Rather it requires a deep acceptance of profound connection, of experiencing this connection as the ground of being with a sense of profound mystery. Every culture diminishes wholeness, she acknowledges, and it is only human to trade wholeness for approval. Dr. Remen feels that education holds great promise in this recovery process, for true education and healing are one in the same, both requiring trusting in the wholeness in life and people. But the challenges are considerable. Medical schools have been driven by competition and the quest of success, but Remen has found that successful people have the deepest wounds, for they have been rewarded for woundedness and punished for wholeness.
Medical schools train rather than educate, with wholeness regarded as unprofessional and shameful.
Cultures can heal, but such healing occurs when there is a subculture of people who value what has been devalued by mainstream culture. Her courses at UCSF have provided such a subculture within the medical institution with courses that do not directly teach compassion, but begin the recovery process by attending to wholeness. Sharing from her own experience in medical school, Remen notes that doctors must wear a mask of professional objectivity. Everyone wears a mask of confidence, but forgets they are wearing the mask. As a recovering doctor herself , Remen now works to help others in the medical field to connect with themselves and others through a two step process.