The Enduring Relevance of the Herb

In every culture and in every age, we living beings have sought to heal. To find the balance that returns us to a state of health — understanding health as the absence of disease.

Every people has made the journey there and back, seeking to understand the paths that must be traveled to return from illness to health. There are no shortcuts.

The Greeks believed that character was determined by the combination of the Four Humors. Each humor corresponded to a cosmic element: heat to fire, cold to air, moisture to water, and dryness to earth. Black bile corresponded to earth, yellow bile to fire, phlegm to water, and blood to air. In Problem XXX, Aristotle argues that those with an excess of black bile were exceptional individuals. Disease, then, arose from the dominance or deficiency of any one quality.

In India's Vedas, contained in the Upanishads — specifically the Rig Veda — lie the origins of Ayurvedic medicine, whose basic precept holds that body and mind can be kept healthy and balanced through food, detoxification, physical activity, and self-care. Here again we find five elements present: space (akasha), water (jala), earth (prithvi), fire (teja), and air (vayu). The combination of these five elements gives rise to three humors, or doshas: pitta, vata, and kapha.

For the Chinese, one of the fundamental concepts of well-being is "Sincerity in Thought" — Chéngyì / sincere thought: "It is only possible to identify and follow the principle of 'sincere thought' on the basis of an understanding of moral principles in daily life. The moral conduct of an individual must be the result of a genuine desire, and must not merely fulfill moral principles on a superficial level, without a true intention of practicing them fully."

On our own continent, the same held true: imbalance appeared, and with it came disease. Where harmony existed between complementary opposites, there was health. Indigenous healers tested the effects of each plant to the point of intoxication, learning their properties through trial and error. In this way they compiled records of the plants that served particular purposes, and came to know the states each plant produced. Through domestic practice, they arrived at treatments for misfortune and affliction — guided by the symbolic logic that, for our ancestors, made sense according to their concept of the person. The human body was considered a universe, a unity that concentrates the rhythms of the organism as a coherent whole. The recipes and secrets of how to use plants were the result of countless trials carried out on their own bodies.

The remedies and properties of plants continue to be relevant for relieving ailments and maintaining health. This way of practicing medicine preserved knowledge honed over centuries across generations, and it was born of a worldview whose wisdom bound life to the sacred.

The selection process for the 227 medicinal plants that appear in the Badiano Codex — chosen for their unique characteristics — is the result of the long history of traditional medicine still practiced in the territory that is today Mexico. Remedies for diseases that did not exist on this continent also appear within it, already evidence of a hybrid process between local and European knowledge.

Indigenous medicine takes into account vital aspects connected to nature that we no longer observe when we fall ill. The precepts, the beliefs, the norms all changed — and above all, the customs and habits of doing and making meaning of things changed. The procedures changed, the harmonious forms of rhythms and sequences, the ways of seeing and feeling in the world. What did not change were the ailments; what changed were the beliefs, the conveniences, the interests. The way of returning to balance changed, and in its place appeared practices no longer integrated with the observation of nature. Textures, smells, and colors were replaced by synthetic capsules in boxes. A new medicine, legitimized by a new State.

Centuries' worth of compiled knowledge — remedies for nearly every disease — were destroyed. Ancient healing traditions were banned and discredited. A telling example is the way pulque came to be classified as a dangerous drink according to the brewing industry, despite being one of the most nutritious, affordable, and beneficial ancestral beverages for the body and for gut health.

The work of midwives, healers, herbalists, shamans, and rainmakers — all of them carriers of legitimate knowledge — was called into question. Dialogue with the forces of the world ceased, and negotiation with other forces began.

Fear was installed. Fear of pain, of discomfort — rather than receiving the symptom as something profound, as a call to care for and cleanse the organism. The notion of the body and its ecosystems changed.

We celebrate the special edition of the Badiano Codex published by UNAM — not only as a book of impeccable and beautiful craftsmanship, but as a legacy that endures through time, in the memory and culture of Mexicans. We turn our gaze back toward this knowledge, which holds the work of entire generations of research dedicated to preserving health, diversity, and life.

The human body has not changed significantly from before the colonial period to the present day. What has changed are the diseases and their causes. The problems connected to the contamination of land, food, and water; to a sedentary way of life lacking time for pleasure and self-care. Ailments of the soul also appeared, giving rise to new physical and mental pathologies, and to the cultural diseases that afflict us today.

From the leaves of many plants we obtain infusions that nourish us, regulate our functions, and return our bodies to balance; from their macerated flowers we draw aromas and flavors that bring us pleasure and cleanse us. Plants hold the information that is transformed into medicine — into healing and regenerating substance, into balm and ointment, into elixir or simple drink that produces relief and a sensation of freshness, warmth, and well-being. Plants give us perfumes, honeys, medicine; they gladden us and nourish us. They have their own secret life. They photosynthesize. They relate to one another and to animals, fungi, and people. They employ remarkable mechanisms to attract insects and be pollinated, sustaining an tireless sequence of reproduction.

Since each one is indispensable in the chain of life, it serves us well not to ignore their properties, but to use them to care for ourselves.

I dedicate these lines in recognition of those who created this Codex, their ritual practices, and their customs. With gratitude to all those who have cared for our seeds and their infinite diversity.

Bibliography

Aristotle, El hombre de genio y la melancolía. Problema XXX I, Gredos. Barcelona, Spain.

Upanisads, Prologue by Raimon Panikkar. Ediciones Siruela, 2001. Madrid, Spain.

The De La Cruz–Badiano Codex

I wrote this text for the presentation of UNAM's special edition of the De La Cruz–Badiano Codex at the 44th International Book Fair (FIL) at the Palacio de Minería in February 2023.