MEDICAL STUDIES
University life is one of the happiest though under-graduates may not realize it at the time
Question
I am a medical student right now and have been for 2½ years now. I haven’t been happy with it in about 1½ years and even though my Shaolin practice has improved my life in so many ways, the feeling about these studies not being right got stronger, even though I hoped it would work the other way around.
-- Margaretta, Belgium
Answer
Let us examine the facts and opinions of this situation. That you have been studying medicine for 2 ½ years, of which you have been unhappy for about 1 ½ years, but your Shaolin practice has improved your life in many ways are facts. Your feelings that the medical studies are not right are an opinion.
We cannot change the facts as the events already happened, but we can change our perspective on the same facts, especially when provided with new information. Often, perspectives are more important than facts; they make a difference whether you are happy or sad about the same facts.
On the other hand, we can change our opinions, especially opinions that bring harm to us and other people. The change, of course, must be valid in relation to the facts. We should not twist facts to change our opinions. For example, whether a certain table is useful or not is an opinion. If our initial opinion was that the table was not useful, we can change it to that it was useful, especially after having experienced that the table could be used for various purposes. But we should not change the opinion of the table being not useful to it being not a table but a cupboard.
Let us look at the facts and your perspective on them. You have studied for 2½ years and for about 1½ years you have been unhappy about it. You are unhappy because you feel that the medical studies are not right, which is an opinion.
You did not clarify whether you felt the medical studies were not right for all people in general, or whether they were not right for you in particular. But that does not matter. Both issues will be addressed.
I would like to share with you my opinion. Personally I also feel that modern medical studies are not right for all people in general. My opinion is substantiated by the fact that a lot of diseases are considered incurable, and also the fact that many people who suffered from these so-called incurable diseases have been cured by me.
Regarding your situation, you can change your opinions of your being unhappy to being happy, and of your medical studies being not right to being right. How to do so and what is the rationale behind the change will be explained later as we address other points of your problem below.
Question
My main goal is still to help people, but I’m not sure at all any more that I will be able to achieve this through my current studies especially since the studying takes a big toll on me and now I would need to keep going for at least another 3 ½ years.
Answer
If your goal is to help people, especially helping people suffering from so-called incurable diseases to regain good health, your present situation is ideal.
Personally I have helped thousands of people overcome so-called incurable diseases like cancer, heart problems, diabetes, asthma, rheumatism, arthritis, depression, phobia, insomnia, viral infection and chronic pain. I have helped people confirmed to wheelchairs to be able to walk again within days! My most recent case was a paralyzed woman who had stayed in a specialist hospital for three months. She walked out of the hospital a week after I treated her. Yet, I consider myself a teacher rather than a healer.
In order to spread the unbelievable benefits of chi kung healing I have conducted chi kung healing courses to teach secrets which have enabled me to enable people with so-called incurable diseases to regain good health and vitality. These courses are by invitation only. The next time I offer such a course, please apply to my secretary even if you don’t receive an invitation, telling my secretary that you have been invited orally by me.
As a qualified Western doctor you will have many advantages to help such people overcome so-called incurable diseases. As information is imperfect, not many people know about chi kung healing, and the reputation of chi kung today for those who have heard of the term is not the sort that inspires people with so-called incurable diseases to seek help from, because today chi kung has been so debased that it has become merely gentle physical exercise.
But if you are a Western trained doctor, the situation will be different. Patients will have much confidence in you, and confidence is of the utmost importance in chi kung healing.
However, there is a big risk involved and you must be very careful of the risk. You must not formally use chi kung healing in your capacity as a Western trained doctor, or else you may have your license revoked and may even go to jail – even when you cure your patients!
How you will do it will depend on your ingenuity and most importance on your sincerity. You may, for example, besides prescribing orthodox Western medication, suggest that doing some exercises, which you need not mention as chi kung, will help. Paradoxically, these exercises that will enable patients to overcome their illness are bafflingly simple.
But at all times you must bear in mind the risk you put yourself into in your sincere intention to help people, and you must always ensure that you are on the safe side.
More significantly for the benefit of the future is to introduce chi kung healing principles and methods into conventional Western medicine. My book, “The Complete Book of Chinese Medicine”, will give you a lot of examples.
You may conduct scientific experiments to show that chi kung healing works. You may even win a Nobel Prize for this. You don’t even have to call it chi kung. Personally I do not mind if future Western doctors claim chi kung healing methods as their own or as an independent development of Western medicine so long as the methods bring benefit to people.
Question
I don’t feel at ease at all in the hospital, or while studying. I keep thinking that maybe my attained skills in Chi Kung aren’t strong enough yet to make it bearable, but on the other hand they managed to enhance everything else so much already. Still when it comes to this I feel completely wrong and misplaced.
Answer
Here is where you have to find out whether your unhappiness with your medical studies is due to your feeling that medical studies at present are going in a wrong direction (which is also my opinion as mentioned earlier), or whether medical studies are not suitable for you in particular, or a mixture of both. You have to weigh the pros and cons of each issue and make a courageous decision. Your Shaolin training will give you both the mental clarity and courage to do so.
If you feel that medical studies are moving in a wrong direction, you are now in a position to prepare yourself well to change it, if you believe you measure to the demanding task ahead. But if you feel you do not measure to the task or you have other priorities, it is better to waste 2½ years than to waste the remaining years of your life.
Similarly, if your unhappiness is due to your feeling that a medical career is unsuitable for you, you have to decide that given the new information now, is it worth changing your opinion from feeling unhappy in your medical studies to feeling inspired in your preparation to change Western medicine in future and bring a lot of benefit to people all over the world. Whether you will eventually succeed or not is another issue, but you have an opportunity and you put effort to the noble task.
If it is a mixture of both issues, you also have to decide according to what is explained above.
There are two main approaches to making a wise decision. For convenience I call them the rational approach and the intuitive approach, or the approach of the head and the approach of the heart.
In the rational approach, get a piece or a few pieces of paper. Make three columns, and mark them as headings “Variables”, “Favorable” and “Unfavorable”.
In the “Variables” column, list down the column variables that affect your decision, like your abilities, interests, aims in life, parents’ aspirations, resources, expected sacrifice, etc. For the “Favorable” column as you consider each variable, write down your assessment ranging from 1 the lowest to 10 the highest. Do the same for the “Unfavorable” column, but ranging from -1 for the least unfavorable to -10 for the most unfavorable.
Take some time to consider what variables to place in the column. Take some time to consider carefully as you access each variable. How valid your answer will be depends much on how well you prepare and assess the variables.
Adding up the plus and minus points will give you the answer. Do this carefully only once, and stick with the decision. Don’t make things difficult for yourself by later worrying whether the variables are rightly chosen or intellectualizing whether you should make another assessment.
It is recommended to perform the intuitive approach early in the morning. Have a good shower and put on some clean clothing. Go into gentle chi flow for a few seconds, then stand upright and be totally relaxed. Smile from the heart, and in tune yourself with the Cosmos. While in a chi kung state of mind, ask God, the Buddha, Guan Yin Bodhisattva, the Cosmos or whatever name you call the Supreme for a clear answer to your questions.
Prepare your questions before hand so that you will not be hesitant or forgetful when asking the questions. Do not have too many questions. Three or four will be a good choice. Make your questions as specific as possible so that you have no ambiguity of how to act on the answers.
Follow the answers to your questions even if they are not what you expect. Eventually you will find they are the best answers.
Choose either the rational or the intuitive approach, and act on the decision. Leave all your worries or doubts behind and move on courageously whatever direction you have chosen according to your decision.
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