Philosophy of perfume (part three): Healing molecules
Healing molecules
At the origins, the use of perfumes was associated to spirituality and healing.
This is so true that the knowledge of their preparation was reserved to priests and healers, and in many cultures these two figures and functions were united in one person, the spiritual healer. This observation leads us straight to the concept of Spiritual healing.
Spiritual healing has been the only way in the story medicine until recently, it apprehends human being, disease and the function of the medic in a logic governed by the principle that the dimension of the spirit governs the physical one. Our actual philosophy of medicine has separated these two aspects, reducing the dimension of the spirit to psychology and physical neuronal processes.
Modern medicine has turned over the original traditional thinking that spirit is at the origin of disease, for the opinion that diseases and healing are only material processes.
“It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.”
Hippocrates
“Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease.”
Hippocrates
Hippocrates is the founder of medicine. He elaborated the entire philosophy of medicine. Modern medicine was built over the knowledge that was transmitted to Europeans from the Greek doctors through the Islamic civilization.
The original “materia medica” is still the same today as it has been since Hippocrates. It is in grand part constituted from aromatic plants. Their essential oils are often the active principle behind their healing power.
Their medical use is called aromatherapy.
Do not think that aromatherapy is a medicine for colds and headaches, Aromatherapy, in the same way as Homeopathy and acupuncture is a powerful medicine that cures most of what modern medicine does, and also most of what it does not cure.
Essential oils are medicines from the pharmacy of nature. They present no side effect even when used in concomitance with allopathic medicines. The fast and powerful action of the essences makes aromatherapy incomparable for the treatment of acute illnesses and emergencies. The reduced number of essences necessary to cure most of human diseases makes it easy to practice even for home use.
A natural perfumer is bound to learn and practice aromatherapy, not as a profession, but as a field of knowledge that will allow him to alleviate suffering around him, among family and friends.
He will use the same the essences of his perfume organ for curing himself and others. This practice will be the guarantee that he will choose the best qualities and the guarantee that he will not strive away from the path of naturality.
A natural perfumer who does neither study nor practice aromatherapy is like a donkey carrying books or like a fool who burns banknotes in the winter to get warm, instead of buying wood with them.
When you are able to cure people quickly and simply for painful disturbs that see no solution with modern medicine, then you will understand the value of the ingredients that you manipulate while you make perfumes. You will experience the certainty of their intrinsic goodness.
The teaching of Guerlain “Never cheat on the quality” is for us the starting point for our choice to use only natural ingredients for our perfumes.
Secondly, our experience of healing with our perfume ingredients originates our constant search for the best quality of each natural ingredient.
Aromatherapy and perfumery are exactly like cooking and a perfumer or a healer are nothing more than Chefs. You can never make good dishes with bad ingredients and the best dishes need the best ingredients. Therefore, if you want to make the best perfumes or the best remedies, you must have the best essences.
What is at the origin of someone becoming a natural perfumer? It is love for the scents of nature, who are themselves the expression of love for their creator from the plants.
However, love without knowledge is of lesser value, because it is fruitless.
The knowledge of healing with the essences is indispensable to the natural perfumer, for becoming a tree bearing fruits that will nourish the soul of people.
AbdesSalaam Attar
Philosophy of Perfume (part 1): Bases for a revolution
Philosophy of perfume (part 2): The language of scents
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!