Basic HTML Version
Volume 106 Number 2
78 AJHM Summer 2013
Douglas Falkner, MD
to train students in what they truly need to know, not just in
the mind, but also in the heart, in order to attain proficiency
as practicing homeopaths.
These reproducible and satisfying results are achieved
without emphasizing the impossible task of mastering vast
segments of our ever-expanding materia medica or all
the new systems of philosophy and method being taught
world-wide. There is, in fact, minimal emphasis on ex-
tensive memorization and rote learning. It only takes a
willingness to establish a solid foundation in the basics of
Hahnemann’s teachings and to gradually refine and perfect
one’s own self as an instrument for the high art and science
of objective observation. This is not theoretical work, but
one achieved on the ground, in the practical clinical setting
of working with live cases.
Learning to be objective observers, which requires both
mind and heart, is the most vital, powerful, and effective
tool a student of homeopathy can develop and acquire. It
also carries the potential to bring the deepest satisfaction
and sense of connection with our patients and our work.
Many methods and systems of thought teach us means to
heal symptoms at various levels of illness. However, if
we wish to attain Hahnemann’s highest ideal of cure, as
described in Aphorism 9, so that
“The reasoning spirit who
inhabits the organism can thus freely use this healthy liv-
ing instrument to reach the lofty goal of human existence,”
then we must endeavor and work conscientiously and tire-
lessly toward a refinement of self. Through the gradual per-
fection of the perceptive functions of mind and heart, the
true faculty of objective observation emerges and becomes
fully operational.
While there is no shortcut to mastery in any field or dis-
cipline, this path of learning to be an objective observer is
certainly one that will help the motivated student arrive at
eventual mastery, directly, inexorably, and with assurance.
You, the homeopath, are the most important tool in the
toolbox, trumping all others by leaps and bounds.
Douglas Falkner, MD, MHom, is the founder of the Po-
laris Institute for Homeopathy and the chief instructor for
its three year practitioner training program, “Homeopathy
Through Simplicity: The Objective Observer Course.” For-
merly working as a hospital-based Emergency Medicine
attending physician, Dr. Falkner combines his extensive
conventional medical knowledge with deep understand-
ing of the science and art of homeopathy. He maintains a
busy clinical practice in homeopathy in Ashland, Oregon.
For more information, please go to polarisinstitute.com or
email Dr. Falkner at drfalkner@qwest.net