Ignorance is bliss ... and power too!
The phrase “Ignorance Is Bliss" was coined by English poet Thomas Gray in his profound ‘Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College’, a beautiful 18th century poem revered to this day for the quality of its imagery, personification and juxtaposition.
As a surgeon wedded to his work in a boundless continuum, Dr. Vishal Rao has little time for social outings or recreational meets beyond the occasional get-togethers. Yet, he sees and senses the world around him all the time, thanks to his patients who bring with them a bagful of experiences from their respective walks of life. He sees the world through their eyes.
His thoughts stand out for their conviction and credibility, amid the din od tall claims by 'providers' in the market, claiming to defy age and ailment with wonder drugs and silver bullet therapies. Dr. Vishal is one of the few doctors who underline the need for developing better health ahead of the need to set up more hospitals providing healthcare.
His knowledge of the world, he says, is a huge compendium of patient narratives – outlining their trials and triumphs of life, their regrets and ecstasies, resolutions, and aspirations. He has acquired a humongous storehouse of knowledge without stepping out of his clinical environment which gives him a deep sense of fulfilment, akin to the thrill that backpackers derive from their wandering escapades across the globe. ‘Oasis’ attempts to unleash this invaluable repository in word form.
In this fifth edition of ‘Oasis’, we ask Dr. Vishal why he thinks there is more to ignorance than bliss, as also discuss a few key peripheral issues linked to it. {Prior 'Oasis' editions published on the blog can be accessed from the links shared on the column to the right}
Why do you say Ignorance is Power?
During a Tata Business School program, I was interacting with the Rolls Royce leadership team. One of their visionaries shared a very beautiful thought with me: “In the 20th century, knowledge was power; but in the 21st century, ignorance is power.” This profound statement got me thinking – today, the education system has institutionalized our minds to such an extent that our thoughts can’t travel beyond the confines of set processes. The Rolls Royce head further gave me a striking example – when it comes to designing a new car, the best audience to gather suggestions is a school where kids will throw open a bagful of must haves and nice to haves, based on their ultrasonic and unbridled imaginations. In sharp contrast, an engineer will draw and dish out the same old design that he has been doing all his professional life. So, education dissuades you not to venture beyond certain boundaries of what is unanimously perceived as possible and not possible. The only way to break these boundaries is by making the most of the profound truth: “Ignorance is Power”
Every day, in my day-to-day work as a surgical oncologist, I question the status quo. I have always believed we are all dwarfs standing on the shoulders of visionary giants, notwithstanding our various achievements and claim to fame. Some of the greatest discoveries of today hence stand liable to become the greatest blunders of tomorrow. That’s precisely why we need to question what we are asked to believe, before we believe it to be true.
Could you elaborate this in the context of a specific example?
During the making of AUM voice prosthesis for throat cancer patients, the first six months were lost in doing experiments and repeatedly failing in them. During one of such predicaments, my wife called up to tell me that she wished to go out shopping. I had to drop everything and follow her to the mart. My three-year old son was with us, merrily dropping few boxes from the racks onto the ground. As I bent to pick them up, I realized they were tampon boxes. That was a eureka moment for me, where I suddenly thought: why can’t voice implants be sold and delivered over the counter like tampons. This was an absolutely ridiculous idea that I become hooked to. So, there I was at the billing counter with 10 boxes of tampons and my wife staring at me in complete disbelief. When I told her instinctively that I have found the solution, she thought I had lost my mind.
When I went back to my lab, I told my team we should have our voice device inserters as simple and easy to use as the tampon boxes I showed them. Just when one of my engineers laughed off the whole idea, I was drifted towards an interesting principle what is known as the Occam’s Razor. It says that when faced with an intriguingly complex problem, try and focus on developing the simplest solution. On an impulse, I rushed to the neighbouring district of Channapatna to the shop of a gentleman who makes science toys. I sought his help to make an inserter founded on the principles of toy making. The fine gentleman designed the first prototype in two hours with no relevant background whatsoever. The rest of course is history as the AUM device is now a reality.
So, we can say there is a lot more to ignorance than what meets the eye, or rather doesn't meet the eye...
Undoubtedly! Ignorance, in my opinion, is the foundation of design thinking and disruptive innovation. I recollect a very interesting chapter in the Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine by Dr. Judah Folkman, the father of Angiogenesis, where he puts forth a positively intriguing question: “Will we reach a time in history when we will co-exist with cancer like how we do with a chronic disease like diabetes?” That got me stressing more and more on the effort to heal cancers, rather than fight them.
Even in a cancer patient at stage IV where the tumour has metastasized, we may have a situation where cancer cells are 30%, but 70% are still normal immune cells. In the focal attention to the 30%, the 70% is largely unacknowledged. Similarly, in early-stage cancer, the whole attention is on the 5%, leaving 95% of it undervalued. This 95 percent is the epigenome that influences the genome through factors of mind, food, water, air, breath, and the environment around us. So, we need to strengthen the epigenome which in turn would impact the genome. Simply put, we need to consciously choose a holistically therapeutic path – of a nutritious low-sugar diet, deep breathing, physical exercise. and positive thinking. This is the path of healing the cancer, as against merely fighting it. This path is a fine example of the power of “Ignorance is power.”
And yet we find cancer still causing fear and dread ...
The moment the word ‘cancer’ is mentioned – whether in casual conversations or serious discussions - a pall of gloom invariably pervades the vicinity; such is the abject negativity surrounding the disease. The play of individual destinies, the biology of tumour, as also the grind of treatment ordeals has together prevented us from gathering rich, actionable insights into this enigmatic disease, leaving us perpetually wondering: “Can cancer be vanquished?”
That cancer survival is possible even in the most advanced stages has at its core a strong, inexplicable force with a mind of its own. No wonder, one patient at the same stage of cancer does not make it, while another manages a miraculous recovery, even at the point of no return! In my personal experience, I have seen many patients who follow a path of healing which others are unaware of. The moment we acknowledge cancer, as an affliction of our ‘mind’ and ‘spirit’, as much as that of our physical bodies, we embark on the spiritually therapeutic path of healing.
Could you elaborate on the spiritually therapeutic path of healing?
Every thought and emotion that we experience affect some part of our genome in a profound manner. Germs exist all around and yet, only some of us fall ill. Elusive as it may seem, those of us who fall ill actually have a different thought pattern compared to those who are more ‘immune’? The human body has the uncanny ability to eliminate cancerous cells through a normal immune mechanism. And contrary to what people believe, our bodies have been doing this thankless job all along. These reflections should serve as a ready reckoner for any cancer patient who wishes to look beyond reluctance and open a new gateway to the countenance of hope, love and healing. Healing of mind, body and soul is the key mantra, NOT fighting cancer.
The first and foremost prescription, for any cancer patient, is to consciously cultivate and reinforce the conviction: “I may have cancer, but I won’t let cancer have me.” We often hear patients being vociferously advised, “Fight your cancer”. But do we ever anyone tell people to fight their noses when they catch a common cold, or for that matter their kidneys in case of a renal stone? A child developing from an embryo in the mother’s womb starts with a single cell and grows to a trillion cells in nine months, way faster than most cancer cell proliferations. We never would call a new life in womb a tumour. Similarly, it is not wise for a patient to fight cancer; instead, the patient should provide the cancer cells as much love and healing as possible, to bring them back to harmony, thereby fighting a mind which is generally consumed by negativity in most cases.
Getting in sync with oneself is most critical in the healing process. The positive affirmations are in fact healing mantras that are invoked by the innate potential of one’s own self, through a steady diet of prayer, diet, yoga and holistic treatments and. A Mantra in Sanskrit is a combination of two words Manas (Mind) & Tra (instrument), which literally means, “An instrument to silence the mind”. These Mantras reaffirm the fundamental healing principles of the universe towards restoring the social contact of cancer cells to normalcy. Cancer patients actively participating in treatment, and chanting mantras, create an immensely powerful innate healing force in their bodies. We all have an innate ability to raise our consciousness to a state of love; the consciousness abounds with the ability to heal lives, not just cancer.