Larry Krantz, M.D., has seen patients recover from incurable diseases without any known medical explanation.
For example, while grocery shopping in Fort Collins, Col., where he’s based, he ran into an old patient of his who he thought would have died long before. This patient had metastatic cancer. Krantz had recommended an oncologist to treat it, but the patient decided not to receive treatment. He didn’t think she would be around much longer, but there she was years later in good health.
“Cases like that boggle the mind, and I think all doctors have seen them. People get better from all kinds of conditions; [their recoveries] are surprising and defy explanation,” Krantz said.
Sometimes doctors are absolutely stumped as to how patients are able to recover.
Patients’ attitudes also play a role in their recovery. Many doctors have noticed that patients with a cheery or positive attitude tend to recover better (with or without treatment) than those with a negative attitude.
Why Doctors Should Find Inner Peace and Listen to Intuition
Krantz often found that while driving to work, a patient would pop into his mind. He gradually realized that this was almost a sure sign he would see that patient that day. He learned to trust his intuition.He has assessed patients’ symptoms and arrived at diagnoses and treatment recommendations based on the visible facts, only to have a nagging feeling that he was wrong. Stepping back, clearing his mind, he listened to intuition. Very different diagnoses and treatments emerged, and they were the right ones.
“I think it makes sense to use your intuition as a tool in combination with … medical training and intellect,” he said.
He looks to the wisdom of the past as having the potential to guide the future.
“There have been great thinkers and even spiritual guides, going back to Lao Zi, Confucius, the Buddha, Jesus ... who pointed to a state of being that is attainable, but most people don’t know,” Krantz said. Achieving this inner state is what can help patients and doctors.
Krantz referenced famed psychologist Abraham Maslow’s similar idea of self-actualization. According to this idea, a person is less directed by the outside world, with all its conflicts and demands, and instead focuses inward.
“As a physician, I have often wondered if mankind would evolve and find hidden areas or abilities, waiting to be activated,” he wrote in an article related to his book. “What once seemed impossible has now become reality—like sending a man to the moon or talking into a portable phone to someone on the far side of the world. Helicopters and submarines were imagined centuries before they were actualized.”
He said, “I wouldn’t put limits on things.”
