Is life overly medicalized today? Your life in particular? Last night’s news reported a spike in the number of drivers going over a hundred miles an hour on highways that are now less populated with cars. I think it’s the pressure in immature minds. Although I offer no counsel about how much medical caution is too much, I do offer three ideas to help with perspective.
Watch the 7:42 video or listen to the audio file.
Only divine values are worth maximizing, and humanity is distorted by maximizing (or minimizing) material quantities, such as profit. (I am not taking a position about the contributions to political economy that may be found in the spectrum of ideas from libertarian to socialist.) Even in the midst of a public health emergency, because it’s possible to overdo it. But as part of the family of God, we are part of a world-wide health-sanity-and-happiness team. Nurses learn habits like hand washing as part of their everyday practice that we, too, can learn to regard as normal, in some measure.
When I found myself resisting doctor’s orders a bit things changed when I realized that cooperating with my doctor was part of cooperating with the Creator as infinite upholder.
For me, the most powerfully liberating idea is: it’s a friendly universe. God is our friend, and we can make new discoveries of the universe as friendly if we work at it. I got additional support for this idea from learning that we build and maintain our immune systems by exposing them to environmental challenges–our body learns to respond effectively and to keep doing so. If we are shut away from these challenges, we weaken our immune systems. All by itself, this argument could be used to overturn wisdom when conditions are particularly dangerous. I am not taking any position about when to lock down and when to open up. But I do find this overarching truth about our immune system to be deeply thrilling.
Photo credit. By C.Rieck, SuSanA Secretariat – https://www.flickr.com/photos/gtzecosan/5981879247/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36520859
