I’ll just kick this off with this, I am a huge Eastern Medicine advocate but at the same time, I hate the notion that the absence of proof proves something. I know that might come off as contradicting, but hear me out on this. Lipton discusses the need to evolve science from spiritual explanations to more objectivity, but at the same time, he is now advocating for accepting that which we do not understand as true as well. 

The central premise is that there are inherent gaps with Western Medicine that cannot be explained or solved. I would absolutely agree. This is a bias that I think we as strength coaches have. It gives control back to the proactive practitioners over the reactive practitioners such as Doctors. 

Westernized medicine is based on forming a prognosis based on a cluster of symptoms. This works well for acute illness, but comes up short for chronic illness. The reality is that it can be considered convenient logic to say that chronic illness is best treated with preventative approaches considering that is our job. I do genuinely believe that notion, but I struggle with this idea that this could be more validating for strength coaches. I am also partial because I find there is a whole charlatan-like behavior with holistic practitioners claiming miraculous things. I don’t want to fall into that camp. 

But Lipton does a really good, and thorough, job of rationalizing the gaps while showing how a more traditional approach of Eastern medicine can be beneficial. What I especially enjoyed was the logic that the Darwin based approach to science and medicine gives the impression of genetic destiny being incorrect or possibly incomplete. We now know the epigenetic component is more valuable to forming the function of a cell – nature vs nurture, nurture wins. Preordained genetic code relevance to outcomes of health and disease has limited impact compared to the environment we place those genes within.

But it is still hard to rationalize the idea that unaccounted phenomena are proof that Westernized medicine is not effective with chronic illness. It is the tree falling in the forest rationale; it just lacks conviction of proof. There are a handful of resources that are diving into more non pharmaceutical approaches such as light treatment, vibration treatment, energy based therapies such as acupuncture, and touting them all as beneficial. Which is good. Peer reviewed literature is stating these are positive. But the idea that there are unaccounted for particles within quantum physics as evidence that we cannot approach science with pure objectivity and what we only know does not seem fair. This is my issue in general. We are making progress with alternative forms of treatment and their efficacy, and that loses traction with the inclusion of mysticism. Quantum physics feels like a misdirect based rationale to not argue unexplainable things. Who could possibly argue quarks and gluons not acting the same regular mass in a gravity based environment and its relevance to simply believing is the answer? 

The criticism that science in general was a paradigm shift from spiritual based explanations of the universe was paramount for modernization. To turn around and say the pendulum has swung too far seems hard to process. It just feels inconsistent. In fairness Lipton did a great job of going through the research and giving a ton of credence behind scientific exploration and how he came to this conclusion of belief being the most important impact on physiology and biology. 

It’s a good book. Not taking that away from Lipton. I just struggle with mysticism and things we cannot fully understand being the answer. Just feels too close to the anti-science aspect of the world that I feel is more dangerous than helpful. Anti evolutionist or flat earthers I assume would really resonate with this. It fights logic and reason with agenda and fear. The advocates are limited in their understanding of anything but spout their ideas off as gospel, which is hard to get behind.