Paths of Perception
Seeking Wisdom in a Age of Polarization
You’ll encounter these signs about 10 minutes if you follow a little trail off the Lund highway, across from the Tla’amin Convenience store on the southern edge of Teeshoshum (t̓išosəm) village. If you veer right, you'll climb up a bluff that overlooks my little community of Wildwood, offering a rarely appreciated view of its backside — what I whimsically call the "butthole” — a natural wetland adjacent to a decommissioned sewage lagoon. Should you take the trail to the left, it loops back to the start, or you can take a branch that leads up to Little Sliammon Lake.
I pass by these signs every time I walk the trail. At first, I thought it quaint to imagine that this view could encompass the whole world, a notion that probably seems true for some long-term residents that have seldom explored beyond this community. However, with each repeated encounter, in my mind these signs morphed into something different, as a metaphor representing the dichotomy of perception and choice.
On one side - the "right" side - we are promised a "view of the world," a perspective shaped by our collective experience. This is the "mainstream" viewpoint, rooted in shared beliefs, common sense, or scientific consensus, reflecting how most people around us interpret the world. In contrast, heading in the opposite direction is an alternate path, leading to something unlabeled; perhaps underappreciated, unconsidered, or even unknown.
These diverging paths mirror the dual nature of perception and choice inherent in our decisions, underscoring that neither path encompasses the whole truth. Any proposition can be met with a counterargument. According to Aristotle, this is the first rule of logic: that if an entity can be said to exist (A = A), it inherently implies the existence of distinct entities (A ≠ B). Not only does this acknowledge the existence of a thing, but also the manifold reality in which we live.
While it’s easy to admit the diversity of this earthly realm, managing the cacophony of our minds is not so straightforward. F. Scott Fitzgerald once suggested that "true intelligence" is the capacity to entertain contradiction, but he fails to capture just how difficult and painful this experience can be. Most of us find having competing narratives in our mind difficult to manage, and when our understanding of the world is in conflict, it creates a painful and confusing state of cognitive dissonance. In surveying my life and from the feedback of others, it seems that for many of us this state of dissonance has become notably worse since 2015, with an increasing prevalence of technology in our lives, to the breakdown of socio-political norms.
For most of us, when faced the dissonance of two opposing views, our thinking typically evolves in one of two ways. Either we resolve the contradiction by reactively cleaving to one perspective, or we turn the notion in our minds over and over, hoping to find some kind of synthesis. While the former always raises the possibility that we’re dead wrong, and hence risk ensuing disaster, the problem with the latter is that we might never arrive at a synthesis. If such a state is allowed to persist, it can undermine confidence and erode the agency of choice, giving rise to problems such as anxiety and depression. And even if we can finally resolve the contradiction through compromise — often the best case solution — the result still feels at least a little painful, and sometimes a lot.
Navigating the complexities of perception and choice is arguably humanity's most daunting challenge. When faced with this problem, the Chinese Taoist philosopher Lǎozǐ suggested we cultivate the state of becoming — like an "uncarved block" of wood (pǔ):
The world is formed from the void,
like utensils from a block of wood.
The Master knows the utensils,
yet keeps to the block:
thus they can use all things.— Dàodéjīng, Chapter 28
In this passage, Lǎozǐ encourages us to focus on the tree itself rather than the signs nailed to it. He asks us to see beyond the superficial to reveal the essence of nature itself, rather than the constructs we attach to it. In the face of difficult decisions, he teaches the value of choicelessness, through contemplation and acceptance — however perplexing — before proceeding to action. Cultivating this mindset, Lǎozǐ asserts, the dào (truth) is naturally illuminated within us.
But as important as it is to cultivate this state of choicelessness, the world often demands action. Even when, and especially if, our goal is peace and equanimity, there are always forces that seek to undermine this. Called evil by some but frequently rooted in little more than blind ignorance, injustice is a perennial issue requiring us to be vigilant and even severe.
Consider the story of Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa from the Bhagavad Gītā, on the night before the battle in which Arjuna goes to war with his kinsfolk. Seeing family on both sides of the battlefield, Arjuna is filled with doubt and confusion. In the midst of this crisis, his charioteer Kṛṣṇa impresses upon him the importance of upholding his duty, or dharma. Arjuna’s kinsfolk are driven by greed and jealousy, resorting to deceit and treachery to gain personal advantage, and Kṛṣṇa advises him that he has no choice but fight. Given the pain of going to war with his family, Kṛṣṇa counsels Arjuna to fulfill his duty as a warrior with a detached and selfless mindset. In this way, the story of Arjuna teaches us that we can act and fulfill our duty even from a place of choicelessness.
According to the Bhagavad Gītā, the most important consideration behind effective action is the support of dharma. Understood in various contexts to mean different things, in the Gītā as articulated by Kṛṣṇa, dharma is action that seeks to alleviate suffering. This premise is based on the most ancient of Vedic teachings, called the Sāṅkhya darśana, which in its oldest form denies the relevance of god: there is nobody coming to save you. Thus, abandoned to the constant churning of this wheel of birth and death, in a world filled with ignorance, hatred, and greed, Sāṅkhya teaches that greatest purpose and meaning of life lies in the alleviation of suffering. But unlike the strict pacifism of Sāṅkhya, the Gītā also teaches that we sometimes must fight, and even sacrifice our lives, to achieve this purpose. Although imperfect, a good example of this is the sacrifice our forebears made during WWII, to secure the future peace we now enjoy — not unlike the sacrifice Ukrainians have been forced to make.
I’ve walked past these signs now for the last year, and each time it triggers some thought about the dichotomy they represent, and how this argument between mainstream and alternative views has become so polarized these last few years. As someone labelled as an “alternative” practitioner, I know all about marching to the beat of a different drummer, and how exhausting it can be. And, after almost 30 years of practice, I also know that whatever principles we start with, life forces us to acknowledge nuance and complexity.
In a world bound up in argument and counter-argument, amplified by a digital media environment that is algorithmically engineered to elicit outrage, I think we desperately need to cultivate Lǎozǐ’s advice: to step back from the fray and in any debate try to find the complete view — which often means not taking any view at all.
But when resting in this state of choicelessness, when forced to make a decision because the world requires us to act —whether related to personal, societal, or global issues— the Gītā also tells us we must consider our ultimate duty. Thus, whether contemplating vaccines, social justice issues, or contemporary crises such as the ongoing conflict in Gaza, for me the only choice is the one that alleviates and prevents suffering. In the moral haze of influencer culture we’ve become accustomed to, this teaching especially urges us to judge actions not by their intention or rhetoric, nor by marketing and propaganda, but by their outcomes, in the words of Jesus: 'You will know them by their fruits.'
Bella's Road to Recovery: Triumphs and Tail Wags
If you've perused my social media over this last year, you can see that I haven't done much except post photos of my dogs, which was presaged by my last article here entitled "Dog tales from the Sunshine Coast." Given how many of you are dog lovers and probably want an update, I am happy to report that Bella, the dog that suffered severe paralysis from a herniated disk, has continued to improve.
While going on her ninth year I wouldn’t say she’s 100% cured, but she’s fully mobile and back to her happy old self, racing through the bush with her sister and daughter, and can even jump into the back seat of the pickup without assistance. I reviewed her protocol in my last article, but after six weeks of treatment, she had improved so much that other things neglected required my attention. Of the variety of measures I employed, I think the topical application of St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum flowering tips, 1:2) tincture mixed with DMSO had the most benefit. This is something I applied 4-5x daily, and when dry, would apply an oil medicated with cottonwood leaf bud. The following video marks her progress over the last year:
Close Encounters of the Bear Kind: Challenges Beyond Healing
But while Bella was healing up, last summer we had the misfortune of a bear jumping into the yard and getting stuck in the apple tree while the dogs scolded it from below. It was a very tense situation when I happened upon it, and despite my best efforts to contain the dogs, there was an unfortunate interaction when the bear jumped down from the tree, and the white dog — Freya — escaped my clutches and chased the bear to the end of the fence, trapping it, biting it, and then getting bitten herself twice before the bear vaulted over the fence. It made for some awful wounds.
Unfortunately, this isn't the first time this has happened. I've had to deal with this in my other dog, Freya’s mother Sophie, from chasing and getting bitten by bears. It's always something I try to avoid, but given the sheer number of bears where I live, bear-dog interactions are hard to avoid. As the only one to ever get bitten, at least four times, Sophie is particularly bad because I got her from an old logger that lived out in the bush in the West Kootenays, who kept a large pack of dogs whose sole purpose was chasing away wildlife. In this way, the thrill of the chase is genetically amplified into Sophie's being.
Harnessing Nature's Pharmacy: The Healing Power of Comfrey
Fortunately for me, and my pocketbook, I've been able to successfully treat these wounds every time, mostly by ensuring the proper sterilization of the wound, along with the use of a comfrey root poultice (Symphytum officinale). I shared this recently with a herbalist colleague, and they questioned me on my use of comfrey, repeating an oft-heard criticism that comfrey is contraindicated in wounds - which does not match with my experience.
If there is any contraindication for comfrey, it's if there's an active infection, or the use of some type of comfrey preparation that encourages infection. Comfrey is such powerful wound-healer that if care isn’t taken, it can seal up a wound so fast that traps bacteria inside, leading to an eventual abscess. When I'm treating these bear bites, I first shave the area and carefully and sterilize the wound with hydrogen peroxide or some other antiseptic such as Purple Coneflower root tincture (Echinacea angustifolia) - although the latter can sting and be very unpleasant for the dog. I will then prepare the comfrey poultice, using either fresh or dry root.
My preferred remedy is the fresh, but this isn't available during winter and early spring. To harvest, I dig out the fleshy roots, clean well with hot water, and then pulverize them in a food processor with boiling water, enough to make a thick slurry. I then use a small portion to apply to the wound and put the remainder in an ice tray to freeze, and then bag for later use. If I use the dry root, I pulverize the root into a fine powder, and then blend this with enough hot water to make a thick, gooey paste, which is then applied to the wound.
Once set in place, the comfrey serves as an effective bandage, and ensuring that it is kept moist with periodic applications of sterile water using a sprayer, it is left in place for 36-72 hours before being removed. This is the one caveat with this remedy - it’s not easy to remove, but to ensure that the wound doesn’t turn septic, it's important that it is, the wound re-sterilized, and the poultice reapplied. Sometimes instead of removing it myself, it's easier to take off the dog’s “cone of shame” and let them do the job, before sterilization and reapplication. Although it sounds gross, the dogs also do a much better (and easier) job of debriding the wound of necrotic tissue.
One thing while the poultice is on that I am always cautious to do is to smell the wound on a regular basis. Although necrotic tissue has a kind of fishy odour, an emergent bacterial infection is usually easy to detect, and if it occurs, should be carefully treated with topical agents to sterilize the wound before application of the poultice.
Given the frequency with which I have used comfrey for such wounds, I do find it surprising that it's so often maligned for this purpose. The problem, however, is not the comfrey but the form in which it's in, and mostly the problem here are comfrey salves. Generally, with any wound at risk of infection, you want to ensure that you're not actively encouraging bacterial growth, and that the wound has a chance to “breathe”. While the comfrey poultice makes an effective bandage it is not water-tight, and the fact that it dries out and must be kept a little moist, is evidence of this.
In contrast, both an oil and especially a beeswax salve form an effective seal that traps in moisture. While this is great when the problem is dryness, such as chapped lips or hands, or cracks on the heel, this is exactly the opposite of what we want when healing wounds that have a risk of infection. Ensuring that you understand the difference between a comfrey poultice and a salve, and taking care to properly sterilize the injury, you can make ample use of comfrey as an important wound healer - one that I consider to be the most powerful of allies for this purpose.
In Comfrey We Trust!
Embracing Change: From Digital Detox to Real-World Connections
You might have noticed that it's been more than a year since I posted anything to Substack. As you can see, I've spent a fair amount of time taking my own advice, avoiding social media, and even certain aspects of my business to process everything that has happened over the last several years, mostly busy with clinic, retreats, and dogs. Despite going through some absolutely awful times in the last few years that involved everything from disease, death, and heartbreak, I'm incredibly grateful for all the positive things that have been unfolding in my personal life this last year. It has been an important period for healing and the rediscovery of love.
One particularly important realization has been my need to create more personal connections, and I've been looking at ways to shift what I have built in the online world to an experience that is more physically embodied. To this end, with the Dogwood School of Botanical Medicine, I’m starting up an in-person mentorship program later this year. The plan is to offer 5, one-week seminars per year over a three-year period, which, along with additional coursework and clinical practicum, will train an aspiring student to become an effective herbal clinician. If you want to learn more, please click this link and complete an application form to be put on a list of potential students. For obvious reasons, we'll only be accepting highly motivated and committed students that are able to travel to my clinic and farm on the Sunshine Coast of BC.
Paths Converged: Healing and the Quest for Authentic Connection
I hope you found resonance, curiosity, or even a spark of inspiration in the stories and reflections shared above. From Bella's incredible journey of recovery to the intense encounters with the wild, and our deep dive into the healing powers of comfrey, all the way to rethinking our connections in an increasingly digital world — each narrative threads together parts of a larger conversation on wellness, resilience, and the essence of our interactions with the world around us.
I invite you to share your thoughts, experiences, or even contradictions to these narratives. Which parts spoke to you the most? Have you encountered similar challenges, triumphs, or moments of revelation in your own life? Perhaps you have your own stories of healing, encounters with nature, or insights into the digital detox that have significantly shaped your perspective.
Let's cultivate a community dialogue that transcends the simple binaries often found in discussions around health, nature, and technology. Your feedback not only enriches our collective understanding but also weaves new threads into the ongoing tapestry of our shared human experience. Please, leave your comments below or reach out directly to continue the conversation. Together, let's explore the multifaceted dimensions of living a balanced, thoughtful, and engaged life.