ABSTRACT
Medicine is the craft of healing a human being, but schools of medicine differ in their concepts of what a human being is and how to heal. Many cultures have religious healing, which concentrates on the welfare of the soul; biological healing, in which a human being is seen as an organism with life forces, phases, and relationships; and magical healing, in which the practitioner aims to work with or control souls, including those of usually unseen beings.
Modern medicine has roots in religious, biological, and magical healing, but is essentially mechanical, describing the patient as a broken machine that needs to be fixed. Its successes are considerable; but the definition of patient as machine omits or marginalizes many forms of suffering and healing. It leaves unanswered basic questions about the role of medicine and tends to lead to a medicine whose principles, findings, and availability are determined by finance. It fails to provide an ethos or framework for suffering well.
