deflected current

Deflected Current in Homeopathy: Organon Perspective

Understanding “Deflected Current”

The concept of “Deflected Current” originates from Dr. Herbert A. Roberts’ chapter in his seminal work “The Principles and Art of Cure by Homœopathy”. Roberts employs a powerful optical metaphor to explain why homeopathic treatment sometimes fails to produce the expected curative response .

The Light Wave Analogy

Roberts explains that light waves travel in a certain direction until they encounter an obstacle, at which point they are deflected at an angle proportionate to the angle of interference. Similarly, when a homoeopathic remedy is correctly selected (simillimum), it initiates a “current of cure” flowing toward health. However, when obstacles intervene, this current gets deflected—meaning the remedy’s therapeutic action is interrupted, hindered, or diverted from its natural curative path .

Just as optics provides instruments of precision to measure and correct light wave deflections, Roberts notes that homoeopathy unfortunately lacks such precise measuring tools for the obstacles affecting cure. This explains why uniformly satisfactory results are not always achieved, even with seemingly correct prescriptions .

The Central Question

Roberts frames the fundamental problem: “Why doesn’t the seemingly indicated remedy always work?” The answer lies in recognizing that the homoeopathic system of medicine is “not at fault” when cure is deflected—rather, external or internal obstacles interfere with the natural healing process .

Obstacles to Cure: Comprehensive Classification

According to Roberts, obstacles to cure emanate from three primary sources :

A. Obstacles from the Patient’s Side

– Pathological Conditions: Advanced disease stages that become incurable; over-exposure to X-ray or radium treatment that destroys normal tissue; Roberts, Ch.34
– Mechanical Obstruction: Foreign bodies causing reflex symptoms; persistent conditions from ear/nose objects; Roberts, Ch.34
– Psychic Trauma & Emotional Stress: Anxiety, fear, grief, constant stress divert remedy action; Hahnemann emphasized (Organon)
– Domestic Conditions: Unhappy domestic situations; Hahnemann himself emphasized these as most deleterious to health; Hahnemann
– Modern Stress Factors: Financial stress, industrial demands, tension of maintaining speed; Roberts, Ch.34
-Sedatives & Drugging: Bromides, narcotics, analgesics; home-prescribed pharmaceutical products; Modern advertising influence
– Cosmetics: Depilatories, lipsticks, perfumes containing medicinal substances; Coccus cacti cough case
– Dietary Factors: Coffee, soft drinks, unbalanced diets, malnutrition; §260 Organon
– Lack of Exercise: Sedentary lifestyle; patient unwilling to co-operate; Roberts, Ch.34

B. Obstacles from the Physician’s Side

Roberts identifies three stages where physicians can commit errors that become obstacles :

1. Selecting the exact similimum – Wrong remedy selection
2. Selection of proper dose and potency – Incorrect strength/dilution
3. Repetition of doses – Improper timing/frequency

Additional physician-related obstacles include:
– Prejudiced observation – Being swayed by patient’s most annoying symptoms
-*Prescribing solely on keynotes – Dangerous when keynotes replace comprehensive case analysis
– Overlooking uncommon peculiar symptoms – Missing the true simillimum indicator

C. Obstacles from the Remedial Side

– Source authenticity: Plant must be identical with botanical source of proving
– Quality of substance: Fresh, superior quality for good potency
– Proper potentization: Following Hahnemann’s instructions meticulously
– Controlled provings: Adequate number of provers; accurate symptom recording
– Proper labeling: Accurate identification of remedy origin

Hahnemann’s Original Concept from Organon

Hahnemann explicitly addresses obstacles to cure in Aphorisms 259-265 of the Organon of Medicine :

> “The physician should distinctly understand…in each case the obstacles in the way of recovery, and how to remove them, he is prepared to act thoroughly, and to the purpose, as a true master of the art of healing.” (§3)

Key Organon Aphorisms on Obstacles:

§259 emphasizes that during treatment, everything medicinal must be removed from diet and regimen, lest the small homeopathic dose be “overwhelmed and extinguished” .

§260 states: *”Hence the careful investigation into such obstacles to cure is so much the more necessary in the case of patients affected by chronic diseases, as their diseases are usually aggravated by such noxious influences and other disease-causing errors in the diet and regimen, which often pass unnoticed.”*

§261 prescribes the appropriate regimen: “removal of such obstacles to recovery, and in supplying where necessary the reverse: innocent moral and intellectual recreation, active exercise in the open air…suitable, nutritious, unmedicinal food and drink” .

§264-265 require the physician to provide genuine medicines of unimpaired strength and personally ensure the correctly chosen medicine is prepared .

Items Hahnemann specifically forbids (§260 footnote):

> Coffee, herb teas, medicated beer, spiced chocolate, strong perfumes, highly spiced dishes, old cheese, decomposed meats, heated rooms, woolen clothing next skin, sedentary life, prolonged sleep, sitting up late, uncleanliness, subjects of anger/grief/vexation, marshy districts, damp rooms .

Key Difference: Obstacle to Cure vs. Deflected Current

| Aspect | |

1. Nature: The factor or cause that hinders cure (Obstacle to Cure) | The phenomenon or effect of that hindrance (Deflected Current)
2. Relationship: Cause (Obstacle to Cure) | Effect/Result (Deflected Current)
3. Examples: Foreign body, emotional stress, wrong diet, pathological tissue, improper remedy selection (Obstacle to Cure) | Diversion of remedy’s curative action; partial or complete failure of treatment (Deflected Current)
4. Analogy: The rock in the stream (Obstacle to Cure) | The water’s changed direction when hitting the rock (Deflected Current)

Simple Explanation:

Obstacle to Cure = The thing that blocks or deflects
Deflected Current = The diversion of the healing energy caused by that block

Roberts specifically states: “They have served to deflect the current of cure in whole or in part; and the homoeopathic system of medicine is not at fault in such deflection of cure so long as these conditions remain a vital part of the patient’s life.”

The obstacles are identifiable factors (diet, stress, pathology, etc.), while the deflection describes what happens to the “current of cure” when those obstacles are present—the therapeutic wave gets diverted from its natural path toward health.

Clinical Implications

For Diagnosis:
1. Systematically investigate all possible obstacles before concluding remedy failure
2. Consider patient’s mental/emotional state alongside physical symptoms
3. Explore domestic conditions, lifestyle factors, and hidden habits

For Treatment:
1. Remove or mitigate obstacles before or alongside homeopathic prescription
2. Educate patients about diet and regimen according to Organon guidelines
3. Use anti-miasmatic treatment when chronic miasms act as fundamental obstacles
4. Ensure remedy quality and authenticity

For Prognosis:
1. Recognize when pathology has progressed beyond curability
2. Accept limitations when economic/social obstacles cannot be resolved
3. Aim for palliation when complete cure becomes impossible

Summary

The deflected current metaphor illustrates how obstacles disrupt the natural curative process in homoeopathy. Obstacles to cure are the specific causative factors (pathological, mechanical, emotional, dietary, iatrogenic, miasmatic) that divert or impede the healing energy generated by a properly selected remedy. Hahnemann mandated that every true physician must “distinctly understand…the obstacles in the way of recovery, and how to remove them” (§3). Only by identifying and eliminating these obstacles can the simillimum work unimpeded toward permanent cure.