There are at least two definitions of vitalism. I define it as a deep trust in nature’s and your body’s innate wisdom to create and maintain life. If this were a new concept for me, I might question why it is so important.
Consider momentarily the miracle of human development and birth.
Within the mother, the ova makes a connection with the semen. From there, a great development takes place. In a predictable timeline and fashion, all of the organ systems develop:
Lungs that bring oxygen into the body, and remove carbon and cellular waste;
A heart with four chambers that pump continuously throughout all of life, and that sends a near-constant supply of oxygen and vital nutrients to the various cells and tissues of the body, and returns waste products to the lungs, urinary system, and lymphatic system;
The brain is by far the most complex human development. Starting with the notochord in week 3 of embryonic life, the neural tube develops. During the next 5 weeks, the core structures for the unparalleled adult brain will have developed.
The creation of life is truthfully a miracle. Its development is predictable, precise, very complex, and highly sustainable.
Now consider the grandeur of maintaining human life:
The heart is an amazing muscle that pumps all day, everyday, for all of life. It changes speed and intensity based upon current needs and conditions.
Complex channels exist that allow precise activation of neural and muscular tissues, while also removing and balancing chemical, pressure, and pH gradients. This is necessary for maintenance of life.
A muscle is able to willfully create inverted pressure within the chest cavity which causes air from the external environment to move into the lungs.
A multitude of tight balances are maintained automatically to ensure your muscles have enough power, and that your body can function correctly.
All of your skeletal muscles work in concert to allow your 206 bones to defy gravity and to move you at will.
These life-sustaining forces occur automatically and without requiring any forethought. The wisdom, complexity, and grandeur of life itself is indisputable.
There is a common saying: “The wisdom that made the body is the wisdom that heals the body”.
Think about it, a force that is able to develop an ova and sperm into a fully-functional human baby! A force that is able to make life fully sustainable and fully reproducible. Wouldn’t a force like this be intelligent enough to also heal and repair itself?
In general, we know this is true for cuts, bruises, and broken bones. My vitalistic assertion is that your body can do so much more than that. It is perfectly capable of providing for you optimum health, vibrance, and vitality. Not only that, but in every case possible, the wisdom of your body will attempt to give you the best of what is available.
So when we find ourselves in a position of dis-ease, the question therefore becomes: “What prevented my body from achieving its goal to keep me healthy, happy, and vibrant?”
If we can find the answers to that question, then we can support the best of life that your body will give you, as long as you don’t get in the way of your own mechanism for health.
I have deep and abiding confidence in my body to repair and restore, to rebuild and recover. This confidence guides many of the decisions that I make. My confidence that everyone else has similar intelligence within guides many of the recommendations that I give.
Genetic conditions
When introduced to this philosophy, a lot of people ask, what about genetic conditions and autonomic disorders? If the human body were so highly intelligent, wouldn’t it be able to create a healthy baby every time? Wouldn’t it be able to prevent itself from attacking itself?
These are fair questions, but the fact that there are sometimes genetic mutations, birth defects, and autonomic disorders does not undermine the truth that creation of life requires a degree of intelligence that extends
