Cell 2 Soul: The Humane Health Care Blog

Variations on a Theme

Many are concerned about the monuments of the West and the East- to know
who built them. For my part, I should like to know who in those days did
not build them- who were above such trifling. -Henry David Thoreau,
naturalist and author (1817-1862)

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you—Nobody—Too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise—you know!

How dreary—to be—Somebody!
How public—like a Frog—
To tell one's name—the livelong June—
To an admiring Bog!
                          by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Funny that HDT and ED were contemporaries.  Imagine them sipping sherry or a good oolong tea together in Amherst or Concord.

WCW

“The physician enjoys a wonderful opportunity actually to witness the words being born. Their actual colors and shapes are laid before him carrying their tiny burdens which he is privileged to take into his care with their unspoiled newness.  He may see the difficulty with which they have been born and what they are destined to do.  No one else is present but the speaker and ourselves; we have been the words’ very parents.  Nothing is more moving.”

William Carlos Williams

The Autobiography of William Carlos Williams

  submitted by Rob Norman

Teaching

The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural
curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.
-Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924)

In My Craft

Medicine can be a dreary business -- all monotone colors with no sensuality -- unless I can add stories and pictures.  I came to writing and photography as a necessity to filter the world and to relieve me from the daily trials of the otherwise mundane.  During almost three decades of searching for the essence of each person that has come for help, I find that to apply the usual primeval tools -- fire, water, ice -- is to employ the atavistic trade of my ancestors.  I feel the joy of heritage and preceptorship.

To have a person live as a character in a story or part of a work of art brings him or her alive in a way that can never be realized in the mechanical format of a medical chart or within a procedure room.  My art allows me to gain purchase into worlds within worlds, magical places that can only be found in those moments of self- discovery and creation.

by Robert Norman

Lao-Tsu

Without leaving my house

I know

The whole universe

Lao-Tsu

The Wind that Blows

I’m told that in Palestine, the prevailing winds blow from one of two directions, either from the east or out of the west.

The east wind—harsh, cold and cutting—rushes in from across the desert, buffeting the populace with sand, so much so that many times people are forced to take shelter. This wind from the east is a wind that lashes the skin and chills to the bone.

The wind from the west, on the other hand, blows in off the Mediterranean, bringing moist warm air that soothes the cheek and heals the weary soul.

We have no control over the wind, of course; it blows where it will. And no one has ever seen the wind; we only feel the effects of it.

The Greek word for wind—pneuma—is the same word for spirit. Like the wind, no one has ever seen the spirit, only the effects it produces.

A harsh spirit cuts the cheek and chills the soul. A healing spirit radiates warmth and soothing balm to friend and foe alike.

Although we have no control over the wind, we can exercise control over the spirit. We may choose to lash out in a fit of anger and cut our perceived adversary down in the process, perhaps provoking a retaliatory stance.

Or we can elect a better way, choosing to radiate tenderness by way of a listening ear, a kind word or a healing touch.

In Saint Exupéry’s words: “Only the Spirit, if it breathe upon the clay, can create Man.”

by Brian Maurer

Doctors and Knowledge

From William A. Nolan's "The Making of a Surgeon"

The general practitioner over the years knows less and less about more and more
until eventually he knows nothing about everything.

The specialist over the years knows more and more about less and less
until  eventually he knows everything about nothing.

Sad, but true.

Jared Diamond

Collapse

Williams College

January 10, 2007

Jared Diamond spoke at Chapin Hall last night to a packed house.  He gives great podium!  The talk is one he gives often; however, it was well-received and stimulating.  The following is taken from the web site of "The Edge"

WHY DO SOME SOCIETIES MAKE DISASTROUS DECISIONS?:

"What I'm going to suggest is a road map of factors in failures of group decision making. I'll divide the answers into a sequence of four somewhat fuzzily delineated categories. First of all, a group may fail to anticipate a problem before the problem actually arrives. Secondly, when the problem arrives, the group may fail to perceive the problem. Then, after they perceive the problem, they may fail even to try to solve the problem. Finally, they may try to solve it but may fail in their attempts to do so. While all this talking about reasons for failure and collapses of society may seem pessimistic, the flip side is optimistic: namely, successful decision-making. Perhaps if we understand the reasons why groups make bad decisions, we can use that knowledge as a check list to help groups make good decisions."

I'll try to get my notes on here in a few days.


DJE

Religion

Man is the religious animal.
He is the only religious animal that has the true religion --
several of them.
He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself --
and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight.
-Mark Twain  (1835-1910)

Halcyon January

January 7, 2007

Strange beautiful day with extraordinary light.  A walk up Northwest Hill on the outskirts of Williamstown.