21 October 2020
LOVE is the Reason for Medicine
In our last essay, we borrowed an ancient aphorism of the great physician Paracelsus. He wrote that “The Reason for Medicine is Love.”
If you previously pondered on the question which we had posed, “What is the Reason for Medicine?,” you might have said the Reason is
• to relieve pain and suffering
• to return the sick and injured to health
• to remove symptoms and discomforts
• to make people feel better
• to get people back to their old selves
• to return things to normal
• to make patients, families and doctors happy
• to return the sick and injured to health
• to remove symptoms and discomforts
• to make people feel better
• to get people back to their old selves
• to return things to normal
• to make patients, families and doctors happy
We often get pointed toward narrow and short-term responses in many areas of life – rather than to Big Picture things. We have gotten used to thinking that health is the absence of disease and that medical providers should fight, attack and banish illness and discomfort. Thus, we have created vast industries to battle disease with chemicals and knives and Xrays and a host of other potent treatments. Along the way, we have been taught to bow to science and technology. Then, we have forgotten much of the Art of Healing upon which medicine was based long ago.
When the author grew up, there were Healing Arts buildings in our small city. Now, we have Medical and Health Science Centers all around. It is as if Science has figured out the problems of human beings. And, that magic pills and procedures can fend them off. But, humans are neither born nor live in laboratories where most of Science is done.
So, we imagine more the idea than the fact of Medicine overcoming ills. When was the last time Medicine even gave the appearance of arresting one disease?
Unfortunately, Science, Medicine and the Public have come to the point of mostly ignoring factors which are of Vast importance in our Comings and Goings.
Human beings, as well as the rest of the planet Earth, are products of God and Nature. The Great Creator is a God of Love. When we honor these simple facts and return to long-forgotten understandings, we will be able to deal directly with “Causes and Cures.”
God is Love and humans are made in the image and likeness of God. Being made in that Image, we have the potential to do all manner of things through the power of Love.
“All things are possible with God.” We have the potential, like the Christ and his Disciples, to heal any and every ill which Medicine has enumerated.
Why then do we deal with human ills indirectly and ineffectively through drugs and surgeries, potions and remedies – when we can go Direct?
Sure, we can consult and use physicians and providers. And, their methods have value – however modest. But, healing happened ages ago without doctors. And still does constantly around the world where no physician has ever set foot. Most healing, even in the West, occurs without medical intervention or treatments.
The Love of God created human beings. The Love of God re-creates, transforms and heals our forms and beings day by day and moment by moment. We are all terminals – in the computer sense – of God’s creative Love. And, we ALL can be conduits – channels of that Love for healing purposes.
The renowned surgeon Bernie Siegel speaks of this situation from many angles in his various writings. One simple statement of his runs like this: “A mother’s touch, a kiss, or a doctor’s phone call suddenly bring relief. We begin to become aware of the interplay of psyche [soul] and soma [body].”
Those words might bear pondering and lead us to a profound idea:
All human beings receive, carry and transmit the Healing Power of Love.
We can learn to do so consciously and intentionally to benefit others, when we so desire.
All human beings receive, carry and transmit the Healing Power of Love.
We can learn to do so consciously and intentionally to benefit others, when we so desire.
Comments always welcome at theportableschool at gmail dot com.