KNOWLEDGE ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH by Philip A. Salem, M.D. Every morning, I close my eyes and embrace the Lord and thank him. I thank him everyday, and I will continue to thank him everyday until my last day. I thank him for everything because if it were not for him, I would not be here. In particular, I thank him for the opportunity he has given me to treat cancer patients. And, every morning, when I drive to my office in the city of Houston, I ask myself three questions: Is there any work greater than that of treating people threatened by death from cancer? The answer is no. Is there any work which is more noble than saving the life of a human? The answer is no. Is there any work I love more than mine? The answer is no. At this moment I am filled with joy and I am soothed with warm inner peace, When I arrive in my clinic, and I see my patients, I feel I am as close to God as possible. My clinic is my church. Here I pray, during the day, all day. My prayer is in sharing with my patients their pain and their suffering, and also in sharing with them the joy of hope and the glory of resurrection of life. Here in my clinic I feel the awe of responsibility; the responsibility of life and death. Also, here I feel the awe of nobility and sacredness. A cancer doctor’s work and his relationship with his patient are sacred. To achieve sacredness, the doctor should rise above himself. He should forget who he is and what his interests are and should only work for others not for himself. To achieve sacredness, the “I” should melt away and become “you”. Giving life is God’s work, and although God alone is capable of giving life, He has bestowed upon man the human mind. This mind is the ultimate miracle of his creation. Without it, there is no being. God has created the mind for man to acquire knowledge. Knowledge is a must to control disease and alleviate suffering and pain. Knowledge is what defines medicine and its greatness. Without it there is no medicine. In medicine there is nothing outside knowledge, and in my 41 years of experience as a cancer physician, researcher and educator, I have never seen one patient who was cured without scientific knowledge, and I have never seen a single miracle beyond the miracle of the human mind. This is all about knowledge, but the secret that many people, patients and doctors may not know is that knowledge alone is not enough. To cure the cancer patient a lot more than knowledge is needed. The four most important things