The author is an associate professor at the University of Washington Medical Center and a physician in the Veterans Affairs Health System. As a professor, the author has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications in the medical literature. As an editor, the author edits and peer reviews manuscripts for leading journals in the field. In addition to being a physician and professor, this book is inspired by the author’s journey as a patient with a rare heart disease. Facing his own mortality and armed with academic knowledge of the disease he had, the author sought to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be a good person. This was difficult, because fundamental, holistic questions are hard to ask in an academic environment. There are many reasons why the academic world does not lead to holistic questions, but the central one is that the academic world of the 1700s fundamentally reoriented itself by separating science and spirituality. Before that era, knowing the universe was both a spiritual and scientific undertaking, and scientists often took both obligations seriously. In our modern age, where the debate between atheists and theists is becoming more and more intense, the complementary nature of science and spirituality is further obscured by postmodern arguments. However, the author tried to bridge the gap between science and spirituality based on his own health problems and experience as a doctor and professor. And the more he focuses on this gap, the more it becomes clear that scientific and spiritual issues play a complementary role.
