“Good, I’m really kinda tired of all that commercialism, anyway. Actually, I’m looking forward to a little peace and quiet. I’ve never experienced anything but big bustling cities at Christmas, so this should be a welcome relief,” Ben smiled as he tried to adjust his tall lanky frame into the relative close quarters of his middle seat.
Ryan noticed him squirming. “Why don’t you put your pack in the overhead? You’ll be a pretzel after four hours of sitting like that! Just get what you need outa there and you’ll be a lot more comfortable.
“Yeah, good idea,” Ben agreed, pulling out an apple, two celery stalks, and a paperback copy of Larry Dossey’s ‘Reinventing Medicine.’ “This should last me a while,” he smiled and handed Julian the backpack.
Just then, the stewardess’s voice crackled over the intercom, exhorting all passengers to once again endure the federally mandated safety lecture on how to buckle your seat belt or turn your seat cushion into a flotation device. Ryan zoned her out and decided to take advantage of the time together and find out how Ben had been faring at OHSU.
“So, soon-to-be Dr. A, how’s the great medical world at OHSU? They brainwashed you with all that pharmaceutical crap yet?” Ryan grinned as he taunted his friend about what he considered to be a fairly conservative choice in medical education, and certainly not a route that he would have chosen.
“Tryin’ their best,” Ben smiled, “but no friend of Ryan Christie could be even remotely susceptible to all that nonsense! I pick and choose what serves me best.” Brandishing the Dossey book toward his friend, he countered, “You’ll notice I’m not exactly reading the Merck Manual here!”
Ryan laughed. “You know, that does look familiar. Jules, isn’t that the book you were reading last semester for some woo-woo class of yours?”
“Watch it now, Mr. Know-It-All. Yes, indeed it is a book that I have read and thoroughly enjoyed. At least two of the three of us will soon be properly educated,” Julian added, winking at Ben.
“Hey now you guys…” Ryan’s voice was partly muffled by the roar of the engines powering the 727 into the sky and on its course toward the opposite coast. As the plane’s nose edged skyward and the force of gravity pushed them all back against their seats, he continued, “I, myself, am reading a classic by none other than the revered New York Times best-selling author Dr. Dean Ornish. In fact, upon our arrival in Charleston, of the three of us, I shall be the one in sole possession of the keys to ‘Reversing Heart Disease,’ therein preparing myself to rid the planet of yet another malicious and unnecessary malady for which prevention seems a far better approach.” Ryan loved to tease his friends with a most scholarly and erudite delivery.
“What a crock!” Julian chimed in. “Hey man, look out your window—thar she blows, the famous lady of the west, Mt. Hood!” It was a crystal clear morning in Portland, highly unusual for that time of year, but what a treat to travelers heading east. Just to the right of the plane, seemingly only a stone’s throw away, stood a jagged snow-covered precipice piercing the azure sky, welcoming those journeying west or, in this case, bidding fond farewell to those departing the Rose City.
“Unbelievable!” shrieked Ben. “It’s been years since I’ve seen Mt. Hood from the air—just spectacular! Looks like we’re almost right on top of it!”
“Yep, say goodbye to volcano land,” Julian quipped. “See the Sisters farther south there? And just look across the isle—Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens, and way out there in the distance, you can even make out Mt. Rainier! This country is so beautiful, and on a clear day like today, it’s even more magnificent. You know, even though I was born in Charleston, I get a lump in my throat every time I see these beautiful mountains from the air like this. Going the other direction, I always feel like I’m home when I can look out the window and see them all far off in the distance, welcoming me back. And leaving…it’s like they’re telling me goodbye and wishing me a safe journey! Ben, this is a great omen for the trip. You’re gonna have a fabulous time!”
“No doubt,” Ben echoed, “I’m pumped! Hope it stays clear the whole way. I’d love to see the great Salt Lake, the Rockies, the Mississippi—all those magnificent sights. Maybe we will!”
“Hopefully so,” Ryan agreed, turning to his book. “I’ve got a lot to learn here before the flight’s over. Hey Jules, what was it you were telling me about that Dossey book? I want to be sure our friend here doesn’t miss anything!”
Julian thought for a moment, then looked over at Ben and Ryan. “You know,” he began slowly, “it surprises me, Ben, that you’re reading this book. It’s not exactly mainstream medical reading! I got interested in Larry Dossey’s work shortly after I finished Peter Russell’s ‘From Science to God’, in which he postulated a new metaparadigm where consciousness was primary and everything else evolved from it. I found that pretty interesting, since I’ve spent a lot of my life rebelling against myopic materialistic science, which was essentially spiritually bankrupt and denied the existence of consciousness outside of the human brain. Well, a lot of new discoveries in quantum physics are showing the limitations of that point of view and are now pointing to an underlying energy field uniting all of life through an energetic web—a zero-point field, if you will, where energy exists even where it shouldn’t, even at absolute zero! Anyway, Dossey applied the concept of a universal nonlocal consciousness to medicine, calling it the third and most inclusive era of medicine—the era of eternity, or nonlocal medicine. In his view, the first era was very physical and mechanistic—drugs, radiation, surgery, you know, the physical side of medicine that is still practiced today. The second era expanded that to brain-body dynamics, adding a psychological dimension to the medical armamentarium. Well, Dossey went a step further and said that mind is not equivalent to brain, as science would have us believe, but, in essence, is a manifestation of a greater non-local consciousness not limited to time, space, and certainly not a single human brain! According to him, there is a collective, nonlocal universal consciousness that unites us all, essentially making the physical separation that we feel nothing more than an illusion. In reality, we are all part of the greater energy, and that which we identify as our ‘true self’ exists in an eternal realm beyond the body, time, and space. Very exciting stuff and right along the lines of Peter Russell’s thinking and a lot of other more ‘new age’ scientists. So, my friend, you’re in for a literal mind-blowing ride with that book. This is science and medicine at its highest and most inclusive form, in my humble opinion,” Julian smiled. “And I’m certainly glad you guys are getting a good taste of it. I’m sick of egocentric scientists and physicians who can’t see beyond the end of their noses, so read on, brother, and more power to you!” Pausing a moment, he couldn’t help but add, “Wow, that was pretty impressive, huh? You might as well close the book and take a nap…I told you all that you need to know already,” he laughed. “You guys owe me for that one!”
“Hmmm,” Ben mused, “maybe he’s right, Ryan. Perhaps it was good that we allowed him to sit with us, after all. I mean, he HAS demonstrated Socratic aptitude at the very least! I’ll check this book out and see if he even got close to what this guy’s trying to say. I do think medicine could use some serious reinventing, though—have to agree with Jules there. Anyway, off I go into the realm of the non-local…let me know if you see something cool out the window!”
With that, the three friends settled into their seats, each in his own introspective world—Ben with Dr. Dossey, Ryan with Dr. Ornish, and Julian with who knows what; from Ryan’s viewpoint, it looked like Quantum Consciousness or something like that.
A couple of hours passed before the three friends were unexpectedly jostled in their seats by a rather-pronounced shaking of the plane. Almost immediately, the