Barbara Ehrenreich, Natural Causes: Life, Death and the Illusion of Control.
There's a lot more biology in this book than (a) I'd expected there to be, thinking of Barbara Ehrenreich primarily as a investigative writer and social historian; and (b) I've ever read before in one place, science not really being my thing. But this was fascinating - in particular the recurring theme of how the body's immune system has a nasty habit of sometimes deciding to turn on itself, following a logic which leads to self-destruction - and that there's little we can do to control or stop it. I'm more of a theologian and so for me the above observation blows apart all the 'body theology' of St Paul, which aligns with much conventional medical science in accepting the premise that the body's parts will always work together for the good of the whole. Knowing what we know about the 'body of Christ' with all its in-fighting, Ehrenreich's thesis sadly rings very true in this connection.
The concept that we cannot control our mortality can feel frightening. It also completely undermines the 'authority' of the medical / pharmaceutical industry (and Barbara Ehrenreich is very good in detailing this) whose practices turn out to be more of a modern set of rituals no more sure of 'success' in healing than any other ritual practices. But there's a liberative sense that in giving up on certainty and control we actually attain some sort of peace. There's something quite joyful and powerful in Barbara Ehrenreich's decision to stop seeking medical help for any of her own body's ailments, to step off the treadmill of tests and check-ups and preventative treatments, and instead just to live life to the full until it naturally ends.
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