This article examines aspects of life and death across various dimensions of human experience. Life is a process of individual development: birth, growth, reproduction, and aging. It is characterized by the ability to reproduce, adapt to the environment, and accumulate experience. The genetic continuity of offspring ensures the immortality of humanity. A human mental characteristic is the awareness of one's own mortality. This gives rise to the fear of death and the search for meaning in life. Awareness of death imbues life with value and encourages authentic living. Religions offer a way to overcome the fear of death through faith in resurrection for eternal life. Modern research seeks ways to prolong life or overcome death through the fight against aging. Life and death are multifaceted phenomena that permeate all levels of human existence. Understanding them helps find motivation for a full life and develop ethical standards in medicine and society.

General/family medicine is unique in the medical field because it transcends the mind-body duality. Therefore, general practitioners should be encouraged to use unconventional ways of acquiring knowledge. Poetry can be a source of knowledge by providing us with perspectives on reality, and in this sense, it can also have a cognitive impact on us and our understanding of the world. Science and poetry have more in common than most people realize. Both rely on metaphor, which is as crucial to scientific discovery as it is to lyrical description [1-3].

Haikus is a traditional Japanese form of poetry. Using haikus in medical education is an excellent resource for activating reflection on concepts and experiences, critical and ethical thinking, creative abilities, and the humanization of medicine. Because they are such short texts, they require students to fill in the gaps with their own clinical judgment. For students heavily focused on linear, detail-oriented facts haikus act as an outlet to stimulate creativity and process feelings encourage to identify the most salient features of difficult topics (such as the fundamental concepts of general medicine) and pair them with supporting scientific evidence; It is a beautiful project to use haiku writing to help students process the emotional weight of clinical care, explore practical challenges, and articulate the essence of health and illness [4-9]. In this article, 6 haykus are used to reflect on “Integrality/holism”, a basic concept of family medicine.

Margaret, 54, visits for the third time this month complaining of diffuse muscle pain, tension headaches, and insomnia. Therheumatologist has ruled out fibromyalgia. When asked about her current situation, Margaret bursts into tears and explains that her husband has been unemployed for six months and they are at risk of eviction.

Haukus For Thought

The wise, ancient tree is not only the deep root, it is its shadow.

Do not count organs, look at the whole entire life of the patient here. A human blueprint where the body’s deepest pain touches the spirit.I look at all of you, your story and your sharp pain both fit inside me.

A living cosmos vibrating inside a web of raw flesh and light.

You look at the frame, you see the soul and story, all is the flower.

Pedagogical Key

Break with biological reductionism. The patient is not the sum of their parts, but an integrated whole.

Discussion Questions

If we limit ourselves to prescribing analgesics and anxiolytics, are we treating Margaret or just masking her reality? How does social suffering influence the biological expression of pain?

Concept Of Comprehensiveness/Holism

Holism and comprehensiveness/integrality are terms that partially overlap and can be difficult to differentiate. While the holistic approach focuses on the essence of the whole and its interactions, the integral approach ensures that all the pieces of the puzzle are present so that nothing is missing [10, 11]. Jan Christian Smuts, in "Holism and Evolution" (1926), coined the term holism. With this term, he described nature's tendency to form "wholes" that are greater than the sum of their parts. Thus, a holistic approach to health; that is, to consider the individual in his or her entirety [12-15].