People say animals wash themselves when they’re nervous. They’re not washing themselves, they’re massaging. It’s a natural impulse to heal and calm tension which damages and impedes body movement. Massage is used in physio-therapy, which has hospital backing, but qualified massage therapists are not in anyway backed by the government, in Australia. Yet sports heroes will attest to the healing power of massage.

I think massage goes beyond the healing of an injured sports star and helps emotional problems like depression, which are quite often the mind complaining about the pain signals in the body, due to muscle stiffness, injuries that have not healed or cleaned up properly and alignment.

A professional massage makes the body feel like it can move with ease afterwards. Who wouldn’t want that? Well, if you can’t afford it, then you can’t get it. There’s no bulk billing on massage. And of course it is expensive, it’s hard and skilled work.

Here’s what I say about mainstream doctors. They don’t do anything but be middle men for the pharmacy. But anyone can work out what pills to take for what ails them, there are plenty of internet sites to look at and polls that rate them. What is useful about a GP is their skill in recognising symptoms and taking biopsies for laboratory testing. But the patient still hasn’t received any healing, they’re just awaiting diagnosis.

Then the pills GPs recommend are often deficient because they don’t cure. Things like anti-inflammatories, don’t aid in healing, in fact they cause more problems like stomach ulcers. I find Chinese herbalists have teas and soups to boil up that actually work better to stop inflammation. Herbalists, however, are not government funded either. Why? Well, why was hemp banned as a material that could replace hard to grow crops like cotton. It’s just industry manoeuvring really. I find industry manoeuvring a bit sick when it gets into the healing professions. But there it is, chemical theories override any other type of theories, except when those chemical theories come from another country other than the USA, let’s say.

Osteopaths and acupuncturists are recognised and funded by the Transport Accident Authority, but never bulk bill. So their professions are part way to being recognised, luckily, because what they do is a big help in recovering from being knocked over by a car. Taking chemicals like paracetamol, do not help a person recover and that’s all a GP and other public hospital professionals have got for you. So buy a walking stick and prepare to be a cripple for life if you stick with their theories. The only person in the hospital system that will help guide you is the physiotherapist. Appointments with them are minimal and they don’t do as much hands on work to help you. You’ve got to do the massage and the exercises yourself.

While I don’t like pain, I find tablets to kill pain make me feel stupid and numb. I’d rather find and cure the thing that’s causing the pain. That’s what an osteopath and an acupuncturist should be good at. And I’ve found they are.

I was surprised when my brother Aidge said, ‘They’re mostly working on placebo.’

He said this, without ever having seen any doctor but a GP. But he’d worked for people who tried to treat cancer with ozone and he’s had it with quacks.

I agree there are quacks out there. But some of the worst ones, are government funded. These being the psychiatrists. I find it strange that a GP and a psychiatrist can bulk-bill and real healers can’t. We have an odd way of supporting some parts of society and not others.

I said to Aidge, ‘So you don’t believe in physiotherapy? Because if I wasn’t shown how to massage my finger and move it after I broke it, it would’ve never moved again.’

He had to concede that this was true. He’s sensible in that he believes in what the majority of society believes. But when the majority of society hold prejudices and misinformed beliefs, then I really can’t be in line with what they think.

 Aidge has been taking anti-depressants for the last two years. He says he probably should wean himself off them but can’t be bothered. He feels they worked. But he did also tell me that most of the time he just wants to sleep. Which I know is one of the effects of those tablets. His choice though, but I’d say taking those tablets are mere placebo. I would never want to put up with the side-effects. If he does, it’s his choice. The sex-worker who sticks heroin in her veins says that helps her get through life too. Chemical cures always come with problems though. Even penicillin, which I’d agree to take if I needed it. Although it’ll probably be useless soon, as the bugs are forming a resistance against it, just as bigger bugs form resistance against crop pesticides.

Pharms and farms are not that far apart in their dubious methods of trying to control eco-systems. Our body is an eco-system. It has problems from time to time. Treating those problems with strong, harsh chemicals, does damage. Which makes me think, the easy solutions of pop a pill and crop dust are silly.

The government puts its money behind strange things like, casinos, car races and mining companies. Think of how in Alcoa, an aluminium plant was able to get government funding to build big powerlines to its address, when it could’ve been using the geo-thermal of the local volcanic area. A motel chain tapped into the geo-thermal and has been getting free efficient power, yet a big smelter is too lazy and supported by the government to do that.

I’m not into lazy thinking, which is why I think chemical healing is really limited and backed up by silly theories that are funded by a chemical company that wants to make big money. The chemical company offers an advertise hard to resist in our busy society: all you have to do is pop a pill and it makes everything better.