Heroes Not Zombies

Montaigne suffered from kidney stones which made him seriously ill many times. There were no treatments for stones in those days. He had to bear with the pain until the stone passed. Remarkably he came to believe these repeated experiences improved his life. They were often followed by such profound relief that recovery was almost a “high” for him, but more than that the attacks taught him that we are all vulnerable and imperfect. They reminded him of his mortality.

All if this made him appreciate life all the more and developed his ability to accept whatever today might bring. Along with this acceptance came a profound belief in the ability of nature to cure us.

“Nature does everything for you, and there’s no need to trouble your head about anything.”

And

It is better to be moderate, modest, and a little vague. Nature will take care of the rest.

These are pretty challenging beliefs for we moderns. I’ve long held the view that the self-repairing, self-regulating and self-healing powers of the body are responsible for our recoveries and for our health. As a doctor it was my job to assist those natural processes. Sadly, pharmacological medicine rarely works directly with these systems. We seem to have developed a set of “anti” tools instead which act against whatever is happening in the body.

However, in my work, I didn’t just stand back and wait for Nature to do her work. Rather, I sought to understand the person and their illness, to acknowledge and support them, and to find ways to support or even enhance the processes of healing.

Some manage to take this thinking a step further and can find a benefit, find new strengths even, in their illnesses. A bit like the hero’s journey, the challenges brought by the disease are like obstacles which, when overcome, provide the “boons” which provoke development and flourishing. They ultimately increase and deepen self understanding. Montaigne was one who thought that way.

Learning to live, in the end, is learning to live with imperfection….and even embrace it.