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chapter 15

A Season for Grace

Charleston, South Carolina

December 2005

Ryan squeezed through the aisle of the 727 with his backpack and roller bag as he headed toward the plane’s midsection and seat 21E. He had always loved the window seats and, when flying out of Portland, made it a point to sit on the right side of the plane in order to have the best view of Mt. Hood as the plane ascended just to the north. He was particularly excited today since school was out for the holidays and he was heading home to Charleston. Not only that, but Julian and Ben were right behind him. Ben slipped into the middle seat as Julian struggled to get his carry-ons into the overhead compartment. Ben had never seen Charleston before, and was particularly excited to see this magical place that Ryan and Julian had so often told him about.

“Wow, I can’t believe I’m actually going to Charleston!” he exclaimed as Julian finally got his gear stowed and plopped down into the aisle seat beside him. “You guys have raved about this place almost from the day we first met—and Christmastime too. I know it’s going to be beautiful!”

“It will be,” Julian agreed, catching his breath from the struggle down the aisle, “but maybe not in the way you would expect. There is a timeless colonial sort of spirit in Charleston, so you won’t see all the sensationalism of some modern cities. It’s a softer and more genteel sort of feel—candles in the windows, lots of wreaths, flickering gas lanterns, choirs singing in the churches…stuff like that. Definitely not ten million lights flashing in every possible direction!”

“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 Fasten Seat Belt sign was illuminated and the stewardess’s voice warned all passengers to return to their seats and buckle their seat belts. Ben, feeling a bit frightened, looked over at Ryan and asked, “What’s going on, man? Are we in a storm or something?”

Ryan laughed, as he had experienced this several times before. “No, just goin’ over the Rockies—get some wind currents and a bit of choppiness over the mountains. Wow, look down there! Aren’t they beautiful, all covered with snow? Bet there’s some serious skiing goin’ on down there. Wish we could drop in for a couple of days.”

“I don’t want to drop anywhere,” Ben quickly replied, still a bit nervous. “How long will the turbulence last?”

Just then, the captain’s voice came over the intercom. “Nothing to worry about, ladies and gentlemen. We usually pick up some wind currents and a bit of choppiness when we cross the Rockies. I’ll keep the Fasten Seat Belt sign illuminated for a while longer till it clears up. Shouldn’t be more than another fifteen minutes or so.”

“Well that’s a relief,” Ben sighed, “only fifteen more minutes of ‘shake, rattle, and roll!’ It’s making me sick to read with all this bumpiness. Think I’ll take a break. Maybe a nap is in order here.”

“What you need is a Red John,” Ryan smiled. “If it weren’t for all these new anti-terrorist rules about liquids, I’d have some in my backpack!”

“What on earth is a ‘Red John’?” Ben asked. “Sounds like some kind of illicit drug to me!”

“Do I look like a druggie to you?” Ryan laughed. “It’s a health drink, man. I whip some up in my Vitamix every few days, and it keeps me in tip-top shape—a lean, mean, studyin’ machine, at least these days!”

Ryan had Ben’s curiosity now. “So where’d you get that name?” he asked. “And what’s in it? Knowing you, I’m sure it’s probably organic fruits and vegetables, right?”

“Of course. There’s a ton of stuff that I put in it, but the red color is primarily from a beet, some strawberries, raspberries, radicchio, and some purple cabbage. I call it Red John because in about an hour after you’ve had a big glass, that’s exactly where you’ll be—on the john!”

“Hmmm…that sounds really great,” Ben teased. “A little inconvenient if you’re traveling, though. I haven’t seen you making any beelines for the back of the plane yet, so I assume you didn’t have any today,” he grinned.

“Well, I do try to ease off a bit on special occasions,” Ryan smiled. “It is really good for you, though, and gives you lots of energy. Maybe I’ll make you one in Charleston!”

“Pick a day when we’re hangin’ around the house, then, please,” Julian interjected. “I’m not as familiar with all the bathrooms in downtown Charleston as I used to be! Hey, how’s that book comin’, Ben? Looks like you’ve been pretty mesmerized over there, since you’re nap at least!”

“Yeah, you were right. It is fascinating, and all the more so because it’s written by an MD, not a philosopher or one of those ‘new age gurus.’ You know, he’s right—almost all of us tend to think of ourselves as separate people with our own unique personality centered inside our individual body and brain. We think our mind is confined somewhere in our skull behind our eyes. Isn’t that right? Don’t you?”

“Well, I guess I did till I read his book and several others. Being a medical student, you probably haven’t read Michael Grosso, the philosopher, but I’ve got a quote of his right here in my journal. Listen to this,” Julian said as he rifled through his journal to find the quote.

Materialists think that consciousness is either identical with, or a byproduct of, the brain. The consequences are clear. Diminish or destroy brain function and you diminish or destroy consciousness. Verdict on immortality: death of the brain implies death of consciousness; the curtain goes down forever.4

“What Dossey believes, as do I, is that the brain, rather than producing the mind, interacts with it. A second quote I wrote down from Grosso’s book “Soulmaking” is an analogy from electronics.”

A crude analogy with radio and radio waves: the radio does not produce the radio waves; it detects, transmits and filters them. If your radio breaks down, it doesn’t follow that the sounds you’re listening to cease to exist. They just cease to be detectable. An analogy is possible between this and the mind-brain relationship.5

“Yeah, I think Dossey referred to Michael Grosso in his book too. It’s very cool that a doctor is as open-minded as he seems to be. He’s really serious about it too. I dog-eared page 33, which had this statement on it. Listen to this.”

I believe non-locality is one of the most important discoveries humans have ever made. This concept distinguishes the science of the twentieth century from all the science that came before.6

“That’s powerful stuff, Jules! And you were right on, buddy—it does blow me away! This Era III medicine of his adds a whole new dimension to my future role as a physician. It doesn’t replace the mechanistic model of Era I or the psychosomatic model of Era II, but expands their scope. I liked his conclusion that a physician using nonlocal mind AND logic will be more effective than one who uses either alone. You know, when we recognize consciousness as primary, unconfined to the physical body, infinite, and beyond space and time, that opens whole new avenues of healing and of our very concept of death itself. It’s like everything is for us and nothing is against us! There are vast resources available to us that science has never even been aware of before, and beyond that, there really isn’t any death, other than the finiteness of the physical body. I think it’s going to be a really incredible time to be practicing medicine, don’t you, Jules?”

“I think it’s an incredible time to be alive, period!” Julian replied without hesitation. “You know, Dossey’s Golden Rule of Era III Medicine, ‘Do good unto others because they ARE you,’7 could really transform the planet. I think these sorts of ideas are heralding an upcoming quantum leap forward for our entire civilization. Like I told Ry a couple of months ago at the library, I think the vibrational level of the whole planet is about to increase, bringing us to new levels of awareness and healing. I’m really glad you picked up that book, Ben!”

“Yeah, me too. Just a quirk of fate, really. There was this girl, Mariah something-or-other, daughter of some hot-shot scientist at PSU, I think, that gave a lecture on quantum physics in our biochemistry class the other day. She recommended it, and I went over to the PSU bookstore and picked up a copy. Would never have even heard of it otherwise.”

“Was that girl’s last name Quitan, by any chance?” Julian asked, looking a bit surprised.

“You know, I think it might have been…father’s name started with an M too—Mazen Quitan, yeah, that’s it! Why?”

“Dude, where have you been? Don’t you remember all that stuff in the paper about skinheads burning their home and attempting to rape the girl? An anti-Muslim sort of thing. Lawyers had fun with that one—and THEN, after her lawyer won the case and the creeps were going to jail where they belong, she dropped the charges before the judge sentenced them. I can’t believe you don’t remember all that!”

“Oh, it’s not that unusual,” Ben replied. “I have no TV and almost never read the paper. A whole lot of things happen that I never know anything about. Too busy with med school to be dragged down with all that crap.”

“Well, that young lady turned you on to a book that may well change your entire career. And how weird is this? I’m reading “The Quantum Universe,” written by none other than the father, Mazen Quitan!”

“Wow, that is weird,” Ben agreed. “So what happened to the thugs she liberated?”