Last year I found a walnut under the earth when I was weeding. It had a small pale green root (or stalk? Who knows?) sticking out of one end so I took it and planted it in a pot. A few weeks later I had a tiny tree with a few delicate leaves on the top, so I transplanted it into the forest area of the garden and put a little fence around it.
Along came autumn and the leaves dropped off and all winter it’s looked like just a stick. I thought it was dead, but I’ve learned to wait (gardening teaches you patience), and over the last few days, look! It’s producing leaves again!
It still astonishes me that we humans have no way of telling if a particular seed is dead or alive. We just have to plant it, care for it, and nourish it. We can’t force it and can’t predict it.
Similarly, it amazes me how dead so many little trees appear in the winter. You have no idea which of them are still alive. Again it’s best to wait, to care for them, and watch out for signs of life in the Spring.
I think there’s a lesson here for when we think about how to recover from an illness, or even how to stay as healthy as possible – it’s about creating the right environment.
For we humans, we need to create the best conditions for people to recover and thrive, and that includes a healthy physical environment (as free from pollutants as possible), clean water, nourishing natural food, and social conditions such as dealing with poverty, poor housing and insecure employment.
It’s not uncommon for human beings to want to fly. I know we’ve partially met that desire through technology by inventing machines which can fly, but we can’t fly the way a bird can fly. We can’t just leap up and head off into the blue mountains. We can’t soar above the forests and the oceans. But we imagine it would be pretty great if we could.
I think flying like a bird represents freedom for us. It’s a freedom of movement which lies only in our imagination.
Of course, we say “flights of imagination”, or “flights of fancy” too, don’t we? Because our imagination has less boundaries than our bodies do. There’s that additional element to flight – not just a freedom of movement, but an ability to go beyond limits, beyond invisible borders created by people to keep other people away, or to attempt to control human beings, preventing them from doing what humans have always done – move freely across the face of the Earth, or at least, dream of moving freely. Don’t we also talk about “spreading his wings” when we want to say someone is developing, growing, expanding their horizons?
The posture of this sculpture is one we all recognise. When we want to feel a sense of freedom, we stretch out our arms, opening ourselves wide to the world. But we can’t take off, the way the bird is taking off.
Have you ever wondered why angels have wings? As far as I know, nobody imagines angels as having scales, fins or a tail. Even though fish have a freedom of the oceans just as great as the freedom of the skies enjoyed by birds, we don’t really say “I’d like to be as free as a fish”. We say “I’d like to be as free as a bird”.
I really enjoy the sights and sounds of the birds when I’m in my garden. I saw the little redstart yesterday. He’s just arrived back from his winter travels, and I also heard a hoopoe calling all day long. And the Celandine has flowered in the garden, it bright yellow petals telling me it’s time for the swallows to arrive. (I’ve only seen one so far)
Birds connect us with greater dimensions of nature. They connect us to the rhythm of the seasons. They remind us, with their migratory patterns, that Life inhabits this whole planet. But I think they also connect us to what is more than merely material in this world. They connect us to a sense of spirit, to something “higher” or “greater” than us. They inspire us, and awaken a sense of wonder and amazement, don’t you think?
I read a report in the Guardian recently. It was about the use of AI by the Israeli army. One of the officers was quoted saying this –
You don’t want to waste expensive bombs on unimportant people – it’s very expensive for the country and there’s a shortage [of those bombs]
I know war is horrendous and inhuman, but these words really shocked me. What a way to talk about anyone. “Unimportant people”. I know, he probably meant people who weren’t terrorists or fighters, but included in those “unimportant people” are children, women, ordinary folk just trying to live a life.
There are no “unimportant people” in my opinion. I spent a whole working life as a doctor, spending time with, getting to know and understand one person at a time. I never met one yet who was “unimportant”.
But this quote shocked me for two reasons. First was the use of the adjective “unimportant”, but second was the economic reason given for wanting to avoid “waste”. He didn’t want to explode expensive bombs killing people who weren’t on the target list. “Expensive”. An “economic” argument. Isn’t there a “moral” argument which should trump any “economic” one?
I despair.
There hasn’t been a time in human history when there hasn’t been war, and in every epoch, war brings its own evil, its own cruelty. Will we ever reach a stage of civilisation where we recognise all human beings as “important” and “valuable”?
It’s so sad.
I think of the Dalai Lama who says his religion is “kindness”. I wish all religions, one day, would insist on kindness at the heart and forefront of all the actions of their believers.
Just “imagine”, as John Lennon sang, so beautifully.
While travelling by train across the Alps last week I noticed this striking phenomenon. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground but the area immediately below each tree was clear.
I don’t know if this is due to the soil there getting warmed up by the activity of the tree roots, or there’s another explanation. (If you know, maybe you could let me know).
Then I was chatting with a gardener yesterday about how the blossom on the fruit trees varies so much from year to year, and he mentioned he had some fruit trees which had produced virtually no blossom, and no fruit, over the last two years but this Spring, after France’s wettest winter on record they’ve all started to blossom. He said, “You see, plants know what they need and when they get it they flourish. In this case it was water!”
I think that’s so true, and this gardening wisdom is something we could pay more attention to in life, especially in health care and in politics.
In health care we direct most of our efforts towards fighting disease but we need to create the conditions for healing during the repair and recovery phase. We’re not so good at that, maybe because we know nature does it best. When we supply a clean environment, pollution free, decent nutrition, adequate, clean water, rest, mobilisation exercise, and emotional support, healing has its best chance.
Similarly, if we want more people to suffer less disease, we need to create the societal conditions for healthy lives. Decent housing, nutritious diets, clean water, avoidance of pollution, the creation of good, stable, secure employment, reducing poverty and inequality and supplying high quality education for all, are all things which create the conditions for what human beings need to live healthy lives.
Maybe, one day, a political party will put forward just such a vision – the creation of a healthy society by making available what human beings need to live healthy lives.
Maybe, one day, we’ll have a genuine “health” service which puts as much effort into healing as it does tackling disease.
You can slow water down by freezing it, but the ice will eventually melt. You can place obstacles in its path but it will flow around them as it gradually wears them down. You can heat it up and it’ll evaporate, disappearing for a while until it forms clouds, rain, rivers and oceans again.
Stagnant pools look and smell bad. The water doesn’t want to stay there.
It wants to flow.
Life has the same desire. It wants to flow. Your blood flows through your arteries and veins, the air flows in and out of your lungs, electrochemical signals flow through your nervous system, hormones send constant messages as they flow from your endocrine glands.
Your thoughts flow, your memories flow, your emotions and sensations flow, your imaginings flow.
I’m in Palermo, on the island of Sicily, as I write this. One of the things I enjoy so much about being here is the glorious presence of such a diversity of cultures….even this street sign provokes me to be aware of that.
The architecture, the art, the symbols and the multilayered history that different peoples have left on this island are obvious everywhere.
I was born in Scotland and my ancestors over the last three hundred years or so lived in Scotland but I long held a notion to spend part of my life in a different country, a different language and a different culture, so when I retired after four decades of work as a doctor I emigrated to France. That’s almost ten years ago and I nowadays I love stepping out of my garden gate in the little French village where I live and chatting with my neighbours who might be happening by. I thoroughly enjoy the magazines and books I buy in my local newsagents and “librairies” (bookshops). I love getting in harmony with French cultures of eating and drinking and everyday manners of behaviour and speech.
I’ve also discovered I can drive to Spain, leaving home after breakfast, and arriving in time for lunch. And right now I’m on a rail adventure to Italy where I’ve sampled the very different cultures of Milan and Palermo and delighted in them both.
I wrote the other day about my life of “E”s, and days like this allow me to fulfill them all – I’m Exploring, Enjoying and Expressing – going places I’ve never been before, enjoying and savouring new sights, sounds and flavours, and taking hundreds of photographs, only a few of which I’ve shared so far, but which I’ll draw upon for posts in the days, weeks and months ahead.
Life is richer when we encounter diversity and difference, when we meet strangers and make new connections, when we open ourselves up to “the other”.
I noticed this doorpost the other day while strolling along by the canals in Milan. I find this kind of image beautiful. Because you can see the remains of at least four layers of different coloured paint, you realise you are looking at the past made manifest in the present.
I think I’ve been guilty of oversimplifying at times, splitting reality into three parts….past, present and future. The truth is there are no hard and fast boundaries between these apparent time zones. The past informs the present, the present emerges from the past, and the future unfolds within each present moment.
The past doesn’t go away and the future isn’t lying in wait for us around a hidden corner.
We have to use memory, attention and imagination if we want to understand this life, our life, and that of others.
If we don’t slow down we’re liable to experience life as superficial, thin and unsatisfying but if we do pause and reflect we can see a depth, a richness, in every moment and in every person.
A. You create the conditions favourable to the growth of the flower.
The modern orthodoxy of Medicine isn’t about cure, it’s about management. The majority of drugs prescribed and surgical procedures employed aren’t curative. We don’t generally talk about curing asthma, diabetes, multiple sclerosis or dementia. At best, our treatments attempt to manage disease – to control or reduce symptoms and/or disease progression. These are laudable goals, but they aren’t enough. The global burden of chronic disease continues to grow relentlessly.
We could do better.
We could do better if we consciously attempted to support the body’s natural systems of health maintenance and of repair. We can do that by mobilising the individual’s resources in body, mind and spirit, and by creating the living conditions conducive to health and flourishing.
Really, this is about learning more from Nature than we do from Industry. It involves understanding the importance of care, loving attention, diversity and the creation of mutually beneficial bonds. It involves clean air, clean water and toxin free soil. It involves whatever nurtures and nourishes growth and resilience – in body, mind and spirit.
In short, it requires a shift in emphasis away from management and control of individuals towards the creation of life enhancing societies and environments.
What do you think? Is this possible? Can we work towards such a future?
Mostly doctors see sick people. Generally, we don’t go to visit doctors when we are well. However, we think of doctors as “health care professionals”, who work for the “health service”.
Whilst the goal of a doctor is to help a sick person back to health, their knowledge and skills are focused on treating disease.
Health and illness are not two entirely separate states. There’s a spectrum of health, with excellent health at one end and poor health (or illness) is at the other.
I’ve often wondered what lies behind this spectrum and how do we move back and forward along it?
One of the key concepts in modern biology is “homeostasis” – a complex set of regulatory systems which act to try and keep the “inner environment” of the body in a condition of balance. When imbalance occurs illness appears. Or, another perspective is, illness disturbs the inner balance.
We all understand that concept – if our diet is inadequate we are likely to get ill, and if our diet contains an excess of anything, especially too much salt or sugar, we get sick.
So, one way we stay well by having enough but not too much of whatever we need.
A second key concept is that of inflammation. The human inflammatory system exists to recognise what is us, and what isn’t….in particular to recognise potentially harmful “intruders”. (The immune system and the inflammatory one are intimately linked). We recognise inflammation when part of the body becomes hot, red, swollen and painful – as we do when we have an abscess, a sore throat, or an arthritic joint. Inflammation can occur anywhere in the body, but it especially occurs at our borders – the skin, the lining of the gut, the lungs, the genitourinary system. It’s our first line of defence.
However, the inflammatory system can become too active, as it is with almost all chronic ailments. And it can be very harmful when the immune system turns against healthy tissue (as it does in all autoimmune diseases).
The third concept I find useful has only come to the fore in more recent years. It’s “integration”. Integration can be understood as the creation of mutually beneficial bonds between very different parts. Our body contains very different tissues and organs. Our organs don’t compete with each other. They collaborate. They work in harmony with each other. When this goes awry chaos ensues!
All three of these – balance, inflammation and integration work together, each influencing the others. Almost all disease is “multifactorial” – there are a number of influences and factors combining to produce the dysfunction that leads to illness.
On the other side of the coin, it’s these same three we need to attend to if we want to be healthy. We need balance, healthy boundaries and defences and we need integration in our lives – in our physical needs for nutrients and water, in our psyche and in our multiple environments, social, cultural, and natural.
The same principles apply throughout the natural world. Healthy environments are the prerequisite for healthy lives.
So, these are what I have in mind whether I’m focused on helping a sick person, or helping a healthy one – balance, inflammation and integration.
One day a patient came to see me and I asked how things were. She replied, “not so good, my husband has been diagnosed with cancer and he’s been told he’s got six months to live.”
“Oh dear, how do you feel about that?” I asked.
“I’m angry”
Not a response I expected but I was interested to understand. “Why are you angry?”
“Well, how come he gets to know how long he’s got and I don’t get to know how long I’ve got?!”
This led to a discussion about certainty. I’ve never been a fan of doctors telling patients they have x months or years to live. Many people take it as a death sentence and either go downhill turning it into a self fulfilling prophecy or they reject it and soldier on.
The point is we can’t be that certain. The further ahead we look the less certain we can be. You see that every day with the weather forecast. But even over a short period of time we can’t be 100% certain. Thanks to diversity, chance and constant change, we cannot be certain.
But we crave certainty. We want to know for sure that we’re making a good choice. We would like to be sure we have at least another x years to live. (We would like to know the value of x!)
We want the pilot to be certain he’s pressed the right buttons, made the necessary pre flight checks. We want the surgeon to be certain they are about to make an incision exactly where it should be made. And so on…..
But, on the other hand, those who are utterly convinced of the rightness of their own views can be scary and dangerous people. From religious fundamentalists to despots like Hitler, Stalin, Mao or Pol Pot. To narcissistic politicians who refuse to tolerate any opinion different from their own (don’t we have way more of those than are good for us in the world just now?)
Or how about the “new atheists” who are so certain of their own position that they mock and dismiss anyone who has any faith? Or the so called “sceptics” who are so sure of their own “evidence” that they campaign to prevent others making different health choices?
When I was taught how to make a good diagnosis, I was taught to draw up a short list of possibilities….a “differential diagnosis” then to act according to the most likely one whilst remaining constantly alert, observing, examining, testing as time past, ready to drop the chosen diagnosis if the facts no longer fitted.
Maybe what we need is enough certainty to make choices and to live the life we want to live, but to hold those certainties loosely….ready to change and adapt as we encounter the ever evolving reality of daily life?
I welcome constructive criticism and suggestions. I will not, however, tolerate abuse, rudeness or negativity, whether it is directed at me or other people. It has no place here. ANYONE making nasty comments will be banned.
Heroes Not Zombies 