Magic
reflected the attempt to maintain a harmonious relation with the
outside world. It has not yet been decided whether it is
medicine-the reified experience of determinism applied in the
realm of individual well being-or a parent's embrace that calms
a baby's colic; or whether the psychosomatic nature of modern
disease is addressed by the technology of healthcare in our days.
What we already know is that populations were decimated once new
patterns of nourishment and hygiene were imposed on them. When
an attained balance was expelled by a foreign form of balance,
life patterns were affected. This happened not only to
populations in Asia, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, but also
in the native populations of the American continents. Medical
concepts resulting from analytic practical experiences of
self-constitution-many reified in the medicine of the
civilization of literacy-defy the variety of possible balances
and embody the suspicion that "The solution is the problem."
Literacy, when applicable, works very well, but it is not the
universal answer to humankind's increasingly complex
pragmatics. In the fortunate position of not having totally
abandoned experiences with sign systems other than language,
people have been able to change the patterns of training,
instruction, industrial production, modern farming, and
healthcare. Patterns of practical understanding of domains which
for a very long time were concealed by literacy are also
affected: pattern recognition, image manipulation, design.
Pages:
989
990
991
992
993
994
995
996
997
998
999
1000
1001
1002
1003
1004
1005
1006
1007
1008
1009
1010
1011
1012
1013