His vision continues...

Dr. Joseph Flesia (1935-2004)

by Kevin Pallis, DC, and Ed Plentz, DC

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Dr. Joseph Flesia.  He died on July 3, 2004 at his home in Colorado Springs, CO. After all the years spent on the road bringing chiropractic to the masses, his body simply stopped. Yet, his spirit will be carried on to future generations.

We knew "Dr. Joe" for the last 11 years of our practice lives. As a mentor, friend and coach he allowed us to take our practices and our lives from where they were, to where we had previously only dreamed about. The biggest challenge of our chiropractic lives came when we accepted the challenge of insuring that his legacy, in the form of The New Renaissance, would live and flourish for tomorrow's children.

It is our honor and privilege to share with you our glimpse of this very unusual and colorful chiropractic "Warrior."

Dr. Joseph Flesia could be brutally honest, and very impatient with people who gave excuses instead of taking action. However, if you were fortunate to experience it, you could literally bathe in the warmth and tenderness that he had for people.

The year was 1995, and Dr. Joe was the facilitator for the "debriefing" experience after a ropes course in personal power and leadership at the Quest Alliance in Philadelphia. There was a young DC telling his terrible story of how being unwanted and abandoned as a baby had effected him in a terrible way as a kid, and how it continued to haunt him and inhibit his potential as a doctor and as a person.

Many of the DCs in attendance listened with profound anxiety and panic knowing that Dr. Joe would "blast" this young chiropractor and tell him to suck it up and get over it. But, these doctors didn't know the real Dr. Joe, with his love for humanity.

Looking back, we realize his impatience with people stemmed from the fact that he knew until the action step is taken, human greatness cannot be achieved. So, rather than blasting this grieving DC, he held the weeping doctor in his arms and placed his hand on his heart. Time stood still as all in attendance wept and held each other's hands and witnessed the true essence of Dr. Joe.

In April of 1985, the grand ballroom of the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco was packed with enthusiastic DCs from all around the country who had come to hear the vision and passion of Dr. Joe. There were world class scientists from the scientific/medical world as well as chiropractic presenters.

Dr. Joe, impeccably attired in a black tux, presided over the event and featured presenters with a regal flair bordering on the majestic. There was an electricity about the room. The mood and expectations weren't financially based, but based on serving humanity to the highest capacity.

There was Dr. Joseph Flesia, the legend, with all that energy in that beautiful tuxedo, mesmerizing a crowd full of people in for the ride of their lives. The chiropractic world had never heard of a such a vast and magnificent vision, nor had humankind, for that matter. Names of past visionaries -- Watts, Spandler, etc. -- danced in the minds of many in attendance, except that this vision was based on ACTION, not words.

Neither the ordinary person nor the "second hander" as Ayn Rand would say could possibly have given birth to this vision of "Chiropractic Today for a Better World Tomorrow." It had to have been created by an extraordinary man with an extraordinary vision, who possessed the tools and the ability to harness this dream on a practical level and make it a reality.

The world has been witness to the "magical" cultures of the Egyptians, the Mayans and the Incas with their mathematics, astronomy and architectural wonders. Today's science and technology stands with its collective mouth open, at a loss trying to explain these feats. Dr. Joe's vision has no geographical, ethnic, religious, or political boundaries. It's is bigger than all of them, large as life itself. In fact, there are no boundaries at all, no limits. This vision holds the promise of the unfolding of humanity that had only been philosophized about in the past. 

It was late in 1977 when Dr. Joe first unveiled the stunning message of the component basis of the Vertebral Subluxation Complex (VSC) as a direct extension of chiropractic philosophy. He had a rare and special gift for melding science and philosophy for the greater good of both chiropractic and humanity. For the first time in our profession, instead of being opposed by medical science, the "Innate Intelligence philosophy" of chiropractic had the muscle of medical science on its side.

Who could forget the "Extravaganza" of 1985 in San Francisco, when world-class scientists came clean with their research of the dehumanizing effects of VSC on a global level, affecting all of humanity, and relegating the old pinched hose theory into the Smithsonian, once and for all? What chiropractors had felt on a visceral level and in their hearts for decades, and also witnessed on a clinical level, now had the backing of mainstream science.

The first steps had been taken in the marriage of science and philosophy, a "walking on the moon" for chiropractic and humanity. Do you remember when the Renaissance VSC poster first came out and you proudly hung it on your wall? Do you recall the feeling of pride that chiropractors everywhere had when the elusive bird we call "science" was captured and brought to chiropractic and the world? Thank you, Dr. Joe.

The VSC caused in the birthing process was the call to arms. For the first time in history came a visionary with a fortitude and love of humanity so great that he introduced and successfully defended a highly emotional and controversial position that is still not universally accepted. Armed with medical science, chiropractic was flying high, at the speed of light. The profession was elevated to global status with this now clear possibility of halting the continuing downward spiral of humanity (a.k.a., the "Predicament of the Species"). Chiropractic humanity cheered as "wellness chiropractic" was linked to a better world, not just to healing or the curing of conditions naturally. 

Thanks to Dr. Joe's vision, since 1977 family wellness chiropractors have become a major force to be reckoned with. His crown jewel was the chart‑based "New Patient Orientation." Do you remember witnessing Dr. Joe the first time he gave one? 

"Hello, my name is Dr. Joe Flesia..." Everyone in the audience was mesmerized by the metaphors, the energy, the drama of the "best show in town." The metaphors of the rabbit planet, polar bear cages, the hotel fire and the extraordinary miracles of some of the children in his practice still live in our hearts -- brought to life through the charts, the first class props, the scientific references and the videos. The "surreal" experience of the chart‑based New Patient Orientation actually set the stage for changing the world through participation on a family wellness lifetime basis. 

"You are either a part of the solution or a part of the problem," was Dr. Joe's call to arms. To this day, we still receive frequent calls from DCs fortunate enough to have witnessed this "shift" in humanity who refer to it as the "time of their lives." They had never felt -- and likely will never feel -- more alive.

The memory of Dr. Joe in the Roman warrior's armor will stay with many of us forever. Every presentation had more impact and power than the one before it. If ever there was a warrior in chiropractic who spoke such a powerful and simple truth, it was our hero, Dr. Joe. And this truth had nothing to do with ICDA codes, reimbursement issues, politics, or advertising. Truly, Dr. Joe's vision was of a much higher caliber than all of those issues combined.

It was his love for humanity that continued to fuel him past all the frustrations he endured. For while he understood that he would never get to witness his dream during his lifetime, that wasn't his concern. True of many prophets throughout time, his mission was to save "the people" from themselves.

Dr. Joe understood that the average person didn't believe the planet was in trouble and certainly didn't see chiropractic as a part of the solution, even if he or she did admit to the problem. But, that didn't matter to him.  He was in a race with time and destiny to save humanity from itself. "Live for a cause bigger than self and live that cause with passion" was what fueled the man and the myth known as Dr. Joe.

Some years he made up to 96 presentations -- all over the U.S. and Japan and Europe.  He was almost everywhere all at once it seemed, touching the spirit and hearts of all who could hear and feel. Hundreds of thousands of miles and thousands of airline meals were logged in seat 2B of United Airlines. The many personal sacrifices Dr. Joe had to make were done magnanimously in the name of the vision, in order that we and our beloved profession would continue to grow and flourish.

While much has been said about Dr. Joe "choosing" chiropractic over family, in reality, he never chose anything. He was <I>chosen.<I> Doris Flesia, Dr. Katie Flesia, his sons Mark and Joe III and his daughters Cindi and Kelly in time came to understand what burned so deep in Dr. Joe's mind and heart. They shared him with our wonderful profession, not because they wanted to, but because his was a higher calling and he and his vision made them very proud.

Eventually, the years of high intensity, travel and sacrifice did catch up with our warrior and visionary, Dr. Joe. His wish was that all DCs remember him at the top of his game, that they not be saddened by his death. As individual chiropractors, we can honor his passing by touching as many people as possible in our lifetimes with the chiropractic vision. Not as healers only but as facilitators of the unfoldment of the human species.

The power that made the body is the power of perfection. This power is so much more than only natural healing after sickness.  What higher level of consciousness can one have than bettering the planet, although few may understand and many may ridicule your efforts? It didn't matter to Dr. Joe, and neither did the fact that there were (and are) many DCs who wouldn't (and won't) commit their spirits to chiropractic. There truly was just one speed in his life and that was full throttle.   

In the garden of the chiropractic world, there's little difference between burying and planting -- we put people to rest so that new life can grow and unfold. As painful and unsettling as this is, the person we grieve for becomes the basic energy for the new life about to form. There's always grief for what's lost and always surprise at what's to be born because of that loss. This is Dr. Joe's promise to future generations of chiropractors: His vision will live on.

The torch has been passed to us, and we -- Dr. Kevin Pallis and Dr. Ed Plentz -- are the new guardians of his vision. Dr. Joseph Flesia, the man who gave us "Dr. Joe," was overcome with a joyous passion knowing that his legacy would continue to attract warriors capable of carrying this heritage to future generations.

Few, if any, in our profession have been fortunate enough to have their vision carried by others <I>in its purity<I> into the future to grow and prosper. We believe humanity is thirsting for this vision. Yet, we know we must be ever vigilant, for history demonstrates that for every moment of joy arising there's a new moment of struggle taking root.  

Dr. Joe will be remembered as a visionary and a pioneer in human development whose personal growth has awakened thousands of chiropractors so they, in turn, can awaken hundreds of thousands more people. We believe, as his legacy teaches, that this awakened state of humanity (free of subluxation and subluxation damage to insure that Innate Intelligence can express itself fully over many generations) has within it the possibility to stem the tide of war, poverty, crime and the shackles of allopathic oppression and control. God bless you, Dr. Joe.

In a personal conversation in January 2000,  Dr. Joe told us that his "life was dedicated to all those who stand out from the crowd...who rise from the ashes of an allopathic mediocrity...who feel the calling of a greater reality than self.

"Those of us on this path don't sing the song of self, but rather the 'world song,'" he explained. "We dedicate ourselves to lifting the billions from where they are to a more innate expression of where they could be.

"There is a certain pride born from humility to be told by others that I have been an inspiration to many that they may tread this path also...and to be told that I have forged the foundation of a legacy for future generations," said Dr. Joe.

"When the time comes for me to pass this torch to the next generation, my hope is that the legacy will live on and grow. I believe,"  he said, "that if you follow this path deep enough, you will see that there is but one direction for our profession and the humanity we serve."

 -- see also: Always the warrior by Guy F. Riekeman, DC, President, Life University