Plenary
BEING AND DOING IN THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE:
EMBRACING THE DEEPER DIMENSIONS OF HEALING| Conference Home Page | Presenter Bios | CMBM Home Page |
Jeremy Geffen, M.D.
June 12, 1999I. Abstract
After a brief history of his personal journey, Dr. Jeremy Geffen, Executive Director of the Geffen Cancer Center and Research Institute, discussed how patients and practitioners can get in touch with the healing energy that exists deep within each of us. We live at all times in two separate domains: the domain of doing and the domain of being. The domain of doing is that aspect of lives that involves all of our activities and efforts while the domain of being is our experience of these activities and efforts. Within the domain of being is where our true self lies untouched by our physical ailments. It is here, in the deep ocean of the domain of being, that true healing begins.
II. The Cancer-Related Issue Addressed
In this Plenary Session, Dr. Geffen addressed the important issue of trying to provide cancer care that blends the best of conventional Western medicine with the deeper levels of healing that are the focus of the Eastern healing traditions. Through awareness of the two dimensions of human existence – being and doing – caregivers can foster healing in their patients and create a sustainable, nurturing environment for themselves.
III. The Program
A. Philosophical Background
Dr. Geffen’s approach is a combination of Western biomedical science and Eastern philosophy. He draws especially on his knowledge of and experiences with Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism and their respective healing traditions, Ayurvedic and Tibetan medicines.
B. Details
Dr. Geffen’s Journey
Dr. Geffen’s journey has been a personal spiritual search that began when he became interested in Eastern philosophy at the age 19. At that time he met a teacher and joined an ashram. During his time in the ashram he became a vegetarian, studied yoga and meditation and delved deeply into Tibetan Buddhism and Hinduism. Their wisdom and their power to relieve human suffering in tangible ways profoundly moved him. After four years, a little voice told him "Go to college and medical school." He obeyed by moving to New York City where he attended Columbia University and New York University School of Medicine.
During college and medical school he fell in love with science and medicine. He was astounded by their power to make a profound difference in people’s lives. He found himself compelled to find a way to bring these two worlds – Eastern philosophy and Western science – together. During medical school he also fell in love with oncology. He feels that it lies uniquely at the interface between science and technology on the one hand and the most profound human mysteries of life and death on the other. He continued his relationship with the East during medical school through a medical expedition to Nepal. On this trip that he realized that India and Tibet not only have great spiritual traditions but medical traditions as well. These medical traditions are the Ayurvedic and Tibetan medicines. He made seven trips to the East in total.
As a senior in medical school, Dr. Geffen’s father was diagnosed with gastric cancer. This experience showed him what patients and their families go through when stricken with cancer. He was heartbroken by his father’s illness and horrified by the treatment he (they) received from the mainstream medical establishment. He tried desperately to save his father’s life. He searched for a place in which his father could receive the best conventional medicine as well as the broad array of the world’s healing traditions, many to which he had been exposed. He was unable to find such a cancer center and knew that he would devote his career to creating such place.
Dr. Geffen went on to finish medical school, a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology. Six years ago he opened a cancer center with the explicit goal of combining the best of conventional medical technology for cancer with a vast array of complementary and alternative forms of healing. Part of this vision is to care for every dimension of the patients and the caregivers and staff. Based on his experience he has three central points to make.
First, the foundation upon which cancer care is built must be scientifically based medicine. He believes that in our eagerness to embrace all of the universe of possibilities presented by complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), we should not forget the foundation that can sustain us. This foundation, however, is just the beginning.
Second, cancer often challenges the mind, heart and spirit of patients and family members as much as it does the physical body. Learning to address mental, emotional and spiritual needs without compromising medical care is one of the great challenges and opportunities that they face. Importantly, cancer also challenges the mind, heart and spirit of the caregivers, too. We must find a way to take care of and honor the mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of our caregivers if we want a sustainable vision of care for cancer patients.
The Domains of Being and Doing
His third point was an essential concern. Each of us lives in two domains, Being and Doing. These are the two domains of human existence in which we live simultaneously throughout our lives, even if we are not aware of it.
The domain of Doing includes all of our activities, everything we do. Our efforts to fix problems, to help others heal, to make a difference in our own lives as well as the lives of others. The domain of Doing also includes the roles that we play every day such as doctor, healer, mother, child, wife, lover or friend. The ideas that we have about who we are all reside in the domain of Doing.
The domain of Being is our experience of life as we engage in these activities. How are we feeling? What are we experiencing? Who are we being as human beings? But the domain of Being is more than that. It also addresses the deeper dimensions of who we really are as humans, prior to any activity. The domain of Being points toward the essence of who we really are.
Dr. Geffen believes that every human being is like an iceberg. The aspect of ourselves that we typically deal with is that part that we can see and touch, the physical part of ourselves. But this is only the tip of the iceberg that lies above the surface of the water. It is not the full truth. Our true vastness lies below the surface of what can be touched, seen or measured. Just below the surface is an entire world of thoughts, beliefs, ideas, emotions, feelings, hopes, fears and desires. These guide every aspect of our lives and profoundly influence our experience of life. Below this levels lies, what Dr. Geffen called, a huge mountain of being. It is in these depths of who we really are, the deepest dimensions of being, that the deepest dimensions of healing are discovered.
One of the great sages of India once said, "You are not the wave, you are the ocean." This ocean of who we really are is an ocean of pure being, an ocean of pure consciousness. Everything that we can see is arising and falling away on the surface while in the depths of that ocean we find silence, purity and unbounded love. Here, who we are is already healed and well, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of what might be occurring on the surface. No matter how big or horrendous the waves may be, the bottom of the ocean is still calm, untouched. Dr. Geffen noted that the great paradox of life is that each of us is a vast ocean but we take ourselves to be a small wave on top. We are mountains of being but we take ourselves to be the tips of iceberg.
Dr. Geffen believes that the wide spread dissatisfaction with conventional medicine is a result of the fact that it treats only the patient’s physical domain, the tip of the iceberg. He also believes that much of CAM is not all that different. While there are important exceptions, many CAM therapies may be less toxic but their focus is mainly on the physical dimension. These include herbs, high dose vitamins, diet, antineoplastons, shark cartilage, essiac tea, and so on. Those that do engage on deeper levels (e.g., immune function, digestion, sleep, thoughts, feelings and emotions) still do not reach to the depths of who we are. They do not reach the bottom of the ocean of pure being. Integrating CAM and conventional medicine is important; however, a true paradigm shift will not occur until we fully recognize and embrace the domain of being where we are already whole, perfect and healed. We must do this while fully engaged in the domain of doing.
Incorporate this Philosophy into to Your Life and Work
How can we go about doing this, making these changes? He believes that change is the ultimate challenge in the real world of medicine. The solution to overcoming this challenge will grow, deepen and evolve as we go. Dr. Geffen has found three things that he believes will be of great importance.
First, we must remember that we are not really separate or different from each other, regardless of the roles we play in life. Inside, all of us are seeking love, happiness and joy. This desire lies at the heart of everything people do, regardless of how crazy or complicated people’s lives are.
Second, we must take time every day to be still and quiet, whether it be through prayer, meditation, sitting quietly in nature, or something else. If we want to embrace the domain of being and disconnect from the domain of doing, we must take the time to directly experience the deeper domain of being. This happens best when we are quiet.
Third, we cannot give to others that which we do not have ourselves. Caregivers must go deep inside themselves to the place of wholeness. By doing so, they can give so much more to those who have forgotten that place which exists within themselves.
If caregivers are able to do this, able to embrace the domain of being in the real world while caring for patients, they will see three immediate and profound results. First, teaching patients to experience that timeless, dimensionless domain within themselves, patients’ experience of their journey through cancer is transformed. Regardless of the treatment outcome, they become more calm, joyful and peaceful. Second, when patients contact this deeper aspect of themselves, they have the greatest chance of healing physically. They are tapping into the greatest wellsprings of healing, love and energy in all of us. Finally, by consciously embracing a philosophy that acknowledges this domain of being while taking care of patients, the quality of the caregiver’s experience is transformed. Caregivers can do their job even better. They know that, regardless of what is going on at the surface, there is a part of the patient that is untouched, safe, whole and well.
Dr. Geffen closed with what he called a simple and profound quotation from another spiritual master from India. This quote offers a profound insight into all of these questions as well as how we solve the paradox of living in both domains- Being and Doing- at once. The quote is as follows:
"When I see that I am nothing, that is wisdom.
And when I see that I am everything, that is love.
And between these two, my life moves"He left the audience with his deepest prayer, that one day we will have the grace and fortune to live our lives this way, moving always back and forth between wisdom and love.
IV. Limitations
No limitations were presented.
V. Resources
In the above account, Dr. Geffen describes ways in which the reader can take advantage of his philosophy of Being and Doing. You can learn more about Dr. Geffen, or the Geffen Cancer Center and Research Institute, at this website:
http://www.geffencenter.com/windows/home.htm. To get in touch with them, call 800-834-4791 or e-mail Dr. Geffen directly at jgeffen@geffencenter.com.