A doctor, a professor, a writer, Dr. Sacks described himself as "agonizingly shy" but he developed a strong bond with Williams who much admired Sack's gentle genius approach to neurology, informed by science but rooted in human connection. Williams loved that Sacks saw people, not patients and it's clear Williams infused this character trait in his performance.
Dr. Sacks wrote about his own struggle as a patient in his book, A Leg to Stand On. After a serious hiking injury, Sacks felt "legless" and disconnected from his body. Unable to walk for months, Sacks ruminated on his lost identify. Many years later, no doubt Williams ruminated in a similar manner as he secretly battled a form of dementia and its inevitable impacts to his quality of life and his legacy. Sadly, we all know what happened next.
I miss these men in the world.
Dr. Sacks' legacy is in his writings. He describes methods whereby a patient might cease to feel "the presence of illness and the absence of the world, and come to feel the absence of illness and the full presence of the world.”
But how? The film Awakenings explores this, but Dr. Sacks promoted a more everyday method to achieve the full presence of the world: he prescribed garden visits.
Is there a better place to at least temporarily forget what bothers? Dear friends, just wondering: have you been outside today?
5 comments:
Oh, yes, being out 'in the green' is wonderful for mind and body.
Nature provides healing
I've often said, if ever I can't go outside anymore, please park me or my bed by a window so I can see out, and put bird seed near.
I haven't been out yet today - still on my second cup of coffee and it looks cold out there - but OUT I will go, to be IN nature. The most healing place there is, and the most friendly and accepting.
Codex: A liitle science: The medical community dismissed Sacks due to his empathetic approach. Why treat the cause when treating the symptoms through psychopharma is more lucrative??? (Grrr). I never read him and was mentioning to a friend that I wish I had.
Williams (life can be so vicious) ironically destroyed his brain with his early cocaine abuse.
I love this quote. Illness becomes all consuming and I wish we would get to a point where we try harder to reintegrate into life.
Severe autistics calm down in nature walks as a treatment option. It's calming for everyone.
Yes I miss these type of men too.
Codex: Darwin had a thinking path(love the idea) that he walked every day. Here's a dumb article because I'm too lazy to find the one I read. psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-to-think-about-exercise/201501/charles-darwins-daily-walks/amp
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