The Semmelweis Reaction

Around 1847, a Hungarian physician named Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis developed a radical new theory in medicine that he believed could save the lives of millions.  This radical new theory of his challenged the existing belief systems of medical practitioners and was based on factors that he intuitively knew were correct, but couldn’t be proven because they couldn’t be seen.

His theory revolved around a highly controversial procedure he suggested all medical practitioners should practice before and after examining or treating patients.  At first, his theory was simply ignored.

While employed as an assistant in a maternity clinic in Vienna in 1847, he tested his theory out on a group of intern students and convinced them to follow this highly controversial procedure.  This resulted in a significant reduction of fatal puerperal fever from around 10% down to 1-2% amongst the patients.

He continued to insist that his hypothesis was right and tried to get the medical community to listen.  At first they ignored him, but soon they began to ridicule his “ridiculous theory” and he was expelled from the hospital and continually harassed by the medical community for his opinions and eventually forced to leave Vienna for Budapest.

This did not stop him, however, and he began writing letters to prominant European obstetricians claiming that if this controversial procedure was not followed before and after examining patients, the medical doctors would be responsible for murdering their patients.  Semmelweis was thought to have lost his mind by the medical community, by his peers and even his wife.  In 1865 he was committed to a mental institute, where he died 14 days after being admitted, possibly due to being beaten by guards.

So why am I telling you this story?  What does it have to do with you?

Well, let me first tell you what Semmelweis’s radical theory new theory was, that the medical community thought was insane and what caused him to get sent to the mental institute.  It’s something that all medical doctors practice today.  It was… are you ready for this? … hand washing and sterilizing instruments.  He believed in washing of hands and medical instruments in between seeing patients because he believed that somehow diseases were being transferred from one patient to the next in the hospital.  During this time, doctors wouldn’t wash their hands in between seeing patients, nor would they clean their instruments.  They would even perform autopsies and then go see a live patient without washing instruments or their hands.  Isn’t that nuts?

It wasn’t until Louis Pasteur developed the germ theory of disease that doctors realized why they needed to wash their hands and sterilize their instruments.  Of course this was already after Semmelweis was dead.

So what does this have to do with us?

Well, as I continue to push the boundaries of my belief systems and test new ideas and learn new things related to success, entrepreneurship, spirituality and of course Making Money Doing What You Love, I am continually facing new ideas and beliefs that don’t always align with what I already believe.  However, I have learned from experience and I try not to have a Semmelweis Reaction to new things.  Meaning, unlike the medical doctors in 1847 who dismissed Semmelweis’s theory simply because they didn’t yet understand that things called germs exist which we can’t see with our naked eye, I try not to dismiss something just because it isn’t what everyone believes.

For example, when I first learned about Law of Attraction back in 2002, I didn’t just dismiss it as hogwash like a lot of people do.  I actually tested it in my life and I found it to work for me.  Another example is when I began looking into psychic phenomena.  While most people dismiss psychic abilities as bullcrap, I decided not to pre-judge the idea with a Semmelweis Reaction like most people do.  Because of this a whole new world of ideas and spiritual understanding has opened up to me.  These are just two examples.

If I told you that there are people out there making $500,000/year or more who Blog for 1 hour/day for a living, would you believe that or would you have a Semmelweis Reaction and say “Bullcrap!”

What if I told you that there are Affiliate Marketers out there who make over a Million Dollars per month in income right now? There are countless other ways people are making a lot of money online right now which sound completely unbelievable to the average corporate worker.

One of the primary differences in everything I do right now, compared to most people is that I make a conscious effort to give things a chance without immediately dismissing them just because most of the people I currently hang out with might not believe in them.  That doesn’t mean I automatically believe in everything, but it does mean that I start off with an attitude of “I don’t know yet.” and I listen to my intuition and I research and experiment / test things instead of pre-judging.

You have no idea how liberating this process can be.  Until you consciously make an effort to get rid of your internal Semmelweis Reactions you probably have no idea just how much cool stuff there is in the world that you completely dismiss and filter out in your life.

As a fun exercise, if you think that we are much smarter today than we were in Semmelweis’s times and we wouldn’t dismiss a theory as profound as his just because it challenged status quo, you might want to look into the Germ Theory of Disease and see if it’s actually true.  What if someone told you that germs don’t create disease?  What if someone told you that cold germs don’t cause colds?  Would you dismiss that as hogwash, or would you at least look into it?  Or what if I told you that your beliefs can change your DNA?  Would you have a Semmelweis Reaction to that?  Or what if I told you that you could make more money than you ever dreamed of, and you could do it by doing what you love in life?

If you aren’t prepared to challenge your own beliefs, then you are a slave to them.

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