A Doctor's Faith Journey
Students hear from geriatrics expert Dr. Jane Driver.
Geriatrics expert Dr. Jane Driver spoke at Montrose recently in a talk entitled A Journey from Catholicism to Buddhism and Back Again. Students listened intently as Dr. Driver described her spiritual growth, which paralleled her developing interest in medicine.
Dr. Driver, a research physician at the Boston VA Medical Center and a member of the Division of Aging at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, spoke to the girls about her faith journey that began when she was in high school. She had experienced tragedy in her family, and found herself with angry feelings toward God, along with the eternal question: if God is good, why does He let bad things happen?
With these spiritual doubts, as well as a desire to shake free of what she saw as a materialistic American culture, Dr. Driver seized an opportunity at age seventeen to take a trip to India. She spent several months in India, traveling extensively around the country. Dr. Driver showed the girls photos highlighting her experiences abroad, telling them, “the things I saw helped me on my journey, to realize why I was so upset with God.”
India in that era, Dr. Driver noted, was a simple place: “People lived a very simple life, with no savings, no electricity, carrying their water long distances.” As she grew to love her host country, she began to realize how one could be happy without so much “stuff.” Yet in India, as at home, she struggled with the same essential question: why does God allow suffering and pain?
Dr. Driver experienced a turning point in her faith journey when she encountered a leper in India. She described the prevalence in India of leprosy, a cruel disease in which victims gradually lose fingers, toes, and even limbs, leaving them unable to support themselves. After being addressed by a leper begging at a market, Dr. Driver admitted, she got scared and ran away. “When I ran away from that leper, I realized I didn’t have the strength to do what I wanted to do: be a person who could take care of lepers. I was very ashamed of myself for that. I wanted to be able to love these people. I asked myself, where do I get that strength?”
In India, Dr. Driver found herself turning to the popular local religion of Buddhism in search of this strength. She explained to the girls that in Buddhist philosophy, “life is suffering. Suffering comes because I have desires, so I can eliminate suffering by eliminating desire.” The Buddha had developed a philosophy of life known as the “Eightfold Path,” with such tenets as Right Intention, Right Action and Right Speech. Dr. Driver noted the value of many of these principles: “For Catholics, anything that is true in another religion should be embraced as right and good.”
Yet although Dr. Driver at first found comfort in Buddhism, she gradually realized that something was still missing. This missing item, she realized, was a personal God. It was the example of Mother Teresa, not the Buddha, who helped Dr. Driver to the next step in her faith journey, as Dr. Driver learned more about her fearless work with lepers in India. “Watching Mother Teresa helped me to realize that what draws us out of ourselves and brings us closer to God, is suffering.” Dr. Driver contrasted the Eightfold Path of Buddhism with the eight beatitudes of Jesus, each of which is addressed to people who are suffering.
“Buddhism helped my healing process, because it helped me realize that suffering is a very difficult thing,” said Dr. Driver. “But I realized that if the solution is to detach yourself from everything so you won't suffer, as in Buddhism, that seemed very self-oriented. What I needed was love, to find meaning in suffering. Suffering can be conquered, not by withdrawing from others as in Buddhism, but through love of others.”
“That realization is what brought me back to Christianity,” Dr. Driver said. “I realized that this is the clear message for Christians: that good can come from suffering because it draws us out of ourselves. Suffering is love, and we need to learn how to help the suffering among us.” She cited Mother Teresa again, quoting her statement that every human is worth more than the entire material universe.
Dr. Driver used her insights in her faith journey to move ahead with a career in medicine, in order to help the suffering of patients. She is trained as both a geriatrician and an oncologist, with her research focusing on the epidemiology, prediction and prevention of cancer and neurodegenerative disease. She is currently investigating the link between cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as caring for vulnerable elderly veterans with memory disorders.
Thank you, Dr. Jane Driver, for your inspiring words.
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Dr. Driver, a research physician at the Boston VA Medical Center and a member of the Division of Aging at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, spoke to the girls about her faith journey that began when she was in high school. She had experienced tragedy in her family, and found herself with angry feelings toward God, along with the eternal question: if God is good, why does He let bad things happen?
With these spiritual doubts, as well as a desire to shake free of what she saw as a materialistic American culture, Dr. Driver seized an opportunity at age seventeen to take a trip to India. She spent several months in India, traveling extensively around the country. Dr. Driver showed the girls photos highlighting her experiences abroad, telling them, “the things I saw helped me on my journey, to realize why I was so upset with God.”
India in that era, Dr. Driver noted, was a simple place: “People lived a very simple life, with no savings, no electricity, carrying their water long distances.” As she grew to love her host country, she began to realize how one could be happy without so much “stuff.” Yet in India, as at home, she struggled with the same essential question: why does God allow suffering and pain?
Dr. Driver experienced a turning point in her faith journey when she encountered a leper in India. She described the prevalence in India of leprosy, a cruel disease in which victims gradually lose fingers, toes, and even limbs, leaving them unable to support themselves. After being addressed by a leper begging at a market, Dr. Driver admitted, she got scared and ran away. “When I ran away from that leper, I realized I didn’t have the strength to do what I wanted to do: be a person who could take care of lepers. I was very ashamed of myself for that. I wanted to be able to love these people. I asked myself, where do I get that strength?”
In India, Dr. Driver found herself turning to the popular local religion of Buddhism in search of this strength. She explained to the girls that in Buddhist philosophy, “life is suffering. Suffering comes because I have desires, so I can eliminate suffering by eliminating desire.” The Buddha had developed a philosophy of life known as the “Eightfold Path,” with such tenets as Right Intention, Right Action and Right Speech. Dr. Driver noted the value of many of these principles: “For Catholics, anything that is true in another religion should be embraced as right and good.”
Yet although Dr. Driver at first found comfort in Buddhism, she gradually realized that something was still missing. This missing item, she realized, was a personal God. It was the example of Mother Teresa, not the Buddha, who helped Dr. Driver to the next step in her faith journey, as Dr. Driver learned more about her fearless work with lepers in India. “Watching Mother Teresa helped me to realize that what draws us out of ourselves and brings us closer to God, is suffering.” Dr. Driver contrasted the Eightfold Path of Buddhism with the eight beatitudes of Jesus, each of which is addressed to people who are suffering.
“Buddhism helped my healing process, because it helped me realize that suffering is a very difficult thing,” said Dr. Driver. “But I realized that if the solution is to detach yourself from everything so you won't suffer, as in Buddhism, that seemed very self-oriented. What I needed was love, to find meaning in suffering. Suffering can be conquered, not by withdrawing from others as in Buddhism, but through love of others.”
“That realization is what brought me back to Christianity,” Dr. Driver said. “I realized that this is the clear message for Christians: that good can come from suffering because it draws us out of ourselves. Suffering is love, and we need to learn how to help the suffering among us.” She cited Mother Teresa again, quoting her statement that every human is worth more than the entire material universe.
Dr. Driver used her insights in her faith journey to move ahead with a career in medicine, in order to help the suffering of patients. She is trained as both a geriatrician and an oncologist, with her research focusing on the epidemiology, prediction and prevention of cancer and neurodegenerative disease. She is currently investigating the link between cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as caring for vulnerable elderly veterans with memory disorders.
Thank you, Dr. Jane Driver, for your inspiring words.
An independent school for girls in grades 6-12 guided by the teachings of the Catholic Church.
