If we put the Green Books on a pedestal, above and to the exclusion of everything else, then are we essentially saying that chiropractic is a mystery, a secret fraternity, one that can only be understood by the initiated, those who have studied and gotten B.J.’s message through reading them? Everyone else is a little lower, out of the loop so to speak. Frankly, I think there are people who have read and studied B.J. over the years, taken his writings and made them more understandable and more philosophically congruent. We should be thankful for their contribution. R.W. Stephenson was the first of those people. We’re fortunate his text was deemed a Green Book, otherwise, no one would probably ever have read his work. Try picking up and reading something chiropractic by a modern writer like Koch or Sinnott, or something of a different color. People tell me they think the blue ones have some good stuff in them! Who knows, they may help you understand better what B.J. is saying and then someone will teach you the secret handshake.
Great point Joe, especially regarding Stephenson’s text. If he had written it say from another institution or without BJ’s glowing approval how would it be considered today?
I have the Green books, I have the Blue books, I have the White books (Barge, Senzon, Logan, Gold) I have the true books. I have them yes I have them Joe, my question is how did you know? The Green books are in deed on top, and if my shelf length did not stop, I would have the books of Blue, up there with the Green books too. Sorry, didn’t mean to go Dr Seuss on ya’ll but it couldn’t be helped.
I wonder where BJ would be in his writing today, were he alive? I tend to think OSC because he was headed that way by saying the subluxation was justification for adjusting regardless of presence or absence of symptoms.
P.S. Dr Sid used to give “HIGH PI” Pisiform contact of course.
Chiropractic is philosophy, science and art.
Not Palmers, science and art.
The Green Books were an “extra curricular” activity when I was at Palmer in the mid 80s. I did not really get into studying them until after i entered practice, at which time I formed a study group with a couple colleagues. We met at 6AM every Tuesday for many months.
There is nothing “secret” about what is contained in the Green Books. The secret is that most chiropractors haven’t a clue what they contain because they haven’t bothered to “struggle through” and fully comprehend what’s in them.