Professional Documents
Culture Documents
by
Edward Bach
1
First published 1932.
This edition The Bach Centre, 21!.
Copyin" and distribution of this publication is allowed for non#co$$ercial
purposes pro%ided nothin" is altered. &ll other ri"hts reser%ed.
1.
The 'r Edward Bach Centre
(ount )ernon
Ba*ers +ane
Bri"htwell#cu$#,otwell
-.on -/1 01
2nited 3in"do$
2
& note fro$ the editor
'r Edward Bach left +ondon in 193 to loo* for healin" plants
in the countryside of 4ales and En"land.
1
5n the sprin" of 1932 he
ca$e bac* and spent so$e ti$e seein" patients at consultin" roo$s
in 4i$pole ,treet. 6e found +ondon as hard to bear as he
re$e$bered, and after a couple of $onths he left a"ain to resu$e
his search.
4hile in +ondon he wrote Free Thyself, co$posin" $uch of it in
7e"ent8s 0ar*, where he went to escape the noise and bustle of the
capital. The te.t was published as a pa$phlet later the sa$e year
but was ne%er reprinted durin" 'r Bach8s lifeti$e. The re$edy
descriptions in particular were soon out of date, as $ore e.perience
with patients and the findin" of new re$edies led hi$ to refine his
understandin" of each plant8s 9ualities.
Bach discoura"ed the republication of his out#of#date writin"s
whene%er there was a newer or $ore accurate boo* a%ailable, so
Free Thyself was soon lost. This was a pity, because the real interest
of Free Thyself is in the insi"ht it "i%es us into Bach8s underlyin"
philosophy. (any of the 9uotes about healin" that are $ost fa$iliar
1 The story of Bach's search for remedy plants is told in The Medical
Discoveries of Edward Bach, Physician by Nora Weeks.
3
to students co$e fro$ this te.t. The subtitle to one of the short
chapters could e%en su$ up e%erythin" Bach belie%ed and wrote:
health depends on bein" in har$ony with our souls.
5n 199 the Bach Centre republished Free Thyself as part of a
collection called The -ri"inal 4ritin"s of Edward Bach, o$ittin"
the re$edy descriptions in line with Bach8s wishes. But both before
and after -ri"inal 4ritin"s unauthorised editions of the wor* were
printed, without any $ention of the fact that the re$edy
descriptions were no lon"er accurate. For this new edition of the
boo*, then, we ha%e "one bac* to the full %ersion, as 'r Bach first
wrote it, and ha%e added footnotes to hi"hli"ht those parts of the
te.t that Bach $e$orably referred to as ;scaffoldin"<: necessary
steps in buildin" the syste$, but a hindrance to its finished for$.
4e hope in this way to produce a te.t that will be ideal for students
of Bach8s wor*, but which will not create the $uddle that an
unhistorical readin" of old re$edy descriptions can cause.
,tefan Ball
The Bach Centre, 21!
4
Free Thyself
by
Edward Bach
5
5ntroduction
5t is i$possible to put truth into words. The author of this boo*
has no desire to preach, indeed he %ery "reatly disli*es that $ethod
of con%eyin" *nowled"e. 6e has tried, in the followin" pa"es, to
show as clearly and si$ply as possible the purpose of our li%es, the
uses of the difficulties that beset us, and the $eans by which we can
re"ain our health= and, in fact, how each of us $ay beco$e our
own doctor.
6
Chapter 5
5t is as si$ple as this, the ,tory of +ife.
& s$all child has decided to paint the picture of a house in ti$e
for her $other8s birthday. 5n her little $ind the house is already
painted= she *nows what it is to be li*e down to the %ery s$allest
detail, there re$ains only to put it on paper.
-ut co$es the paint#bo., the brush and the paint#ra", and full
of enthusias$ and happiness she sets to wor*. 6er whole attention
and interest is centred on what she is doin" # nothin" can distract
her fro$ the wor* in hand.
The picture is finished in ti$e for the birthday. To the %ery best
of her ability she has put her idea of a house into for$. 5t is a wor*
of art because it is all her %ery own, e%ery stro*e done out of lo%e
for her $other, e%ery window, e%ery door painted in with the
con%iction that it is $eant to be there. E%en if it loo*s li*e a
haystac*, it is the $ost perfect house that has e%er been painted: it is
a success because the little artist has put her whole heart and soul,
her whole bein" into the doin" of it.
This is health, this is success and happiness and true ser%ice.
,er%in" throu"h lo%e in perfect freedo$ in our own way.