The radio programme I made this week for Another Way on Dublin South FM is an interview with Sarah Jackson who is a member of the Society of Friends also known as Quakers. I edit these programmes myself which can take quite a long time depending on how erratic the actual interview is. I learn a lot that way – listening over and over again as I edit. It has been really interesting but this week it was a pleasure, there is something about Sarah's lovely voice which I found very calming. Dublin South FM are running the programme today, 25^th August, without an add break so that anyone listening can get a whole half hour of calm.


I wanted to talk to Sarah because some of the complimentary therapists I have interviewed, all people who deal with the whole picture of health when treating someone, mentioned spirituality as an important part of the whole person. This has got me thinking – what, exactly is a spiritual illness?


An important aspect of treating an individual patient is understanding where is the centre of the case in that person. If someone has stubbed their toe or caught a flu germ these are both external physical causes and could be treated with homoeopathy by matching the physical symptoms that ensue from the physical cause. But look a little deeper and there is possibly more to see; perhaps the person with the stubbed toe wasn't looking where they were going – perhaps they were not concentrating and the lack of mental concentration is actually the cause of the stubbed toe? In that case I must treat the bruising of the toe AND the lack of mental concentration if I am to see a good result and a person who is able to protect his toes in the future. What about the flu germ? Not everyone who meets a flu germ is able to catch it but perhaps my hypothetical patient has been having trouble sleeping because of grief or anxiety – if someone has been worn down by his emotions to the point where he is vulnerable to catching the flu then, when I treat him, I have to treat the emotional cause as well as the physical cause if I am to get a good result.


So what is a spiritual cause? I think, perhaps, loneliness. I am interested in other suggestions? I was interested to speak to Sarah because my radio programme looks at other ways of doing things and the Quakers certainly do things differently, but nearly the whole way through the programme Sarah talks about communication, connection, listening and hearing and it strikes me that it is the spiritual part of us that does this work, making us part of the whole, keeping us connected to our fellow man, holding us in the community or connecting us to nature or even to the beauty in man made things which is, after all, an expression of the creative in man.


I enjoyed making this programme, I hope you enjoy listening to it. www.homeopathydublinsouth.ie