Rethinking Anatomy
is essential to healing
ana-tomy : "to cut up"
to cleave
to see and create divisions
Anatomy is our vision of the human being. Its portrayal changes as our understanding changes.
"In Hua Shou, we miss the muscular detail of the Vesalian man;... Muscularity was a peculiarly Western preoccupation. On the other hand, the tracts and points of acupuncture entirely escaped the West’s anatomical vision of reality."
Shigehisa Kuriyama
Professor of Cultural History, Harvard University
Anatomy reflects our vision.
We see what we have been trained to see.
How do we see ourselves?
As a thing, a body?
...or as a living being?
There is more to what we are
than physical parts,
which means,
there is more to our anatomy than physical organs.
Human body anatomy is a subset of human being anatomy, yet we conflate the two.
human body
-
organs, cells, atoms, particles
human being
-
organs, cells, atoms, particles
+
-
perceptions
-
thoughts
-
feelings
-
memories
-
relationships
-
desires
-
dreams
-
identity
-
energy
-
self-awareness
-
consciousness
"Anatomy of course does not change, but our understanding of anatomy and its clinical significance does change...
This therefore required much updating of many of the older pictures… to make them more pertinent to today’s ever expanding scope of medical and surgical practice."
Frank Netter, MD
Surgeon, Medical Illustrator
Many people in the healthcare system are buried under a mountain of pills and chronic diseases,
yet,
some others are healing from these very same diseases. Why?
We are seeing and modeling people incompletely, so we are diagnosing and treating incompletely.
Healthcare's vision of human anatomy is outdated and incomplete.
It leaves out crucial aspects of who we are.
A complete model of human anatomy...
-
draws on scientific and philosophical knowledge from all cultures.
-
recognizes the importance of the mind.
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reflects an updated, comprehensive understanding of matter as energy and information.
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values and represents sentience and consciousness as irreducible aspects of being human.
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represents the full scope and potential of being human.
We can see ourselves completely as a composite of many layers, or many bodies. Each body contributes something unique and essential to healing.
1. You, as physical parts.
(chemistry, physics, objectivity)
2. You, as the mind.
(psychology, subjectivity)
3. You, as energy.
(Yoga, Ayurveda, TCM, integrative medicine)
4. You, as information.
(philosophy, physics, information technology)
5. You, as awareness, sentience, consciousness.
(philosophy, spirituality)
Recognizing all layers/bodies of your constitution and keeping them in balance is the key to healing.
The Five Bodies
A complete model of human anatomy.
A complete approach to healing, diagnosis, and treatment, and cure.
