Rachel Naomi Remen argues in this audiotape that we should
cultivate our sense of Mystery because this will strengthen and deepen our
lives. She gives several examples to
show how our modern culture is intolerant of mystery, especially in mainstream
medicine. She explains that mystery can
be stressful if we are too strongly committed to the ideals of medical
science. Yet there are many phenomena
that science is at a loss to explain. 
Remen discusses something she saw as a girl, walking with a friend on the
streets of New York: a blade of two blades of grass growing up through a block
of cement – not through a crack in the cement, but through the hard cement
itself. She cites this as an example of
the will to live. Science, she
suggests, takes too narrow a view, and remains blind to surprising
possibilities. Another example she
links to this is her experience of being diagnosed with Crones disease when she
was a teenager: she was told by doctors that she would have many major
surgeries on her intestines and she would be dead by the age of 40. But she is still alive today, over 47 years
after hearing their predictions. She
explains how much difference it would have made to her if just one doctor had
suggested that she should retain hope and she should not lose sight of the
possibility that she could live a full and happy life.

Remen’s
message concerning the limitations of modern medicine is similar to that of
Andrew Weil, but her style in this audio presentation is rather different from
Weil’s. She is softly spoken and speaks
often of her own experience of illness and mystery. Her emphasis on mystery is also different from Weil’s; while he
discusses the power of alternative medicine and the empirical proof available
for the effectiveness of ways of healing that western medicine is reluctant to
recognize, Remen is more interested on the power of uncertainty. She discusses prayer and the afterlife; her
view is that not that she has any proof of the existence of supernatural powers
or life after death, but rather that these are mysteries, and it may be helpful
to us to remain open to them. A sense
of curiosity and wonder should complement our scientific approaches to illness,
and she wishes that medicine could reclaim its sense of mystery that it once had.

The will to
live may help people recover from serious illnesses such as cancer, diabetes,
or Crones disease, but her message is certainly not that we should forego
conventional treatments and resort to mysticism. Remen is a professor at the University of California, San
Francisco, and she believes that conventional treatments such as chemotherapy
for cancer can be give us life, and she is not recommending that we turn away
from such treatments. Rather, her suggestion
is that, even for those whose diseases are truly incurable, the will to live
can transform our lives in subtle ways, and it can give us a feeling of peace
and well-being.

Of course,
Remen gives no proofs of her claims; that would be the counter to her embracing
of mystery. The strongest part of her approach is in her criticisms of the
arrogance and certainty of conventional medicine, which loses sight of the life
of the patient. But she makes a strong
case for mystery too, and her voice is warm and wise. Even for someone such as myself, a firm believer in the power of
science and a skeptic about ideas such as the soul and life-force, Remen’s
approach is very appealing, very different from other new age wooly
thinking. These two tapes are unexpectedly
moving, and are certainly worth hearing. 

Links:

·         
Commonweal’s
Institute for the Study of Health and Illness

·         
SoundsTrue.com

© 2002 Christian Perring. First Serial Rights.

Christian Perring, Ph.D., is
Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College, Long Island. He is
editor of Metapsychology Online Review. His main research is on
philosophical issues in psychiatry. He is especially interested in exploring
how philosophers can play a greater role in public life, and he is keen to help
foster communication between philosophers, mental health professionals, and the
general public.

Categories: General

Tags: Wellness and Health Psychology, Medical Disorders