Head toward the light

My wife and i had a wonderful opportunity to travel to Scandinavia, and saw the work of art, "The Scream" by Edvard Munch. The curator at the National Gallery of Art in Oslo, described this existential moment as coming from "anxiety, alienation, and loneliness."

In stark contrasts of orange and blue, a man with blurred facial expressions and open mouth, is screaming in a primal way. He stands on a bridge, amidst passer bys who ignore him and go their own way.

And in that moment looking at that picture, i thought about the difference between what happens in traditional medicine when someone cannot be cured. Too often, "professionals" wear the "white coat" and maintain "objectivity," and we hear phrases like "nothing can be done," or "put your affairs in order," or "you have only a few weeks or months to live."

Hospice is about doing better. Evidence based studies show that Simple Human touch through methods like Reiki can reduce "worry." Focus on the preciousness of the time we share can reduce "worry." Accepting the possibility that Death is but a "Transition" and not a "finality" can reduce worry and offer Hope.

It is amazing to me that almost all indigenous cultures believe in a after-life. Almost all major religions - East AND West, have a faith a some sort of "world to come." Jewish faith calls this "Olam Ha-Ba" or the "world to come." Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism all assert faith in the continuation of the soul or consciousness in some way, and yet, faced with an inability to prove scientifically one way or the other what occurs on the "other side," science tends to presume that "death ends it all," leaving the sick patient deprived of hope.

Worry, alienation, and loneliness are scourges of modern medicine. We must use evidence based practice whenever we can, it is a wonderful tool, but we must realize when evidence based medicine reaches its limits, the human spirit is connected, and faith and hope can be given when "cure" cannot. We can continue to care.

In seeing this painting, i committed to rededicate my own efforts that in hospice, we would not leave our patients alone, to face the primal scream of anxiety and alienation. Those who we cannot cure, we can still connect with, we can share precious moments with them. we can alleviate their pain, abolish their sense of alienation, and make sure that they do not live alone or die alone.

With commitment to the spiritual strength that each human being carries through their personal history, using methods such as Reiki to assist us in focusing on connection, and presence, and simple touch when appropriate, we can add the color of the sun to the canvas, and assist our patients in heading toward the light.