Staggering…. Alienated-Osteopathy and a flash of insight

The urge to write this babble, was induced by comments I read on ‘osteopathic’ social media, and they set me reflecting on: “what is playing, hidden behind the curtain of our consciousness?” 

The whole reflection would become almost a book, and this is just a babble, so let’s cut some corners.

·     How come so many of us express, that in Osteopathy, the principles are so important and then, we don’t apply them, neither in our reasoning, nor in our practice?

·     How come so many of us express, that in Osteopathy, the philosophy is so important and then, we don’t exercise it, neither in our reasoning, nor in our practice?

·     How come so many of us express, that in Osteopathy, the knowledge of nature is so important and then, we very poorly gather it and apply even less of it, neither in our reasoning, nor in our practice?

·     How come so many of us express, that in Osteopathy, ‘Holism’ is so important and then, we don’t live it, neither in our reasoning, nor or extremely poorly in our practice?

Did I miss something, or is age slowly messing with my perception and mind?

In my perception, what all these have in common, are several steps or rather fundamental attitudes, as well mentally, as physical practicalities. But as Drew so strongly suggested, in the ‘FORM’: they go inseparably together, so I won’t split them up, that trap lies wide open, but I’ll try to stroll softly around it, instead of stepping, eyes wide open into it.

The first popup, that rushes to my mind is: apparently it is extremely difficult for many of us to take a step back and observe the whole, and let it seep in, before rushing into action: thinking, concluding, doing…

My thoughts are certainly biased, as I have these last day’s been immersed deeply into these algorithms, while finishing the “Clinical examination”, of Still’s Sentinels, that so many from the Evolutionary Physiology course were nagging about since years… A positive outcome of the measures of Covid-19?

My natural essence is chaotic and thus not very structured, nor disciplined; thus, depending on the subject treated in the ‘Evolutionary physiology’ at that very moment, I add the clinical or Osteopathic consequences to it, in the moment.

For me it is a whole, so I never even consciously understood, why several of them asked me to put them all together into one separate course? I know it’s a bad excuse, but that’s how it is. Then at some point, the lightning of insight struck me as one flash. Coming back later on that one.

The first epiphany was the incredible parallels between observing the patient and being in the bush.

We have two incredibly wise and vitally potent sayings in Africa, when it comes to tracking or simply being in the bush:

!!! If you are looking for the clues, you miss all the signs !!!

And

!!! Walk softly and carry a big stick !!!

 I used these two sayings, to structure and roll out the flow for the Clinical examination course, because it felt natural, and that’s how I do it since years.

Nature and woodsman practical intelligence, back in another environment, but still so true.

 For the low context Cultures:

 “If you are looking for the clues, you miss all the signs”

 ‘Clues’ and ‘looking for’, implies that there is already an ‘idea’ or ‘formed - fixed thing-system-object’ in your mind. The consequence of that is called ‘target blindness’ or ‘restricted focalized attention’ which makes you blind for all the signs or anomalies in the ‘whole environment – picture’.

Hence, a big chance to miss all the ‘signs-anomalies’ that are there in front of you, but your mind-setting or attitude blinds them out.  Like looking into a rifle scope (tunnel vision)

For the low context Cultures:

“Walk softly and carry a big stick”

‘Walk softly’, implies don’t jump to conclusions, practically take a step back or hold back your pace and let ‘the whole picture – environment’, do its thing with your senses and brain: Be, in the moment, open for the whole. Attentive for anomalies, the things that don’t fit…the abnormal in Still’s words. “Carry a big stick”, implies be loaded with knowledge, ready for use, but let your ‘walking softly’ give the time to process and decide. Another one that’s carried within this saying is, blend in, don’t disturb the environment or scene, let it come in, as it is.

Now historically, those adages, apparently go back to the ‘Pioneers period’ in North America, and may have ‘immigrated’ to Africa with the American trackers; that were largely used by Cecil Rhodes and other ‘British Empire’ conquerors in their conquests or subjugating “Civilizing” wars, like in Rhodesia during the Matabele - Shona wars of the 1890’s.

Looping back to A.T. Still and Osteopathy

In his, Philosophy of Osteopathy of 1899, on page 121 (Chapter Diaphragm) he writes: “Without this knowledge on the part of the reader, the words of this philosophy will fall as blanks before reaching his magazine of reason. Thus, this is addressed to the independent man or woman that can, will and does reason.”

For the low context Cultures:

Still had a ‘pioneer – hunter – tracker’ past, as well as a military one during the American Civil War. And the dictionary he used was the 1828 Webster’s, thus let’s see what it meant in those days:

BLANK, adjective

1. Void; empty; consequently white; as a blank paper.

2. White or pale; as the blank moon.

3. Pale from fear or terror; hence confused; confounded; dispirited; dejected.

4. Without rhyme; as blank verse, verse in which rhyme is wanting.

5. Pure; entire; complete.

6. Not containing balls or bullets; as blank cartridges.

As in the same sentence, he continues with a “magazine of reason” I think he’s using the image of a “repetition rifle” of those day’s and the reasoning as straight as a well-aimed bullet in a shot.

(Historical sidestep: The North American Spencer repetition rifle was the first of its kind and dates from 1861, and revolutionized firearms by its use of copper cased bullets which were relatively insensitive to weather conditions and thus extremely trustworthy in the field. The original is usually better than poor copies, as the British Army revealed with their Martini–Henry ammunition at their own massacre of Isandlwana in the Zulu War dramatic beginning.)

In my mind, Still is crystal clear with his image here,

“Without this knowledge on the part of the reader, the words of this philosophy will fall as blanks before reaching his magazine of reason. Thus, this is addressed to the independent man or woman that can, will and does reason.”

So why don’t we?

Why do our “Colleges” and “Institutions” don’t teach this?

 Moreover, why don’t we pace ourselves, into the Knowledge, the Nature or physics Principles these imply, and accompany all of these with the Philosophy pertained as highest good?

I can’t get rid of the strong impression, that this

is getting turned into this, during our educations

Where is the nature? Where is the principles that shape Form? Where is the osteopathy?

All Alienated?

 Then at some point, the lightning of insight struck me.

The second impact was, most students heard of / or even studied the principles of nature – physics, but obviously don’t SEE them!

As soon as the surroundings are connected with the profession, be it through - patient -educational course – or even postgraduate course, tunnel vision or target blindness seems to jump in. Big time!

Doing a ‘test out version’ of the “Clinical Examination” with some veterans of the Evolutionary Physiology course, and realizing even most of them, did not SEE the principles at work? Left me dazzled, and exactly that provoked the lightning potential build up to strike, I guess?

Thus, I added a few slides in the presentation with exactly, the same principles at work, but in another dimension and far out of the habitual professional tunnel vision of “patient – health – anomalies on the sentinels”, and it worked!

They saw!

It is to soon at this point, to have an idea how long it will hold; but I think this may very well be the way. The one thing that reinforces my hope in this, is the adage: “Once you have really SEEN something, not just looked at – but SEEN; you can never UN-SEE it again…

So, there’s hope.

Pondering on this hopeful experience, my next work, will be to apply this systematically for all of my next postgraduate courses.

Counterintuitive, as it may sound, certainly for the principles, extracting the principle out of the habitual professional environment seems to be the key…

Oooh Bloody hell !

 Was this why Drew never listed the principles, but almost always covered them in an image -fable or story about something, apparently completely different. 

Ha ha ha, ‘Good Old Doctor’, dear Drew, you managed to astonish and surprise me again.

Why, don’t we see that what you wrote was a practical guide…?

Literally!