Why Pathways? Why Pathways Connect?
The Purpose of Pathways:
Get the Idea...All Else Follows
Pathways magazine started as a resource for practitioners to have in their reception area providing their practice members with pertinent information to make informed health care choices for their family. The vitalistic family wellness lifestyle is the core premise of the magazine. All of the articles in Pathways, although not exclusively about vitalism itself, are from this vitalistic perspective.
To understand vitalism, we return to the chiropractic major premise: “A universal intelligence is in all matter and continually gives to it all its properties and actions, thus maintaining it in existence.” What we see is a premise greater than just any one profession; it is a major underlying premise of humanity, a point of reference from which we can make all of our decisions. In other words, in the context of physical, emotional, social and spiritual health and well-being, the chiropractic major premise is a vitalistic principle in opposition to the reductionist, mechanistic model we are most familiar with in the western world.
Mechanism defines life as a random series of events, devoid of an organized and intelligent purpose. According to this theory, sickness is to be treated, symptoms are to be eliminated, and the body and mind needs an outside “expert.”
Vitalism, as a philosophy that recognizes, respects, and trusts in the intelligence of life and the implicate order (interconnectedness) of this wisdom within all creation. In living matter, vitalists trust the processes of the body, mind and spirit, and maintain an underlying confidence in healing and proper function.
Pathways, therefore, brings together articles and resources that are aligned with the vitalistic principles. The common thread throughout each article is an implicate order, a connectivity of the content of the articles back to the vitalistic paradigm.
It is also important for us as practitioners to share the principles of vitalism with our offices and be able to help others discern between the vitalistic and mechanistic paradigm. With our help, our practice members will be empowered to make their own life and health choices from this major premise.
The purpose therefore, of Pathways, is to offer opportunities and discoveries, encouraging your practice members to consciously examine their own family wellness lifestyle choices wearing the vitalistic lens, and potentially make their own paradigm shift.
Shifting to this paradigm is sometimes challenging, especially since the majority of the healthcare industry, news media, laws, regulations and yes, even our own families are embedded in the fear-based mechanistic model. It is hard to go against the grain, and we are often met with resistance, opposition, and outright criticism, based in fear and even intimidation.
That paralyzing emotion – fear – then becomes the motivating factor for decisions. But fear is too volatile an emotion from which to make any good choices. I am reminded of the quote from Bertrand Russell: “Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.” This herd instinct has been the basis for allopathic care in the Western world. This is also the ingrained mindset for most of the people who show up in our practices. It is therefore up to us to lead them from the herd mentality of “sheeple” to people. It is our highest service to escort them from fear to freedom.
The Purpose of Pathways Connect: “There is No Idea Bigger than This”
The vision of Pathways Connect was to take this experience a level deeper. Using Pathways magazine as a reliable source for vitalism, the Pathways Gathering Groups are your opportunity to bring together those practice members who want to go deeper on this path of discovery.
Using Deductive Reasoning:
Essential to the success of this process is to define the major premise - the Big Idea, the vitalistic perspective - and to offer this lens as their path of discovery. To further allow the group to organically flow and prosper, we exemplify deductive reasoning as a logical, intuitive and colorful way to facilitate their process of discovery.
In other words, using the “Big Idea”, the chiropractic major premise becomes the foundation of our group discussions, motivating individuals to apply deductive reasoning toward our own conclusions. For example, in regards to vaccination –one may deduce that there is universal intelligence and implicit order, and things are not random and by chance. By weighing the chemical risks and the adversity to our immune system that vaccinations bring, we can trust our body’s ability to handle any micro-organism. Someone else, on the other hand, may deduce that if there is this intelligence, it has acted through the intelligence of man, leading to the discovery of vaccines. Regardless of our personal deduction here, it is important that we allow each individual in our group the freedom to deduce and come to a place where they make a decision not from fear, but from ease within themselves. To force our own opinion, and not respect their own ability to find their own way, is counterintuitive to the tenets of vitalism itself.
Referring to the Major Premise as the Common Point:
Disagreement with someone else’s deduction is irrelevant. Instead, we acknowledge the right of all people in the group to deduce according to their own ability without judgment. The atmosphere in the group must be one of trust, respect and honor for the presence of that intelligence in each of them. We have established that we are all in agreement with the major premise. That is our “return to” place for connection and support.
This is the true expression of the vitalistic philosophy termed by chiropractors as “Above- Down, Inside-Out. “ Look at it this way – if, as a chiropractor, you make an adjustment to free up the intelligence in a body with, let’s say, an ear infection, and the ear infection does not go away, do you argue with the innate intelligence of that body? Of course not. You step back to your major premise of the adjustment, which is freeing the interference of innate intelligence and therefore allow the body to express that intelligence. After the adjustment, you respect that the intelligence knows what it is doing in thissituation. Let’s say you are a birth provider. If a woman’s labor stalls, do you stamp your feet in impatience at the wisdom within this woman? Of course not. You know that this wisdom has a valid reason and you patiently allow the process to unfold. This of course, is applicable towards any holistic care offered.
That same respect we have for the intelligence within the person in our care is the same respect we need to have for the intelligence within all Pathways Connect participants. We must trust the ability of each person to draw their own conclusions from the major premise. Our only concern is that deducing does not create fear. Fear is a barometer showing that we are not at ease. Fear is the state of defense and, as our colleague and biological vitalist Bruce Lipton says, you cannot be in a state of fear and growth at the same time.
Pathways Groups embody cooperation, collaboration, and connection. There is no competition to be right. We are not warriors fighting for others to accept our own deductions; we are all heroes on our path of self- discovery.
Shifting from Warrior to Hero:
On our path of paradigm shifting from mechanicity to vitalism, there is a bit of warrior within each of us. We may have come up against adversarial family members, friends, health practitioners, educational systems, or governments on our path of self-discovery and as we incorporate our new beliefs into our lives. As chiropractors and holistic practitioners, our history has been wrought with these challenges. Many of the PC parents have been through similar battles as well. For survival, some have developed a defensive warrior mentality. Hearing their stories, we can usually say, “Rightly so!”
However, the warrior mentality is not productive in the shift from mechanism to vitalism, because its very essence is fear-based. Although it is misunderstood by most, the very power of the warrior is based in fear. And fear begets fear. It does not honor the vitalistic paradigm. It is not a state of being for growth. What we are faced with then, is transforming the warrior persona into the hero. We do this by honoring the quest—the principle they are striving for –not the fight.
A warrior is a person engaged or experienced in warfare; a person engaged in some struggle or conflict.
A warrior is someone who is trained to fight. They are usually selected, willingly or not, to develop skills to fight, to resist, or to engage in struggle or conflict. They are instructed to take up the sword. They are trained to take the fear they inevitably face and turn it around into fear-based power towards their opponent. Therefore, they are using the very same tactic to fight their battle as opposed to rising above the fear and transcending the interaction. An important thing to note here is that, at best, a warrior, blinded by their righteousness, will only carry out what they have been told is true. They are willing to kill for it, to destroy, to use fear and manipulation— all tactics which are counterproductive to the vitalistic paradigm. Warriors are “resisting evil.” The resistance itself creates engagement into the very thing one is trying to resist.
A hero is a person admired for their achievements and noble qualities; one who shows great courage.
Unlike the warrior, a hero is someone who has not usually chosen this path. There is no formal training process. Rather, they are compelled from within to carry forth a truth, a torch of illumination for humanity. In focusing on this ideal and in the process of claiming this principle, heroes face their fears. They become empowered by this interaction. Rather than utilize fear as their own means of power, heroes learn that fear is disempowering, and that it turns their attention away from their guidance within. Instead, they gain their courage by focusing on the essence of principle, the mission towards truth, rather than the fight. They do not give over their strength to division. Instead, their focus remains on the truth they seek to embody. We, on this path of discovery, are heroes. With integrity, we seek our truth. The word integrity means being in a state of completeness, no division, no duality. This is leadership from Above-Down, Inside-Out.
In our PC groups, we are striving to recognize the hero in all of us. These heroes include the practitioner who has strived for years to embody the vitalistic principles in practice; the mother who turns from her family’s fear-based astonishment and chooses to stay home for birth; the parents who are holding their own by not vaccinating in spite of their pediatricians refusal to support them; and the parents new to this paradigm who are facing their own personal fears and who need our support, respect and acceptance for their place on this paradigm shifting path.
So yes, Pathways is more than a magazine, it’s a movement. And Pathways Connect Gathering Groups are more than a turn-key practice builder; they unite heroes. It is now, more than ever, that we need each other.
I leave you with an old Hopi lesson:
You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour.
And there are things to be considered:
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your Truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.
There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore.
They will feel they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river,
keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
See who is in there with you and celebrate!
At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves.
For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves!
Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we've been waiting for.
Articles that offer the vitalistic perspective relevant to your Pathways Connect Gathering Groups: