Nitric acid: Choosing Between Fight or Flight

(This article is a part of Interview Series with Dr. Mati Fuller about the Core Issues of Different Medicines)

Dr. Singh: Hello Dr. Fuller. In our Center stage today, we wish to discuss the personality of Nitric acid. I went through your lecture on the subject and felt how less I have known about the mental state of this remedy
Dr. Mati: Hi Dr. Singh. Yes, we have always taken Nitric acid for the response it gives. Its cold, unforgiving, cruel self but we have never gone into the core situation which makes a Nitric acid out of it.

Dr. Singh: Why is a Nitric acid patient so fearful and apprehensive. As compared to other remedies why is Nitric-acid so unforgiving, embittered, unmoved to apologies. What is the root cause of his delusions?
Dr. Mati: All the questions you have asked about Nitric Acid have to be explained by looking at the core situation associated with the remedy profile. The core situation in Nitric Acid has to do with trying to escape an enemy. The enemy is coming, and Nitric Acid has to find a way to escape. It isn’t easy to escape from the situation he is in, and he can only do it if he can get his friends to help him. The problem is that he no longer knows which friends he can trust because some of his friends may have decided to join the enemy. How can he tell which friends that are still his friends, and which friends that are now enemies who can turn him in? This is a very scary situation, and Nitric Acid feels both fearful, apprehensive and on guard because it is a matter of life or death. Therefore, he has a hard time trusting anyone, but because he has no choice, he still needs people’s help to be able to escape, he still has to trust someone! The only way he can do that is if he can somehow find out which side they are on ahead of time, before he gets too involved with them, and he has to be very careful until he knows for sure.
This all makes a lot of sense. If you were in the same situation, you would want to know which side your friends were on, too, and if they had switched sides, you wouldn’t easily forgive them. Why? Because forgiving them could put your life in danger. They could easily turn you in, and you could get tortured and possibly be killed as a result. Therefore, the unforgiving attitude in Nitric Acid has become a survival mechanism. Either you are with him, or you are not, and if you are not, he’ll never forgive you because you can no longer be trusted as a friend. So, the delusions that go with Nitric Acid is that the enemy is coming (paranoia) and that his friends may not be trusted since they can easily turn on him (suspiciousness, lack of trust). In addition, there is the fact that he is actually dependent on people that he can’t trust, and this complicates the whole situation.
When someone in Nitric Acid’s life turns against him, or even disagrees with him, not only does he feel unforgiving and unmoved by any kind of apology, he can also become extremely rude, cruel, obstinate and abusive. This is because the person who turned against him, or even disagreed with him, all of a sudden is perceived as "the enemy."
This is actually very similar to what happens in Arsenicum if you disagree with him, since both the core situations have to do with how they dealt with their enemies.
In Nitric Acid’s case, he simply can’t afford to forgive anyone, because forgiving someone who can’t be trusted is a dangerous thing to do. Therefore, whose side you are on has become a matter of life and death to Nitric Acid, and when dealing with the intensity of a life threatening situation, it is ok for him to be nasty!
But why is he acting nasty now, when the situation is no longer happening? He does it because he acts as if the situation could still happen again at any moment — this is why we call it a "delusion." Although the situation is no longer happening right now, the perception of a certain reality is still there, and it is this perception that determines how we act. Again, we are dealing with Maya — the illusion, seeing what is not, and thinking it is real.

Dr. Singh: How is perfectionism of Nitric acid different from that of Arsenicum and Carcinosin
Dr. Mati: In the original situation, Nitric Acid is not in control because he is dependent on help from someone else, someone that he doesn’t necessarily trust. This makes him very uneasy. He can only survive if everything goes perfectly according to his plan, and if it were up to him, he would rather be self sufficient and not have to rely on anybody else. If things don’t work out well, he may even be very tempted to escape or simply give up. But at the same time, he feels driven to keep going, at least as long as there is still a ray of hope. This, of course, is the mind set of the Cancer miasm. Taking on a huge task where it is almost impossible to succeed, and then, struggling against all odds. (This makes me think of President Obama, and the task he has taken on — definitely Cancer miasm, possibly Carcinosin?)
Nitric Acid, Arsenicum and Carcinosin are all cancer remedies. All are dealing with situations of life and death, and when that is the case, what you do has to be perfect, since anything less than perfect can cause death or injury for self or others. But because the three stories are different, they all have different reasons to be perfect.
Nitric Acid needs everything to go according to his plans, or else he feels like his life is in jeopardy. Arsenicum needs to be perfect so nobody can judge him or gang up on him, since that is what happened in his core situation. Carcinosin has to save everybody, and if he makes a mistake, other people can lose their lives as a result and it will be all his fault. So, Carcinosin has to be perfect, and not only that, he also has to work under time pressure as well, because Carcinosin is always the hero that saves everyone at the last minute. This is why Carcinosins often work in emergency rooms, and this is also why Carcinosin homeopaths attract clients that are half dead because they always come to ask for help when it is almost too late. So if Carcinosin can pick the perfect remedy, before it is too late, the person may survive. If he doesn’t get the remedy right, the client may die, and Carcinosin will blame himself forever. So, even though they are all perfectionists, they are all operating from different perceptions of reality, and knowing what this perception is, gives us valuable clues about what remedy to give someone.

Dr. Singh: How will he behave in Relationship?
Dr. Mati: In relationships — even in intimate relationships, Nitric acid will be on guard. It is such a part of his nature that he can never totally relax and trust, so if any little thing goes wrong, he will quickly turn extremely nasty and unforgiving. He may even get up and leave, and not even look back, so leaving relationships can easily become a pattern in his life. He is usually happiest when he is in control and gets things his own way without any arguments from his wife or girl friend, but because it isn’t easy to find a girl friend who doesn’t argue, his relationships are often a bit rocky.

Dr. Singh: How does syphilitic miasm present itself in Nitric acid patient?
Dr. Mati: In Nitric Acid you also find a strong syphilitic side. Physically, it often manifests as ulcers and sores, especially in the form of sore throats. Mentally, they can easily become destructive, whether it is through being verbally abusive or even physically violent. They may smash things or even kill or commit suicide if they are pushed too far out of balance.

Dr. Singh: Can you give our viewers quick review of Cancer miasm and its relation with syphilitic miasm. How does Nitric acid fit it both?
Dr. Mati: In the Cancer miasm in general, we also see this syphilitic tendency. Cancer has to do with extremes — all or nothing! Life or death! Creative or destructive! Any time you are dealing with extremes, there will be a syphilitic aspect to the remedy, since syphilis basically represents destruction.

Dr. Singh: How can he change his outlook towards life?
Dr. Mati: Well, everyone has the potential for change, even Nitric Acid. Nitric Acid is here to learn to trust life again, and I am saying "life," not "people." People are not perfect; people can not always be trusted. Someone can be angry with you and do something to get even, and then regret it later. These things happen. But Nitric Acid has to see that even when bad things happen, he is still ok. Even when people turn on him, he is still ok. The core situation is no longer happening, and it is time for him to start being a little less harsh about other people’s imperfections. His life is not in danger right now, so it is time he tries to be a little more understanding of others, and he must eventually learn to forgive.

This is not the kind of things Nitric Acid wants to hear. He would much rather become a self sufficient hermit who relies on nobody else, and although that would make him feel much safer and more comfortable, it wouldn’t teach him any of the lessons he is here to learn. What he does in his life is all based on old patterns, and if he wants to change his outlook, he must consciously try to break some of these patterns (which he will probably resist as much as he can). However, the possibility for change is there in all the remedies, but this kind of change doesn’t come easy to anyone. 

Dr. Singh: What are the bright and dark sides of Nitric patient?
Dr. Mati: On the bright side, he is super reliable and does his job absolutely perfect. He is also 100% loyal, unless of course, you get on his wrong side. And if you need him to help you, he will either say no, or he’ll bend over backwards and risk his life for you if needed, very similar to Carcinosin.
On the dark side, there is the grumpy, irritable, judgmental, unforgiving Nitric Acid that nobody can please. But these are just two sides of duality. These two sides are what make up the complexity of human nature. We just have to deepen our understanding and see that when one side of duality gets too strong, an imbalance is happening, and this imbalance can be rectified with either a homeopathic remedy, or by understanding the issues on a deeper level and being open to change.

Dr. Singh: Thanks Mati, for your wonderful talk on Nitric acid.
Dr. Mati: Thanks Dr. Singh. I too enjoyed it.