Has Mechanism Infiltrated Chiropractic?

Mechanism, or its philosophical component, materialism, has infiltrated just about every aspect of modern life, with the possible exception of religion…and of that I am not too sure. It is on the verge of totally taking over chiropractic. While many chiropractors give lip service to the idea of an innate intelligence, very few acknowledge it as a part of their practice and even less communicate it to their practice members. Most chiropractors seem to want to move chiropractic further and further away from its vitalistic underpinnings and focus on its structural, materialistic aspect. This is part of a mindset that has pervaded society since the beginning of the Enlightenment. Replacing faith with reason, Darwinism, New Age thinking have all contributed to the death of vitalism. Only because chiropractic began at a time in history when spirituality, religion and God were still embraced by a majority of people was it able to thrive. Things have changed. In a post-modern era those beliefs are no longer held by the majority…they no longer pervade society. Every day it seems we are less about vitalistic phenomena and more about mechanism.

So how can we resolve this problem? First we need to recognize it as a problem. How many chiropractors really believe that chiropractic will change, or to put it on a practical and personal level, their practice will be different, if they never again think about or discuss the idea that there is an innate intelligence that runs the body? Those that believe that we need to do something different to change the drift toward mechanism need to do something. We need to immerse ourselves with more information and a better understanding of what it is that chiropractic embraces. Perhaps many of us have never heard about or truly understand this whole innate intelligence thing. Most of those who talk or write about innate intelligence do so from an incorrect philosophical perspective. It is not a theological construct. It is not a pseudo-medical construct like viz medicatrix naturae. Innate intelligence is something totally different. Something logical and acceptable to most people, but something that must be explained to our practice members because most people have never really thought about it. The second thing we must do is explain this metaphysical aspect of our profession. This is not just a practice building tool. It is vital to the perpetuation of chiropractic. To explain it we must find ways to demonstrate a common-sense phenomena and how it impacts upon human beings when that common-sense phenomena is not commonly known. Thirdly, we must take every opportunity to correct inappropriate language and phraseology. When someone talks about “the body heals itself” we must correct them. The body does not heal itself, it is the innate intelligence of the body that does the healing. When people glorify the nerve system, we must get them to understand that it is only a tool that the innate intelligence uses to control and coordinate function. It no more runs the body than does the electrical system in the car, i.e., the computer system. Rather, it is the intelligence of the driver that runs the car and it is the intelligence of the body that causes it to function properly.

Doing this is a formidable task. To do it without coming across like a cult is a greater task. But it must be done. Otherwise chiropractic will become a mechanistic therapy and that will be the end of chiropractic as we know it. V25n2