Hello, all. There’s a topic that I need to bring up, and I have been praying about how to do that. It may touch a nerve and ruffle some feathers. That is not my intention, but I think it’s unavoidable. If I don’t say this exactly right or if I offend anyone, I sincerely apologize and ask that you forgive me. But as the national Team Lead for H&W, I believe that I’d be failing in my duties to God, CORAC, Charlie, and all of you if I refrain from speaking. So, here goes….
It’s about the Bach flower remedies (or essences, which is a term that I prefer because they’re not actually homeopathic remedies). Early last April, I wrote two comments on this thread about my decision that CORAC, as an organization, will no longer promote the use of the Bach flower essences. That decision was reached after a great deal of consultation, research, and prayer with a committee made up of people from this team and in CORAC’s national leadership. Since that time, there has been occasional discussion of the Bach flower essences on various CORAC Signal threads. Also since that time, our team has welcomed some new members who haven’t seen the comments that I wrote last April. I believe, therefore, that it is time to revisit the issue. I will begin by reposting last year’s comments; the first was in response to a comment of Marilyn’s, and the second was in response to a comment of Charlotte’s. After reposting the old comments, I will write a new comment with some additional thoughts about the Bach flower essences and CORAC’s official stance as we move forward with the work that God has for us.
Here’s the first comment from last April:
Marilyn is correct that the H&W team is putting a “hold” on the recommendation of the Bach flower remedies. A few months back, one of the members of the H&W team stumbled upon some information about Bach, his spiritual beliefs, and the manner in which he came up with the flower remedies. A subcommittee of the H&W team has been researching this issue since then, and we have become convinced that the Bach flower remedies are not something that H&W should be recommending any longer. It’s a long story; and sometime in the not-too-distant future, we will post an explanation on the H&W section of the CORAC website. But for now, all I’ll say is that the Bach flower remedies are off the table. This leads to the very good question of why we recommended them in the first place, and how they slipped under the radar. The short answer is that there is precious little information available (on the internet or otherwise) about Bach because nearly all of his writings were intentionally destroyed (almost certainly in order to obscure the fact that the Bach flower remedies are not actually homeopathic remedies, even though they are promoted and marketed as such). Thank God that the H&W team member stumbled upon the information, and thank God that she brought it to the attention of her Regional Coordinator, who brought it to my attention.
Here is the second comment from last April:
Regarding the discussion of the Bach remedies: I back up the concerns that Marilyn and Beckita expressed up-thread. I knew basically nothing about the Bach flower essences until a few months ago; I don’t own any, and I’ve never studied them (we didn’t study them at all in Joette’s Academy). But as I have been reading about them over the past few months, and after having read Bach’s own writings, I have become convinced that CORAC as an organization should not be promoting the Bach flower remedies.
This has not been an easy conclusion to draw, because (1) Bach remedies are widely accepted in homeopathic circles as being sort-of-homeopathy, and (2) there are several people here who use the Bach flower remedies and like them a lot. I am not intending to tell anyone on this team that they shouldn’t use the remedies or that they have to throw them out or anything like that. But I do believe that CORAC’s credibility in general, and the H&W teams credibility in particular, could take a major hit if we keep promoting the Bach flower remedies.
Bach was a good homeopath when he was still practicing homeopathy. The bowel nosodes are based on solid science. But he eventually made a choice to toss the science aside and throw in with the Swedenborgians and their philosophical progeny. James Tyler Kent, one of the most renowned American homeopaths, was a Swedenborgian; and he is arguably the reason that so much New Age nonsense has infiltrated homeopathic thought and practice in America. Bach was a big fan of Kent’s, and this seems to be why Bach eventually left homeopathic thought and practice and embraced the “intuitive” way that lead to the development of the Bach flower essences. His writings are disturbing, given how filled they are with spiritual error and with how clear it is that his spiritual errors caused him to ignore science and trust to his own intuition and inner divinity (I can’t remember the exact term he used in order to convey the idea of inner divinity, but those two words give the meaning of what he was saying).
With due respect to Charlotte’s comment above, I do not believe that “remedies” developed in this manner are things that CORAC should be promoting. As Our Lord said, “A bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” Swedenborgianism was a bad tree, and thus the fruit of that tree must be carefully examined and viewed with caution from the get-go. With regard to the Bach flower remedies, I believe the risks are not worth it for me personally; and I believe it is time for references to the Bach remedies to be scrubbed from the CORAC website. Again, I mean no disrespect or insult to anyone here or to one’s personal use of the Bach remedies; but I do ask that when any of us is speaking as a representative of CORAC, that we please refrain from recommending them to people.
So, when I wrote those messages last April, I requested that the members of this team please refrain from recommending the Bach flower essences to people when we are speaking as representatives of CORAC. At this time, however, I believe I need to go a step further and request that the Bach flower essences not be mentioned on any of the CORAC Signal threads. During a recent consultation with the committee with whom I have been discerning this subject, I asked if they thought I should reissue the request that I made in April. One of the committee members responded by recommending the extension of the Bach “blackout” to all the Signal threads. I will quote what this person said to the committee:
Also this time, I think it needs to be clearly conveyed that we cannot have discussions of Bach in our official CORAC Signal groups. CORAC is done with him, for good, solid reasons. To continue discussing and promoting his essences in CORAC Signal groups gives a mixed message. Surely, if people decide to personally use the “Bach flower remedies,” as they’re called (I call them “essences” because they are not remedies like homeopathy’s remedies), we honor that this is their preference; but we simply cannot discuss Bach’s works and remedies in our groups because it gives tacit approval to him and his work. To go along with this, it’d be important to name why we’re acting with clear boundaries. I fear we have, perhaps, been too gentle in expression because we don’t want to offend anyone.
This person made several good points, and all the committee members agreed. Thus the new policy of H&W is that the CORAC Signal threads are not to be used for the discussion of the Bach flower essences. There are those of you who will still wish to use the essences and to discuss them, and that is your prerogative. However, please have those discussions elsewhere.
Again, I apologize if my words and my stance have offended anyone; I love and am grateful for all of you, and I value everyone’s commitment and contributions to this team. But as difficult as it has been to make and to communicate this decision, I firmly believe it is the correct one.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation, and may God bless us all.
Nota Bene: For those who wish to read Bach’s autobiography and to see the extent to which he departed both from the scientific method and from the Christian faith, here is the link: Heal Thyself eBook Version.
— Mick, CORAC National team lead, Health & Wellness
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