"Drink Holy Water as often as possible. It's the best and most effective medicine. I say this not as a bishop, but as a doctor, from my experience in medicine."

- St. Luke the Doctor

What is a man? Such a simple question, but one that has been at the center of philosophical debate for ages. A man is not an easy thing to understand, we are strange creatures. In many ways we exist the same way as the animals, eating, sleeping, reproducing. In this sense we are biological beings interacting with a material world. We are made out of the Earth’s elements and when we die we return to them. And yet despite these facts, we possess some intuition that we are not mere animals.

For the most part, men have always agreed that we posses something called a spirit. That a human being is made up of parts- mind, body, and soul. However, we live in a very different age today. In the age of reason, moderns began to treat humans as purely biological beings, often without acknowledging the existence of the soul at all.

Examining the disenchantment of the world and of mankind is the overarching point of this essay series, and is too big an issue to cover all at once. So, today we will specifically look at the way the disenchantment of man has manifested in our approach to the medical industry, to healing, and has sucked away our energy in a very literal sense.

The modern medical industrial complex seems to view patients not as human beings to be healed, but like a list of symptoms to be solved, or like a list of broken mechanisms to be fixed with the proper cranking of a knobs and the pushing of a few buttons. We flaunt our scientific advancements by fixing problems (often quite impressively it must be admitted) without considering whether we are truly fixing what needs to be fixed. We may alleviate symptoms and even successfully treat diseases, but are we truly healing people?

It certainly does not appear so. In fact, our society appears profoundly sick, especially in America. Obesity, chronic disease, and mental-health disorder rates are skyrocketing. Our children are not healthy- the 2024 United States Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth indicates that only 20% to 28% of children are getting the recommended daily hour of physical activity, and more than 40% of school-aged children and adolescents had at least one chronic health condition such as asthma or obesity. It should go without saying that this is not normal.

Our doctors hand out drugs to children like candy, covering up symptoms rather than treating root issues. They prescribe mind-altering drugs to young adults to “cure” depression rather than seeking to give them a true sense of purpose. They slap a label like “chronic pain” on mystery systems rather than digging deep to determine what deeper issue is causing a person’s body to cry out in agony. They put ADHD energetic young boys on drugs to make them behave more “appropriately” in school. Vaccines are pumped into babies with hardly a second thought. Many of the elderly are taking fistfuls of pills everyday. Despite the great things modern medicine is capable of, one wonders how much this medical system is really concerned with healing.

And this same attitude pervades other fields related to the health of the human body, not just our medicine. For an example, let’s take a look down at our feet.

Either you or someone you know probably wear an orthopedic to deal with foot or knee pain. These orthopedics “work”- they lower the pain many feel while walking. But just like a pain-relieving pill, these cover up symptoms rather than really healing what is wrong with your foot in the first place. In fact, orthopedics actually stop your body from working as intended. You were designed to walk a certain way, and that requires feedback from the ground and the correct activation of the muscles in your feet. If you cannot simply walk without pain, that is a sign that something has gone wrong at a fundamental level, something that must be addressed, weaknesses that must be worked out- not covered up. An orthopedic might relieve your pain, but it does so at the expense of your body no longer needing to functional correctly, which allows your feet to weaken and atrophy.

In fact, forget the orthopedics, even our everyday shoes destroy the natural function of our feet. Your feet were never meant to be crammed into little boxes or to sit on massive cushioned soles all day. Sneakers may be comfortable, but at the expense of your feet turning into the equivalent of a chronic couch-potato. But this is just one small example in a whole world that is no longer seeking to live in the natural way that God intended. We have used technology to “fix” a perceived “problem”, but ended up ruining God’s natural design in the process.

This approach to medicine and other treatments of the body has been the status quo for quite some time, and rarely questioned. Those that dared to do so have often been labeled quacks, conspiracy theorists, or hippies.

But that is rapidly changing. In 2020 there was a meteoric rise in the open questioning of the western medical industrial complex. The response from elites and the media was swift and violent- it became obvious that a sacred cow was being attacked. Much has been said about the “pandemic”, about just how nauseatingly soulless the entire affair was. People forced into humiliation rituals like public masking, families separated, careers and educations put on hold or entirely shutdown, the widespread persecution of those who refused to go along with mandates, and so on. Most chilling of all was the hysterical loyalty of countless people to the medical regime and their mandates. It became a religion for these people, reporting on their friends, shunning their families. All in the name of science and medicine.

If 2020 taught us anything, it should not be merely that our medical complex treats us like mechanical cattle, but that much of the population is in fact just that. You are your beliefs, as many have said. If people decide to live as soulless beings and accept such inhumane, mechanical treatment… then perhaps they actually are machines. No one forced this disenchantment on people. To become a soulless husk, to lose their humanity, that is a choice people have to make for themselves at some level. Perhaps trans-humanism is something that will be accomplished in the souls of men long before it is made tangible through sci-fi technology.

The natural conclusion of an atheistic, materialistic philosophy is playing out. Human beings, after being increasingly treated as soulless animals, are now increasingly being treated as something closer to a machine. Everything about our approach to health, medicine, and living must be wrong- everyone is sick and miserable. Some of the types of disenchantment we will explore in this essay series may not appear immediately harmful. But this one is actively ruining the lives of millions of people that deserve a chance to live as a healthy, complete human being.

This is an issue where I think all that stand against the post-humanist, globalist elite class can find common ground. This is one of the core issues that the neo-right movement is currently rallying around. Everywhere we are seeing people attempt to return to some form of more natural, holistic living. It is indicative of how bad things have gotten that Make-America-Healthy-Again is such a strong rallying point.

But how can we begin to truly undo this disenchantment? Our medical industrial complex is so far beyond being just disenchanted. At this point it is anti-health, and stands in active opposition to alternative or holistic forms of medical treatment.

But what are the actual alternatives? Some readers may be wary that I am about to propose a “hippie” or “new age” philosophy that essentially argues against any form of western medicine and tells you to go heal yourself with crystals (that might work in theory, but we’ll get to that), but that is a false dichotomy. But there is another way to approach medicine and healing while still remaining scientific, one that treats man not as a machine, but as a holistic being made of “energy”.

Dr. Ray Peat was one of the leading minds in the field of metabolic science. His study centered around the study of metabolism, hormones, aging and energy. His research can be read in full in his articles and in interviews on his blog, but you could paraphrase his main views as something like this- Life is the flow of energy. Anything that blocks energy production or flow (stress) is antithetical to life. When energy fails, the foundational structure of the body fails, which allows for aging and disease.

A quote from Dr. Peat addresses the essential problem with modern medicine:

"One of the currents of medical thinking, from Hippocrates to the 19th century, was an interest in the capacity of the organism to heal itself. But 'modern' medicine has arrogated to itself the 'healing power,' with terrible results.”

At some point in the modern era, beginning probably as far back as the Middle Ages, we began to disenchant our view of the human body and of healing, and we started trying to play God. By doing this, we lost our focus on the human’s innate ability to heal itself as a living, energetic being.

Ray Peat is just one name in what could broadly be called the field of “bioenergetics”. This sphere of thought integrates elements of traditional medicine, spirituality, quantum physics, and philosophy to understand human beings as complex energetic systems. Systems where the mind, body, and spirit are fundamentally interlinked and must be treated as a whole.

Innovator Nikola Tesla is often quoted saying, "If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration." This energetic trail of thinking would lead us to conclude that the human being, like the cosmos itself, is primarily animated by this “energy”. What does this mean for our health?

We already know that the human body “heals” itself in everyday ways, like closing up a cut, or fighting off a sickness. But what if our entire approach to healing focused not on our ability to heal a patient from the outside, but on aiding that patient in healing themselves.

We know the human body can conduct energy (we are mostly water after all), and the health of our cells is essentially determined by how much energy, specifically ATP they can produce. We know that we are influenced by magnetism, electricity, sunlight, the cycles of the moon, and so many other things. These things all affect us deeply. You probably remember how different you felt on your last vacation to the beach as opposed to a typical week in the office. You probably remember times in your life where you felt your energy bursting at the seams, and times you felt unable to get yourself out of bed. You are not a machine, you are a living being, and every single thing in your life, down to the smallest detail, has a great effect on you.

The mechanical, soulless nature of the modern world must be having just as great an effect on you, but in the worst way. A society for machines is not one that will allow for energetic human flourishing. The people of the modern world are the opposite of high-energy, we are slow, lethargic, sick and dying. Drugs, obesity, sedentary lifestyles, lack of community- everything about our civilization sucks our energy away. Is it any wonder that living beings, put under such conditions, would begin to sicken and decay? We have been treated like machines, and in time we became like them. Maybe still performing our assigned roles, but lifeless, depressed, and empty.

A bioenergetic line of thinking would suggest that it is the proper flowing of energy that creates “good health”, and blocked or insufficient energy is what leads to aging, sickness, disease, and ultimately death. More specific diagnosis can still be made of course, but they would be considered to be downstream from a blockage or shortage of energy.

For followers of Ray Peat, their primary goal when seeking good health is to increase their energy, measured by increasing metabolism (often tracked by measuring body temperature). A high metabolism, positive emotions, and a healthy hormonal profile are the true markers of health to be sought after. It is often said in that sphere that the ultimate goal of a human being is to live in a state of “childlike wonder”.

If this all sounds a little bit out-there, stay patient. This idea is not nearly as odd as it might initially seem to someone who has grown up with a materialistic, western, disenchanted view of the human body. This view of health is not a modern theory or something invented by the “new age” movement. Thinkers like Tesla, along with Dr. Ray Peat and others in the sphere of bioenergetics are not preaching a “new” philosophy of healing and the human body in opposition to the modern western philosophy, they are just the modern bearers of an ancient torch.

This idea of life being essentially a flow of energy was universal in the ancient world. This notion of “life force” is know by many names across different cultures. Chi, Vril, Prana, Dragon-Energy, etc. All living things are connected by this flow of energy. This is not a “New Age” idea. It is an ancient idea to be sure, but it is a Christian one as well.

In Christianity it is believed that God the Father is the “prime mover”, the origin of all things and that the Holy Ghost is everywhere, flowing and moving within everything.

That is the universal ancient way of thinking- that the world is primarily made of God’s divine energy, and that in order to live rightly and healthily us men must live in “tune” with that energy. It is only our modern, disenchanted worldview that has turned away from this belief. And in doing so, not only did we ruin our physical and mental health, we ruined the health of our souls as well.

To break our disenchantment, we must remember what we are- the imago Dei, creatures made in the image of God. Creatures made of a body, mind, and spirit. And in doing this, we must return to a way of living that affirm this view. Only then can we begin the work of re-enchanting the spheres of medicine and healing.

So, how can we do this?

Firstly, we should seek out alternative forms of medicine and healing that treat patients as holistic human beings and acknowledge bioenergetic principles.

Find doctors and naturopaths near you that will advise you in holistic health practices. Look for solutions to your health issues that focus on healing root sicknesses and inflammation rather than using drugs to mask symptoms. Get your bloodwork done and find out if your hormones are functioning as they should be. Avoid toxins, plastics, processed foods, harmful chemicals, excessive blue light, etc. Seek to live in a way that will increase your energy- exercise, get away from the screens, spend time outdoors, pursue things you are passionate, and above all, love the people around you. Do everything you can to break free from the ways that modern life is forcing you to live as a machine, stealing you energy away day by day. Become a biologically “energetic” being and good health will follow.

Luckily, there is a growing trend in support of a more natural, holistic lifestyle. It is even beginning to go mainstream. Alternative brands are launching in just about any field you can think of, offering alternatives to modern products and services that promote the real health of human beings. Avoiding seed oils is becoming a mainstream health concern and eating “primal” diets and raw foods has become something of a meme. There’s plenty of silliness mixed in with the good stuff, but Gen Z may be becoming the most health conscious generation in decades.

As a side note, a bioenergetic way of thinking does suggest that there may be merit to more wacky and “esoteric” forms of medicine. Sound healing, crystals, vibrations, etc. Some Christian readers may be worried that these things are “occult”, but there is a distinction between “New Age” spirituality and a physical healing method that seems “mystic” or strange. The world is a strange place, and certain things that seem like magic may just be science we do not comprehend. The idea of all of these odd healing methods is centered around energy and frequency- and while I can’t say much about them with any certainty, it is entirely possible that they have a place in a re-enchanted health sphere.

But above all, the most important thing we can do for our physical health is to return to a primarily spiritual philosophy of healing, which is the philosophy of the ancient (and modern) Church. The mind, body, and soul work together to make a human being, but it is our soul that holds the highest value and will most define who we are. Even if one were to follow the principles of the bioenergetics sphere to heal their body, it would be fruitless in the end if the health of the soul were neglected. A man with a sick soul is a sick man no matter the state of his physical body- and often, a sick body will follow after a sickened soul.

Aging, sickness, and disease may well be the result of “blocked energy”- but a more Patristic interpretation may be that this “blocked energy” is the result of spiritual sickness- the result of sin. When the soul is sickened, the body is also sickened. This is told to us at the very beginning of Scripture. First man sinned, and in falling, became subject to Death.

Spiritual medicine is the best medicine, even for the body. I began this essay with this quote from St. Luke the Doctor:

“Drink Holy Water, the more often, the better. It is the best and most effective medicine. I'm not saying this as a priest, I'm saying it as a doctor, from my medical experience”.

This is a hard saying for a modern person to come to terms with. Are we ready to embrace such a fully re-enchanted view of healing, of the spiritual nature of reality? Are we really ready to live this way?

Of course, nothing in this essay is saying we should abandon all science or all modern medicine. Modern medicine has done wonderful things for the world and has many uses. To deal with many diseases and injuries you may require the intervention of modern western medical practices. Our goal can not be to regress to a state of primitivism. Our goal must be to create a culture that once again treats men like holistic, spiritual beings. In such a culture, all methods of medicine, even modern western methods, could find a proper place, one oriented towards the higher goals of healing.

I will conclude with these words from Saint Porphyrios the Kapsokalyvite. They reveal the true path to physical health through the healing of the soul:

“It’s nice to walk, work, move and have health. But first you need to have internal health, health in your soul. This is the basis, physical health follows. Almost all illnesses come from a lack of trust in God and this creates anxiety and stress.”

“If you want to enjoy good health and live for many years, then listen to what Solomon the Wise has to say: Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the counsel of saints is understanding; for to know the law is the mark of a sound mind, for in this way you will live long and years of your life will be added to you.’ [21] This is the secret: for us to acquire this wisdom, this knowledge, and then everything functions smoothly, all things are put in order and we will live with joy and health.”

- Excerpts from Wounded By Love