STRONG AT THE BROKEN PLACES:Tales of the Soul ArousedDr. Charles A. Garfield

“I am this groping intensity that is a soul.”

God knows how long I’d been staring at the Borges quote over my desk when the phone rang. It was Jim D., a uniquely tortured soul when I’d known him years ago as a patient at the Ft. Miley VA Hospital in San Francisco. Jim was now Director of Volunteer Ministry at First Calvary Presbyterian Church in the City. He wanted to get together to reminisce about a humbling and hair-raising time we shared one winter solstice over a quarter century earlier. Strangely, the soul words of Borges and Jim’s torment of long ago felt connected; the kind of synchronicity that amazed me yet I’d grown to respect.

TO BE WITH ONE WHO IS DYING: The Seeker as a Young ManDr. Charles A. Garfield

Spring 1974 saw me on my way to Shanti’s second client, Luis R. An ex-marine, twenty years old, Luis was dying of pediatric leukemia which today he’d likely survive. From our initial meeting, he’d tested me with his no nonsense questions. “Do you believe in a life after death and, if you do, what form does it take?” “Do you think we’ll ever meet again, in another time and place, and recognize each other?” Luis and I spent hours discussing the purpose of his life and mine. We spoke about loving people, relationships, the pain caused by confusing roles (such as patient, psychologist, or physician) with human beings. Luis’ limited life span and his precocious maturity gave our exchanges an immediacy and vitality often absent in everyday life.