Sublime

“Not gifted with genius but honestly holding his experience deep in his heart, he kept his simplicity and humanity.”

obliviously enjoying your unearned privilege to being crushingly aware of

The central point the doctor had made about the quality of life is worth stressing. Not every illness can be overcome.

The Apology, as recorded by Plato, his student, is a bracing defense of the individual in search of truth:

A man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong. . . . I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I

Physicians who ignore the importance of the relationship with the sufferer are often those who possess a simpleminded philosophy about illness—that

“He gathered everyone together and said good-bye and explained that this is how he wanted to die. He had a very conscious death.” Patrick’s seeming equanimity in the face of death exerted a powerful influence on everyone around him, Lisa said, and his room in the palliative care unit at Mount Sinai became a center of gravity in the hospital.

If ulcers are caused by a bacteria, as some research indicates, it is probable that our emotions suppress our ability to fight the bacteria, allowing the ulcer to grow.