What’s the difference between curing, caring, and healing? Are they the same, different? Sometimes? All the time? Historical and modern medicine have many confusing, sometimes even conflicting definitions of and distinctions between the three. To create a scientific theory of cure, applicable to all curable illnesses, we need clear definitions that aid understanding and facilitate further analysis and success.
Does an aspirin cure a headache? Sometimes? Some headaches? Sometimes? All the time? How might we know? The answer is not found in the aspirin, but in our definition and understanding of cure.
In the theory of cure, we study cures of illnesses, not diseases. An illness element has a single cause and many consequences, most of which are seen as negative, but sometimes an illness has positive consequences as well. It is cured when the cause has been successfully addressed such that the negative consequences stop occurring.
Most diseases are complex or compound illnesses, defined as having multiple causes and requiring multiple cures. Most diseases are considered medically incurable – partly because we want to find a single cure for an illness with multiple causes, and partly because most illnesses are not cured by medicines.
Healing or Curing?
A cure is an action, not a drug, not a medicine, not a health product. The cure action addresses the cause of the illness, the cause of the signs and symptoms of illness – such that those signs fade and disappear. Healing often cures by addressing injuries, the causes of pain, distress, and danger.
In many dictionary definitions, healing is curing – but curing is not always healing. Can doctors cure? Many medical dictionaries do not even contain an entry to define cure. Many doctors avoid the word cure. Can doctors heal illnesses? Can psychologists heal our damaged minds and spirits? Does love heal? Does it cure? What’s the difference between healing and curing?
Curing vs Healing is defined by Intention
Healing is natural, always active, without need for conscious intentions. We don’t think about healing, it just works, patching up the smallest illnesses invisibly, curing small wounds easily, invisibly, and curing the most severe (curable) wounds slowly. As we age, healing gradually slows and we develop more illnesses that are incurable within our lifetime. Healing sometimes makes mistakes – as do medical doctors. Life and health are complex, healing and curing sometimes cause illness.
In the theory of cure, curing is intentional. Cures are intentional actions that address the present cause of an illness, curing the illness. This distinction is a gradation between healing and curing, based on intentions.
Healing is the original cure. Healing forces are always active, even when no illness is perceived. Curing occurs when we intentionally address cause. Medical cures occur when our medical systems address present causes of illness.
| Healing actions cure illness. | Curing one illness element sometimes facilitates healing of others. |
All living things heal injuries, illnesses. and the damage caused by illness. Healing is the natural, unintentional, curative act of an individual.
Many animals also perform curative actions. A dog licks a wound clean, aiding the healing cure. Curing often comes from community. A monkey pulls the lice off its neighbor or child, curing one tiny infection at a time. A grandchild, sister, or grandmother clips an ingrown toenail. A doctor surgically cuts out a cancer.
Sometimes healing or curing causes changes that cure other illnesses. We might get an injury which heals over time, and then notice that another illness has disappeared, cured. The cure was not intentional, but it wasn’t really healing either.
Caring or Curing
Nurses care for our illnesses, as do many caregivers. A husband cares for his wife when she is ill, a mother for her child, a child for her aging grandmother. Are these actions cures?
Caring is intentional, only sometimes curative. Most caring actions only address the negative consequences of illness – not the cause. As a result, they do not cure. Of course, sometimes, caring actions cure. However, we can care for someone without any intentions to cure. When we clip an elderly person’s toenails, because they can’t reach them – we are caring for their health. But if they have an ingrown toenail – our actions can cure it. Often, no medical diagnosis is required to cure.
A causal cure is a preventative cure, a caring cure. Scurvy is cured with Vitamin C. But once cured, a healthy diet of Vitamin C is required to maintain the cured state. Causal cures are accomplished and maintained through caring, through taking care of self and others.
| Caring can also cause cures to occur. | Curing is usually an act of caring. |
Caring or Healing
Sometimes, caring actions are also healing. Is self care more about caring? or healing? Is a healthy diet, with intentions to facilitate healing, a caring act, or a curing action?
| Healing is a part of self-care. Self-care is part of healing. | Conscious caring by self and others can promote healing |
Healing, Caring, Curing
Healing came first. All living things must heal or die. All living things perform healing cures. Caring came with community. All animals that live in communities care for and cure each other in many ways. Humans study healing and curing with conscious intention – to cure self and others. Medical doctors and medical systems study more complex cases of injuries, illnesses, and diseases with ongoing intentions to care and cure. Unfortunately, our medical systems sometimes lose sight of common, simple cures.
These three concepts can be combined into a single image of healing, caring, and curing.
The areas of overlapping circles are the gradations between healing, caring and curing discussed herein. Sometimes, all three overlap when a single action brings about healing, caring, and curing. Healing is unconscious. Caring is conscious – self caring and caring for others. Curing is conscious attention to and focus on the present cause of an illness.
Healing, caring, and curing are not limited to the medical professions, they are natural actions of life and community. There is no alternative healing, no alternative caring, and no alternative curing. Healing, caring, and curing are about success, about helping ourselves and others, not about competition.
to your health, tracy
Author: A New Theory of Cure