Biomaterial Database

Medicine in Between: Thomas Wolfe, Spirituality, and the Meaning of Life. 2022

Aldis H Petriceks

Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck St, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. aldis_petriceks@hms.harvard.edu.

Questions of meaning may seem more properly suited to the spheres of religion or philosophy; yet physicians certainly witness some of the greatest sufferings of their patients' lives, and through this suffering, many patients look to their doctors not just for treatments but for answers. In this essay, the author highlights an exchange between patient and doctor in Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel, to argue that physicians need not have ready made answers about life, meaning, or spirituality, but should indeed provide comfort and support when their patients ask: "What's it all about?"

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D010684	Philosophy	A love or pursuit of wisdom. A search for the underlying causes and principles of reality. (Webster, 3d ed)	Hedonism,Stoicism,Pharmacy Philosophy,Philosophical Overview,Overview, Philosophical,Overviews, Philosophical,Pharmacy Philosophies,Philosophical Overviews,Philosophies,Philosophies, Pharmacy,Philosophy, Pharmacy
D010820	Physicians	Individuals licensed to practice medicine.	Physician
D012067	Religion	A set of beliefs concerning the nature, cause, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency. It usually involves devotional and ritual observances and often a moral code for the conduct of human affairs. (Random House Collegiate Dictionary, rev. ed.)	Prayer,Religious Beliefs,Religious Ethics,Beliefs, Religious,Ethic, Religious,Prayers,Religions,Religious Belief
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D029181	Spirituality	Sensitivity or attachment to religious values, or to things of the spirit as opposed to material or worldly interests. (from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed, and Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed)	Spiritual Sensitivity,Sensitivities, Spiritual,Sensitivity, Spiritual,Spiritual Sensitivities,Spiritualities