Great Construction

Pneumonia and Tuberculosis

     The illnesses related most closely to the common cold are pneumonia and tuberculosis. These two diseases particularly cause the greatest suffering in Japan at present, so a thorough explanation is necessary. The original cause of both pneumonia and tuberculosis is the common cold. As explained in the previous chapter, “The Common Cold—Fundamental Basis for Health,” even though the body’s natural functions generate purification activity that seeks to expel toxins, the therapies of medical science forcibly halt the elimination process through the use of various measures. I have already discussed these measures, but among the various therapies that medical science uses today, the worst and most damaging are drugs and cold compresses. Pharmaceuticals—drugs—medicines are all nothing but poisons by another name. Poisons are used in medicines because, as I continually explain, they are the most effective in suppressing the body’s natural purification process.
     To detail the essence of the purification process, as I just mentioned, it is a natural bodily function for removing from the body the poisonous elements which all human beings possess when born. Therefore, the vitality of the person’s physical body determines the degree of individual purifying capacity. The fact that tuberculosis predominates among young people is because their purifying capacity is at its strongest levels. As the individual progresses to middle and old age this capacity declines. These are the reasons that the various kinds of infectious diseases are prevalent among children and adolescents. When medical treatment tries to forcibly stop the purifying function that are these diseases, the suppressive measures merely lead to weakening the body’s vitality. The only measures to stop the symptoms of disease that medical science could conceive were the introduction of poisons into the body, but the only effect this measure produces is to weaken the body’s vitality. The purifying capacity weakens and thus the symptoms of the disease decrease.
     Cold compresses harm the purifying process because they reduce the fever that is necessary to dissolve the solidified toxins in the body, and thus the toxins return to a hardened state, and to the extent they harden, pain decreases. Plasters have the same effect, the only difference between cold compresses and plasters being that because the human body is constantly breathing through the capillaries of the skin, the plaster suffocates that area of the skin, and the purifying process in that area stops, alleviating the condition’s symptoms. Injections are in common use recently, and this is because the pharmaceuticals used, if taken internally, could easily cause addiction, so they are injected from the skin.
     When one contracts a cold, and the treatments using pharmaceuticals, compresses, and plasters just described are employed thus halting the purifying process, some of the toxins in the body are eliminated, but most remain. These toxins will solidify again, and because new toxins have been added in the recent treatment, toxins continue to increase accumulatively, and after they reach a certain amount, purifying action will then start. This is pneumonia, and it is, as I described in the previous chapter, the accruement of interest on the debt. The aspect of pneumonia most significant for my explanation is that great amounts of phlegm accumulate in the lungs, so stridor (high-pitched breath sound) is conspicuous. Stridor is the reverberation of the phlegm that occurs every time the sacs in the lung move when a breadth is taken and expelled. Breathing is difficult because the great amount of phlegm diminishes lung capacity, so to get the air that the body requires, breaths have to be taken at a faster rate. These are the principles of what is occurring in a case of pneumonia, so if no medical therapies were applied, and the condition left to nature, the body would recover to the extent that the phlegm is expelled. Medical science, however, utilizes all measures it is able to devise to stop the purifying process. Particularly strong medicines are utilized in cases of pneumonia. The poison is potent, so as the poisonous element is strong in such pharmaceuticals, they have a powerful effect on stopping the purification process. The combination of the vigorous purification along with its severe suppression creates strong irritation that causes a great amount of pain. As a result, appetite declines, body vitality decreases due to the high fever, and this combination often leads to death from debilitation. The fallacies of medical science beggar description.
     In sum, pneumonia is a vigorous purifying activity that occurs because the body possesses vitality in abundance. Purification in persons of weakened vitality is rather stagnant, and a good example of purification in an individual with a weakened condition is tuberculosis. When doctors first examine a patient for tuberculosis, of the various methods available, the method considered most decisive nowadays is X-ray technology. Because X-ray imaging catches physical clouds and cavities on the walls of the lungs, doctors pronounce the condition to be tuberculosis upon seeing these images on the photograph, but doctors still do not know what causes the phenomenon. Now I will explain the cause of these physical clouds and cavities that appear to be on the walls of the lung. As was explained also in the case of the common cold, the liquefied form of toxins invades the lungs and while it remains there, the measures of medical treatment prevent the purification that is attempting to generate, so the phlegm does not get discharged. The phlegm stays in the lungs, and as time passes, solidifies again. This is what is seen as a physical cloud on the X-ray photograph and is entirely a result of human meddling. When the liquid toxins first invade the lungs, the condition of the lungs is not abnormal. When the solidified phlegm is located mostly in the upper part of the lungs, the condition is called catarrh of the pulmonary apex or lymphonodi bronchopulmonales. A similar condition is pulmonary infiltration. This condition occurs with light cases of pleurisy or when toxins that have accumulated in the region of the ribs start to purify, dissolve and, seeking discharge, seep out, and infiltrate into the lungs. In these cases, medical science endeavors to solidify these toxins so the condition does not heal easily, but if left alone, will heal naturally by itself.
     Once tuberculosis has been diagnosed, the approach of medical science is, as with the common cold, to forcibly suppress the purifying activity. What is thought to be the most effective treatment nowadays and what is highly recommended is absolute rest. Rest therapy, however, is only a trick. Even a healthy person who undergoes absolute rest therapy for a month will lose appetite due to a lack of exercise, physical vitality will decrease, the complexion will worsen because the patient remains inside, and the physical condition will obviously weaken as gasps for breath are taken after even a little activity. In addition, poisons introduced in the form of pharmaceuticals and animal protein consumed in the name of nutrition add to the weakened condition to the point the patient will either become tubercular, or, at the very least, physical vitality will decline.
     The remedies insisted upon by medical science are but ways to weaken the body, and, as can be expected, the purifying ability of the body declines, and because the symptoms decrease, and the fever disappears along with coughing and phlegm, all are happy and think that the patient has recovered. It is not perceived that the body has only been returned to the condition it was before purification started, and furthermore, that the amount of toxins in the form of pharmaceuticals has actually increased, and that the body’s vitality has declined. Even though there may appear to be improvement, it is only temporary, and the patient is not truly healed. Upon some future occasion, the patient’s condition will worsen and become serious, often times leading ultimately to death. Doctors see this progression often, so medical professionals will not say absolutely that tuberculosis can be cured, which is evident as is seen when doctors in Japan use the word “hardened” to say that they think the patient’s condition has settled. During treatment for tuberculosis, a fever may break out if the patient is active for even a little. The doctor hastily and hurriedly scolds the patient for activity but this fever occurs because the purification that had been stopped starts up again as the body regains strength. This recurrence of fever is really a good sign. It often happens that after long-term treatment with modern medical science, patients have been told they are cured and so relieved, start to lead normal lives once again. After a short while, however, tuberculosis breaks out again and they end up back where they started. This occurs because the toxins that have solidified over many years finally begin to dissolve with the start of normal physical activity. It is quite clear from my description above that medical science today is quite mistaken. No exaggeration it is to frankly state that present medical practices increase the number of cases and malignancy of tuberculosis.
     At this point I would like to call the reader’s attention to the concept of tubercule bacillus, the tuberculosis germ [mycobacterium tuberculosis]. Modern medicine fears the tubercule bacillus because it is thought to be infectious, and although the germ may be transmitted in some circumstances, in a majority of cases, the bacillus occurs by natural generation. As I previously described, when phlegm starts to seep into the lungs, the aim of medical treatment is to harden the phlegm so it will not come out and with repetition of the treatment over time, the phlegm putrefies and microorganisms are generated.
     This is what modern medicine calls tubercule bacillus. The phlegm that has come about in this manner has a strong stench and is quite sticky. Think about it. Any substance will putrefy as it gets old, and it is a law of substances that microorganisms will breed when putrefaction occurs. In addition, favorable growing conditions are provided by body temperature. Thus it can be appreciated that if the phlegm that had accumulated in the lungs when the cold first broke out had been eliminated, the entire purifying process would be over, and the patient returned to health. But attempts are made so that the phlegm is not expelled, and it then putrefies, and breeds microorganisms. With the invasion of microorganisms, cavities may even form. From the resulting consequences it may be said that current treatment of tuberculosis is harm performed in the name of good. As long as humanity does not awaken to this mistake, immeasurable will be the number of those sacrificed in the name of medical science. 

Creation of Civilization, unpublished, 1952
 translated by cynndd

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“Hai‘en to Kekkaku,” the fifth chapter of the second part of the unpublished manuscript Bunmei no Sōzō (Creation of Civilization), has appeared previously in translation. Citation is given below for reference.

“Pneumonia and Tuberculosis,” Creation of Civilization, 1978, page 41.