Read and respected by more doctors of chiropractic than any other professional publication in the world.

Is 'Dorland's' wrong?

I don't think so.

As a matter of fact, I believe that "Dorland's" (25th edition, page 683) is even closer to the "Big Vision" in chiropractic than most chiropractors teach or practice.

Health, according to this edition of "Dorland's," is "a state of optimal physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity." This definition is so commonplace in our profession, I believe many have missed its bigger implications.

Usually, the Big Vision in most chiropractic circles is limited to a state of physical and mental (with great emphasis on physical) well- being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity. At seminars, some speakers will address a bigger vision than this and the audience responds with enthusiastic applause. Then, however, these same doctors return to their offices and focus on getting sick people well.

Where is the bigger vision that was applauded at the seminar?

Look at their office literature. Listen to their patient testimonials. Listen to these doctors as they talk to patients. Their emphasis is on disease.

I have the good fortune of going to many chiropractors' offices for my "Head to Head" in-office transformation program. These "Head to Head"-qualified D.C.s have already demonstrated practice survival skills. Every one of them, and there are many, practice within the "sick patient getting well" paradigm.

Of course, none of them thinks that is what he or she is doing until after the "Head to Head" experience. Then, with a new clarity of the Big Vision, they see what was previously invisible to them. They had, indeed, been taken up with getting "sick people well" in their daily practice routine. You see, I believe that health and the Big Vision includes the psycho-epistemology of morality and ethics and not merely physical and mental well-being, concepts that many shy away from.

There is a third component in the "Dorland's" definition of health: social well-being. We all have a handle on physical and mental well being, but what is this "social well-being stuff" anyway?

Herein lies the next dimension of the Big Vision that is changing the practices of "Head to Head" doctors through the nation. This is the component that truly fires and ignites large wellness practices.

Let's review the literature.

The "1996 Index of Social Health" from the Fordham Graduate Center, Tarrytown, N.Y. states that social well-being is a combination in one measure of the following 16 social problems:

*** Children: infant mortality, child abuse, children in poverty.

*** Youth: teen suicide, drug abuse, high school dropouts.

*** Adults: unemployment, average weekly earnings, health insurance coverage.

*** Aging: poverty among those over 65, out-of-pocket health costs for those over 65.

*** All Ages: Homicides, alcohol-related traffic fatalities, food stamp coverage, access to affordable housing, gap between the rich and the poor.

In 1995, the "Index" was presented for the years 1970-94. The graph reveals an unrelenting diminishing social health profile, indicating an even worsening social health for the coming years.

Yes, the Big Vision is much more than increasing physical and mental health. A whole lot more! An appropriate wellness patient education program includes this added dimension of health to a society that is thirsting for it. Thirsting for doctors who know, care and who will address this need in a clinical manner.

The Renaissance patient education paradigm and tools fulfills this need admirably.

D.D. Palmer alludes to increased social health throughout his writings, whereas, B.J. did not emphasize the concept on a clinical level -- he was absorbed with "getting sick people well." That he does not include the social, ethical and moral behavior of society is clearly seen in his advertising, pamphlets, circulars, speeches, and research.

In the article, "This Inner Power Speaks," there is a great emphasis on the wonder of Innate Intelligence and Universal Intelligence on a celestial creative basis. However, it ends not with the Big Vision it describes but with "getting sick people well."

In the article, "An After Thought," B.J. starts small and works up to the destiny of nations through the improved action and thoughts of the individuals of those nations.

Throughout B.J.'s writings the emphasis is on the physical and mental. However, when we read his words carefully, we discover that they lead to the bigger social issues facing humanity. He just makes us work for these implications. Hence, from B.J.'s emphasis on "getting the sick well," the popular phrase was born: "The Power that made the body heals the body."

This phrase has made "physical healers" out of many of us. This phrase dwarfed the Big Vision because of its dramatic application to a sick society.

I believe a new phrase is in order. I believe we should retire "The power that made the body heals the body" to the archives of the Smithsonian. Allow me to offer the new phrase for the first time in our profession, one that embodies every aspect of the real Big Vision: "The power that made the body is the power of perfection."

Here we have an axiom that puts the cards on the table. That the job of Innate Intelligence is to communicate as much of its 100% perfection through the matter it occupies as much as the matter will allow. Now we're getting somewhere.

The job of the chiropractor is to continually remove interferences to this communication and to continually allow the matter to express more of the Innate Perfection. For all time we have created the path for the continual unfoldment of the species, beyond just allowing it to be physically and mentally healthy.

This is the Big Vision that I am dedicated to, whether at my Wellness Seminars, at continuing education seminars, at conventions and in my latest position as ongoing guest speaker in the Palmer College philosophy classrooms.

(Dr. Joseph Flesia, known as the premier chiropractic "warrior," has become one of the most popular and sought-after speakers in the profession. As president of Renaissance Seminars since 1977, he has helped thousands of doctors achieve their goals by teaching them how to share the chiropractic message with countless patients. His new seminar series presents completely new information and offers practical, essential guidance to take chiropractors smoothly -- and successfully -- into the new millennium. For more information call 800/525-3879.)