voice of a stranger near by, but the other child opens a smile? Why a baby cries when the other baby weeps, while the other one near them seems not to care, deepening his sounding sleep? It’s probably because they are all receiving the same surrounding inputs but understanding these inputs in a different, individual way. The same stimulicoming towards that group of babies is, simultaneously, building up different images and consequently different feelings in each one inside their minds. This phenomenon will go on and on through out one’s existence. There are maybe hundreds of theories on why it goes like that, many reasons pointed out, but what we really know is that the same real world is perceived and understood by different people in many different forms. The same images (for example, of a sunrise) may bring to one’s mind many different impressions, sensations and feelings.

We may conclude, for example, that a given food may do us harm, based on a group of ideas, information, impressions, smell or a prior personal experience with it. A religious group may declare that this or that idea is harmful to one’s soul and a judge declared that a given habit is offensive to society. After a few years our understanding of reality becomes a chaotic product of misinformation coming from health authorities, political leaders, social and drinking habits, drug abuse, social and religious convictions, from the social stratus we belong and at last what our parents have told us during childhood.

Our personal understanding of what reality is, in fact is a disorganized and confused data being hosted in the deep of our minds during our entire life, being changed, fed and updated everyday with “new information” regarding anything that can be stored in our memory. Understanding what is happening around us is basically supported by what has been stored in our memory. We made minute comparisons and evaluations regarding value of some new information that had just been seen and absorbed and what is stored in our database. 

A couple of years ago, while walking in the streets, I saw a beggar lying asleep at the sidewalk. Someone has left him a peace of bread at his side while he was sleeping. Suddenly a young man came in and stole the bread from the sleeping beggar, saying out loud: - I’m hungry!

We may look to a cheese sandwich, identifying it immediately with our recent change of eating habits – to become vegan - understanding that it should not be consumed – but then comes the Will: one wants to eat that sandwich, even if the health magazine have said it shouldn’t be eat, affirming it might derange both our body and our cholesterol levels. 

The thief saw the bread besides the beggar and decided to steal it, knowing that he shouldn’t steal the bread from the poor man. But the thief found inside him an reason to avoid his conscience stored inside his memory: he used his survival needs as an excuse, saying to himself and to the others who were watching the scene - like me – that he also needed that piece of bread. In the first example his momentary hunger forgave him to not join - on that very day - the vegan community, postponing his alleged alliance to the next day. The young thief, claiming being hungry, turned off his moral and social dictates of conscience, then receiving from his data a “green light” that aloud him to steal the bred from the beggar.

This combination of Will, Understanding and Memory are firm grounds where we may base the study of the anamnesis and the homeopathic drug pathogenesis – and will become the further developments of the homeopathic Materia Medica.

During the examination0 of the character of the individual, we must look for what in that given mind that is perverted regarding his Will, his Understanding and his Memory. I always figured it out as if a wrong perverted glasses, a mask that has been placed before ones eyes, changing and distorting everything that comes from reality in the direction of ones mind, arriving to the understanding and producing a complete distorted image of what really is. 

Let’s say for instance that a woman heard the sound of a thunder from a nearby storm, immediately associating it to a possible extreme danger. The first thing she wants to do is to build up and strategy for survival. If her children are out in the open, her strategy will be to bring them back home as soon as possible. She heard the sound of the thunder, interpreted it as a danger - being her first reaction to seek shelter for her and her kin. Second to none she remembered that there is an open restaurant nearby and run to that direction, seeking for shelter: her wrong evaluation of reality, her survival instincts and her internal data base with the restaurant’s address – a simple combination of the three elements – her Understanding, Will and Memory.

Let’s say that a child grew old carrying inside herself a strong impression the she was surrounded by evil persons and great dangers. The first images received through her senses were understood as dangers and perils and she arrived to the conclusion that her life was in constant danger. Those images and fears have returned many times to her mind during her childhood as nightmares. She couldn’t sleep in the dark or even let alone. She tried to reach her parents bed every night, wetting their mattress and getting reprimanded from both of them. She developed a strong fondness for her nanny, as she was the only one who seems to protect this child from all the dangers around; but a few years later she became very ill when her nanny left for good. She presumed that she was fired by her daddy, due to his economical difficulties (in fact her nanny left to get married) and later she developed a strong determination: to never live herself a penniless situation. She will always have money in order to have all the people she loves at her side and she will never forgive her father for firing her beloved nanny. To protect her wounded heart and her fears she needs to build a strategy: what she should do in order to became a wealthy person? To be surrounded with the people she loves and also to overcome her fears? She now will evaluate her personal gifts, qualities and chances to succeed: Is she bright enough to become a successful pro? Is she beautiful enough to succeed finding herself a wealthy husband? Is she gifted enough to become a famous actress? Again, the three aspects are present: Her misunderstanding of this “dangerous” reality, the misinformation she recalled about herself and about what happened in the past, fueled by her hatred feelings for her father - altogether with her longing for affection and protection.

During all this huge effort to succeed, this will bring her health into a state of fragility and weakness. Coming next are probable acute diseases or even her familiar illnesses may be brought up. Diseases that have been around her family for many generations are now popping up on her: stomach pains, allergies, high cholesterol levels, drinking habits, bad sleep, constipation – and there she comes in our praxis, looking for treatment.

What our anamnesis must give us? What are her mental characteristics? What we need to know about her? What we should look for? Again, her perverted longings, her wrong acknowledgements and images once stored in her memory of what had happened, her strategy to bring all her sufferings to a stop, her fight against what she fears most and her profound certainty (or not) of what shall be done - based on her information about herself, on her past memories -everything powered up by her Will- her determination to succeed and overcome her grief.

Now this clinical picture has to have a counterpart in our MM meaning that the long list of symptoms brought to light by the drug pathogenesis must be aligned and assembled using the same logical understanding. What part of this list of pathogenic symptoms may be arranged using the same logics? 

What symptoms are showing - in any given pathogenic list of - signs of a deranged Will, Understanding and Memory?

Coming from the idea that we must spot (from the anamnesis) what are the symptoms representing what the patient loves and hates, how may we approach the idea of a perverted Will?

We can start admitting that there should be a Will aligned to what is true, healthy, constructive, positive, that there’s a Will also aligned to love, acceptance, care and forgiveness. Hahnemann mentioned a balanced state of mind that could protect us from the advances of the psoric miasm; associating this mental attitude to a righteous conduct. Everything that takes a different direction away from righteousness, from love for our fellow beings and from Truth are signs of a perverted mind, a perverted Will. There are many developments and interpretations of what are love, justice and care; but we can start using a very simple guidance: everything that makes us harm or may harm the others is coming from a perverted Will. Everything that man loves and desires - that have as a final consequence damaging oneself or bring damage to another person - comes from a perverted Will and should be taken as part of the symptoms of the Will. 

These symptoms – feelings expressed by the patient – must disappear or become attenuated during the treatment. Hatred feelings, jealousy, compulsions, suicidal tendencies, gambling and drug addictions, sadness and discouragement as long as fears and misevaluations of oneself– everything must go away altogether with false memories, love disappointments, anger and hate; also over lasting sad facts and experiences must find its end during the treatment. 

Regarding the study of the provings, the same approach should be taken into consideration: which symptoms - brought up by the provers - belong to the perverted Will, Understanding and Memory of this remedy? How could we understand how this given remedy/patient moves toward life, carrying inside a perverted Will and Understanding? 

A full picture both from the patient and from the remedy – must be taken and understood. How can we follow up a case, how could we evaluate the changings and movements of the patient symptoms if not by the complete image of his sufferings and his personal understanding of reality - of the others and of himself. 

Maybe it’s too hard for us to admit that reality is a confused and subjective mass of impressions. Maybe it will be too hard for us all to admit that we are living in a cloud of misinterpretations of what reality is. But, to our relief, a group of Greeks from Millet started a new science - they called it philosophy. Since then some very good understandings and evaluations – new tools on how to evaluate what comes to our senses – have been produced in order to unveil what reality truly is.