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Eleanor Derouin, The Healer: A Medical Student’s Reflection on the Art of Healing, Military Medicine, Volume 184, Issue 9-10, September-October 2019, Pages 189–190, https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usz051
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The views expressed are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the US Navy, the Department of Defense, or the US Government.
In “The Healer,” by Rene Magritte, there is a man sitting on the side of a well-worn path. I think he is a traveler, stopping to take a break during a long journey. He has a cane in his hand and is wearing plain clothing; perhaps he is from a simple community. His body position makes him look tired, or as if he has been sitting for a long time. The man does not have a face or torso, and instead the upper half of his body is replaced by a cage with two small, white birds. The door to the cage is open, but the birds sit contently within and do not appear eager to fly away. They seem to represent the soul of the man and its intrinsic nature: vulnerable, fragile, and gentle. Since the painting is titled The Healer, I imagine that people travel this road and find healing through the mere presence of this man and his simple, pure, and steady nature. Perhaps there is also healing in seeing the man’s birds and remembering the presence of one’s own birds – creatures which a person may be surprised to find have stayed, despite having left their own cage doors open for many years. In this way, people are reminded of a once-forgotten familiarity between themselves and others, and therefore experience healing by remembering this intrinsic sameness.
