connection, affirming that we are all a large,
interconnected unit. If we fail to see this
connection, it can lead to the myriad illnesses
we experience. He quotes Bruce H. Lipton,
stating: “If humans were to model the lifestyle
displayed by healthy community of cells,
our societies and our planet would be more
peaceful and vital.” There are 50 trillion cells
that work together to serve our body. If we
look at the world as one body of humanity,
each of us are like those little cells, playing
our role and serving the bigger purpose.
Dr. Vala expounds on this, saying that if we
look at ourselves with this model and not
feeling disconnected, then things will fall
into place. This is the theory behind his
book, The Third Vision.
In the 18 years that Dr. Vala has practiced
medicine, he notes that the institution’s
focus is on the cure of disease. The issue he
takes with this paradigm is that we do not
have enough global resources to confront
mental, physical, and social illness. Dr. Vala
believes that we have only hit the tip of the
iceberg, allocating our resources to only
10% of the problem, missing out on the
other 90% who face infirmity. His expertise is in helping people understand root
causes of these illnesses, focusing on the
early origins before conditions evolve into
diabetes or cancer.
The ICD-10 covers 30 mental health illnesses. Interestingly, many of these illnesses are
rotten fruit on the same tree. Dr. Vala firmly
addresses that we have failed to see the
common denominator to many of these
diseases before full-blown disorders arise. His
to what he aspires to be. There are three key events Dr. Vala lists that served as the
impetus to make a lasting impact in our world. During the Iran/Iraq War, he lost a good
friend who died while voluntarily clearing a minefield for his comrades. It spurred Dr.
Vala to question the roots of why we have wars and why we are killing each other.
mission is to give people tools and knowl-
Secondly, he has friends and relatives with addictions and substance abuse problems,
edge to find solutions to transform their lives
leading him to question how addictions are formed and why it affects people. The
and prevent breakdown in overall health. If
third formative event was the sudden death of his father in 2002, who suffered
one were to ask Dr. Vala why he is consid-
cardiac arrest without showing any of the red flags for cardiovascular disease. These
ered an empowerment leader, he would be
turning points in Dr. Vala’s life led him to question why, despite all the advancements
hesitant to answer as he is on the journey
in science and technology, we experience suffering at the individual, social, and
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