Let’s get started.  Today’s conversation deals with the term: Survival Value.  First coined in 1915 by philosopher Elbert Hubbard, What is Survival Value?  

Survival Value is one of the key tenets of Chiropractic Philosophy and it is based on universal laws.  Because it is based on universal laws, it is applicable to every woman, man & child, period.  

The late Dr. Barge sums it up best in his book A Life Without Fear.  “Survival Value is the unit element of evolution”.  It can be thought of as a unit of successful adaptation.  

This is so important since the underlying cause of virtually all disease ultimately comes down to an inability of the body to properly adapt to a change in the environment, some sort of threat or challenge.  For example, In most cases of sickness, the body does not adapt appropriately with a sufficient immune response to eliminate bacterial, fungal, or viral pathogens.   Most chronic diseases now appear to result from the body not properly adapting to either deficiencies, allergens, toxin exposures, excessive stress, infective agents or structural imbalances & chronic injury that result in excessive amounts of inflammation.  

Therefore, the more one is able to adapt properly, or in other words, the more units of Survival Value one has, the greater potential they have for optimal health and optimal healing!  

Survival Value can be positive, which is considered constructive in nature.  Survival Value can also be negative, which is considered destructive in value.  

Dr. BJ Palmer sums up this concept nicely in his book Evolution or Revolution, “Accumulative constructive survival value and accumulative destructive survival value meaning that what uses a person makes of his time – thinking, saying, and doing – are accumulative, day after day, year after year; and as they accumulate they are either CONSTRUCTIVE for welfare of man, or DESTRUCTIVE, injuring people with whom he commingled. Elbert Hubbard’s life had an ACCUMULATIVE CONSTRUCTIVE SURVIVAL VALUE. Hitler’s life was that of ACCUMULATIVE DESTRUCTIVE SURVIVAL VALUE”

How does this tie in with an individual’s health and healing?  Here’s how: Every single person is born with two minds, really.  Most of us are well aware of the modern terminology, that being our conscious mind and our subconscious mind.  Those terms, although modern, are really not the best terms to use.  Better terms are as follows.  Instead of having two minds, we really have two sources of intelligence.  The conscious mind is better described as our educated intelligence.  Our educated intelligence develops when we learn to walk, learn to talk and when we go off to school we begin to learn educated facts and our educated intelligence expands. 

Now the subconscious mind, sub meaning below, is an inappropriate term, as that mind is better described as our innate intelligence.  Our innate intelligence is actually far above and beyond our educated intelligence.  It is the innate intelligence that knew how to grow an entire human being from a single cell!  It is the innate intelligence that monitors, controls and regulates every one of our 70 trillion cells, tissues, glands & organs and is working 24 hrs per day for 365 days per year, never taking even a second off, ever!  Think about every cut, bruise, scrape or even broken bone you have ever had.  It was your innate intelligence that governed the repair and regeneration of tissue for each and every one of those injuries.  Even if you needed a skilled surgeon to surgically fixate the broken pieces of bone,