Innate Intelligence

A few days ago, I was on break at work when a co-worker and friend asked me to go with him to pick up coffee for the crew. Once in his car, he says to me, "I just need to stop somewhere first, it will only take a few minutes." I shrug in agreement. A few minutes later, he pulls into a parking spot in front of a chiropractor's office. I follow him inside. The receptionist's wide smile and friendly greeting indicate that he is a regular. While we sit in the waiting area, he puts my hand on the side of his neck and says, "Feel the bump? That's my vertebra. It's way off to the side." "Hmm, I don't feel anything." A fraction of a second later, seeing the frown starting to crease his forehead, I add, "My fingers must not be in the right spot." He nods just as the receptionist calls out for him to go wait in the doctor's office.

All alone in the waiting area, I look for magazines or newspapers but find the small coffee table to be sterilely clean and uncluttered. I fall back on reading wall posters instead, including a huge board that boasts "Doctorate of Medicine: 200 credits, Doctorate of Chiropractics: 245 credits." I smirk at the pompous inference.

A lady walks in and is greeted in the same familiar way by the receptionist who even calls her by name. Once comfortably settled into the chair next to mine, the lady asks the receptionist, "Did you get adjusted yet today?" I perk up at the unusual phrasing. Adjusted? "Not yet," she answers, "I've been too busy. I really need it though, I can tell. I get all grumpy and my energy is low." The lady smiles conspiratorially. "I know! I'm the same way." I blink, replaying the short conversation in my head. My initial bewilderment rapidly turns into something much stronger: glee. I realize that I have just discovered a cult, complete with its numerous churches hiding in plain sight all over the city under the guise of medical practice. I can hardly contain my excitement for I find cultists to be utterly fascinating.

My awareness heightened, I decide to scan the room again, looking for clues. I notice a nearby bookcase which I had previously deemed uninteresting. Old medical books crowd the most accessible shelves, with titles having to do with general anatomy, the central nervous system, bones and the musculoskeletal system. On lower shelves, partially hidden from view by chairs, the titles get progressively more esoteric, dealing with holistic healing and subluxations, while the very last shelf holds the most recondite works sporting titles along the lines of "Innate Intelligence Through the Spine." Later that night, I found that this "innate intelligence" is believed by chiropractors (at least the old school ones) to be the ability of the body to heal itself through the central nervous system. If the spine is misaligned, this ability is supposedly impaired.

On the drive back to work, I questioned my friend surreptitiously. How long had he had this neck problem, what was the cause, how often did he go see the chiro, how much did it cost, everything I could think of. "The doctor says I need to go at least once a week, twice is better. If I get it adjusted often enough, eventually it will remember its place and stop slipping out of position." Huh? "That makes no sense," I blurt out bluntly before I can soften my rebuke. "Seems to me that if your vertebra is slipping, it's because it's either being forced that way by something else, or it's missing the opposing force that would normally keep it in place. No amount of moving it back would magically provide such missing force. If a book on my shelf keeps tipping over, I don't keep putting it back up hoping that if I do it enough, it will remember its place. I just get a bookend."

My friend got very defensive at this point, and righteously served me the argument that is always used by people cornered in this manner: "Well she's the doctor, she must know." Ah yes. And here is the whole point of this post.

We are raised to never question authority. I see this blind faith that makes the world dumber one generation at a time all around me and it irritates me greatly. We're all humans, we all make mistakes and no one holds all the answers. Challenging the information, researching the cause and understanding the implications are all healthy mental behaviors that should be encouraged growing up, not discouraged. It starts very early on with parents wishing to curb their children's insubordination, but herein lies the misstep: challenging authority and insubordination do not have to go hand in hand. We can teach our kids to challenge a superior in a respectful, cooperative way, for the benefit of all parties. The best teachers around the world are delighted when they get an inquisitive student that challenges them. Everyone gains from such stimulation.

My true "innate intelligence" tells me that people get defensive when challenged because subconsciously, they know it's wrong to accept something without making up your own mind about it first. It is unnatural, a learned bahavior. It is also sheer laziness of the brain. Too often, the cornered offenders cowardly shape their guilt into a shield. Well, I hope their shield is thick because I won't be lowering my battering ram anytime soon.