The art of healing was originally one of the secret sciences of the priestcraft, and the mystery of its source is obscured by the same veil which hides the genesis of religious belief. All higher forms of knowledge were originally in the possession of the sacerdotal castes. The temple was the cradle of civilization. The priests, exercising their divine prerogative, made the laws and enforced them; appointed the rulers and controlled than; ministered to the needs of the living, and guided the destinies of the dead. All branches of learning were monopolized by the priesthood, who admitted into their ranks only those intellectually and morally qualified to perpetuate their arcanum. The following quotation from Plato's Statesman is apropos of the subject: "...in Egypt, the King himself is not allowed to reign, unless he have priestly powers; and if he should be one of another class,and have obtained the throne by violence, he must get enrolled in the priestcraft." Candidates aspiring to membership in the religious orders underwent severe tests to prove their worthiness. These ordeals were called initiations. Those who passed them successfully were welcomed as brothers by the priests and were instructed in the secret teachings. Among the ancients, philosophy, science, and religion were never considered as separate units: each was regarded as an integral part of the whole. Philosophy was scientific and religious; science was philosophic and religious I religion was philosophic and scientific. Perfect wisdom was considered unattainable save as the result of harmonizing all three of these expressions of mental and moral activity.
Hippocrates, the famous Greek physician, during the fifth century before Christ, dissociated the healing art from the other sciences of the temple and thereby established a precedent for separateness. One of the consequences is the present widespread crass scientific materialism. The ancients realized the interdependence of the sciences. The moderns do not; and as a result, incomplete systems of learning are attempting to maintain isolated individualism. The obstacles which confront present-day scientific research are largely the result of prejudicial limitations imposed by those who are unwilling to accept that which transcends the concrete perceptions of the five primary human senses.
Health is the state of an organism with respect to its functioning at any given time. Good health occurs when an organism and its components (like cells and organs) vibrate at optimum functioning; bad health strikes when these components vibrate adversely, challenging the ability to function. External vibration or energy also affects all organisms, including people. If exposed to harmful vibrations or energy, the internal vibrations or energy in our bodies suffer, and we become unhealthy.
In terms of vibration, health depends on resonance, which occurs when one object vibrates at the same natural frequency as another object and forces the second into vibration. All medicine depends on achieving resonance. Surgical cutting disturbs bodily resonance but the stitches afterward hold the tissue in place so the body can reestablish harmony. Certain cells "resonate", or sense, vibrational discord and are able to reestablish it. White blood cells do this, sensing pathogens that disturb resonance. By eliminating these pathogens, white blood cells allow the body to regain harmony.
When an organism is healthy as a whole, its systems are entrained, or in rhythm with each other. Physicists define entrainment as the energetic interlocking of two rhythms that have similar frequencies; you can therefore only achieve entrainment through resonance between two similarly vibrating objects (or thoughts). With entrainment, a stronger external vibration does not only activate a response, it actually moves the second one out of its own resonant frequency. This is called forced resonance. Coherency describes a positive entrainment, and dissonance occurs when vibratory disturbances produce ill health.
The healer does not heal. The crystallized healer is a channel for intelligent energy which offers an opportunity to an entity that it might heal itself. In no case is there an other description of healing. Therefore, there is no difference as long as the healer never approaches one whose request for aid has not come to it previously. This is also true of the more conventional healers of western culture; if these healers could but fully realize that they are responsible only for offering the opportunity of healing, and not for the healing, many of these doctors would feel an enormous load of misconceived responsibility fall from them.
Western medicine is also called allopathic or traditional care. It relies heavily on empirical scientific concepts, assessing symptoms for underlying causes, and alleviating these symptoms with tested and verifiable methods, such as prescription drugs, surgery, or devices. Eastern medicine is often labeled alternative, complementary, or natural care. It is a holistic approach, treating body, mind, and soul, and addresses underlying causes rather than just symptoms. Toward this end, treatment might focus on physical healing, but also emotional, mental, and spiritual concerns.