Horse As A Second Language
I was introduced to horses in the 1970’s as I was attempting to court a young lady named Jane whose interest in horses far exceeded her interest in me. My only hope was to endear myself to the horses (all 15 of them). In doing so, I discovered …horses. The horses were indifferent to my upbringing, clothing, and political preference, and my ego struggled with this. Looking back, I have no doubt that they all knew my attempts at courting their alpha mare (Jane) were futile. Horses have a way of letting you know right away how they feel about you, a look, whip of a tail, the movement of just one ear, their nose on your shoulder. Horses also introduce you to the concept of living in the moment. We have all heard of this concept before, however, they live it, moment to moment hour to hour every single day. For them it is survival. The horse has survived for many thousands of years relying on their senses. What they see, hear and most important, instinct, they seem to be able to ‘feel’ or ‘sense’ danger. This is not something that they can do once in a while. It is moment to moment every single day.
Even though it never really worked out with Jane, I learned from the horses the importance of life lived in the moment. In order to live life in the moment, you have to know yourself. We really don’t think much about this idea of self. As a matter of fact it can be quite foreign. During the ‘new age movement’ “live in the moment” became one of the clichés of choice, but do we really know what this means? The ancient sages of the Taoist tradition talked about life in terms of nothingness, not emptiness…nothingness. We seem to feel the need to force life experiences or force things to happen in our favor. The sages felt that experiences, Life, unfold naturally. The true sages learned how to ‘sense’ life. Recognize and respond to experiences intuitively. They lived life through the direct supervision of their ‘higher self’. Therefore, there is ‘nothing’ they really needed to do but listen. Much like the horse…moment to moment.
This concept relates to my medical practice. For example: a lot of us spend more time trying to diagnose a condition than we spend being with our patient. Your moment does not emerge from the latest medical textbook, it emerges the moment your patient walks into your office or treatment room. How are you responding to the action (energy, vibration) of your patient? At that moment what do you feel, taste, and smell. It is how you feel emotionally at that moment that matters, more than even our scientific training, more than taking time to decide which author has the best answer to possibly fit the possible condition of your patient. It is not in our modern nature to live in the moment. Our survival does not depend on it, or does it?
In medicine, we typically prefer more scientific answers to our questions. To intuit a patient’s condition or instinctually sense a problem goes against every brain cell contained in a scientific medical mind. We prefer looking to books or lectures for our answers. The science of medicine as well as training has its place. However, as medical practitioners we have undervalued our instincts, our ability to ‘tune in’ to our patients. We have created quite a distance from the big three, intuition, instinct and inspiration.
Historically most, if not all medicine contained aspects of the big three. Eastern medical practices were based on intuition and instinct as were all ‘energy’ based practices. A diagnosis and treatment plan was most often determined through the aid of intuition and instinct. Medical science in both the east and west has had a great impact on eliminating the big three. Medicine became more symptom based rather than root or cause based. Diagnostic methodology was systemized creating a distance between patient and practitioner. The result: medicine became very impersonal.
In China 20th century medical theory excluded the big three in favor of western medical science. During the modernization era in China (1910-) classical ‘folk’ medicine was replaced by modern western medical science, which for the most part continues today. Folk medicine included to a great extent the big three primarily as a method of diagnosis.
The art of medicine was replaced with a system of medicine. Medicine was originally an art form. Art defined as: the creation of beautiful or significant things, a superior skill that one could learn by study and practice and observation. Anatomy/physiology, DNA science, machines used for diagnosis, etc. these are all just tools of medicine. Recently the tools have become more important than the reason for using them. The tools have become the medicine. Doctors just attend to the tools. The personal art was replaced with impersonal science.
Scientists have made great strides in trying to prove our place in the universe, naming and defining nature as well as human behavior. However fascinating, it seems we have become more dependent on science for our answers than a ‘sense of things’ or a ‘gut feeling’. Do I respond according to intuition, that properly hidden aspect of myself rarely spoken of in proper social circles or according to how I have been told would be the best response via book, lecture, etc.? We have ventured quite a distance from ourselves. So far in fact that we find it difficult to realize who or what we truly are.
So, what does all this have to do with our modern lives, our life style? It may only matter to those who are curious about themselves, those who see the world through intuition, instinct and inspiration.
Natural, proper horse training cannot be achieved without the aid of intuition, instinct and inspiration. An animal particularly a horse will instinctively know whether you are being truthful, living in your moment. Your friends and acquaintances will know this as well. They my not be able to put it into words, but, they will know. Will you?