Gary E.R. Schwartz, review of "Life at the Edge of Science" by Beverly Rubik, The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 3, no.2 (Summer 1997): 200-201.
Not all experimenters with alternative medicine come from unconventional backgrounds. Beverly Rubik has a Ph.D. in biophysics at the University of California at Berkeley and is now an advisor to the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institute of Health. Discontented with traditional approaches to science and medicine, she has moved on to fields that are "considered frontier areas that challenge the dominant biomedical worldview."
Rubik says her book, Life at the Edge of Science, a compilation of 14 essays, is "about science that is not yet part of the mainstream." Gary E.R. Schwartz, Ph.D., who teaches psychology at the University of Arizona, says in his review that Rubik's interests are to "reveal more of the mysteries of life, to realize more of the full human potential, and to heal the rift between science and spirituality."
Advocates of alternatives or of life at the edge are optimists who use words like "not yet." Rubik says: "Scientists who are true pilgrims are indeed few among those who regard themselves as scientists today. They journey to the furthest frontiers, the tributaries of mainstream science, and drink deeply of the truth and beauty of the wilderness.
"With the belief that nothing is impossible, such scientists blaze a trail through unknown territory with the burning desire of a holy curiosity simply to know. The road is not paved; the path, hardly a comfort zone. It is a test of strength, courage, perseverance, and trust of one's inner voice."
Untraditional yes, but Schwartz says, "Rubik's pilgrimage is a journey worth taking."
Along the way, Rubik — who is now studying the effects of prayer on healing and how laying-on-of-hands functions scientifically — quotes philosopher Alfred North Whitehead: "A clash of doctrines is not a disaster, it is an opportunity."
The $16 book was published last year by the Institute for Frontier Sciences in Philadelphia. By the way, a footnote says that one orders Rubik's book by phone (215) 248-2276 or even by FAX: (215) 248-0492, and not from bookstores. That's at least "alternative" marketing!
