Introduction
This book builds a bridge which connects the concepts of the 'Stages' in the mineral kingdom with the plant kingdom.
Methodology
The concept of the mineral stages is expanded to encompass the plants. To accomplish this I clarify and redefine the stages using a popular paradigm borrowed from modern psychology - the Big Five personality Trait Inventory.
Modern science has a very strong tendency to attempt to define everything quantitatively, even that which defies such treatment by its very nature. Nevertheless the Big Five paradigm has emerged to bring quantitative order to the field of the subjective.
Its personality traits are now widely accepted by Psychologists, employers and personnel departments as a meaningful way of measuring individual potential, and many large companies include this kind of personality testing and evaluation as part of their induction programme. They are all looking for the traits that make a good employee and by and large these are the traits that society demands of any definition of tip-top mental health and well being. In this paradigm the traits that society values are conscientiousness, creativity, assertiveness and so on, and these values have shaped the modern workplace. These are the traits that enable a potential employee to go far - and or course to benefit the employer in that process.
This is a rather functional definition of health and well being, it is not representitive of the totality of any human being as a Homeopath would understand it, but it pervades our attitude to such an extent that an entire, multi-million industry of coaching and counselling has blossomed.
Application
For better of worse this pervasive paradigm of the 'well adjusted individual' is here to stay. My personal feeling is that this has crept quietly into modern Homeopathy. Dr. Scholten's model of the mineral kingdom can be viewed as a map of the variation in these personality traits which yeilds both the series and the stage. Creative individuals, for example, tend to be represented by the Silver Series, with those at the peak of their life's work occupying the enviable position of Stage 10.
This book explores the possibility of using this kind of factor (or trait) analysis to determine the stage and series of the personality traits found in the remedies derived from the plant kingdom. I have drawn upon Dr. Sankaran's work on his ten miasms to highlight how a range of personality traits can be arranged in a logical sequence, beginning with the most timid Psoric personalites and extending to the most destructive and destructive Syphilitic and Leprotic personalities.
This is no mean feat and I offer this original thesis tentatively applied to Volume One - the Monocots, whilst I continue to explore the evolutionary ladder of Botanical delights found in the Dicots, which include the Eudicots, Asterids and Rosids.
Volume Two, a study of the Eudicots has been delayed by a serious Road Traffic Accident involving a close member of my family. From this 'crash' I have learned a great deal and this will be reflected in my subsequent work. The Pheonix will rise again!
I include an account of the R.T.A. on the next blog page (see also: my written article for "The Homeopathic Informer").
