I believe that medicine’s potential is much more than the version we see in the world today. A doctor should be an educator with the goal of bringing patients to a place of deeper understanding of who they are in the world. To me, medicine is ultimately about self-empowerment through self-knowledge and growth.
Read more
Have you ever broken a mirror and worried for your future?
This Friday the 13th let’s pause for a moment to acknowledge the centrality of thinking to our experience as human beings and the importance and power of clarity in our thinking. Clarity is not a given, but when we work at it we are more likely to get it. And when we get it, it’s good!
“I’ve made up my mind and I won’t give up, no matter what anyone says. I’m continuing on the path.”
What a great trait! It has led to many great tales of adventure, and success against all odds; it’s what legends are made of!
It is especially sweet when one’s inner drive guides the task.
However, perseverance doesn’t fit all scenarios. There’s another idea that is needed at times. It’s called making adjustments. Being Flexible. Adapting.
This is also a very fine trait!
Overly persistent perseverance can become stubbornness, right? And too much flexibility can resemble spinelessness, yes? We see that whether an action is right or wrong depends on the setting.
Have you ever considered that illness can be defined as the presence of a “trait” in the wrong setting? Acute inflammation, for example, is neutral. It’s neither inherently good nor bad. Inflammation is quite necessary for the processes of digestion and detoxification but is alarming when it’s found in a sensory organ, like the skin. Everything in its right place at the right time is health. We need many opposing forces; we just need them to be in balance. It needs to be ordered.
Sometimes it is needed to push through to the goal. It would be a disaster to not go far enough. Other times not changing course would be a grave mistake.
Knowledge is what is needed. It alone helps to decipher what is needed at which time. A combination of paying attention and not being tied to any particular path (freedom) are the keys. When you have an investment in a certain path or outcome, it’s called bias. When there is reason to leave the old path but bias blocks the shift, it’s a type of illness. Knowledge can only come when bias is addressed. The other prerequisite to finding clarity is the conquering of fear.
The thinking about the use of mRNA shots going forward is evolving. I present two discussion points circulating in the mainstream circles in recent weeks that are indicating a change in course.
First, the booster is being considered a failure. Plain and simple. Immunologic studies are saying that people aren’t responding to it, probably because previous shots have trained the immune system to have the previous response they elicited. Dr Paul Offit, vaccine expert, summarizes it in a New England Journal of Medicine perspective piece like this: the data doesn’t support the booster for most people.
Second, a pattern is emerging in the data that taking ongoing shots increases the risk of contracting COVID. People first pass through a period of modest protection after a COVID shot and then the protection not only wanes and disappears, it reverses. People become more likely to get COVID than if they had not been vaccinated. A preprint from late last year shows a link between the number of boosters recieved and the likelihood of contracting COVID over time. It is a study of over 50,000 people at Cleveland clinic. This is far from the only time this phenomenon has been observed.
It’s reassuring to have a solution to the problem. It’s unsettling when the solution operates in shades of gray and is imperfect and complex. However, I would say that being a mature human being demands navigating shades of gray, complexity and imperfection. The lesson is to hold on to yesterday’s solution only if it’s right for today. For me, this all points to the highest level of medication: what I refer to as the world’s best medicines —
These go an astonishingly long way. And don’t forget the good news of the last year: Omicron does not have affinity for the lower lungs. It’s not a “nothing-burger” by any stretch of the imagination, but people generally tolerate it well regardless of booster status.
Without fear and bias, a certain path emerges. It will always be complex and imperfect, but in the face of it all to walk fearlessly and in freedom is when life has the chance become light, even playful, which is what life is at its essence.
