MUDr. Martin Zulák - Czech Republic
Abstract of the presentation
Does Illness Take Away the Meaning of Life – or Reveal It?
Branch: Mind and body therapy
In my holistic medical practice, I meet people every day who ask: “Why me? Why did I become ill?” They are successful, caring, responsible – and yet they are sick. Their pain is not only physical but also existential. They lose their families, jobs, plans, and often their very sense of self. And yet, many of them paradoxically discover through illness what they had been missing all along – meaning. Based on conversations with recovered patients and my experience in oncology and hospice care, I have come to see that suffering itself is not the enemy. It is the language of the soul, calling for change. Illness often becomes a gateway – an initiatory crisis that forces a person to reconsider what truly constitutes the value of life.
Often, what patients had considered their “meaning” – success, achievement, caring for others – was merely a compensation for unmet developmental needs. I draw inspiration from the work of Viktor Frankl, who survived a concentration camp and taught that suffering ceases to hurt once it is given meaning. Similarly, researcher Kelly Turner, in her study of spontaneous cancer remissions, identified nine key factors – with discovering deeper meaning and cultivating spirituality among the most essential (K. Turner, 2014). The significance of spirituality is further confirmed by Koenig’s meta-analysis (2012), which demonstrates its positive impact on survival, resilience, and quality of life in patients.
In this presentation, I will offer a perspective on illness – not as an enemy, but as an intelligent process that invites transformation. Together, we will reflect on what “the meaning of life” truly is, and how connecting with nature, spirituality, and one’s inner self can influence the path to healing.
Curriculum vitae
MUDr. Martin Zulák studied General Medicine at the University of Ostrava in Ostrava from 2011 to 2017. He then worked at the Faculty Hospital in Ostrava at the Department of Hemato-Oncology from September 2017 to August 2020, and at the St. Luke's Hospice in Ostrava from July 2018 to December 2021. Later, he worked at the Department of Allergology and Clinical Immunology and also as a lecturer in this field at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ostrava (September 2020 to August 2021). Among his important publications and lectures during these years, he co-authored the textbook "Selected Case Studies from Clinical Biochemistry" (2018) and wrote a comprehensive article as the lead author, "Immune Reconstitution after Immunoablative Therapy with Autologous Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Multiple Sclerosis," the content of which he presented at the XXXVII. He subsequently began working as a holistic physician. In his practice, he combines the somatic, psychological, and spiritual aspects of illness. He focuses primarily on the influence of trauma on illness, as well as psychotronic remote diagnosis of illness. He has completed various self-experience training courses, such as transpersonal psychology and rites of passage. In 2022, he began working at the Karlova Studánka Mountain Spa. In 2023, he spoke at the RAPPL interdisciplinary medical congress on the topic of "Asthmatic patients and suppressed emotions, psychosomatic connections," in which he was supported by Dr. Gabor Maté. Later that year, he spoke at MKZ Prague with presentations entitled "What My Illness Tells Me," in which he connects the theory of developmental trauma with current psychosomatics, and "The Trauma of Doctors," in which he openly discusses individual and systemic problems in healthcare based on his own experiences with self-development. He also conducts interviews with people who have been cured across the country and travels to places of miraculous healings, which are a reminder of "something above us." He inspires sick people to understand the message of their illness.
Please note that some of the texts also include machine-generated translations.
