Dr. Bruce Hoffman did not choose the Medical Arts as a vocation. Originally, he wanted to be a writer and poet. His interest in health and healing developed later in life, after a long and winding road of self-discovery, life experience, and learning. He only applied to medical school, so he could complete a residency in psychiatry and subsequently study Jungian analysis to understand the human condition and behavior. As life would have it, his destiny took him on a different journey. He never did formally pursue a psychiatry residency or Jungian Analytic Training, but his love for art, poetry, and psychology remain.
Dr. Hoffman was born and educated in South Africa and obtained his medical degree from the University of Cape Town. After two years of compulsory military training, his distaste for the local regime convinced him to emigrate to Canada in 1986 where he pursued family medical practice in rural Saskatchewan, Canada.
Once ensconced in the practice of family medicine, he quickly realized that his interests in medicine were broader than just drugs and surgery. The allopathic medical practice was limited to treating symptoms and illnesses but failed short in restoring the patient’s health entirely.
Bruce embarked on a journey to understand what constitutes the human experience, what are the triggers and mediators that perpetuate human suffering. He wanted to assist his patients not only to be free of disease but to realize their maximum potential.
Topics Discussed In This Episode:
- Dr. Hoffman’s early interest in poetry and writing
- Exposure to alternative lifestyles
- Exploration of oneness
- Properly diagnosing patients
- The pitfalls of having a purely allopathic approach to treating patients
- The “7-levels” diagnosis
- The failures of Western medicine
- Non-duality
- Reframing negative events in life to reexamine them as positive experiences
- Unconsciously placing ourselves in a type of purgatory
- Practicing the “medical arts”
- Remaining intuitive throughout one’s entire life
- Creating a new curriculum for “healers”
- Beauty, truth, and meaning