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LightHearted Musings - The Cure of Many Diseases is Unknown to Physicians
Posted by Dr. Molly Roberts on September 7th, 2008
The cure of many diseases is unknown to physicians…They are ignorant of the whole which ought to be studied also, for the part can never be well unless the whole is well. This is the great error of our day in the treatment of the human body, that the physician separates the soul from the body.–Plato
When I was a little girl, my doctor was a woman named Mary Saxe, M.D. and what a character she was! Dr. Saxe had been my mother’s doctor when she was young, and she then became my doctor until I reached adulthood. She had literally known my family for 3 generations, and her interactions with us reflected every facet of that familiarity.
Dr. Saxe’s office was in the poorest area of the city. She was aware that these were people whom others had thrown away and she wanted to be of help. If you sat outside her office for any length of time, you would think you were hearing two different people in the next room. One moment, she would loudly and forcefully yell at someone for not taking their medicine and the next, she would be lovingly hugging somone who was going through a rough time. She would minister to all of us with her unique blend of anger and love, and her patients absolutely loved her for it.
By the time I knew her, she was an old woman. Dr. Saxe had been trained in a man’s world in the early 1900s, when she was one of the very first women of her time to receive her M.D. degree. She had to be tough to get through that type of medical gauntlet, and tough she most certainly was!
Dr. Saxe could be incrediby gruff, like when she knew I wasn’t going to listen to her advice. If she thought I was whining about a problem that was in my control to fix, she would berate me…and she was quite a powerful force when she was in berating mode! I remember being more than a little afraid of displeasing her and inciting her wrath. She expected more from me than I expected from myself, and she would push and prod to get me to recognize that I had it in me to be…whatever I wanted to be.
And yet…she could also be incredibly kind and insightful. She would come to my home to minister to me when I was really sick, would see how I was living and how I got along with my parents and brothers, would comment on the posters I chose to put on my wall, would pay attention to who I was and how I was doing in my own world. When she knew I was hurting, really hurting either physically or emotionally, all that gruffness would simply melt away and I would be the lucky recipient of the full force of her love and attention.
She knew me in all my dimensions, mind, body and soul, my family make-up and dynamics, my joys, hopes and fears. She ministered to all those parts of what made me whole and recognized that the body was just one piece of the puzzle to full health. Dr. Saxe had the unique gift of fully accepting me while at the same time continually challenging me to live my life fully.
There is something about this quote from Plato that always brings me back to my memories of Dr. Saxe. She got through the medical system that insisted on toughness and compartmentalization of the body from the soul, and she managed to “do it her own damn way,” to express by example the true meaning of healing. She recognized that our health is related to all the wondrous aspects of our life, that physical health was only the tip of the iceberg for a life full of joy and vitality. In so many ways, she was my inspiration, and it was my great honor to learn these lessons at the feet (and sometimes under the feet!) of a master holistic healer. Plato and Dr. Saxe - may they both live among the angels!
Dr. Molly
Hi Dr. Molly,
What a special relationship…especially with a doctor. Seems hard to come by these days, but there are definitely special ones out there. Dr. Saxe seemed to be one of those special ones.
Thanks for sharing.
And I love that Plato quote!
Gina
Comment by Gina Rafkind — September 8, 2008 @ 2:32 pm
What a gift you were given in Dr. Saxe!
Comment by Lisa RP — September 8, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
What an inspirational message! Very validating that being impatient with someone when you know they can do better is OK…I feel that way alot and it’s nice to see such a successful doctor was able to be more effective by being her genuine self.
Comment by Dawn Norton — September 9, 2008 @ 2:26 pm