Surgery can’t be reduced to computer codes and robotics. Great surgeons develop an almost mystical “feel” for surgery. From A Midwestern Doctor at midwesterndoctor.com:
What each of us can learn from “the Dextrous Surgeon”
Story at a Glance:
•Living tissue is immensely complex, and many spiritual traditions have provided profound insights as to what occurs when one engages in an art that interfaces with them. The art of surgery for instance is elegantly synopsized by a Chinese classic.
•When performing surgery, radically improves outcomes are attained as one becomes more and more able to directly connect with the body and understands precisely where to separate the tissue.
•Modern surgery has been overrun with new technologies (e.g. electrocautery and robotic surgery) that have been effectively marketed by their manufacturers. Unfortunately, these devices disconnect the surgeon from their patient.
•This loss of connection in the newer generations of surgeons has led to worsened patients outcomes and an inability to deal with challenging situations. Unfortunately, since the new generation has redefined surgical success to conceal their inadequacies, members of the public often have no guidance on how to find the most qualified surgeon for their case.
Shortly before I went to medical school I came across a forgotten Chinese spiritual classic that provided numerous metaphors for meditation. A few months later, a passage from it about a skillful butcher popped into my mind as I began working with cadavers in the anatomy lab and it dawned on me that its metaphors for entering the deepest aspects of our being also applied to surgery.
