life and medical procedures
by Safih Choat

Understanding the origin of life, our existence and also that of our planet, has always been a mystery present throughout our history as “thinking” human beings.

To this day, this search and selection continues among the most diverse attempts at explanations, based on different theories of thought, whether they are more philosophical or physical-rational in nature, in order to find one that is more rationally adequate.

Man, over time and taking the history of medicine as a starting point, as seen in the article on “D. Edward Bach and Medicine”, has still demonstrated a greater acceptance of rational theories to the detriment of philosophical ones, in order to choose a more coherent explanation regarding this subject, given that the recognition of the scientific aspect of homeopathy, acupuncture, flower remedies, among many other sciences that highlight the importance of emotions, for example, is still little publicized to society regarding its efficiency, and subjects such as technology and discoveries of new drugs for healing are much easier to accept, discuss, and propagate.

Understanding the existence of a God, Entity, or superior Being, aided by philosophy, theology, and psychology, regarding the unconscious aspects of powerful action on our behavior, implies admitting that we do not have this total free control over ourselves.

Just to add to this mix, perhaps even today we consider this task to be more feminine than masculine.

Studies conducted between the sexes justify this more sentimental aptitude, so to speak, as being of women to the detriment of men, who have a series of other aptitudes more suited to their constitution. However, if we understand this sentence well, we can infer that the nature of this study of the emotional difference between the sexes is more concerned with justifying the male class not having this facility for emotions and therefore not caring about it, than using this information to stimulate this male deficit.  

Returning to the question of life and its understanding, and based on my feminine aptitudes that give me a more emotional being and, therefore, more interested in the philosophy of things, I invite you to observe and reflect on the path of our culture-teaching to better understand why life is still far from receiving its deserved value.

There would be no point in accusing failures if we did not understand the causes and thus constructively point out a solution or solutions.

"Philosophy, through the observation of human activities based on reflections on these activities, seeks to determine human nature and its relations with the world. It seeks the essence of this nature" (Misiak, 1964).

Considering the observation of the human journey within history, we can understand that all areas of human formation up to university level represent the result of our intention since ancient times to support life, whether legally, psychologically, geographically, biologically, and so on...

However, before specific training courses emerged, the researchers who contributed their discoveries and who are still reflected in our academic disciplines today had a multidisciplinary approach.

Charles Darwin, while studying medicine, was also interested in history and theology. 

Galen (130 – 200), the most prominent physician of his time, the first to conduct physiological research demonstrating for the first time that arteries carry blood and not air as previously believed, also studied philosophy. In his observations, the first thing he recommended to doctors was a thorough knowledge of Anatomy, then Philosophy.

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), discoverer of the law of bodies, the principle of inertia and the concept of inertial reference, ideas that were precursors of Newtonian mechanics, was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher.

And many others...How many others...

Taking this reference, returning to the present day and linking the veterinary specialty to the topic, if we look at the majority of university courses, including the most complex and directly linked to us, we do not even notice a subject that involves understanding emotions, philosophy , and this was and is of utmost importance not only for the analysis of diseases, but also for the medical ethical attitude.

What about matters that bring us closer to God?

At least about emotions it would be essential.

Still following this reasoning, but going back in time, today's children, much more evolved than in other times, feel this need for integration, but they are not stimulated in the schools they attend, growing up in a training for the rational, where intuition is completely rejected. 

Young people go to college the same way. They only learn what is “derived” and considered relevant to the field. They also don’t learn about themselves. 

So, in a way, we are all trained to retain knowledge, to compete, from the school years, then the entrance exam and then upon completion of our university courses. 

And the question of life, where does it fit in? 

Now let's make a parenthesis...  

This rational preached dogmatically, to the detriment of multiple ancient knowledge, does not give access to our heart. 

It gives us fear, and through fear comes competition to “win” in the race, the desire for profit. This vision of profit, in turn, is nothing more than the politically correct reinforcement that we are on the right path, but we are not. We are moving away from life.

With this vision of profitability and not of valuing our individuality as unique to each being, we become selfish, mercantilist, monopolists. We want to have control, and those who want to control do so because they are afraid.

This lack of love, this fear, this submission presented in the form of teaching, generates our feeling of insignificance so that we can change our reality. Instead of being reinforced in our individual and unique value and thus starting to interpret our questioning attitudes as making a difference, we deviate from this pioneering spirit by thinking “I am alone” in the face of much opposition.  

So, although many people question many facts, including within veterinary training, they allow themselves to be subjugated by the imposed culture and politics. 

And the carriage runs on the same track... 

Now let's gather the influential examples we had for our history...

For many of us, discoverers and scientists are unconsciously seen as people from another “virtual environment”, from another reality. 

The poorly aligned and interconnected content of the subjects at school makes us accept, without questioning, without imagining that we can be the science of a better world tomorrow. 

Faced with this panorama, and now in general, culture, schools, and universities collaborate in a search for the wrong path to restore acceptance, solidarity, respect, and self-confidence, instead of encouraging it.

By then nullifying our desire to contribute, it dis-teaches us how to love and share.

The way we judge without reflecting on the issue and presenting constructive solutions is also a result of this false reinforcement, as it tells us through destructive comparison that this is the path, that we are better.

Do you realize that we then helped to create all this complexity because we were not encouraged to understand life?

To learn to value life, you have to learn to do it in yourself. But first of all, accept its importance, see the “profit” in the sense of personal improvement and subsequent harmonious contribution of this attitude to the universe.

Let us now return to the topic of this article, and add two topics practiced within the veterinary field: animal euthanasia and induced abortion.

Animals and their situation are a reflection of ourselves, allowing us to manipulate them. 

How to explain euthanasia as a method applied to a “good death”, under the laws of ethics, only in an animal that is in a situation of suffering, never in a healthy animal, if in zoonosis controls the same applies to those whose health is verified as good, where they are, prior to this process, vaccinated and neutered, but due to the absence of meeting a potential adopter, they are subjected to the same judgment?

Wouldn't this be a dubious judgment for the same applicability? 

How does this information fit into the mind of a veterinarian, who is also not encouraged to love, respect, or value emotions, within the university, and how does this contribute to or corroborate his consideration of the true importance of animals and their well-being? 

If working with the well-being of domesticated animals is directly linked to us humans, the caregivers, why not be more supportive and less cold when dealing with an animal death, for example, in more sustained support for its owner? 

What implications could this have according to the ethics learned in college? 

There is also no point in blaming their attitudes, considered by many animal lovers as insensitive, simply because the subjects taught to veterinary students include more rational subjects than psychosocial ones. 

It is necessary to review history, with a view that is supportive of “the other’s” understanding. Transform our way of thinking. Bring everyone a better conscience, and not monopolize it just for yourself, for your personal profit. Show academic councils and governments the importance, which is still not given enough, of human aspects within all areas of academic training. 

Not only do we have the right to know more about ourselves, but also, through the inclusion of this knowledge in all areas of training, we will be contributing to an improvement in the interactive character of all professions with the beings with whom we interact: us, the environment environment, and, including within it, nature and animals. 

If on the one hand many spiritualists eat meat even when practicing good, many veterinarians euthanize without abstaining from this practice in situations where there is still a spark of chance, and many owners delegate the death sentence to an unwanted offspring, even if it does not compromise the life of the animal, if the issue of spirituality is still a veiled subject, and fears and all human behaviors are still a mystery instead of being considered important knowledge, especially in schools and in the media, since we hold much of this knowledge, wanting humans to understand animals and their nature, except from the point of view of isolated components, if the interconnection is not made, it becomes practically impossible. 

Until we learn to connect emotions in all areas of our lives, we will not understand what it is to love, we will not understand life. 

Therefore, we must strive to seek self-knowledge, even if it has not yet been stimulated during our school days, and the important step for future generations is, in my view, the interconnection of school subjects that are currently done in isolation and without an explanation of why we have to study physics, chemistry, biology, etc., so that we realize the importance of this integration, and the inclusion of humanities subjects, even if in a more summarized form, in all university academic areas, so that from an early age we are encouraged to love and understand our nature in its entirety, and, based on this knowledge and respect, we can carry out our disciplinary activities with better ethics and respect for life, that is, all forms of life.

Who would then, given the knowledge and understanding of love, correctly transmitted, prefer to choose war anyway?