UNCHARTED TERRITORY

The pet scan was wrong. Or at least partially. There was cancer. Some where we didn’t expect it. And none where we thought it would be.

I still marvel that my world class surgeon in his post-op evaluation remarked, “Medicine is not so much science as an art.”

I take a deep breath and raise my hands over my head and lie still far longer than I believe I can. This is the part when I am fully awake, when my mind wanders to things familiar that no longer seem important now. Later on, it will be necessary for me to be completely asleep. In the absence of consciousness, the real work will begin.

To save myself, I must surrender. While my mind rests, the miraculous moves in. And I am overtaken by the power that manifests in letting go.

We are so certain of what we see and what we believe. And yet the most sophisticated technology, the most skilled and experienced hand, make room for the majesty of what we do not know.

We shame ourselves into thinking it is our duty to have every answer, map every turn—

And then the scope makes its way through tissue,

the eye searches for signs of what is and isn’t right,

and the body surrenders its secrets,

in a process that is partnership between human and Divine.

Life, we misunderstand, is something to be mastered, controlled, conquered.
In truth, life is not mere science but incomprehensibly breathtaking art—

its secrets revealed to those who are curious and unafraid to explore the uncharted territory.

NOTES ON THE IMAGE:
Not everything difficult is ugly—While showing me images of my cancer my surgeon exclaimed, "Look at that beautiful, clean liver.” 
There is always a reason to rejoice! 
If you have ever seen the inside or your body, you will never again question or diminish the statement, “We are fearfully and wonderfully made.”