ND Standish on Bastyr's "Core Radical Philosophy" (2012)

here, I quote from a current Bastyr University web page which equates naturopathy's coded vitalistic-spiritistic superstitious and epistemically conflating explanation of physiology and anatomy with theism [see 001., below]:

*now, I've said this before, that I'm all for freedom of belief.  But, because Bastyr claims its contents are "science-based", I think it is quite abusive to then inject theism into that categorization, and engage in commerce.

001. Standish, L.J. (ND Bastyr 1991) states in "Finding a Teaching Tool in Alex Grey's Sacred Art" (archived in 2012): 

"Professor Leanna Standish uses provocative psychedelic paintings to challenge how students understand the body [...]";

 is it me, or is naturopathy getting weirder and weirder as that initial early 1990s wave of ND graduates enter their later decades of life?  HOW does rather cool, I must admit, art that is IMAGINARY help with understanding anatomy and physiology which is reality?  Science is based upon what is OBSERVED, not what is creatively imagined and then painted.  This is, again, as I've noted so often, an example of naturopathy's knack for taking that which is not science and posing it as epistemically scientific.  And, of course, I wonder if they, NDs, 'do drugs'. 

 

"but what exactly is a body? A collection of molecules? An assemblage of organs and tissue wrapped in skin? A sacred, mysterious pulsating energy? [...]";

as we travel from science to religion improperly using scientific terminology...

"all of these and more, says Leanna Standish, PhD, ND, LAc, FABNO, a professor in Bastyr's School of Naturopathic Medicine. Part of her job is helping students understand the multiple dimensions of the body [...] it's all true [...] ";

really.   All of that is TRUE.  And how does she know?

"the paintings help her classes explore an important concept: vis medicatrix naturae, Latin for the body's natural ability to heal.  'The vis is the core radical philosophy of Bastyr University,' Dr. Standish says. 'But where is it? Does it come from the minerals that make up the body? Or the elements? Or does it come from the organs smoothly functioning together? Or does it come from a higher dimension, like God?' [...]";

yes, sounds like coded vitalism to me, VMN-BNAH.  Why is it "radical"? The body's ability to heal is rather mundane.  Is there something she is not telling us and KNOWS?  Is their a subtext that is not being shared transparently?   Yes.  How does HEALING become radical?  Well, first, you have to HIDE what you really mean with subterfuge / coding.  And I can point you to that which is BENEATH that coding: the core radical philosophy of vitalism-spiritism.  In "We Are All in this Together - A Student Reports from Revival" (archived in 2014), we're told: "the vis, or the vis medicatrix naturae, is the healing power of nature, the core philosophy of naturopathic medicine [...]  our vis is our vital force. It is the energy we all possess that connects us all. It is our spirit, our empathy, our love, our passion, our joy."

002. so what's so radical?

my take is that ND Standish knows that what 'Bastyr and naturopathy incorporated' is doing is calling any kind of personal belief (vitalism, spiritism, theism and kind) "science", and it is as FALSE as it is radical.

Note: by the way, ND Standish's bio. link above states she is also "interested in the scientific validation of homeopathic principles."   That's oddly future-tense, for someone of a supposed profession that claims homeopathy is ALREADY scientific.  That's quite a tall order: to scientifically support that which is hugely and profoundly science-ejected.