“Reborn at the End of the Road” 绝处逢生

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I waited in a long queue to have the book I bought signed. When it was my turn, I told Dr. Hsu that of the 19 books he wrote this was the only one I could read. It was translated into English. He looked up, gave me that boyish smile of his and said that more are being translated. The book I gave him to sign is “Reborn at the End of the Road” or 绝处逢生 juéchù-féngshēng. The Chinese title is a proverb meaning “being unexpectedly rescued from a hopeless situation”.

And that is what Dr. Hsu preached in that book. That cancer is not the end a road but the beginning of a new one. He boldly declared that 癌症不是 - 症! Áizhèng bù shì zhèng! meaning that cancer is not a disease of the body. He said that cancer is a distortion of our emotion that over time expresses itself as a disease. That modern medical treatment only emphasizes on the treatment of the body hence only the symptoms. In that, it is only attending to the trifles while neglecting the essentials, 舍本逐末 shěběn-zhúmò. He believed treatment should be from a holistic approach, from body, mind and spirit 身心灵 shēnxīnlíng. If we only rely on what medical science or alternative medicine can provide, it will never be enough for we did not treat the root cause; for cancer is just a reflection of our life’s condition through our body. Thus, we can only cure cancer through our heart「心」xīn.

If we believe Dr. Hsu, we will believe that cancer is a turning point in our life. It forces us to re-examine our life and ask “what do we live for?” If we are honest with ourselves and boldly live the life we wanted, we will be liberated and find the reason and will to live. I cannot do justice to this wonderful book with this brief description and can only recommend that you read it yourself even if you are healthy. For the lesson within applies to everyone whether healthy or sick…

(p.s. This is probably one of the best books to give to a patient. I once gave “Searching for Shangrila” to a friend who had a heart attack. (如果你用心寻找, 香格里拉可能就在一杯热腾腾的酥油茶中… If you search with your heart, Shangri-la may even be found in a steaming cup of yak butter tea…). When I told him I was deliberating between giving him that book and “Reading Lolita in Teheran”, he cracked up until tears rolled down his eyes and said “you’re killing me!” Well, I did not. And laughing in the face of death may have opened up a few stitches but did his heart a world of good.)

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