Paradigm Paralysis
The Worst Disease in the U.S.
December 2002, Acres U.S.A.
by Philip Wheeler

   You probably have a mild case of this disease without even being aware of it, although the fact that you are reading Acres U.S.A. probably means that your symptoms don’t include the agricultural paradigm. I am talking about “paradigm paralysis,” a disease that affects us all, because we are human.
   The word paradigm is probably familiar to you, but it might be difficult for you to answer if someone approached and asked, “What is a paradigm?” The dictionary definition is, “an example or pattern.” Synonyms are more revealing: “model, mold, standards, ideals.” We all practice, use, believe in, or espouse multiple paradigms every day. When holidays arrive, we especially love to practice our paradigms to their fullest degree: we travel to our grandparent’s home, or we travel to the new young couple’s home; we go to a candlelight service at church on Christmas Eve, or maybe we have a family evening together; we open one present and save the rest until morning, or we open them all, or we save them all till morning. These are the paradigms of our lives.
   “Paradigm Paralysis” is the inability to look outside the current model we are using for a paradigm or otherwise being unable to make changes or adopt a new model. The causes of paradigm paralysis include: fear; peer pressure; lack of energy, knowledge, or resources; and a myriad of others. The fears can include: fear of change; fear of ridicule; fear of failure; or, again, a variety of fears or concerns.
   Most of our paradigms serve us well. Sometimes paradigms fail us, as in the case of divorce, when spouses’ paradigms differ much more than they realized when they were married. Sometimes we change churches or career paths because our paradigm (belief) changed, or the institution or employer changed.
   One of the intriguing aspects of paradigms is that, as models, they are not the “real” thing. We often believe that our paradigms are reality and are the ultimate truth. The only problem with that is that millions of other people think their paradigms, which differ from ours, are reality and the ultimate truth. No wonder we have conflicts in the world!
   So, why are paradigms worth reading about in an agricultural publication? Because two of the most important paradigms in our lives — agriculture and health/medicine — were created with war, money, power and politics in mind, rather than with a true scientific basis and the general welfare as bases. The power of paradigms are so great and paradigm paralysis so prevalent that the United States has gone from a country with huge reserves of high-organic-matter, mineral-rich soils to being named the country with the worst soil degradation, and from a country with reasonably healthy people to one that now has some of the worst rates for degenerative diseases, diabetes and obesity in the world. The two are related — eight out of 10 of our list of killer diseases are related to the condition of our soil, air and water, as well as our lifestyles, which includes our diets.
   Let’s start with the agricultural paradigm. Readers of Acres U.S.A. are well familiar with the need for new paradigms and the names and patterns of such alternative paradigms as organic, sustainable/biological, biodynamic and quantum agriculture. What you may not be as familiar with is how we came to the current paradigm of standard/chemical agriculture. Recently, when I was presenting my lecture on the history of agriculture to growers in Australia, a farmer became quite upset. He was upset because he thought the agricultural model he had been practicing was based on sound science and understanding of the “nature of nature.” He was amazed to find out that the current model was largely imported from the United States, and that the model was based on industrial, military and political needs.
Let’s pick up the story of agriculture beginning in the 1840s. Phosphate was recognized as an essential nutrient, but there was difficulty in getting plants to pick it up when applied as hard-rock phosphate directly from the mine. Acid soils seemed to utilize rock phosphate better, so a manufacturing process was created to acidulate (with sulfuric acid) the phosphate before it went on the soil to make it “soluble,” for easier uptake. A fertilizer similar to 0-20-0 was created by the process. Other soluble salts such as potassium nitrate (salt peter) and Chilean nitrate of soda potash were imported into the United States.
   Fast forward to the 1890s, when industrial production or importation of acid-salt fertilizers was in full swing in Europe. Julius Hensel started to question the need for all this industrialization in what appeared to be a natural, biological process (his classic book, Bread from Stones, is available from the Acres U.S.A. bookstore). Hensel discovered that he could grow fruits and vegetables with finely ground silt or colloidal minerals from mountain streams. More importantly, the plants thus treated grew very well and did not draw insects or diseases. Publication of his work proved that the industrial paradigm had serious flaws, threatening powerful monetary and political interests. Harassment, suppression, discrediting, and destruction soon followed. (Similar fates were met by Wilhelm Reich, Ruth Downs, George Earp-Thomas, Carey Reams, William A. Albrecht and many, many other 20th-century pioneers of agriculture and health.)
   Moving ahead 20 years, the industrial model led to problems with soil and livestock health in Austria. Farmers approached Dr. Rudolph Steiner, a noted scientist, theologian and philosopher, for help. His answers to their questions, though appearing very strange and esoteric at the time, went on to become the basis of the agricultural paradigm called biodynamics, which went in a completely opposite direction from the industrial model, since it concentrated on gathering natural energies from outside the earth into preparations and applying them in homeopathic solutions to soil and plants. Biodynamics prospered in Europe and Australia although still very much as a minority paradigm compared to the conventional model. The United States had minor adoption of the paradigm, where it is still a small but powerful part of the agricultural model.
   Other Europeans began forming patterns of organic agriculture in the early 1900s, as well. The organic paradigm had a greater impact in the United States than had biodynamics. With the help of American pioneers like J.I. Rodale, the word “organic” was brought into common parlance, although most organic activity was in the realm of gardening until the late ’60s and early ’70s. During that same period, sustainable/biological agriculture also appeared and began to grow.
   I lived and worked in that era, and I can guarantee you that these new paradigms were not met with open arms by the existing paradigm holders, the land grant universities and their educational arm, the extension service. Let’s drop back to the 1940s to see how the paradigm that the extension service was so vigorously defending developed in the first place.
   World War II had a major impact a reasonably natural model of agriculture (with a little industrialization thrown in) in the United States. If you examine the USDA annual yearbooks of agriculture in the late ’30s and ’40s, you will see a major shift in the approach or patterns of the paradigm around 1946 and 1947. The war had ended and the political influence was beginning. The United States had experienced two world wars in the previous 30 years, so there was good reason to suspect there might be another. The wars had produced industrial models for munitions production and employed thousands in the factories. The dilemma was in how to keep our ability to produce munitions without creating huge stockpiles that would become expensive and dangerous. Ammonium nitrate (most recently in the headlines through its connection with the Oklahoma City bombing) and anhydrous ammonia (now infamous for its use in methamphetamine production) needed to be used for other purposes — so the political/military/economic decision was made to use American farmland as the “great dumping ground.” Regretfully for American agriculture, crops will respond to luxury feeding. Conveniently for the fertilizer companies, the luxury feeding of N requires more feeding of P and K, so they were all too willing to go along with the agricultural application of munitions materials.
   Perhaps they really didn’t know at the time the effects of fertilizing this way, but it didn’t take long to find out that the industrial paradigm created a need for pesticides. Conveniently, we had another war technology called nerve gas! This technology, developed by Germany, became the basis for our chlorinated-hydrocarbon pesticides. The industrial model also seemed to increase weed pressure, as well. Herbicides became an excepted part of “modern” farming operations. Acidulated fertilizers killed mycorrhizia, the main beneficial root fungi of typical crops, and guaranteed the need for more applications. Money from the fertilizer and chemical sales poured into the land grant institutions, and careers were made, mortgages and retirements paid, and the industrial paradigm became the only “truth.” This model could be described as, “N-P-K simplistic nonsense, followed by toxic-rescue chemistry.”
   Currently, the most active alternative paradigms are sustainable/biological, with many practitioners making the move to the more restrictive Certified Organic. Biodynamic comes in a distant third in the United States. The newest paradigm is called Quantum Ag, which combines the best of all the alternative paradigms with advanced electronics, homeopathy, radionics and quantum physics. The goal of Quantum Ag is to gather and control all available energy sources (earth and cosmic) and direct them to the soil, plant and atmosphere, while continuing to mineralize and biologically activate.
   The medical/health paradigm has a similar history. The prevailing form of medicine in the late 1800s as imported from Europe was homeopathy, blended with thousands of years of herbal and folk remedies and surgical procedures. Homeopathy was based on the work of Samuel Hahneman, a German doctor. He became disillusioned with the approach and methods used in medicine of his time (the late 1700s), which had also failed his daughter. He gave up the practice of medicine and went into the business of translating foreign medical texts into German. While translating Hippocrates, he came across the phrase “like cures like,” inspiring him to begin a series of trials, or “proofs,” to see if this was true. His first proof is still with us today: Hahneman used Peruvian cinchona bark to induce the symptoms of malaria in a patient. The active component of cinchona is quinine, still an accepted remedy for malaria symptoms.
   Homeopathic remedies are made by taking very small amounts of a material that produces effects similar to the disease being treated and then diluting and percussing the material into water solution. Percuss means to pound or shock the solution by striking the container against your hand several times — the idea being that this action imprints the energy pattern of the material into the water. By the time the dilution process is finished, there is so little of the material left in the solution that standard science claims it couldn’t possibly have any effect.
   Claiming that homeopathy doesn’t work is like saying that biodynamic preps spread on fields don’t work, projected radionic energy patterns don’t work, or a Hugh Lovel or Bob Benson tower doesn’t do anything. Personal experience has fully convinced me that homeopathy does work, and it’s more advanced than ever. Modern homeopaths may now use a radionic imprint and choose a remedy frequency to imprint on to a moist sugar pill (called a blank) to issue to the client. There are complete computer programs available to help the practitioner clearly identify the symptoms expressed by the client and correlate them with one of more remedies.
   Hahnemann went on to make hundreds of proofs, which formed the basis of the book now known as the Materia Medica. Because of the success of homeopathy, there were more homeopathic hospitals in the United States prior to 1930 than there were allopathic hospitals.
   Allopathic medicine is defined as “the method of treating disease by the use of agents, producing effects different from those of the disease treated.” The old dictionary where I found this definition also included an addendum I found humorous: “opposed to homeopathy.” Wow, is that an understatement! Homeopathy is very inexpensive — office-call costs are usually very moderate, and the remedies usually cost only a few dollars. There is no need for manmade, side-effect-producing molecules from drug companies in the homeopathic system.
   So, how or why did the allopathic paradigm replace the homeopathic paradigm as the mainsteam medical model? As with the hijacking of agriculture, the process began during wartime. Many doctors went off to serve in World War I. In their absence, a collusion began between insurance companies and drug manufacturers to take control of medicine/health, and allopathic medicine quickly became a very lucrative business. Just as money from the chemical industry flowed into land grant institutions, money from the drug companies flowed into the medical schools. According to some accounts, strong-arm tactics were used. Another factor between the two world wars was the “medicalization” of human childbirth. It wasn’t long before the doctor-as-god paradigm became the standard. With the help of the FDA, anything threatening the paradigm was quickly squashed, including the smashing of radionics machines in the early 1950s. The chiropractic paradigm was criminally suppressed until chiropractors finally won a lawsuit against the AMA for restraint of trade in 1976.
   There is no doubt that modern medicine has much to offer. Antibiotics, which are mainly derived from nature, have saved countless lives. They do not usually contain compounds/molecules that are foreign to the human body, as is the case with most other modern drugs. Just listen to the side effects that are rapidly enumerated in the countless television ads for pharmaceuticals. Our surgery, lab technology and emergency care are among the world’s best, but it has been less than 15 years since the AMA finally admitted that nutrition might have something to do with health and disease! Also keep in mind that a large percentage of recoveries from minor conditions result from the placebo effect. A patient goes to the doctor believing in and accepting the allopathic paradigm, therefore what he administers will obviously cure the sickness — even though it may be an antibiotic for a cold virus that will not be affected by the drug in the least.
   Human disease can be separated into two types: those involving a bacteria, virus or fungus; and those that have no such entity present. If there is no entity present, the problem should be called a condition. In both cases there is usually a nutritional deficiency and/or a genetic weakness involved. (Plagues of very virulent strains of “germs” can override even healthy immune systems, but we are not including epidemics in this discussion. Even in plagues, however, all exposed persons do not die.) The beginning of any disease/condition is a loss of energy from a group of cells. This loss of energy continues until the body repairs the damage. If repair is not accomplished by the body’s natural defenses, then “symptoms” appear. Usually, if the liver is still functioning and has the right minerals, enzymes, and vitamins available, new cells can be produced to correct the situation. Prior to the symptom stage is the best time to heal. That is why supplementation, exercise, good diet, water, etc., are so important.
   Allopathic medicine has never seriously attempted to detect the energy-loss stage. Dr. William Tiller, a world-renowned material physicist and author of Science and Human Transformation was researching this years ago at Stanford University. He even managed to track the energy as it was carried through the lymph system. Radionic practitioners and all the other energy medicine pioneers were doing this, as well, although readers should note that it is still illegal in the United States to use radionics in this way with human subjects. States will vary in enforcement, but the FDA is relentless. Europe and many other countries allow energy work in conjunction with medical doctors.
   Allopathic medicine has recently made a breakthrough in early detection by chemistry, i.e. identification of certain proteins that indicate prostrate and certain other cancers — it is very early detection, but cancerous cells are already present in large enough quantities to be a problem. Full-body MRIs also allow for earlier detection, but costs, the interpretation of results and efficacy are still in question. The best solution is to maintain health through lifestyle, diet/nutrition and supplementation, although this message is obviously not the accepted paradigm in the United States.
   When you reach the symptom stage, you still have a chance to cure paradigm paralysis and let your body heal itself. If you have never stepped outside the allopathic paradigm, this may be a scary thing to do. What are the alternatives? If you really are new to the alternative medical/health paradigm, let the allopathic practitioner run the tests and give the diagnosis. Then the journey begins. If it is a condition and not a disease (i.e., no germ, virus, prion or fungus), then you don’t need an antibiotic, but you may need a painkiller to get through the early healing time. Try to avoid taking any symptom-masking drug that does nothing to help your body heal. Your choices for further advice on how to deal with the condition include chiropractors, naturopaths, homeopaths, nutritionists, etc. They will talk about how to get your body to heal itself, not about how they are going to “cure” you. Honest allopathic doctors will tell you they can’t cure anything, they just try to suppress systems so the body can heal.
   If you want to go it alone, however, you have to read. An excellent book to start with is Foods that Harm, Foods that Heal, published by Readers Digest. Another great book is Prescription for Nutritional Healing, by James F. Bach, M.D., and Phyllis A. Bach, C.N.C. You may have to add or delete some foods completely from your diet. You may also have to make lifestyle changes, but which would you prefer: a diagnosis of arthritis (a catch-all phrase for “something wrong with your joints”) followed by painkillers and continued deterioration of the joint for the rest of your life; or changing your diet, rebuilding the cartilage and full use of the joint in accordance with your age?
   I can certainly say this is possible since I have witnessed a close family member accomplish it twice in a lifetime. The first time was by using the Dr. Reams method of fasting, followed by corrective diet and supplementation (Dr. Reams and his trained practitioners were able to help many people with the same success over decades.) The second time was another diet change, this time using advanced supplementation that wasn’t available years ago. What is meant by “advanced supplementation?” Most supplements are in the capsule or pill form, such as calcium tablets made of calcium carbonate or other calcium compounds with binders and stabilizers. Research shows that most capsules or pills have about 10 to 15 percent utilization rate. Your doctor’s desk reference will prescribe the amount or number of capsules based on that assumption. If you have trouble digesting that fact (pun intended), check with your city sewage waste department or the nearest porta-potty company. Undigested vitamins, minerals and pills of every sort are a major disposal problem — you can still read the brand name on many of them!
   Acres U.S.A. readers learned about advanced supplementation in “Fire in the Water,” a two-part article in the May and June issues. The liquid minerals discussed therein are the basis of life and healing — they can pass through the skin or lining of the mouth and be transported to each and every cell. This technology is important, because part of the general decline of our health status has included a weakening of digestive juices. Once the mineral is in the blood and lymph system, the body will “decide” on the basis of priority for the entire organism, where the minerals will be used for initial repairs. Other repairs will follow, as decided by the body, if the mineral supplement is continued. That’s why it may take several months for the symptoms you are trying to alleviate to disappear. These new technologies make it much easier to give the body a chance to heal itself.
   Even allopathic medicine is catching on. They suggest folic acid to prevent birth defects, they suggest that all people need supplementation due to current soil and food conditions, and they recently noted that Q10, a popular supplement, has reduced the tremor effects of Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is mislabeled — there is now anecdotal evidence the disease is really a condition of severe nutritional deficiency. Fibromyalgia, another catch-all disease/condition label, falls into the same category.
   So let’s assume that the body can heal itself from many conditions by the use of diet and supplementation with minerals, vitamins, enzymes, probiotics, and amino acids. What about the true diseases which involve and infectious entity? An active immune system is the best defense. Two alternative products that have appeared over the years are hydrogen peroxide and silver. Both have proven to be effective both topically and internally. Our ancestors crossed the plains with water barrels. In the bottom of that barrel was the family silver and possibly some silver dollars. The practice saved countless lives and saved the family silver from robbery as well. Most hot tubs and spas have an option for peroxide systems and an insert point for a silver cartridge, because silver can kill bacteria, virus and fungal organisms on contact. The author has learned to use the liquid silver in spas, humidifiers, etc. at a much reduced cost to standard chemicals.
   Colloidal silver has been available in the market place for quite a few years. It is effective — the only problem lies with excess doses. They aren’t fatal, but some buildup in the body may occur, since the size of the colloid can prevent full excretion. The new soluble silvers, which are angstrom size rather than colloidal size, are just as effective but without the build-up problem.
   You really can’t afford not to have silver available for your family under today’s conditions. Silver can kill anthrax spores, West Nile virus organisms, the viral organism associated with planter’s warts, smallpox organisms, listeria, salmonella, cold and flu organisms, etc. As headlines keep reminding us, our chances of coming in contact with one or more of these are escalating every day. We have had at least 10 deaths in west Michigan from West Nile since it arrived this summer. Separate doses of silver should only be used when you are sure or have strong reason to suspect that you have come in contact with these organisms, or symptoms begin to appear. Get to a physician or hospital immediately if the organisms have already began producing enough toxins to cause symptoms, as silver will not neutralize the toxins already produced. Continue to take silver until the symptoms are gone to make sure the organism is no longer present in your body.
   If you do end up in a hospital for any reason, you must be aware that your chances of nosocomical (hospital-acquired) infection or injury from errors is high. It’s a good idea for the patient to take a silver supplement, continuing for at least a week or two after leaving the healthcare facility. I would avoid leaving a child, elderly person or anyone who will be unable to verify treatments alone. Check every medicine coming into the room and verify that it has the correct patient’s name, type and dosage, according to the doctor’s chart. Ask every staff member, including doctors, if they have washed their hands since contact with a previous patient. Use body markers on limbs that are to be removed or areas of body where the problem is present.
   I would leave nothing to chance, because the allopathic paradigm is coming apart. There is such a shortage of healthcare workers that the government intends to give live-virus smallpox vaccinations to workers while they are still on duty, instead of the keeping them home during their contagious period. Medical costs are continuing to rise and will most likely drag down the economy or become unaffordable to large numbers of people. Doctors are refusing to do procedures because of liability insurance costs. Medical problems and the allopathic paradigm “cure” are among the main causes of personal bankruptcies in the United States. Many companies are reducing or eliminating medical insurance coverage for employees. We must change the health/medical paradigm in the minds of the majority of U.S. citizens or our future is bleak indeed.
   There are some positive signs. Over half the population have looked into or used alternative medical paradigms. Organic food purchases are climbing rapidly. Schools are offering healthy beverages along with or instead of colas. A movement called “Slow Food” started in Italy and is making its way around the world. Massage therapy and yoga are becoming “mainstream.” Clinical studies have been compiled that identify the nutrient deficiencies associated with over 22 diseases/conditions that afflict us. For a copy of these protocols, please see me at the Acres U.S.A. Convention or contact my office. Good Luck and Good Health.

Philip Wheeler is an author, crop consultant and frequent lecturer. He will be a featured speaker at the Acres U.S.A. Conference, December 12-14, 2002. Phil Wheeler can be contacted at Crop Services International Inc., 1718 Madison S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507-2518, phone (616) 246-7933, fax (616) 246-6039, e-mail <drdirt@cropservicesintl.com>, website <www.cropservicesintl.com>.

The Non-Toxic Farming Handbook, by Philip A. Wheeler and Ronald B. Ward, is available from the Acres U.S.A. bookstore for $25, plus $3 shipping in the U.S. Science and Human Transformation, by William A. Tiller, Ph.D., is available for $25, plus shipping. Julius Hensel’s Bread from Stones is also available, for $10, plus shipping. To order, click here or call toll-free 1-800-533-5313.