Letter to Medical Observer by Neonatal Paediatrician

Article by: 
by Dr Howard Chilton, MBBS. MRCP(UK). DCH. Consultant Neonatologist & Paediatrician, Royal Hospital for Women and Prince of Wales Private Hospital Former Director of Newborn Care, Royal Hospital for Women, Randwick, NSW 2031.

To Medical Observer.

RE: UNIVERSAL MEDICINE.

As a Neonatal Paediatrician my professional life has been based on evidence-based medicine, pathology, and applied physiology. I am also author of a few (evidence-based) books on parenting. But it has always been clear to me that there is more to the prevention of ill-health, and the practice of medicine, than just these modalities.

For that reason I appreciate and respect Mr Benhayon’s and Universal Medicine’s take on the need for people to take responsibility for their own health and the trajectory of their life.

Benhayon is a kind, honest and caring teacher of enormous integrity. How sad that there seems to be a propaganda war against such a deeply principled man and his equally principled (and rigorously regulated) organisation.

And why are people getting so excited about the fact that he believes in reincarnation? Who cares? So do Buddhists. It’s not relevant to the core principles he teaches.

My understanding of the principles is as follows:

  • Look after your body and treat it with respect. So don’t put into it things that do it harm or make you feel even vaguely unwell. (For example, try life without dairy, gluten, alcohol or caffeine: see how you feel. With a little practice your body becomes sensitive enough to be your guide regarding what is good for you and what is not.
  • Don’t burn the candle at both ends. Go to bed early and rise early. You’ll find you feel energized, not exhausted.
  • What happens to us in our lives is the sum total of the choices we make. If you continue, even subtly, to abuse yourself by ignoring your body signals then do not be surprised if your body works inefficiently, or eventually breaks down and you develop illness.
  • Every moment of every day you have to make choices and act on them. These choices are either gentle, loving and appropriate, or they are not.
  • It is hard to truly help others if you are not looking after yourself. At some level they can sense the disorder in you and that affects your ability to help them. Helping others without looking after yourself is draining and exhausting. (Doctors and nurses might want to take note).
  • From birth, we have been trained to try to think our way through life, using our intellect. That intellect of ours has been honed over millennia towards survival of the fittest, towards dualism, and the competitive edge. But these mental responses are no longer suitable today. Perhaps you had noticed that, for most people, the way we live nowadays is manifestly not working for them. Instead we should try to switch off the incessant brain chatter and monitor the way our body feels, then try to remain calm and connected to ourselves and those around us.

How can anyone, health conscious, and even more health trained, disagree with these tenets of Universal Medicine?

Note to Editor of MO. An impartial journalist might get the real story, and help a few doctors heading for a premature, workaholic demise…