Andrew Weil, MD, is variously described on the covers of his best-selling
books as "the guru of alternative medicine," "one of the most skilled,
articulate, and important leaders in the field of health and healing," "a
pioneer in the medicine of the future," and "an extraordinary phenomenon."
INTRODUCTION
Many folk will have heard about Dr Weil, well-known guru of the alternative
and mind centred therapeutic world. Here are some extracts of an article
that analysed his ideas and impact on health beliefs in the West, written by
Arnold S. Relman, editor-in-chief emeritus of The New England Journal of
Medicine and professor emeritus of medicine and social medicine at Harvard
Medical School. The website containing the full article appears at the end
of this letter.
Like so many strongly marketed gurus in the health and fitness world, his
material offers a convincing mixture of fact, fiction, science and
speculation that can easily persuade the average person of its universal
accuracy and value. As is well known, inaccuracies and untruths are far more
readily accepted when intermingled with facts and figures and his material is
no exception to that marketing and propaganda rule.
The following website summarises some of the methods used in faulty
argumentation:
http://shell.rmi.net/~mhartwig/falla.htm
Yes, there is some useful information in Weil's publications, some very valid
criticisms of medical science and some valuable comments on the role of the
mind in healing, but the absence of corroborating evidence, his heavy
reliance on "stoned", intuitive or drug-assisted thinking above logical
analysis, his shaky understanding of quantum physics, human psychoses and
neural processing often do the world of complementary health a grave
disservice, because it the reinforces the contention by many scientists that
complementary health is primitive, unsubstantiated and emotive.
The following websites enable one to correct some of Weil's misconceptions
(and those of Deepak Chopra) about quantum physics:
http://www.phys.hawaii.edu/vjs/www/qkids.html
http://www.csicop.org/si/9701/quantum-quackery.html
Weil's beliefs that "Sickness is the manifestation of evil in the body, just
as health is the manifestation of holiness" and that psychotic patients
probably are the most advanced avatars in disguise are especially damaging to
the cause of complementary health.
Read some of Weil's material and assess its worth in the light of this
article by Dr Relman at:
http://www.thenewrepublic.com/magazines/tnr/archive/1298/121498/relman121498.h
tml
Dr Mel C Siff
Demver, USA
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EXTRACTS FROM ARTICLE
1. Health and Healing, published in 1983, was the last of Weil's
comprehensive and broadly conceived commentaries on health and disease.
Beginning in 1995, with Natural Health, Natural Medicine, he produced a
series of three "how-to" manuals on wellness and self-care, which established
his current reputation as the people's doctor and "America's most trusted
medical expert." The next was Spontaneous Healing, and the third Eight Weeks
to Optimum Health.
2. The most recent of Weil's publications is Ask Dr. Weil, a compilation of
questions and answers that have appeared on his website. To judge from the
range of questions and the confidence with which they are answered, Weil
considers himself an authority on almost every field in medicine. Like his
previous books, it includes strong, unqualified recommendations for unlikely
and totally unproven remedies . . . .
3. In addition to his books, other channels for the dissemination of Weil's
medical wisdom include audiocassettes and compact discs on such subjects as
"Eight Meditations for Optimum Health" and "Sound Body, Sound Mind: Music for
Healing with Andrew Weil, M.D." His influence is also spread through
videotapes of lectures and seminars, and appearances on television shows such
as "Larry King Live." Even when compared with the ballyhoo surrounding the
other icons of alternative medicine, the marketing success of "Andrew Weil,
M.D." is extraordinary. To understand it, one has to appreciate the
synergistic interaction between the special talents of the man and the
current momentum of the alternative medicine movement. . . .
4. Weil's writings are ambiguous about the conflict between science and
alternative medicine, as they are about many other issues in alternative
medicine. Yes, he thinks that all healing methods ought to be tested; and
yes, modern science can make useful contributions to our understanding of
health and disease. Yet the scientific method is not, for Weil, the only way,
or even the best way, to learn about nature and the human body. Many
important truths are intuitively evident and do not need scientific support,
even when they seem to contradict logic. Conventional science-based medicine
has its uses, but they are limited. Like so many of the other gurus of
alternative medicine, Weil is not bothered by logical contradictions in his
argument, or encumbered by a need to search for objective evidence.
5. According to Weil, many of his basic insights about the causes of disease
and the nature of healing come from what he calls "stoned thinking," that is,
thoughts experienced while under the influence of psychedelic agents or
during other states of "altered consciousness" induced by trances, ritual
magic, hypnosis, meditation, and the like. He cites some of the
characteristics of "stoned thinking" that give it advantages over "straight"
thinking; these include a greater reliance on "intuition" and an "acceptance
of the ambivalent nature of things," by which he means a tolerance for "the
coexistence of opposites that appear to be mutually antagonistic." In Weil's
view, intellect, logic, and inductive reasoning from observed fact are the
limited instruments of "straight" thinking, and should be subservient to
guidance by the intuitive insights that are gained during states of altered
consciousness and "stoned" thinking.
6. The extent to which Weil reveres consciousness regardless of its thought
content is revealed in the final sections of his "Stonesville" chapter. Here
he favors us with his views on psychosis, on the Jungian theory of shared
universal consciousness, and on the reality of mental telepathy, extrasensory
perception, and hallucinatory experiences. On psychosis: "Psychotics are
persons whose nonordinary experience is exceptionally strong ... every
psychotic is a potential sage or healer." With regard to the National
Institute of Mental Health's research efforts to find the physical basis of
psychosis: "If it sticks to its present course, nimh will be the last
institution in America to recognize the positive potential of psychosis--a
potential so overwhelming that I am almost tempted to call psychotics the
evolutionary vanguard of our species. They possess the secret of changing
reality by changing the mind; if they can learn to use that talent for
positive ends, there are no limits to what they can accomplish.
THE ENTIRE ARTICLE
For those who are interested, the following website provides the full article:
http://www.thenewrepublic.com/magazines/tnr/archive/1298/121498/relman121498.h
tml
At another level, here is another evaluation of Weil's ideas:
http://www.randi.org/jr/10-25-1999.html
Dr Mel C Siff
Denver, USA
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