RECOMMENDED READING FROM THE LIGHT PARTY

Book Review excerpted from Creations Magazine February/March 1997 edition.


RECLAIMING OUR HEALTH:
Exploding the Medical Myth and Embracing the Source of True Healing by John Robbins
H.J. Kramer, $24.00
(415) 435-5367


SPONTANEOUS HEALING
by Andrew Weil, M.D.
Mystic Fire Video, $29.95
(212) 941-0999

Don't be mistaken. Neither John Robbins nor Andrew Weil believe you should turn your back on modern medicine. Should you be cut-and-bleeding or broken in an accident, a modern trauma unit is likely the best place to be, bar none. That says quite a lot considering how often fatal accidents occur at home or on the road. When it attempts to treat self-limiting illness (which probably accounts for the vast majority of complaints,) or chronic illness, modern medicine fails miserably. Drawing on his experience as a practicing physician, Dr. Weil speaks of this failure in a philosophical and anecdotal manner. Mr. Robbins employs this approach as well; his argument, however, rests much more heavily on the mountain of facts and figures he has amassed. A few of the issues he scrutinizes:

our singular lack of universal health care.
our appalling infant mortality rate.
the shoddy treatment accorded to women.
the unholy relationship between the medical establishment and the tobacco, junk food, chemotherapy and other death-dealing industries.
the stranglehold on health care by the perversely rich insurance companies.
the total neglect of nutrition and stress-management.

All this and more is the bad news. Don't despair! There is good news and plenty of it. The largest measure of responsibility for our well-being lies in our hands and there are ample resources of which we may avail ourselves. The priceless heritage of the Traditional healing arts (especially the Chinese and Indian) is our greatest ally. Moreover, as Dr. Weil so eloquently shows, health is our birthright, we can learn to "cultivate...balance and resilience..." Mr. Robbins is once again in his element with the facts and figures on the bright side of things. He provides a plethora of resources maximally healing, minimally risky and well documented. John Robbins, though, clearly concurs with Andrew Weil: the source of health is within. These guys deliver the goods, no doubt.

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