Majid Ali – Principles and Practices of Integrative Medicine Volume 1 – Nature’s Preoccupation With Complementarity and Contrariety 2ed (2005)

Volume 1 – The Principles and Practice of Integrative Medicine Majid Ali, M.D.There are no controversies in clinical medicine, only levels of learning, understanding, and enlightenmentIn this first volume of The Principles and Practice of Integrative Medicine, I present and discuss at length five aspects of human biology. First, oxygen is the organizing influence of human biology and governs the aging process. It is also a molecular Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde par excellence—ushering life with one sleight of hand and terminating it with another. Second, human biology is an enormous web of webs—a vast and intricate network of energetic-molecular pathways. Everything in that web is connected to everything else. Third, the webs of human biology form a panoramic kaleidoscope. A singular change within that kaleidoscope causes everything to change. Fourth, spontaneity of oxidation in nature—sustained by oxygen above all else—provides the primary metabolic drive for all human life processes. It also assures that no oxygen-utilizing life form lives forever. Fifth, persistent and progressive oxidosis sets the stage for dysoxygenosis—a state of dysfunctional cellular oxygen metabolism resulting from an impaired function of enzymatic pathways involved with oxygen utilization. All clinical work of a practitioner of integrative medicine—in my view—should be based on a clear understanding of those five energetic-molecular aspects of human biology.Two other issues in clinical medicine are of transcendent importance: (1) the spiritual serenity that is essential for long-term good health; and (2) chronic anger and sadness that fan the fires of oxidosis and dysoxygenosis. The so-called mind-body-trio is an artifact of thinking. Preoccupation with that trio, in reality, is an expression of our inability to sense, feel, and know the wholeness of the human condition. I have never seen anyone dissect a human and delineate where the body ends and the mind begins or where the mind ends and the spiritual begins. I address the issues of spiritual serenity and chronic anger as well as present the philosophic principles of integrative medicine in the second volume of this textbook.Nature’s preoccupation with complementarity and contrariety has created an enormous range of structural plasticity and multifunctionality of molecules….as always a big appreciation goes to trance33 for doing all the amazing OCRs.