The Survival of Medicine in the New Coming Middle Ages
In a previous article, we noted that both the doctor and the patient are subject to a system that limits and frustrates them. Although there are "islands" within health systems that allow for respite from this pressure, they will soon disappear. The advent of the Artificial Intelligence era, which is rapidly invading scientific, social, and educational fields, has already begun to interfere with diagnosis and the choice of treatment methods. And although it is presented as merely informative, we must not forget that it responds to the interests of the economic and materialist foundations of the Western medical system.
Today, it is common for patients to seek guidance through these artificial intelligence systems, to which they attribute great importance and reverence. Medical colleges and universities are already incorporating AI training and preparation for young medical professionals.
Social and economic pressures are pushing toward a system in which doctors become mere data collectors, modifiers of partial treatments, and executors of AI dictates. This situation is further aggravated by the universal imposition of so-called "protocols," which will undoubtedly now be standardized by intelligent machines.
If disease, diagnosis, and treatment were exclusively mechanical and material—in the same way that human beings are often considered today: advanced biological robots lacking an independent psychology (since contemporary psychology/psychiatry posits that mental illness and psychological disorders have a physico-chemical origin, and that human behavior is therefore modifiable through behavioral training and pharmaceutical intervention)—then, given all of the above, it would be absolutely logical for artificial intelligences, increasingly unsupervised by medical professionals, to take over almost entirely the "efficient management" of health.
Consequently, the role of the doctor will diminish. Only the programmers of the machines, together with computational and biological scientists—who will no longer be doctors in the traditional sense—will provide the necessary information to the machines. Ultimately, large pharmaceutical industries, insurers, and providers of clinics and hospitals, as part of an integrated package, will define health, disease, and treatment. The doctor, as we know the profession today, will cease to exist.
This will be the ultimate post-capitalist model, where the state will also have lost its importance, and the directors of the health system will be the large conglomerates and corporations. These entities will have, as in the late Middle Ages, territories under their sole responsibility.
A few years ago, the idea of a new civilizational collapse seemed unthinkable, merely a catastrophic fantasy. Today, however, it has become a tangible threat. Although nothing is irreversible, the signs are alarming: the collapse of supply chains due to geopolitical conflicts; economic sanctions arbitrarily imposed by global powers, depriving entire nations of access to medicines; the prohibitive price of drugs; and the advance of ultra-technified treatments—dependent on extremely costly technologies—all point to a future in which access to modern medicine will be an unattainable privilege for many.
In this scenario, traditional and alternative medicines resurface not as a fashion, but as a necessity for survival. They will, in fact, be the last resort for isolated communities, especially in regions where social and political collapse has left the population beyond the reach of drugs and technology from rich countries.
But the problem is not limited to the developing world. Even in powers like the United States, the health system, based on a private and exclusive model, leaves millions without coverage. Paradoxically, despite its wealth and scientific advances, the US shows health indicators worse than those of many other developed nations: lower life expectancy, high maternal and child mortality rates, an increase in suicides, and preventable deaths due to a lack of early care.
This case exemplifies a lethal contradiction: neither multi-million dollar research budgets nor medical sophistication guarantee social welfare when the system prioritizes the voracious profit of a few. Financial globalism, far from democratizing health, has concentrated privileges in an increasingly small and wealthy elite, while abandoning large segments of the population to their fate. The question is inevitable: are we witnessing the twilight of medicine as we know it?
Perhaps, but it will not be the twilight of scientific medicine per se, but of the social model that has sheltered and exploited it for its own benefit, while banishing any alternative. The failure of this socio-economic model will drag millions of people into helplessness and lack of resources in the face of disease.
What can we, doctors and health workers in general, do?
First, we must review the ethical foundations of our practice and analyze what our true responsibility and scope are.
Secondly, we must seek simple and natural means that we can use without resorting to excessive sophistication when it is unnecessary. The concept of integrative medicine, and research into these approaches, will adequately complement pharmaceutical treatment in some cases and replace it in others.
Thirdly, we must address the psychological aspect of disease; that is, discover the mental mechanisms that could be at the root of behaviors harmful to the patient or that generate suffering. Far from psychologizing the patient with strange theories, this is about applying a classical, healthy, natural psychology within a solid philosophy of life, which helps the patient overcome their weaknesses.
Fourthly, and of no less importance, the Spirit of a New Medicine must reconnect with the soul of the doctor. We must clearly understand that authentic medicine is not being practiced if the doctor persists in ignoring the spiritual and psychological aspects of the patient and of themselves. This is not about using religious mechanisms or particular beliefs to cure the patient, as that, besides being potentially harmful, goes against the independence and spiritual strengthening of both. Rather, it is about fostering a deep feeling of unity with oneself and with the patient, for that is the essence of authentic spirituality: reconnecting with the divine consciousness within oneself, within our fellow human beings, and within the entire Universe. This provides another perspective, another feeling, another non-materialistic humanism that allows us to address the human being in depth.
This connection with oneself also involves connecting with Nature and its healing powers. Hence the need to investigate the natural resources available in the area where one lives: studying the influence of the local climate, seeking uncontaminated and healing waters, understanding traditional nutrition, and integrating this knowledge with scientific understanding.
We need to gradually change the paradigm from the doctor who cures to the doctor who prevents, advises, and promotes health.
In each area, the medicinal plants found there and their effects at various levels should be known, slowly and surely. We must start with small studies of the herbs used by the population since ancient times, as they are likely effective remedies. It is necessary to study their physico-chemical effects, their components, etc., which will guide us to their performance at a material level. But we must also collect legends, myths, and plant-related symbolism, because sometimes they hold the keys to special uses.
Some of the bioenergy systems we have inherited from the past should be studied, not superficially but in depth, as they hold important keys to the vital-energy plane of the human being. At the same time, moving away from current "homeopathic" schools, which have unfortunately over-mechanized diagnostic systems and the search for homeopathic remedies, we must study with new eyes and carefully the reality behind this science with ancient Pythagorean roots. In doing so, we can recover the Laws of Correspondence found in the texts of Paracelsus, Agrippa von Nettesheim, and others.
We also have to recover ancient Chinese medicine, but leaving aside the easy and mechanical "acupuncture" for pains and sciatica practiced in the West and even in the modern East. Instead, we should seek the deep roots of Chinese energetic medicine, one of the most sophisticated systems, whose essential elements are scattered and nearly lost today. This is profound knowledge that has little to do with the Chinese medicine currently practiced in most Western and even Eastern clinics.
It is an extensive program, but it is a necessary path we must travel little by little, one that will help us integrate with the nature of the human being and with ourselves.
For some, these recommendations may seem fantastic or detached from reality; however, it is a useful path that will serve when all else fails, when systems can no longer provide people with sophisticated chemical drugs. On the other hand, as we approach nature and our inner nature, we will never be led astray, because there is no other way for medical wisdom than that of genuine internalization within ourselves. This allows us to see beyond the dark mirror that hides the true being behind every human being.
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