Holier than thou. Sanctimonious. Self righteous. We have all met people who fit the description. Perhaps we have been one of them when it came to some matter or other at some point of our lives? When I look back to see what I have been holier than thou about, the answer comes to me in a flash. It starts with H too, the alphabet of today: Homoeopathy.

Truly speaking though, I cannot take ALL the *credit* for it. Most, if not all of it rests on the shoulders of the family in which I was born. They were majorly into it and I had no option but to grow up believing in their ways too. Yup. Just like children born into cults have no way to know the truth until much later in life if at all. Fortunately I was lucky enough to wake up to facts at a later point in my life.

Anyway…

For those not in the know, homoeopathy is an ‘alternative system of medicine based on the theory of ‘like cures like’. Yeah, I have heard that from the cradle, so can glibly quote it even now, years later when when I have left it far behind. I am not going into what the claims of the homoeopaths are, after all it takes only a click to let Mother Google enlighten you. I will instead stick to the holier than thou outlook of mine when it came to it.

I was so enamoured of the ‘tenets’ of homoeopathy I have been fed from the moment of birth that I looked down on others as ignorant of the real deal, just as the elders of my family. We were special, the ones who knew the only right way of treating disease. All those others who went to mainstream doctors and popped those loathsome pills were a misguided lot. The elders talked of them with disdain and we kids simply absorbed it. In our household and those of my cousins, none of us were ever taken to regular hospitals for treatment. Hospitals and doctors were looked at with fear and revulsion as people who would destroy our health. The irony!

As a child I have suffered through pneumonia, whooping cough, measles, chicken pox, bronchitis, asthma, toothache, earache et al but never once had I been taken to a doctor. As a student I even had severe headaches. When I think about it now, I am filled with wonder that I survived at all. Yes, I have heard stories of how mother used to check my breath (I was two or three at the time) to see whether I was ‘still alive’ because I lay too still. And yet no one thought of seeing a doctor because the family had absolute ‘faith’ in homoeopathy.

That I survived was proof that homoepathy worked, to them and to me. That’s how the stories were told and re told. Never mind the complications I suffer to this day. You see where exactly I come from? From a place of absolute faith. And that was deeply rooted in me too. I held forth passionately about the topic to friends who’d listen. ‘You people know nothing’ and ‘Our way is the best way’ was how I looked at it. Holler than thou.

I must have been pretty convincing as a fifteen year old because years later, in my fifties, when I met my old room-mate from college days, she mentioned that she only took homoeopathy medicines. Astounded at her words, I started laughing helplessly. I no longer hold the same beliefs, I told her. Now it was her turn to be aghast. In the days that followed she tried convincing ME how wrong I was.

The reversal in roles amused me, but not her persistence in trying to convince me. I had to tell her very firmly that I had been an ignorant fifteen year old back then (as was she) who was totally under the influence of her family’s beliefs. I see things differently now as my eyes have been opened.

I must say that I wasn’t totally off modern medicines when I had my own family though I was apprehensive about going to regular doctors and I did insist in following the homoeo-way when it came to minor illnesses for my children, something I regret and will for the rest of my life. It’s so difficult to throw off years of conditioning. I am thankful though that for more serious problems I did take them to a doctor of modern medicine albeit reluctantly.

How did my eyes open to the truth of the matter? My sons were my guides as they are in a lot of things. It’s all bosh, they told me confidently, especially the First Born. I wanted to believe them, but was still somewhat skeptical. And then one day a thought wriggled its way into my head, ‘How do I know what they, the family members (starting from my maternal grandfather, uncles, aunts, and my own parents) have been telling me is the truth?’

And just like that I had an epiphany.

OMG. It’s like those cults people belong to. I was born into it and have been blindly believing stuff I have been told without ever questioning, without any real proof! Books on homoeopathy are not proof enough. There are books that tell you the earth is flat, but you know for a fact that it isn’t. Anyone can write anything convincingly. You have to use your own brain to sift the wheat from the chaff.

I am glad I was able to see through it all. And I can safely say with that my holier than thou outlook in life was finally put to rest in its coffin and buried forever.

©️ Shail Mohan 2024