Great Power and Great Responsibility

“Your father had a philosophy . . . He believed if there were things in this world that you had to offer, things that you did well -- better than anyone else -- things you could do that helped people . . . he believed that it wasn't just a good idea to do those things. He believed it was your responsibility to do those things. Don't try to be less. Great things are going to happen to you, Peter, great things. And with that will come great responsibility. Do you understand? Great responsibility.” - Uncle Ben to Peter Parker as Parker is becoming Spider-man.  – (The ideas are by STAN LEE, Marvel Comics 1962– This version written by Brian Michael Bendis -Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1)

Those ideas, found in Stan Lee’s comic book Spider-Man – originally in the first appearance of Spider-Man in August. 1962 – have always inspired me. Whatever we do, no matter what field we are in, everyone can relate to aiming for excellence. This is one of the key ways we can make the world a better place than we found it. I have always done my best to follow that road, and Stan Lee - through Spider-Man and many other Marvel heroes - gave us all lessons through our formative years that helped point us in the right direction.

When I entered college and later medical school, I was looking for the opportunity to make the world a better place. Sure, I could just follow my career and do my best, but I wanted to do more. I wanted to do my best to have God use me in some way to make the world a better place. That is why I never stayed in the ruts, parroting back everything I was taught and going no further. I wanted more for my life, I wanted to know for a fact when I left this mortal coil, that I had given this world the best I had.

Starting in college and continuing through medical school and over forty-two years in medical practice, I did my job as a student and a physician. I learned and applied what I learned to first become a physician and later to become the best physician I could be. But I always had a burning desire – no matter what stage of my life – to learn mor, to understand more, and to find ways to make practical application of what I learned.

My perspective is unique. I am a practicing physician, a scholar of the Western medical literature, and a student of Eastern knowledge. As a practicing Christian, I also am a person of faith. I believe the information that I have collected suggests a new vision of the human body, health, and disease. This unique collection of knowledge must be brought together for the good of everyone.

I have another unique perspective. I am an Osteopathic physician. Dr. Andrew Taylor Still founded Osteopathic Medicine in 1892 at Kirksville, Missouri. Dr. Still founded a distinctly American reformation of medicine. Today, Osteopathic physicians earn the degree DO, or Doctor of Osteopathy. DO is one of the two academic degrees one can earn in the United States to be licensed for the unlimited practice of medicine. The other degree, of course, is the more familiar MD, or Medical Doctor.

Osteopathic physicians like me practice the full range of medicine like our MD colleagues – but we also have a strong commitment to practicing Wholistic Medicine. Today, the term Wholistic (sometimes spelled as Holistic) is a popular term for widely integrated medical practice, frequently centering around a more natural approach. This is why the DO is committed to a Wholistic approach to medical care. The DO works to treat the whole person instead of just the obvious disease or symptoms. The DO also has the most effective and comprehensive system of hands-on therapy to treat medical problems of the musculoskeletal system.

Modern Medicine has much to offer, but improvements are possible. Osteopathic medicine combines Modern Medicine with a wholistic approach and a sophisticated system of manipulative therapy. Both schools of medicine have much to offer, but neither has all the answers.

Eastern knowledge has seldom come to the public's attention except as a curiosity. And spiritual aspects of medicine are largely ignored except as speculation. This book is an effort to integrate these fields – and to unify them within a spiritual framework. A major goal of this book is to harness this new synthesis of knowledge to improve medical care.

Ideas Can Bring Change

Ideas are often the forerunners of change. This is true in politics, education, and the social sciences. It also is true in the so-called hard sciences of physics, chemistry, and medicine. This book shares ideas that are eminently useful, if not revolutionary.

R. Buckminster Fuller was a one-of-a-kind human being who, following the Great Depression, went to the library and taught himself everything he could, in every field of study he could find. Fuller is known as the inventor of the geodesic dome and originator of many other brilliant ideas and inventions. He made a career of theorizing, inventing, writing books, and lecturing in a sincere effort to help all of humanity improve itself. 

He taught that, by knowing as much as we can about as many subjects as we can, we can better understand and improve our world - and thereby improve the lives of all human beings.

One of his central themes was this: we all need to know as much as possible about many subjects – and then integrate that knowledge to better understand our world. Fuller called the complete knowledge that he advocated comprehensive literacy. It is my hope that we all will emulate R. Buckminster Fuller's concept of comprehensive literacy.  By applying these ideas to defining health and disease, we can better understand both. We will gain a more complete vision of man's health-promoting Self-Referral – the way to Maximum Health. Combining these ideas teaches us the reality of Self-Referral/Maximum Health.

My soon to be published book Self-referral/Maximum Health is such a useful synthesis; it integrates approaches to health that were formerly thought separate and unrelated. Physicians and scientists of the world will examine these ideas and, based on their merit, will test and explore them further. The resulting knowledge will enter the mainstream of Western medical thought. This will bring a refreshing unification of many ideas, producing a clear improvement in medical care. The most important result will be a better chance for suffering people to regain their health. I would leave you with this powerful statement, key to the book Self-Referral/Maximum Health:

For too long we have tried to wrest health from our bodies as if struggling with an enemy. Let us rise to a more complete view in which man's normal condition is health - and look to restoring health when disease occurs.

Thanks to jet planes and the electronic media, the world is fast becoming a small place where everyone knows each other. Let the West learn from the East, and the East from the West. Let all people of faith talk with and respect each other. Let us together seek Self-Referral/Maximum Health.

Why? Because “with great power comes great responsibility.”