Reanney reaffirms it even though he is a secularist with no brief for organised religion. When his book appeared in 1991, it occasioned disquiet among our intelligentsia because an important voice seemed to have turned reactionary. The mission of medicine has traditionally been to heal where possible, to comfort always, and above all to avoid harm. Until a few decades ago, the mission was adjunct to faith healing of many kinds. However, as the technical prowess of medicine increased, physicians promised more and their public insensibly cast them into the role of healing wounded souls.
Medicine assumes that human suffering is rooted in pathology.
Reanney says that it is rooted in consciousness of self, whether well or sick. If that is so, medicine relieves pain but leaves human suffering untouched. Medicine is indeed so secondary to essential human suffering, as Reanney understands it, that its relevance to his theme did not even occur to him. Many doctors know from constant experience that sickness, pain, and suffering run on separate tracks that only occasionally converge. The infertile woman who suffers from child absence is healthy and experiences no pain, but the anguish may be acute.