The Sacred World of Medicine: Honoring the Service Archetype
At Arena, we’re intentional with the language we use around healthcare. One of the phrases we return to often is “The Sacred World of Medicine.” The word “sacred” is deliberate, carrying with it a profound weight. Stewarding human health is, for any society, both vital and sacred work.
The people who take on this responsibility belong to what we call the “Service Archetype.” These are individuals who choose to serve society—on the front lines of healthcare, as educators, or as first responders. Their work is essential in protecting and advancing human health. But this sacred responsibility comes with its own burden. Those who are drawn to serve often push themselves beyond their physical and emotional limits to fulfill their role.
A Story of Sacred Work
This truth is captured powerfully in one of our favorite photographs—the 1987 National Geographic Photo of the Year. It shows Dr. Zbigniew Religa after completing Poland’s first heart transplant.
Dr. Religa trained in the United States as a surgeon but returned to his home country with a singular mission: to bring heart transplant surgery to the Eastern Bloc of Europe. This was before the Berlin Wall fell, at a time when such a procedure was not only technically challenging but also culturally controversial. In 1987 it was considered sacrosanct in Poland to take a human heart from one person and place it in another.
Dr. Religa raised the necessary funds on the black market and assembled a team. The procedure itself lasted 23 hours. The photograph, taken by James Stanfield, shows Dr. Religa sitting beside the patient, utterly exhausted. In the corner of the frame, his Fellow lies collapsed in fatigue.
A Metaphor for the Service Archetype
When you look in the back right corner, the first thing you notice is Dr. Religa’s Fellow collapsed in exhaustion, a testament to the Service Archetype’s willingness to go beyond the body’s limits in order to advance their mission. And if you look at Dr. Religa, his body posture from teh shoulders down tells a profound story of exhaustion. But when you look into his eyes, you see pure conviction, as though he’s willing the patient alive.
This patient went on to outlive Dr. Religa himself and the surgery ushered in a new era of innovation and advancement in cardiac surgery in Eastern Europe.
Honoring the Sacred Responsibility
At Arena, our work is to honor those who take on this sacred responsibility and do the hard, gritty work required on the frontlines of medicine. At the same time, our mission is ensuring the doctors + nurses who steward societal health have the tools and strategies they need to protect against the better angels of their nature, to give and give.
Without the right tools, to manage stress, to rest appropriately and to renew energy, any Service Archetype eventually finds himself in a deficit and ultimately, burned out without the spark that drew them into service. Over time, this can result in burnout, eroding the sense of meaning and purpose that first drew them to the work..
The Sacred World of Medicine is a profound laboratory of men + women willing to do hard things. Our work in coaching them to A Higher Standard of self-awareness and self-stewardship is a mission we are proud to carry.
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