I love being with the Omaha Indians, some of whom are people I counsel about their health but most of them are my friends.
I feel that they have a much purer way of thinking, culturally unpolluted to a lesser degree by their long contact with the European invaders.
Today I was counseling one of our patients and i told him: et us take a bet, whoever has the higher BP Blood Pressure reading will have to pay the other one a Dollar.. he readily agreed
BP of the patient was less than that of the Doctor and the Doctor lost the bet..
Patient left the consultation feeling good about his controlled BP, adding yet another notch in his relationship with us, and richer by the dollar. But the symbolism are not lost to the Omaha, the symbolism of our action has much greater value than the one dollar.
I feel that they have a much purer way of thinking, culturally unpolluted to a lesser degree by their long contact with the European invaders.
Today I was counseling one of our patients and i told him: et us take a bet, whoever has the higher BP Blood Pressure reading will have to pay the other one a Dollar.. he readily agreed
BP of the patient was less than that of the Doctor and the Doctor lost the bet..
Patient left the consultation feeling good about his controlled BP, adding yet another notch in his relationship with us, and richer by the dollar. But the symbolism are not lost to the Omaha, the symbolism of our action has much greater value than the one dollar.
The kind of medical care can be classified as SYMBOLIC HEALING in which we manipulate the commonly understood symbols and its meanings, woven into the health of the patient and use them constructively, with respect and with humility to improve their health.
It was Lame Deer of the Lakota who said the following and it has had a profound effect on the practice of Medicine that I follow among the Indians.
We Sioux spend a lot of time thinking about everyday things which in our minds are mixed up with the spiritual. We see in the world around us many symbols that teach us the meaning of life. We have a saying that the white man sees so little, he must see with only one eye. We see a lot that you no longer notice. You could notice if you wanted to, but you are usually too busy. We Indians live in a world of symbols and images where the spiritual and commonplace are one…We try to understand them not with the head but with the heart Lame Deer, Lakota
