Whenever I feel the creep of burnout, cynicism, and malaise in my work as a doctor, attitudes all too prevalent in the medical profession these days due to a multitude of factors, I often turn to the “Physician’s Prayer.”
This piece is often attributed to Maimonides but is now known to be the work of the 18th Century physician and Enlightenment philosopher Marcus Herz, who practiced in Berlin.
I turn to this prayer not out of a sense of devotion or in anticipation of divine intervention (I am an agnostic and Humanist), but because it uplifts my work and gives it a sense of inspiration and elevated meaning.
Sometimes, the mundane and at times morally injurious world of healthcare requires such an infusion of inspiration and awe to bring me back to a sense of purpose and mission.
This brings me to the idea that such an act of uplifting can be a cure to what ails much of our society. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel spoke of such a concept when he wrote about awe, and how it can bring an added dimension to our lives:
“Awe enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine, to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the simple; to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal…”
Whether or not one possesses a belief in God or would define “the divine” in more secular ways, Rabbi Heschel, in his words, gives us a recipe to find greater inspiration in our everyday lives. Too often, our modern world is full of voluminous and meaningless “content,” whether on cable news or our social media feed. And I get the sense that an attitude of cynicism, extreme relativism, and even nihilism is seen as the culturally mainstream way to view the world, post-modernism taken to a destructive extreme.
If we are unable to bring meaning and significance to our own lives, nothing will do it for us. To ensure our sense of wellbeing and purpose, the human task, and I believe necessity, is to find ways in which to make meaning and derive awe in a world and workplace that seems increasingly inhuman and inhumane. One needs to make a living, but it is not necessary to throw away our ability to bring inspiration and a sense of elevation to our work. Our politics too are tinged with either a sense of hopelessness, or at worst a destructiveness that seeks to tear down people and institutions at all costs. Perhaps we are disillusioned by our government and societal institutions, but looking at them in the light of awe and appreciation might lead us to provide more constructive solutions to the real problems at hand.
Finding ways to elevate our everyday tasks and interactions can be just the antidote for times when all feels lost and hopeless. I have felt this way often since the events of October 7, 2023, and returning to the significance of my family, community, and Jewish heritage, have led me out of the darkness on multiple occasions. It is also a way to bridge the all-too common gap of political and ideological divide that often leads to deep divisions and segregations in our nation. Seeing others as B’tselem Elohim or as distant human cousins, mutual descendants of a common hominin ancestor, can instill a sense of respect and commonality to our relationships and bring disparate sides together. Again, this is a choice, one that we can purposefully make time and again.
The corollary and ultimate result of finding a higher purpose in our daily lives is the development of a sense of hope, a sense that things have the capacity to be better and that we can and will head in the direction of progress. Rabbi Sherwin Wine, the founder of Humanistic Judaism and someone whose work I deeply admire, wrote of this:
Hope is an act of will,
affirming, in the presence of evil,
that good things will happen,
preferring in the face of failure, self-esteem to pity.
Optimists laugh, even in the dark.
They know that hope is a lifestyle
not a guarantee.
When we choose to affirm this principle in our own lives, we lift ourselves upwards, mentally, physically and spiritually. Whatever constructive thing that brings inspiration and motivation to the individual should be sought out as a means of greater self-respect and respect for the world. Cynicism and burnout would teach that what we do is futile and ill-conceived, that every step that we take makes no difference in an indifferent world. From time to time, we will feel this and may even believe it. However, there is a choice to be made, and as human beings with the ability to choose, we can make a choice in the direction of expansiveness, curiosity, courage, and hope. Throwing ourselves a lifeline and hauling ourselves to the summit of the mountain is no small feat, but one that will bring us the warmest sun and purest air. Sometimes the climb is a slog and the path arduous, but in making the effort the view from above can be awesome.
Adam King Skrzynski, a Detroit native, is an infectious disease physician specializing in HIV medicine, a husband, and father of three daughters living in South Jersey outside of Philadelphia. He is a member of Congregation Kol Ami in Cherry Hill, NJ, where he serves on the Board of Trustees, a member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Humanistic Judaism, and a Madrikh candidate with the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism. He is fascinated by the intersection of Judaism and medicine, and the potential for ancient Jewish principles of healing to be applied to modern medical practice. Adam can be reached at adam.king.skrzynski@gmail.com
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