HOLIDAY GREETINGS! I’m back after a lengthy and much needed break from blogging, which I’ve been doing since March of 2010. However I haven’t been away from writing and publishing. Speaking of publishing, the image above will be on the cover of a booklet I’ve been compiling, in collaboration with a friend and colleague, Dr. Steve Ventola, from Atlanta, Georgia. The title of the booklet is “ABOVE DOWN INSIDE OUT” The Spiritual Foundations of Chiropractic—It’s Evolution and Role in the World. Together we’ve put together a brief history of Chiropractic: its origin, challenges and evolution as the largest drugless healing profession in the world. It will be available from Amazon in the next few weeks just after the New Year Holidays. Today I want to share a sampling of our co-creation. Hopefully it will pique your interest enough to place an order for your personal copy of the booklet come January of 2026. Here are a few excerpts from our booklet.
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What comes to your mind when you think about the word Chiropractic? Most people think about the physical aspect of manipulating the spine to relieve a backache or neck ache, which is what has become the common perception of this healthcare discipline. I was introduced to chiropractic care as a healing art that addresses illness and health issues like sinusitis, indigestion, headaches, internal organ malfunctions and the like. When we were children and came down with sore throats and the flu, our dad would “pop “our necks as part of our care. He had learned the technique from his barber, who apparently had had training in adjusting the spine. That was way back in the 1940’s and 50’s.
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Doing a little research into the history of Chiropractic, I learned that its roots have been traced back to writings found in China and in Greece as early as 2700 and 1500 B.C. Even in those ancient of days, manipulation of the spine in an effort to alleviate low back pain was vogue. Even the philosophy of a “chiropractic-like treatment” is written up in the works of the Greek physician Hippocrates (460 to 357 B.C. ). “’Get knowledge of the spine,’ he wrote, ‘for this is the requisite for many diseases.’”
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Chiropractic is more than a physical adjustment; it is an evolving philosophy towards life and health. There is an inherent intelligence within us that influences our own health (if we heed it) and, through each one, it can contribute to the well-being of the world.
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Chiropractic’s early philosophy was rooted in vitalism, naturalism, magnetism, spiritualism and other constructs that are not amenable to the scientific method, although Palmer tried to merge science and metaphysics. Schools such as Life University in Marietta, Georgia, founded by Dr. Sid Williams, diversified this philosophy without taking anything away from its core essence, but rather enlarging upon it. Dr. Williams established what he called “Dynamic Essentials.” The essence of his school’s motto is: “To give, To Do, To Love, To Serve out of your own abundance.” This guiding principle emphasizes living an inner-directed life and using one’s unique gifts to serve others, qualities of both Innate and Universal Intelligence.
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During the period just prior to his death, Daniel Palmer was seriously considering making his discovery into a religion rather than a professional healing art—a suggestion that sent turbulent waves throughout the then-infant profession. However, whereas it aroused much criticism from a few chiropractors, the concept brought greater applause from his students and audiences than he had received with any of his other lectures. D.D. was keenly aware, even then, of how easily the vision of the spiritual, or “vibrational,” aspect of healing could get lost in chiropractors’ preoccupation with bones and nerves, and pain and relief there from, and that his healing art might become just another palliative therapy. The rationale within which he gave an adjustment was much larger than the patient’s medical condition or spinal subluxation, and his service was much greater to him than a hand-manipulation of the spine. It was a ritual, a religious practice, a worshipful obligation.
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“. . . We deal with the magic power that transforms common food into living, loving, thinking clay; that robes the earth with beauty, and hues and scents the flowers with glory.”
But it’s the first sentence of this famous quotation that is the clincher: “We chiropractors work with the subtle substance of the soul . . . “ (B.J. Palmer, The Bigness of the Fellow Within, Chapter 11, “The Inner Power Speaks.”)
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“I hold it to be self-evident that all men and women who have acquired sufficient knowledge and skill to remove the nerve tension which prevents physical, mental and spiritual development, are engaged in a work of a higher order than that ordinarily required of, and performed by, the physician. They are practically the moral duties and obligations of religion and any attempt to prevent such acts by law is an unmitigated crime against humanity.
“Chiropractic science, its art and philosophy, deal with human and spiritual phenomena. The conscientious reverent acknowledgment of the phenomena, in sentiment and act, connects the spiritual with the physical, and constitutes in its fullest and highest sense a religion….
“By correcting these displacements of osseous tissue… I claim that I am rendering obedience, adoration and honor to the All-Wise Spiritual Intelligence, as well as a service to the segmented, individual portions thereof—a duty I owe to both God and mankind. In accordance with this aim and end, the Constitution of the United States and the statutes personal of California confer upon me and all persons of chiropractic faith the inalienable right to practice our religion without restraint or hindrance. (D.D. Palmer, The Chiropractor, “The Moral and Religious Duty of a Chiropractor,” 1914.)
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“Through the years in my service to those who have come to me, I often heard the statement expressed by them, ‘Life seems to be slipping away from me.’ Actually, it wasn’t life that was slipping away from the person, but the person who was slipping away from life. It has interested me as to what the person was doing in his so-called living that was moving him away from the source of life. . . .” —Dr. William Bahan
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“Stars are a gentle reminder of our oneness with Universal Intelligence, coming down to earth through our Innate Intelligence. Your knowing of this through the science of Chiropractic will be a wonderful endowment to true healing. Above-Down-Inside-Out is a revelation and experience in your service to others.” —Shirley Worster, Dr. Bahan’s sister
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“It really is for each of us—whether a Chiropractor or not—to realize we have a choice: to experience the true nature of life or endure the lack thereof. It all depends on how fully we receive and heed the impulses of Life that are looking to find release through us; how we acknowledge that life’s presence is very much within us; and how we receive it into our hearts and minds and ultimately out in the expression of our lives. It is a matter of being loyal to the qualities of our innate life essences and what it takes for the clear, open, vibrant, harmonious expression of them. Here is the key to knowing life’s fulfillment and joy.
“Just as coordination is essential for the harmonious function of the individual body, so too is the collective expression of Innate Intelligence essential for global health. As we each fully express our individual parts in life in harmony with one another, life can have its way in bringing about health and wholeness in the whole body of mankind and in the world.”
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CHRISTMAS AND ITS ORIGIN
This is the Christmas Season when we open our hearts in a generous way and exchange gifts of appreciation and love, reminiscent of the legendary Magi bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the “newborn King.” We have set the date for Christmas on December 25th as the day every year to remember and rejoice in the birth of the Child Jesus. It is an auspicious event, although no one really knows the year, or even the day, that the historical figure of Jesus was born.
Does Christmas really honor Jesus and His birth?
Where did the Christmas holiday come from? How did it begin, and why?
Does it really honor Jesus Christ and celebrate His birth, or is there more to the story that most people don’t know?
Did you realize that historians (and the Bible) agree that Jesus Christ wasn’t born anywhere near December 25? Or that this particular date was well known for its pagan religious celebrations long before Jesus Christ was born?
What does a jolly old man in a fur-trimmed red suit called Santa Claus (who supposedly lives at the North Pole and is assisted by elves!) have to do with the birth of the Son of God? And what about reindeer and a flying sleigh?
How much do you know about the origin of the Christmas tree? How did holly come to be connected with the holiday, and why is mistletoe supposedly good for kissing?
Few people know why they believe or do the things they do—especially when it comes to their religious beliefs and practices.
Historians tell us the Christmas celebration came from questionable origins.
The lure of profit has proven so strong that, since the 1870s, merchants have vigorously promoted Christmas.
Did the writers of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) consider Jesus’ birth to be one of the most significant events for Christians to acknowledge or celebrate?… Did Jesus Christ tell us to celebrate His birth? No.
A careful analysis of Scripture, however, clearly indicates that December 25 is an unlikely date for Christ’s birth. (The Truth Behind Christmas)
HAVE A BLESSED AND JOYFUL CHRISTMAS
For whatever reason we celebrate Christmas on December 25th, I think it’s a valuable tradition, if only for the pause this season affords from the workaday routine, and for what it does to open our hearts to the Spirit of Giving. So, I join with you in celebrating Christmas as a day of the greatly needed outpouring of the spirits of love and generosity. Blessings of love and light to you and yours. Until my next post,
Be Merry. Be Happy.
Anthony
Email: tpal70@gmail.com
Healing Tones 