Why Do Doctors Deny that We Have a Sacred Intention . . . Even Though We Do?
It’s Partly a Problem of Definition
I am a doctor who cares a lot about people in medical service, and losing connection with what inspired us to this calling is never a good thing. I’ve thought a lot about sacred intention and the many ways doctors and other clinicians reject the idea. Why? Here are some reasons I’ve used myself and heard from others--and some of the consequences of denial.
Good medical care is based on science, not good intentions.
It is true that a lot of successful modern medical care derives from scientific discovery. Biomedical science can be a really strong tool, but it’s not perfect, nor is it mutually exclusive with things like hope and intention. What we’ve been applauding around the world over the last many, intense, life-changing weeks is that doctors, nurses, and the entire team of people who are necessary to the care of sick people show up no matter what. We don’t have a preventive vaccination or cure for COVID-19 yet, and we haven’t even known the best ways to treat it. In fact, some of our strategies may have made things worse. We do the best we can and try to learn from the treatment failures. But in the meantime, the reason people are standing outside hospital doors and cheering the staff at shift change is that we show up, do the best we can, care about the wellbeing of others, and hope for the best. Lots of people are dying, so the public isn’t just cheering our successes. They’re cheering our intention.
“Sacred Intention” sounds like religion. I’m not a saint, and I’m not into that.
Fair enough. There is no such thing as a perfect person. What is powerful is that even when we’re afraid, or hurt, or resentful about things like not having enough PPE or being exhausted, we show up anyway! How do we name and understand that impulse? I don’t identify as a religious person myself, but I know that the heart of being a doctor for me, what inspires me to get past my own obstacles of thought and body, is this sense of it being profoundly important and my privilege to be present and offers what skills I have when another person is in need. This is about the sanctity of life, what is numinous and beyond our individual comprehension. It’s why I cry whenever I attend a birth. If someone has a better name for that, bring it on. We should have a thousand names for it.
It’s egotistical to call my inspiration a sacred intention.
Well, it can be when we mistake ourselves or our intention as the source of power or awe. We are channels for that, expressions of an essentially ecological, pro-social inclination. Here’s the interesting part. If in fearing being self-aggrandizing we separate ourselves from the qualities of inspiration and caring, we actually become the thing we fear. It’s a paradox. The whole reason for devoting so much human and material resource to Medicine, why medical care is deemed priceless and worthy of scientific study and technological development, is that it serves human life and expresses fundamental qualities of belonging and caring that we hold dear. I believe our burnout rates would decrease dramatically in proportion to our embracing the heartfelt inspiration for our service. The world has come to a screeching halt to preserve life. Has there ever been a stronger statement of our values?
Try it. If you’re a fellow healthcare worker, as you approach each patient and task before you today, try saying to yourself, “I have a sacred intention,” and see what happens. Heck, try this even if you’re not a healthcare worker. Prepare to be amazed.
A version of this was published on Medium earlier this month.
