Excursus: Medical Marvels

The mainstream culture — call it white male Western scientific — leaves no room for visions, angel visits, burning bushes, and the like.  It’s a Joe Friday, “Just the facts!  Wham bam, thank you, ma’am” outlook on life.

People like me get tossed in a box labeled “misfits and/or Looney Toons.”

It’s anecdotal but I heard this story as true: a patient in a mental hospital heard voices, saw things “normal” people don’t hear or see.  Otherwise, he was perfectly normal.  His staff counselor, who wanted him released from the hospital, advised him simply not to talk about what he heard or saw out of the ordinary.

In the health systems I’ve experienced there is an unwritten rule, you don’t chart things that are out of the ordinary— namely, religious or spiritual things. When you write up your program for the professional journal, remove all references to religion or religious personnel except those which confirm the Looney Tune prejudice.

Yes, friends, that really happened.

Of course, the one big exception is in marketing.  To attract new residents or patients or funding from churches, you train the marketing staff to emphasize the deep spiritual roots of the institution. 

Note: what I started to write you about will come next.