If we suppress feelings or act as if the imagination is frivolous and should give way to the rational, functional imperatives of science, then we mute the soul. Soul is the vital force in everything. It is there in the sunset or the forest. It exudes from many buildings, especially old ones which were not designed rationally and functionally with cost as the ultimate arbiter. These soulful buildings nudge our feelings so that we feel warm and at home, or inspired or moved in some way.
Hospitals have very little soul.
Built rationally and functionally in the service of technology, the soul has been cost-cut out of them. Hospitals are not places where the vital force of life will be nurtured, and they are certainly not places in which to die, even though that is the fate of most of us. It would be possible to invite soul into a hospital. But furniture, brochures, and new paint will not do it. These cosmetics do little to hide the loveless technological machine underneath.