Heroes Not Zombies

Montaigne had strong views about health and doctors. He disparaged those who claimed to be better able to tell him what was good for him than he was.

He trusted his self-knowledge more than what others said or wrote about such matters, saying, for example, “I would rather be an authority on myself than on Cicero”. That strikes me as an admirable goal – to become an authority on yourself – to know yourself!

He said of medicines – “If it is a pleasant medicine, take it; it is always that much present gain. I shall never balk at the name or the colour, if it is delicious and appetizing. Pleasure is one of the principal kinds of profit.”

He said of “advice”, or rules for living prescribed by a doctor, “The disease pinches us on one side, the rule on the other. Since there is a risk of making a mistake let us risk it rather in pursuit of pleasure.”

One of my teachers said “Your patient’s life shouldn’t be harder for them when they leave your consulting room, than it was when they came in.” That struck me as wise advice. Montaigne would have agreed!

His issues on this subject weren’t just about doctors and medicines however. He was concerned about people telling others how to live. He gives examples of the diverse lifestyles of shepherds and fishermen and asks if it is sensible to give such different people exactly the same advice.

That’s an issue which troubled me throughout my career. Over the years we’d hear that fat was bad for you, fat was good for you; milk was good for you, milk was bad for you; hormone replacement therapy should be offered to all women, hormone replacement therapy should be avoided at all costs…..and so on.

As advice moves from how to recover from, or “manage” an illness, to prevention, the whole situation becomes infinitely worse.

Is there really any point in living a life of avoidance as a core principle? Avoid this, avoid that, don’t eat this, don’t drink that, don’t do this, don’t do that…..Montaigne quotes the sixth century poet, Maximianus, to back up his stance.

Obliged to wean our souls from things on which they thrive,

We give up living, just to keep alive.

“We give up living, just to keep alive”. Wow! That’s the heart of it. Surely there’s a seed of something wonderful in that one line?

Life’s for living. Death avoidance has a 100% failure rate…..eventually!