Hippocratic Oath has become an endangered species. No “save the oath” groups rising to its defense, though. How in the world did it last this long? I wonder.

Is it any wonder that the ideals of a doctor from the 4th century BC might not resonate in the 21st century?

What’s with this tenacity to things moldy and traditional, anyway? It seems to be everywhere.

Just because Newton discovered certain laws of physics, doesn’t mean that somebody else wouldn’t have discovered them a little later. It doesn’t mean that Eastern thinkers didn’t understand Newton’s laws intuitively, choosing instead to contemplate the subtlety of yin and yang instead.

Why did so many scientists find it so difficult to accommodate Einstein’s new physics? Tradition? Anti-Semitism?

By clinging to our teddy bears of ancient thought, we fail to develop our own intuitive powers. We diminish worthwhile words like the Hippocratic Oath when we turn them into ritual.

Because once a thing becomes a ritual, you can pretty well write it off as nonsense. Unless of course, the ritual actually does you some good.

When I face the painful prospect of having to be creative when I really don’t want to, I avoid. Walk around the block, straighten things up, make a few calls, or a list. This works for me, but apparently the Hippocratic Oath doesn’t work for most medical school graduates. Most docs don’t take it anymore. Yet I still hear references to it as if it were dogma.

I hope we all know what to do with any meaningless ritual that wastes our timeÑdon’t take it anymore.

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