The Soul of Medicine

"The name resonated in an undefined, positive way -- Rachel Naomi Remen; "Have you heard of her?" I asked my wife. "Isn't she the author of Kitchen Table Wisdom?" my wife replied. Indeed. And I'd heard of the book, a bestseller--as was My Grandfather's Blessing. I'd read neither and yet somehow, I'd absorbed the sense of these books like the sound of a bell in the distance, a new influence appearing in Western Medicine that came out of work done at the Esalen Institute almost fifty years ago and which led to the founding of The Institute for the Study of Humanistic Medicine. Being part of that was a deeply transformative experience for Remen, so much so that she left her position as Associate Director of the Pediatrics Clinic at the Stanford Medical School to strike out in a new and, at the time, revolutionary direction. From what followed from her radical decision, one can only say she was listening to a call from destiny. I met Dr. Remen for the first time as part of a small group of admirers who gathered at her home near Walnut Creek, California. We were all mesmerized by her stories." More in this interview.

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