Man is not sick because he has a disease, but has a disease because he is sick.

Disease is born from instability in a highly organised system.

Harriet Beinfield and Efrem Korngold explain it beautifully in their book Between Heaven and Earth.

Nature, like a symphony, is composed of complex interweaving patterns of form and movement.

The body is to nature as a violinist is to an orchestra.

The strings are to a violin as organs are to the body.

The musical vibrations of each string are like the functions of each organ.

For the orchestra to play a symphony in harmony, all the instruments must be tuned to each other - all the strings of each instrument and all the notes of each string must be played in tune. If a single instrument is out of tune, the whole sound is distorted rather than harmonious.

This illustrates an aspect of Chinese philosophy, Simply, the theory states that for a larger system to be in balance, as a whole, each small system within itself must be balanced.

The principle of harmony is the same at every level of complexity. Patterns of harmony in one system both reflect and generate patterns of harmony in the other system. When defenses are weakened and resources exhausted a multi-publicity effect is conspired to permit illness.

We come from nature, we are bound by nature, we go back to nature

"The  Gardner is like the herbalist when he nourishes with compost or adds minerals to the soil, using material substances to promote growth. He is like the Acupuncturist when he builds fences, and digs ditches, ponds and channels for irrigation, adjusting the flow of water and wind."

The adage that man is not sick because he has an illness, but he has an illness because he is sick speaks to the heart of Chinese Medicine. It is more important to keep our bodies healthy and prevent disease than to try and treat the disease that has manifested due to an unhealthy body.