Reconsidering Medicine

This is an original book on the philosophy of medicine. It considers philosophy of medicine as a subdiscipline of philosophy of science. This volume is grounded on an epistemological bottom-up account that arises from the clinical situation, the epidemiologic, and the resulting public health account. It is not a review of the literature, and it is not intended to frame the debates, or to analyze and compare the various number of viewpoints.

Medicine is the human activity, which begins by a linguistic act that identifies the negative norms of health: it begins with a first distinction that splits biological processes into three conventional parts, normal, abnormal and pathologic. Neither of them is a natural kind. Being abnormal is intrinsically bad and admits of degrees, while being pathologic is dichotomous. Being normal is factitious and counterfactual much the same as frictionless planes in physics. Leaving apart the ethical aspects, this book endeavors to uncover the implicit conceptual network, the chief junctures of medicine, should they be found, and their articulations with clinical and community medicine. It results that medicine is pervaded with dichotomous concepts such as scientific vs pragmatic discourse, function and malfunction, abnormal and pathologic, needs and wants, causation and explanation, clinical vs community-oriented care, physical vs psychiatric diseases, mental illness vs deviancy, and so on. Medical thinking has two dimensions intrinsically interweaved, namely a constant amalgam and admixture of biological and normative aspects, so that this essential hybrid nature of the grammar of medicine endorses opposite approaches, naturalistic or normativist, biological or value-laden, realist or instrumental, reductionist or holistic, phenomenological or analytic.

Reflections Before the Blessed Sacrament

Kneeling before Jesus in the tabernacle or being exposed on the altar is a magnificent gift of God. Aware of our sinfulness and the need to draw ever closer to Jesus, who did so much for us, we hope to show Him during these few minutes of prayer how much we love Him. However, being human, and despite our intent to focus on Him and nothing else, we often find our minds wandering or distracted only to suddenly realize we forgot where we were and what we wanted to do.

One way of trying to maintain our attention solely on Jesus is to use a reflection prepared ahead of time in a devotional book. In this humble book you will find a series of reflections, homilies given by the author over the years, to help you to offer yourself more fully every day, and especially when you are in Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist.

Refrigerator Door

Refrigerator Door!

How one household item became the epicenter for cherished memories.

The refrigerator door – that communal billboard found in every home. Covered in photos, mementos, report cards, and takeout menus, this humble appliance takes on far greater meaning. It becomes a tapestry of everything important to a family.

In Refrigerator Door, author and father Thom reminisces on the refrigerator door of his childhood. This mosaic of fading photos and fridge magnets shaped his upbringing and brought his family together. Now Thom passes along the tradition to his own children, reminding them that even an ordinary door can be transformed into something extraordinary with the memories we choose to display.

Join Thom on this heartwarming journey that reveals how a refrigerator door quietly yet profoundly chronicles the story of a family. More than just a surface for sticking homework assignments and takeout menus, it is a celebration of all that gives our fast-paced lives meaning.

Retiremental!

Retiremental! is a lighthearted and heartfelt book of advice to assist you throughout the retirement realm. Retiremental! is filled with informative, entertaining, inspirational, and thought-provoking advice in easy to digest bite-sized quotes and quips conveniently organized into alphabetically arranged categories. Give yourself or a retiree you care about Retiremental!

Retiremental! will:

- Help you transition into and throughout retirement.

- Help you define and redefine your new identity as a retiree.

- Help you reduce challenges in retirement.

- Help you build a solid retirement foundation.

Retiremental! will not:

- Help you maximize your Social Security.

- Help you navigate Medicare.

- Help you select your healthcare provider.

- Help you understand your retirement financial accounts.

Revelations

From 1846 to the present day, the Vatican has maintained quite the same message brought forth from Heaven by different messengers across time and across vast distances and continents. This message echoes the gravest of admonitions and calls mankind to convert and find refuge through the knowledge of the truth, which today threatens the very basis of world peace...

Today, in 2022, the message of La Salette, La Fraudais, Tilly, Fatima, Garabandal, Akita and Medjugorje, and their secrets take a meaning of the greatest importance, as the admonitions brought forth by the Blessed Virgin Mary warn of a cataclysmic global disaster which has now become imminent. The Church’s apprehension of frightening the masses, inspired inaction and Rome’s decision to silence – founded more on fear than on caution – led millions of faithful to the darkness of ignorance and, therefore, to a lack of necessary conversion, prayers and intercession for peace. This book proposes unveiling the light and, thus, asking humanity to respond to the call of a warm and loving mother who merely seeks the salvation of her children.

Six Feet from the Edge

Johnny Sullivan is a bright and intelligent young man who finds himself caught in a dangerous life of crime and drug addiction. With his very existence on the line, Johnny must dig deep into his soul and revisit his past innocence to break free from the agony and suffering that threaten to consume him. The novel presents an intense battle of Good vs. Evil that unfolds in every chapter, as Johnny is pulled between two worlds: one defined by love, family, and nurturing, and the other by chaos and excitement. Six Feet from the Edge is a gripping and powerful story that explores the human spirit's strength and the enduring power of hope.

Soul-Making

Have you ever met someone and felt an instant sense of attraction or repulsion even though you do not know the person? In Depth Psychology this is an unconscious as well as alchemical reaction that is understood as part of psychic projective phenomena of affinity, where a constellated chemistry between two individuals is ignited. This phenomenon was understood by Jung mythically as the unio Mystica, or the union of opposites.

This presentation will share how Jung illustrated this psychological understanding of the transference phenomena in alchemical symbolism and illustrations taken from the 16th-century alchemical text, Rosarium Philosophorum. He utilized these illustrations to show the connections that exist between the transformative process shared by alchemy and an analogous transformative process that he discovered in the psychic growth of an individual.

Splinter: My Personal Journey through My Sister's Mental Illness

We have all encountered people with mental illness in school, the workplace, among our friends, and in our families. If the emotional or mental distress is mild or non-threatening, empathy and compassion go a long way. Dealing with someone who has a personality disorder is another matter.

When Charlotte Yardley’s sister moved to her town after they had communicated mostly by phone for 40 years, she found herself ill-equipped to interact with someone whose behavior alternated between tears, depression, anger, blow-ups, and outright cruelty. She had thought they were close, but now she was being blamed for everything her sister believed was going wrong in her life. As Yardley dipped into co-dependence and depression of her own, she sought therapy.

Through journal excerpts, summaries of concepts from books she read, excerpts of her sister’s emails and therapy sessions, even a teacher-like handout, she invites the reader to join her in her journey toward acceptance of the kind of relationship she can and cannot have with her sister. Though the subject is dark, there is some humor, and there’s a section of quick tips at the end for those facing similar relationship struggles.

Stripping

Embark on a journey of self-discovery and acceptance in Stripping - Taking Off Everything to Love What’s Underneath. Join me as I guide you through my personal odyssey from Point A to Z, a path marked by challenges, revelations, and triumphs. As a woman who embraces her unique identity, I invite you to delve into my world and understand the essence of who I am.

Stripping away layers isn’t just an act; it’s an art form of embracing one’s true self. This book is more than a story; it’s a manifesto on the power of self-love and the liberation that comes with it. Once you learn the art of stripping away external expectations and societal norms, you’ll find a profound freedom and an unreturnable transformation.

Discover the beauty beneath the surface, and learn to love the unadorned, authentic you. ‘Stripping’ isn’t just about removing what’s on the outside; it’s about revealing and cherishing what lies underneath.

Sustained by Love Through the Wars

I hate war. War kills. War maims. War orphans. And it leaves a deep scar not only on the land, but also in the hearts of those who are affected by the war. I am one of those who carry a deep emotional wound to this day, more than sixty years later.

During WWII under Japan, my father was imprisoned because he was a Christian minister, who refused to bow down to the picture of the Japanese emperor. My elder brother volunteered to join the Japanese military in the hope of having his father released from the prison. He left home as a vibrant 15-year-old boy and returned home as a worn-out, injured, 18-year-old man; he died a year later. He was my best friend. During the Korean War, North Koreans took my father away. He never returned.

Sustained by Love through the Wars is a story of love, sacrifice, faith and suffering all wrapped in one package. The heroine in the story is my mother. Mother prayed without ceasing. Through her unceasing prayers, she was able to walk through the dark tunnel of trials and tribulations and lead us onward with love and grace, and absolute faith in God.

Tales For The Trivial

Life is hard, even on good days. We all know and accept this as a fact. But as we go through this journey and look around us, we tend to focus on the major obstacles in the way and ignore the tiny, trivial things. Even the most basic decisions we take for granted have deeper connotations than we realize in the moment. From trying to find the right shirt to wear to the gym as a male who is not built like a college athlete to dating as a single father and trying to do it in a way that does not damage the relationship you have with your wonderful children, the most basic things in life deserve to have some importance tied to them. By delving into this collection of thoughts and observations, you not only help me to feel like I have contributed something noteworthy to an otherwise simple life so far, but hopefully it can also remind you that you are not alone in the everyday thoughts you have as you navigate your own little worlds.

Tears of Joy

This is the true story of my childhood in Vietnam, born into poverty after the Vietnam War. Through twenty-two attempts of escape, we had to withstand a lot of obstacles and hardships and risk our lives to be able to reunite with my father in America.

During the last escape, our boat, filled with seventy-three people, was caught in a big storm and we were in the middle of the ocean for three days and nights. We were surrounded by water and total darkness. Many times, the powerful wind and waves knocked against our little boat, trying to sink us to the bottom of the lifeless ocean.

This is one of the many stories of the millions of Vietnamese people who escaped from Vietnam for freedom and a better opportunity. This book will hopefully inspire and motivate the younger generation and I hope for them to learn to appreciate what they have and not take things for granted. This is my piece of history.