On Being

This is your place to publicly comment on the topics and issues addressed in Speaking of Faith programs. React in a personal way, and put into words what this program meant to you.

Submit Your Reflection about "Listening Generously: The Medicine of Rachel Naomi Remen."

Naivete and hope (December 1, 2008)
Thank you for an interesting and thought-provoking program. There are many of us who have experienced a disconnect in the healing process; there is a strong connection between those who focus on finding a cure and those who focus on healing and wholeness. These are not two different things, but rather different emphases.

Dr. Remen beautifully illustrated the inseparability of story-telling and healing.

Stephen Fiechter
Long Beach, California (KPPC, 89.3 FM)

Helpful (November 30, 2008)
Great program today with Dr Remen! Interesting, thorough, useful, and so helpful understanding life's struggles. And the whole hour? Wow! Nice going! I will definitely support you financially and spread the word. Continue touching people with useful programs and being a force of hope.

Greg Risberg
Chicago, Illinois (WBEZ, 91.5 FM)

Medical Arts (November 30, 2008)
I heard snippets of your show on healing arts and have long pondered the apparent contradiction of love and spiritual communication in hospitals and doctor's offices. Instead we are overwhelmed by the stress of health care costs including emergency and chronic care. I avoid annual check-ups to save money for my kids' surprises. Most Americans understand the high costs of medical school loans and insurance but see doctors as far more wealthy than most. "Fixed bills" strain the monthly budgets of those with and without insurance making it hard for us to see them as healers applying love and compassion. They instead become part of a financial machine that causes more economic discomfort and stress. There has to be a balance between an ideal relationship communicating love and respect with the reality of bankruptcies caused by medical bills. These ideas should be part of the broader discussion on health care reform.

Elizabeth Woodside
Wilmington, North Carolina (WHQR, 91.3 FM)

Exasperating Hokum (November 30, 2008)
I have NPR on almost continuously at home so unfortunately I hear tripe like this without actually wanting to. Mostly I tune it out but when the doctor told the story of a cancer patient who experienced spontaneous remission of his cancer it was really too much for me. As I recall her reaction was some spiritual 'there's so much we don't know.' Well, duh, but that is not at all the same as saying 'god moves in mysterious ways.' If we don't know something, it's because there are still mysteries for science to explore. Suggesting that god lies in areas of our ignorance is the same rationale that the creationists/intelligent design advocates invoke when they say that since we can't explain an evolutionary branch it must be supernatural. Bunk! There is no god; there is no purpose. Grow up and deal with it like adults.

Marc-paul Lee
Evanston, Illinois (WBEZ, 91.5 FM)

The Lamb Slain (November 27, 2008)
Yes, Rachel Remen's shattered world tradition is explained in Genesis. It is called the fall of man. Yes, I believe that Adam and Eve fell from their lofty state to become disasterpieces. Thankfully, God's solution was to send "the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world." Isaiah truly explained fallen man's dilemma and the divine solution. Isaiah 53:6 reads, "All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all."

Jesus is the light of the world who expels the darkness in human hearts. The Biblical story is simple and redemptive. How lovely it is to become God's child by virtue of the sufferings of Christ our Savior.

Jerry Lambeth
Harrisville, New York (WSLU, 89.5 FM)

Seeking a Difficult Path (February 1, 2008)
Dr. Remen's interview brought me to tears, because someone was finally speaking to all of my fears of becoming a physician. My trusted mentors and advisers in college discouraged my decision to pursue medical school because they were afraid I would lose my depth of spirit and compassion. They were frightened that overwhelming objectivity would destroy who I am. Though I have ultimately gone against their advice to seek another vocation, I am grateful for their care. Dr. Remen's words have convinced me that I can bring my humanity to my medical school training, and practice. That to be a doctor is what I suspected: A spiritual path that, though difficult, can be lived out well. Thank you for your interview.

Melanie Hebert
Grand Rapids, MI (Listens to SOF Podcast)

Role Reversal (January 3, 2008)
I have many of my own health problems, parents who were ill all my life and a son who has had serious health issues. I have also worked in hospitals and in physicians' clinics and have been a pet therapy volunteer for 17 years in nursing homes, hospitals, and hospices. Consequently, I have had experience in the medical world from both sides. I have learned how healing listening is. For a second time, I recently heard the Dr. Remen broadcast on "Listening Generously" and was again brought to tears. I have been privileged to be under the care of a gynecologist who practices Dr. Remen's philosophy of listening and caring. Unfortunately, she is now experiencing life-threatening health problems and she has indicated she is now receiving the same support from her patients that she has given them over the years.

Barbara Paul
Denver, CO (KUNC, 89.1 FM)

Thoughts on Lessons of Loss and Gain (December 30, 2007)
I lost my beloved husband last January after a nine-year battle with multiple myeloma cancer. The invaluable time that we had together through nine years and two stem cell transplants was an absolute gift. We learned that what was important to us both was our love, and we took time for all the small things that gave us such joy.

When he was having chemo and developed diabetes, I learned how to check his sugar and make up his needles accordingly, and we went out for rides and places he wanted to go with our cooler bag. After his transplant when he could not be out in public for 50 days because his immune system was down to zero, I took him out to beautiful places where he could look at nature. We had so many wonderful times talking and creating our own memories.

My husband was an inspiration to me, and I continue all his activities. I never heard him complain "Why me?" He chose to use his illness to help and encourage others. I loved listening to Rachel as I totally agree with all she had to say. My husband was blessed with a wonderful doctor who took the time to just listen. He told us that he could do nothing more, but he showed us that he truly cared about him as a person, not just a dying man and that meant the world to us both.

I have gained so much insight into what is important in life through all the beautiful people we encountered through our process, and I truly am thankful for all the blessings. I have chosen to use my learning and try to help others going through similar experiences, and that has helped me through my grief process. If we can all shine our light on others, then our light becomes so much brighter too. I loved listening to Rachel and I thank her for sharing her thoughts.

Kathy Delaney
Norwich, CT (WNPR, 89.1 FM)

Grateful Medical Student (December 30, 2007)
As a second year medical student, I tuned in to my local radio station, eager to hear Rachel Naomi Remen speak. I was brought to tears hearing her speak. My tears stem from gratitude; I am grateful to be in medical school, to be learning how to cure and heal, to have found a teacher like Rachel Naomi, and to be witness to other people's lives.

I am also afraid. I'm afraid that I will not be good enough, that I won't be authentic or compassionate or a good listener. And then I remember Naomi's teachings, that I am sufficient exactly as I am, and that my pursuit of perfection is a booby prize. These teachings set me free. And I am left feeling overwhelmingly grateful, because I get to learn how to heal.

Alalia Berry
Portland, OR (KOPB, 91.5 FM)

Wellness, Not Illness (December 30, 2007)
I've been living with M.S. for over 35 years. I was initially told that I needed to stop exercising and being physically active or the "multiple sclerosis" would progress faster. I thought it over, then came to the decision I would rather live a shorter, active life than a longer life on the sofa. I continued to exercise, began getting regular massages, and most importantly, I refused to be a lab rat for all the experimental "treatments" offered to m.s. patients at that time. I also quit seeing neurologists whatsoever, because they never would acknowledge that I was doing well by living the disease my way.

Two years ago, I had to see a neurologist again, and it confused me that he didn't believe I had m.s. because I looked "too good". It wasn't until I had an MRI and he could actually see the plaques from m.s. in my brain that he believed me. He has timidly suggested a couple of times that I might consider taking the new m.s. drugs, but he knows I'm not going to do so. Why should I? I have all these years of living so very well, in or out of bed or a wheelchair or on or off of crutches or whatever. I don't even care anymore — I just keep all the durable medical equipment in a corner and when I need it, I use it. Otherwise, I don't.

I have recently begun teaching water aerobics and other aquatic exercise at the wellness center of a hospital here in town. Most of the members are people who have had some sort of health crisis that lead them to embrace exercise as a path to living their very best lives. I'm trying to get a class for people with m.s. started, since medicine has now grown enough to understand that exercise and activity is good for people with multiple sclerosis. I know, from all my years of experience (and also because I was a nurse in my first career), that a diagnosis of m.s. is one of the more frightening and devastating things a person can hear. I also know that attitude is everything in dealing with m.s. I did a marathon (26.2 miles) in my custom-made racing wheelchair to celebrate my 50th birthday in 2002, and I haven't looked back. If I'd stayed wallowing in my diagnosis, which I did in the beginning, I probably wouldn't even be alive now.

And what Dr. Remen said is true: when you live on the edge, priorities and true values become so clear. It's all about loving one another, and giving, and sharing our common experiences and our unique knowledge. I am never happier than when I look at my students' faces as I lead them in a tough aquatic workout and they are smiling! Some have big scars here and there on their bodies, some have artificial joints, some are bald after enduring cancer treatments, some fight morbid obesity, but these people (and most are women, I will note) come to see themselves as strong and powerful and durable when they are totally tuned in to their bodies during exercise. We gimps are tough to the core, because disability ain't for sissies. And we love life all the more because of it.

Kate Cloudsparks
Des Moines, IA (KUNI, 90.9 FM)

Help Others Along the Way (December 30, 2007)
As a survivor of priest abuse, I found your show today very touching and insightful. I feel a strange connection between myself and the doctors Ms. Remen talked about. How they felt loss and depression from the lack being able to cure all their patients. Until just a few years ago, I had keep my abuse quiet. Only a small handful of people knew what had happened to me as a boy. Then one day I fell into a deep state of depression. In working through that depression I was finally able to let go and greave what had happened to me some 30 years earlier. This was not a repressed memory. I have never forgotten what happened that night. But like the doctors Dr. Remen talks about, I did not know how to fix it. So I just stepped around it. And not very gracefully I might add. Today I no longer try to fix it or cure it. I just journey along in the healing process and try to help others along the way.

Tim Fischer
Crystal City, MO (KWMU, 90.7 FM)

Pause (December 30, 2007)
As I was getting ready to go to work today, Rachel Naomi's interview grabbed me by surprise. I could not help but stop my well-rehearsed routine to listen and be challenged by her wisdom. Not wanting to miss a sentence, I sat on the kitchen floor. As a nurse in acute coronary care, it is difficult to pause and think about the implications of objectivity and loss. Thank you for this moving reminder to feel, grieve, and embrace our emotions in the clinical setting.

Simeon Heckman
Winston-Salem, NC (WFDD, 88.5 FM)

Right On (December 30, 2007)
I cried I was so moved. I immediately downloaded the MP3 and book Kitchen Table Wisdom for my girlfriend, who is a social worker grad student: I see your strength in her.

David Osgood
Chestnut Hill, MA (WBUR, 90.9 FM)

Needing to Be Heard (December 30, 2007)
Your interview with Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen was so good for me to hear. I am an alternative healing practitioner in a very small town in Colorado. It is so obvious to me in my work, how valuable my role is as a listener and how much my clients/patients need to be heard. Something they do not seem to be experiencing in the Western medical clinic here.

What you and Dr. Rachel have also reminded me is how important it is for myself in my own self- care to have my own generous listener in place. I do suffer from periodic depression and the desire to introvert, holding on to the stories and distresses of others (not always consciously). I justify alone time as necessary for my own balance. While this may be true, what is also true is that I, too, need to release the thoughts and feelings that rumble around in my head. Fortunately, even in this small town, I can identify two such persons that I can call upon to also be listeners for me. Whew!

Also, I feel that I would like to extend myself to other medical personnel in this community who may be holding their stories and experiences within, in the effort to be there for their patients. Thank you for a most inspirational program today. How fortunate for the medical students who can interact with Dr. Rachel in their training. Your programs have been incredibly inspirational and I thank you so much.

Christina MacLeod
Westcliffe, CO (KUNC, 91.5 FM)

Poignant Commentary (December 30, 2007)
I absolutely loved the commentary today with Dr. Remen. I do hope that you can send me this as there were so many incredible comments and I just wanted to review them with my colleagues as we are all health care professionals that can always use the reminders of the very poignant comments that Dr. Remen reminded us of. Thank you so much for your assistance.

Elizabeth A. Cross
Baltimore, MD (WYPR, 88.1 FM)

How to Tell the Story of Medicine (December 28, 2007)
Listening to Rachel Naomi — remembering my work with survivors of abuse, as a psychosynthesist spiritual counselor, a woman, a human being I so value her work, her life. I do want to let Krista know that there has been quite a bit written about the "addiction to perfection." Canadian author Marian Woodman, whose book has that very title and Anne Wilson Schaeff and many of her books starting with "When Society Becomes an Addict".

Rosemary Willis Sullivan
Larchmont, NY (WNYC, 93.9 FM)

How to Tell the Story of Medicine (December 28, 2007)
Thanks for replaying this interview and for all the additional material. It was the subject of my latest blog post. Actually, what seems a demeaning way of looking at the human body — in the case of evaluating stranger's veins — isn't necessarily proof that medical training leads to depersonalization and instrumentalization of our fellow humans, if we recognize the new viewpoint as an outgrowth of our wish as students and doctors to heal, prevent, and relieve pain. Finding the underlying meaning or connecting it to a story that has a "better" meaning can inform our conscience, help to maintain our integrity, and prevent some suffering of our own as profession.

Dieter's story is something I often worry about. He continued chemotherapy as the only way to continue the contact — the touch and communication — with his doctor. In the meantime, the doctor was depressed because the "only thing he had to offer" was failing to cure the patient. How often do we only offer and only validate active intervention, science, and the material rather than the passive, spiritual, or psychological — the intangible moral worth — like the listening that Dr. Remen offers so generously?

Beverly Nuckols
New Braunfels, TX (Listens to SOF OnDemand)

In the Deconstruction the Mystery Unfolds (December 28, 2007)
I was very interested in her background and study of Jewish mysticism as my own life follows a very similar path. It seems very clear that we are given opportunities throughout life to heal and that we learn deep lessons from tikkun olam, or the healing of the "broken parts."

We are seen, kabbalistically, as vessels, to give and to receive, as vessels pour and are filled. And so it is a profound dance we are all of us doing together in life. Without the opportunity to heal, support, and succor, what would we be doing here? It does seem that meaning in life is derived from what we give to each other and we each do take turns as life is a veritable "mine" field in every sense of the world. So much to take care of, so many beating hearts in need of friendship and love.

I do perceive that beneath the stories, or this personal narrative that is a weave, is another story that is contrapuntal, like music, and that our lives are a soul journey. Think about the words to Nathan Cohen's lovely song, "Halleluljah". When we are so busy, avoiding the void, we are also living lives that have substance and that substance will one day be revealed, as part of a marvelous, intricate tapestry. Make no mistake about it. This is a "weave" and God is the architect of a story that will one day, shake the world. I am saying that in language itself, is coded, the greatest story ever told that is this amazing dance. I do believe this story will bring us all to our knees. I am on my knees with this, these "daze". And this, despite the sadness, the horrible things that are happening daily, which bring me to the Wailing Wall.

I must believe, as Anne Frank, "that it will all come out all right in the end." And so it is. I am recording vast and unmistakable, provable synchronicity every day and this story involves not only experiential connects but words themselves, beyond narrative. I do perceive, in a deepening mystic way, the knowledge expounded by the mystics, Sufi, and others, that in the letters lies the very construction of universe and it is within words themselves and the letters, across languages, and in their deconstructions that the mystery unfolds.

Ruth Housman
Newton, MA (Listens to SOF OnDemand)

Simple Things (December 27, 2007)
I've been a nurse on and off since 1990 (LPN) and a massage therapist recently. Even without an MP3, Ms. Remen's writings and Krista's notes and "particulars" allow me to access meaning, integration, and how much pain I block. In a recent therapy session, I heard the most healing words, "You don't hate nursing. You love nursing. You just want to integrate your love of teaching about stress reduction, horticulture, and herbs." That would be so fulfilling! So I continue to look for work that won't be in a ratio of impossible numbers of patients to me, for work that allows integrity, for service in holistic medicine.

I'm 48. I realize there will be no retirement for me if I do not find such work soon, and I've met no RNs who loved the work enough to inspire me to go back to school. My teachers told me in nursing school I should become a doctor. Ms. Remen lends voice to why I have not. I'd love to share stories of healing, too. As a new LPN I was thrown into an ICU because I had good grades. Well, I was not from West Virginia, and without a preceptor, resented by the RNs, I was really up against it! But I got to choose to help the man who saw angels, and the woman who had tried to commit suicide (I alerted the RNs to her fallen lung; it's not the degree but the degree of attention that matters.) I also "deeply listened" to the story of the man whose heart attack had alerted him to the fact he did not know his 12-year-old son; he'd been too busy making money for so long! His tears filled my grateful heart as I was honored to witness his revelation in real healing. These are the stories we live for in medicine.

Virginia Abraham
Blacksburg, VA (WFFC, 89.9 FM)

Simple Things (September 26, 2006)
You asked for stories on what was helpful in coping with loss, and I thought immediately of an interaction with the then Rabbi at our synagogue when my sister died many years ago. My sister had been severely brain-damaged as a small child due to measles-encephalitis, but was otherwise healthy. So healthy that my father worried she'd outlive all of us. Her death was sudden and unexpected — I was living in New York City, and had gone to Milwaukee for an orchestral audition. We were sitting shiva, and the Rabbi (Bernard Lipnik) was leaving, probably the day of the funeral. He looked at me, took my hand, put his other hand on my shoulder and simply said "This must have been a terrible shock for you." I was so touched that I couldn't speak, and just nodded yes. That small interaction is the one that has stayed with now for over 25 years. I hardly remember anything else from that time.

When my father died (in 1998) it again was simple things — the cousin who held me while I cried during the burial; the cousins and aunts and uncles who came every day at dawn to help prepare coffee and put out pastry and bagels, so that synagogue members who would come every morning while we sat shiva for him could have something to eat before going to work; those synagogue and family members and the cantor who were there without fail by 7:30 AM to do a morning service with us so that we could say the mourner's prayer (requires at least 10 people). There were so many friends, colleagues and former patients (my dad was a doctor) who would stop by and tell us how highly they thought of Dad — it all helped get through one of the most difficult things I have ever faced.

The least helpful was the physician who a year or two after my dad's death thought that I was still "too emotional" over the loss of my father. Needless to say, I don't see her anymore…

Don Hulbert
New York, NY (WNYC, 93.9 FM)

Objectivity (September 25, 2006)
I was struck by an insight by Dr. Remen. She mentioned how objectivity in science sometimes clouds our sense of wonder. She told an anecdote that clearly illustrated this: some physicians at the University of California-San Francisco were presented a patient in whom, for no clear reason, a widely spread cancer just plain disappeared. Instead of feeling a sense of awe, most of these physicians were annoyed that they had no explanation. This led me to wonder whether my science teachers and those that taught these annoyed physicians meant the same thing by the word "objectivity."

Perhaps hubris clouds the vision some people in the field of science. They lose sight of why the philosophy of science demands objectivity. It is in fact a credo of humility. Objectivity is the ability to recognize and celebrate shared experience. If I experience something once, and no one else can ever experience it, I must humbly accept the validity of other people's non-experience. However, if I experience something now, and someone else experiences that thing at another time, such a reproducible experience is a shared experience. Placing value in shared experience is at the core of our humanity.

The physicians at the UCSF who were studying the case of the unexpected cure certainly had cause for regret — but it was not that there was a cure. They should have regretted their inability to tell future patients and their physicians how to effect such a remission of disease, or how to recognize the kind of disease that regressed on its own, and relieve the patients' anxiety. The group of physicians who met to discuss this case was called on to remember of all of their past patients and synthesize the facts with this puzzling cure. They were charged to come up with a guideline for future patients and their physicians. If they couldn't explain the facts, and couldn't come up with such a guideline, their regrets and apologies were to be directed to those future patients. They forgot why they were called to be objective, and felt angry towards the patient who was cured. In fact, they were not objective.

Objectivity in science serves me to pay due respect to the experience of others. It elevates shared ("reproducible") experiences as more credible than my own private experiences. What other reason is there to be objective, but to accept humbly that alone, I am fallible? If I lose sight of why I am objective, if I forget that I owe it to future patients and physicians, then I am elevating my state of knowledge here and now above the shared experiences of patients and physicians of all futurity. As soon as I do so, I cease to be objective.

On careful thought, it seems that arrogance of one's knowledge is not compatible with true objectivity. Teachers of science must strive to inculcate the values of humble objectivity in future scientists, lest masquerades of objectivity, such as the angry group of self-important physicians in the anecdote hinder the ethical pursuit of knowledge.

Dhananjay Vaidya
Baltimore, MD (WYPR, 88.1 FM)

Addressing Loss (September 24, 2006)
Almost four years ago, my domestic partner died of emphysema, and I was the responsible party (legally) to put his living will into action. I was amazed at the insensitivity of the floor doctors (residents), who acted as though because were were not husband and wife, the loss of this person who, over the years, had become the most important person in my life — was unimportant. Obviously, he was the number one patient, but I was also experiencing a major loss in my life. I felt pushed aside, disdained. No other family members were present (he was alone in the world). It was the type of situation that cried out for remedy — nothing could be done to help me, but it is something that others should not be put through. With medical school teachers as we heard on the program, hopefully this is being done…

Fleur Medbery
New York, NY (WNYC, 93.9 FM)

Listen Generously (September 24, 2006)
Two years have passed since my husband died from Alzheimer's disease. I grieved his loss everyday before he died because each day I was experiencing the death of a part of him. When someone is diagnosed with this disease, it is a death sentence — there is no hope! The general public hasn't understood this. Therefore, those of us struggling through this dark journey are faced with questions for which there are no answers or the answers are of no consequence. "Does he still know you?" "How is he?" "How are you?" But do they really want to know? I doubt it.

I love the phrase "listening generously." Yes, we all need that from friends and family, no matter what our circumstances. I became a facilitator for an Alzheimer's support group, and found that all people want is to be able to tell their story to someone who will listen and see them — be present to the moment.

Thank you.

Karen Beymer
Ft. Thomas, KY (WVXU, 91.7 FM)

Reclaiming the Soul of Medicine (September 24, 2006)
Dr. Remen is the kind of storyteller who makes me want to curl up in her lap and suck my thumb. Her voice alone soothes and heals. It provides the tone and rhythm for her profoundly simple yet soul moving observations on healing. In saying that, for her, medicine is a spiritual path, she has opened herself to the totality of experiencing all of life's experiences without barriers. And she translates these experiences into stories that uplift and transform the listener. As she said of her grandfather on this broadcast, his story will become part of other people's stories. Dr. Remen's stories have become part of my stories and they've become part of the stories of my students.

Sorah Dubitsky
Pembroke Pines, FL (WLRN, 91.3 FM)

A More Human Way of Practicing Medicine (September 23, 2006)
I thought the program was very interesting. As a cancer survivor I have experienced how living with cancer enables one to draw on strengths that one did not know that one had and to live each day with an intensity and clarity which those who are living "normal" lives often do not attain.

Having experienced as a patient some of the frustrating results of the way that Western medicine is taught, I am glad to hear of Naomi's efforts to introduce doctors and medical students to a more human way of practicing medicine.

Having recently read The View from the Center of the Universe, I was familiar with the Kabbalistic explanation of the origin of the universe, but was touched by the the deeply spiritual view of the world which her grandfather seemed to have come to through his studies of the Kabbalah. Would that we all had such a sense of how God's hidden presence is revealing in the simplest things and ways.

Yet another point at which I connected with the program was Naomi's discussion of how we all, as humans, relate to and make sense of the world via stories. This only underscores how important it is for each of us to really listen to others' stories and to be able to tell our own to others who will listen.

This is the kind of program I value Speaking of Faith for and hope to see more of. I look forward to hearing more.

Joseph Coen
Valley Stream, NY (WNYC, 820 AM)

Continuing My Education (September 1, 2005)
I loved this show: even though I was out of town when it was originally broadcast, I sat transfixed at the computer reading the transcript today. Rachel Naomi Remen's insights about healing and wholeness are truly wise, and a balm for those of us whose professional lives are supposed to be all about "objectivity."

I teach health-care ethics in an urban medical school where our students see brokenness around them every day — not just at the hospital, but in the community. Many, I'm sure, would like to do something about it. However, in the class we scarcely have a chance to address the situations they face as opportunities for "generous listening." (The closest we come is probably when we discuss the principle of beneficence, or — in the realm of theory — the ethics of care.) Maybe some day…

I have also just taken a class on Christian healing at my church, wherein we discussed how persons can be healed without necessarily being cured. To some that may sound like a contradiction; but Dr. Remen's reflections squared with the basic content of our group's discussions. I only wish the late Henri Nouwen were still around to chat with Dr. Remen. Their shared understanding of the role of "the wounded healer" would have made them perfect conversation partners!

Keep up the good work. Every week's show is a satisfying, savory dish in a wonderful on-air banquet — and perfect continuing education for those of us who have spent significant time in seminaries and/or graduate schools of religion.

Ann Ramsey-Moor
Ellicott City, MD (WETA, 90.9 FM)

Respect for My Doctor (August 31, 2005)
Can I possibly thank you adequately for the superb show about Rachel Naomi Remen? Hers is a spirituality I can hang my hat on. Her profound message of healing, kindness, and being present is one we so sorely need. I luckily had a doctor appointment that day and passed your Web site link on to him. He is the kind of rare doctor that Remen would celebrate, helping my mother, now deceased, to survive 30 years of breast cancer, defying the odds due, in part, to his deep caring and carefulness.

Linda Hedman Beyus
Torrington, CT (WNPR, 89.1 FM)

Each Other's Blessing (August 29, 2005)
As a practicing pediatrician who has been personally touched by Rachel Remen, I can vouch for the transformative power of her stories and ideas to help us find new connections with our patients and ourselves. I was impressed with your interview's ability to distill the essence of what Rachel's work is about. It was an important reminder that it is possible to actually be renewed by our work as physicians and not just drained. As we connect through listening generously, physician and patient can truly become each other's blessing. And as Rachel likes to say, "I am enough" to do just that.

Marty Nygaard
St. George, UT (KUER, 90.1 FM)

A Gift for a Medical Student (August 20, 2005)
A lovely young woman that I know will soon be entering medical school, and discovering Dr. Remen and her writings was just the perfect gift to give to this future physician. The discussion of loss and dealing with loss touched some of my own life experiences and enlightened them. Thank you for this enriching program.

Claudia Black
Rushville, MO (Listens via Web Audio)

Speaking of Faith Matters (August 19, 2005)
I shared the "Ein Sof story" of creation and healing with my son, Daniel, last weekend over a diner lunch in Vermont. He is older than your son (34), but I hope he heard it in the same way. This story is but one gift your incredible show — and its rare guests — has offered me during its initial weeks. George Ellis' views on an ethical universe were brilliant and challenging. Rachel Naomi Remen's true wisdom still resonates in my bones. And, as one who has read A Mighty Heart, I am looking forward to "meeting" Mariane Pearl, a woman herself with such a heart. Thank you for this wonderful show — for your purposeful work, your caring about the world, and for finding wise and beautiful guests to help guide us on our journeys.

Stuart Cowan
Brooklyn, NY (WNYC, 93.9 FM)

A Way into Faith (August 18, 2005)
I have been searching for more than 50 years for a way into faith. I don't know yet whether I have found it through the work of Naomi Remen, but I think I may. Hearing her Speaking of Faith interview and then her book, My Grandfather's Blessings, has been a profoundly moving experience and I want to send you all my deepest thanks. And to say, bless you.

Nicola McGee
Beverly Hills, CA (KPCC, 89.3 FM)

A Pioneer (August 18, 2005)
This program was very informative, especially when Dr. Remen discussed patients' views that were on the edge of life. The important things that count throughout life. The sharing of our lives and the regrets we remember at the edge of life. I admire her as pioneer to include our spirit as part of healing. There is a difference between healing and cure and this is worth embracing throughout the medical profession — most of all, Dr. Remen's inclusion of mind, body, and spirit as part of the healing process. Thank you and continue to spread the truth. Life and its mysteries are bigger than medical science.

Jay Edwards
Palmetto, GA (WABE, 90.1 FM)

Each One of Us Has a Story (August 11, 2005)
This was one of the most fascinating programs that I have heard. It is true that each one of us has a story; my husband was in a very severe car accident, and through many complications spent three-and-a-half months in the ICU and then seven weeks in rehab. Throughout this nightmare, we had the support of an incredible surgeon who literally adopted us. For three months, she called me every night to give me a report as to my husband's progress. To her, we were people, as well as patients. We are still in touch with her, and consider her our friend.

Contrast this with the death of our daughter and the doctor who cared for her in her final days, who could not deal with her death and offered us no support whatsoever. Dr. Remen really exemplifies Maimonides guidelines for the physician. Again, the program was excellent. A grateful listener.

Rena Rotenberg
Baltimore, MD (WYPR, 88.1 FM)

Kitchen Table Wisdom and Grace (August 14, 2005)
I wrote to you some months ago after having been deeply moved by one of your broadcasts. I asked you how you developed the courage to create your program. Since then I have listened to many other wonderful shows. Today though was different. I have just gotten back from presenting at an international conference in Santa Fe on the use of healing energy in psychotherapy and art. I was blessed with a wonderful reception to my work and much encouragement to write a book. Today I heard you and Ms. Remen speaking clearly about the power of being a loving energetic presence, and I realized that in some small way I can bring the same message to psychotherapists that she brings to doctors. So my journey continues. Thank you for your spirit and the wisdom that flows from it.

Rita Baden
Summit Park, UT (KUER, 90.1 FM)

Recapturing the Soul of Medicine (August 14, 2005)
I dislike all of the talk of creationism. I have for almost 60 years believed in the concept of God revealing himself to the human beings of the world at one flashing moment and giving all of mankind to come the spark of belief in a Supreme Being. I never told any one because no one else I know would understand.

Betty Turner
Sweetwater, TX (KACU, 89.7 FM)

Struggling with Similar Issues (August 14, 2005)
My daughter is a second-year OB/Gyn Resident. At 40 she has more mature views than her peers, but I still see her struggle daily with the issues discussed, and she is taking antidepressants. Coincidentally, the New York Times carried a related article today ("Awash in Information, Patients Face a Lonely, Uncertain Road" by Jan Hoffman) suggesting that the pendulum must swing back from the technology morass and consumerist view to a more normal and full dialogue in medical care for both patient and doctor. I plan to give my daughter Dr. Remen's books. Thanks for your perceptive and intelligent coverage of this real world issue in a spiritual context.

Gail Fletcher
Phoenixville, PA (WHYY, 91.0 FM)

Mesmerized (August 13, 2005)
We always listen to WNYC, but have never heard this program before, nor of the many organizations mentioned in the program. However, we were mesmerized this morning listening to the wisdom and caring spirituality of Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen. Her words and ideas so deeply moved us that I am thinking of ordering her book Kitchen Table Wisdom, to give to all the doctors, both personally and professionally, involved in our lives.

Priscilla August
New York, NY (WNYC, 93.9 FM)