Science appears to be caught in the middle between myth and mysticism. It has not decided how to view alternative medicine based upon its own terms of reducibility as a mechanistic phenomenon.
Alternative medicine retains a link to the past.
It encompasses myth as part of the remnants of a primitive belief system that would no longer appear appropriate. It translates into power that encompasses the universe as a holistic phenomenon. It attaches significance to the mythical remnants of the past bonding man to his environment as a mere participant in an ever greater plan of things. The mythical union between heaven and earth preserved the bond between man and the universe. It appears, at first glance, to conflict with man's purpose as a species.